John Massen was flushed with anger when he came home to find Bradford Council had boarded up the back of his loo - with no handle to pull.

The vital piece of equipment had been unscrewed and placed on the window-ledge while the entire area behind the loo was painstakingly boarded up.

Angry Mr Massen, pictured with the handle, put an urgent call in to the Council asking them to get back immediately and replace the handle.

But he says staff added insult to injury when they told him he would have to cross his legs and wait until after the weekend before the problem could be rectified.

Mr Massen, 49, breathed a sigh of relief, however, when the Council arrived to put things right after receiving calls from Councillor Ann Ozolins.

Director of Housing Geraldine Howley said: "We apologise to Mr Massen for this. I can tell you that there were flushed faces around City Hall.

"The work was part of a programmed removal of asbestos and we removed the flushing mechanism of the toilet to carry out the work."

Mr Massen, of Montague Street, Little Horton, said: "I was absolutely flabbergasted when I found out what had happened.

"I've never seen anything so ludicrous. It would have been like living in the third world to go for a weekend without a toilet.

"I want to thank the T&A and Councillor Ozolins for taking it up because there was no way it could have been left for more than two days."

He said his mother, 71-year-old Lucy Massen, was at the flat when the work was being done.

"After it was finished and they had gone she went up to look at the bathroom.

"I thought for a minute she was joking when she rang me at work to tell me it was all boarded up and there was no handle to flush the toilet.

"She told me the workman had worked very hard to do a good job, but it seems nothing had been put on the work sheet about what should happen to the handle."

Coun Ozolins (Lib Dem, Idle) said she had been approached by Mr Massen because he felt he was getting nowhere with the Council.

"This man came to me in desperation and in this day and age he shouldn't have been told he would have to wait for days before he could use his toilet again."

Coun Richard Wightman, deputy leader of the Council, said: "It is supposed to be a professional organisation but this is like a Brian Rix farce."

Mr Massen said the problems started more than a year ago when he called the Council because the roof of his one-bedroom flat was leaking above the bathroom.

He said workmen later took samples away to analyse for asbestos.

"When they came back they said the pipes would have to be boarded in."