Residents, some in their 90s, spoke to the complex warden to ask for the icy areas to be gritted but were shocked to be told on-site staff were unable to help.

In desperation, they contacted Dundee City Council — but were told it could not help, as the local authority does not run the complex.

Joan Lawson, who has lived at Douglasfield with her disabled husband for three years, said she was angry so many tenants had been left housebound.

“I was away on holiday until Saturday but when I came back I was just completely shocked by what I saw,” she said.

“Nobody had gritted the path or helped us at all. There are residents here frail and in their 90s, but they have not been able to get out for the last few weeks.

“This morning the scaffies couldn’t even get down the street to collect the bins. If a bin lorry cannot get in, what chance do we have of getting out?”

Mrs Lawson said it was unacceptable for the housing association to expect elderly residents to grit paths themselves.

“A lot of the residents have been really upset,” she said. “We spoke to the council but they said because we were private they couldn’t do anything. We spoke to the wardens too about it and they said they couldn’t go out to grit the paths. I understand that it is not their job to go out and grit the pavements, but it is their job to get someone here to do it.

“There are grit bins outside but some of the people living here are unsteady on their feet and are very elderly.”

She added, “The people living here are just gutted. Nothing is being done. We pay an awful lot of service charges and nobody seems to help. I am so angry about it.”

A Bield Housing Association spokeswoman said workmen would be on site today to clear the paths.

“We have sent contractors to the complex to lay salt and grit down and hopefully the situation will be resolved,” she said. “We have about 160 sheltered housing complexes across the country and it has been extremely difficult to deal with the winter conditions.”