So many Bradford residents have plunged into the red that a charity that advises on debt problems has had to close its doors to new inquiries.

John Kirkby, director of Christians Against Poverty (CAP), said his staff were helping 200 families in Bradford deal with their problems.

In addition to the charity's work, the Bradford Citizens Advice Bureau dealt with queries relating to £2,145,000 of consumer debt in the year ending April 2002

And a report from Bradford-based Legal Service Commission puts the city in the highest level of need for financial advice across Yorkshire and Humberside.

"We're not taking any more clients in the Bradford district at this time, we are overwhelmed with the people that we have already," Mr Kirkby said.

"We are looking for additional resources to increase our services this year."

Alex Bohdanowicz, CAB debt manager, said the majority of problems were due to people simply not earning enough to live on.

She said: "When you find that people do not have enough to just live on and are making stark decisions about whether to eat or heat the home, that is quite significant.

"Many of the people we see have what we call priority debts and are running at a deficit on a weekly basis.

"Even if they are not paying loans, they are still struggling to make ends meet."

CAP advisers visit clients and help them prepare a budget before negotiating with creditors to stop any interest and charges.

Mr Kirkby, who started the national charity in Bradford six years ago, said most problems build up over a period of time.

"Christmas can be the straw that breaks the camel's back, but one bout of spending will not cause the meltdown of your finances," he said.

"On average it takes people four years to get out of debt, and on average they've spent the same amount of time getting in to debt."

He added that debt problems can affect anyone, regardless of how much they earn.

"If you live beyond your means, whether you're earning £12,000 or £50,000, you're still heading for the same problem," Mr Kirkby said.

"Many of the problems are caused by a change in circumstances, redundancy, marital breakdown, it's not just people going out and borrowing money."

An innovative health project has helped patients at 30 GP surgeries in Bradford access advice, raising more than £1.5 million in unclaimed benefits.

George Scully, project manager at the Health Plus Project, said: "The impact of poverty on people's health is hard to evaluate, but one of our patients said although her health problems were the same, her stress had been reduced, allowing her to cope better.

"For me that helps to sum it up. You may not stop their physical problems but you can reduce their stress levels if you can get people the money they're entitled to, and that can ease the stress they're living under."

For help with debt problems, call the National Debt Line on 0800 808 4000.