A SON has told of his anger after council workers left his disabled mother to move heavy material which may have contributed to her stroke.

Wheelchair-bound pensioner Myra Bland, 70, who suffers from severe arthritis, was moving a bucket containing workers' tools at her home in Consett when she suffered a stroke last Thursday.

David Bland is contemplating legal action against the sub-contractors and claims that the men had taken a month to complete a three-day home improvement job. He said that his brother, Colin, who lives at the Ashford Road home with his mother, is disabled with heart trouble and arthritis and had been unable to go into his bedroom.

He said: "They just haven't turned up for days at a time. All they were doing was putting in a couple of doors and plumbing a new sink. I do similar work for Newcastle council and we would take three days to do this and have our worked checked every day.

"There are tools and equipment and dust everywhere. My mother has been getting herself up at 6am every morning to get herself ready for them to come in.

"She had wanted to go for a shower but had to move the stuff they had left. That was when she had the stroke and they took her to Dryburn Hospital in Durham."

Derwentside District Council officers refused to reveal the identity of the sub-contractors working on the house, but yesterday the leader of the council, Councillor Alex Watson went round to visit the family.

He agreed they should have been given the opportunity to be housed elsewhere while the work was in progress.

He said: "This is a desperate situation. There's no doubt about that and I will be involved in making sure that this house is sorted out quickly and properly from now on.

"The current system of how we work with our tenants on matters like this isn't working in every case. We are currently establishing new procedures which will hopefully ensure this type of situation does not arise again."