A desperate family of six have been crammed in to a two-bed flat for two years.

Samantha Gould lives in Rose Hill, Hampton, with her partner Carl Alboni, 27, who works as a painter and decorator, and her four daughters, whose ages range from nine months to nine.

The 29-year-old, who has been on the waiting list for a three-bed flat for two years, said one of her daughters slept in the living room while the other three squeezed into a box room.

She said the cramped living conditions had become unbearable for the family, especially her six-year-old, Poppy, who has verbal dyspraxia and is being tested for autism.

Ms Gould said: “This has been going on for too long.

“I can’t even open the window because the bed is bay the window and the room is so crowded.

“It’s just getting beyond a joke. It’s so frustrating because there are other people I know of that have a three bed and there are fewer of them. They said that we would only have to wait three months.”

A Richmond Housing Partnership (RHP) upgraded Ms Gould’s transfer application in April but demand for housing meant they had not yet been able to move the family.

The spokesman said: “There are currently about 4,000 people on the Richmond Council waiting list and approximately 180 RHP customers are currently living in overcrowded conditions and awaiting a new home.

“We understand and sympathise with the difficulties that customers, like Ms Gould, face in overcrowded conditions and offer personal advice and support according to the circumstances.”