A disabled pensioner who tried to get the Council to fix her boiler found it was quicker to get the part herself - from Australia.

Bertha Halliday, 72, of Shipley, spent over a week waiting for the Council to repair her water heater.

When her son in Perth, Western Australia, heard about her plight, he immediately sent her the missing part - but she is still waiting for somebody to fit it.

Normally wheelchair-bound, the grandmother, pictured with the part, has to walk across her kitchen on crutches carrying kettles of boiling water in order to wash up.

She first reported the broken heater to the housing department on Friday, April 20, and a worker visited her specially-adapted West Royd Mount home to assess which components needed replacing.

Another worker arrived with three parts the following Monday, but one of them, a therma coupling, was incorrect.

Despite repeated phone calls from Mrs Halliday and her daughter, Janet Tansley, nobody was able to bring the correct piece of equipment.

In desperation they contacted Mrs Halliday's son David, who worked for a gas company in Bradford before emigrating down under seven years ago. He posted the part and it arrived two days later.

She said: "I'm disgusted. The heater is only about two years old, and since Christmas it has broken five or six times. I said to my son: 'If you were here it would be mended now!''

David Halliday, a heating and hot water engineer, runs his own business in Perth.

Mrs Tansley, Mrs Halliday's daughter, said: "She's very independent and likes to do as much as possible for herself.

"But she's frightened about what will happen if she scalds herself, trips and falls.

"The Council just say they've referred the matter to Powerminster (the contractors) and it's in their hands.

"But my mother is on a reduced pension, and it's costing her money every time to get in touch.

"I think that the whole situation is ridiculous."

Jez Lester, Bradford Council's head of housing strategy and support, said: "We apologise for the delay in fixing Mrs Halliday's water heater.

"Unfortunately Powerminster did not have all three parts they needed to fix the heater and have had to order one of them They have assured us it will be fixed by today."