Bradford Council today apologised to the family of a three-year-old boy who fell down a manhole which had been reported as dangerous.

Thomas Simpson became wedged up to his neck in the three-foot deep manhole in the garden of his sister's Woodside home before he was pulled to safety by neighbours.

An inquiry has now been launched into why Bradford Council had failed to replace its badly corroded cover, despite having been told about it ten days ago.

Thomas' older sister Amanda Barraclough had reported the dangerous cover at Woodside Housing Office on March 30. She received a letter saying that repairs would be done by April 5.

She complained again yesterday morning - and only hours late Thomas suffered his accident.

"Thomas was clinging on to the rim. If it had been my two-year-old, Jessica, who had fallen - who is smaller - she would have gone straight down," said 22-year-old Miss Barraclough.

"I'm going to complain about the lack of repair. I reported it as soon as I noticed and it's really dangerous," she said. "I'm seven months pregnant and without my neighbour, I wouldn't have been able to pull the fence away."

Today, the Council's housing services committee chairman Councillor Jim O'Neill said he would hold "an in-depth investigation" into the incident.

"First of all I apologise sincerely to the tenant that the work was not carried out on the day we promised or even sooner," he said. "But I can promise I will hold a full inquiry.

"The classification of the job is crucial in this case and I would hope the work would have been classified as a health and safety hazard. That being the case, in the inquiry I would want to know why it wasn't carried out at the time."

The rectangular manhole, which measures about three feet by two feet, spans the boundary between Miss Barraclough's garden and her neighbour's. As he played in the fenced-in garden, Thomas managed to slip down gap left by the corroded cover.

Next-door-but-one neighbour Laura Morrill, 65, was pegging out washing when she heard Thomas cry out. She and husband Jack, 64, rushed to help. He held Thomas up until Miss Barraclough was able to help, then he pulled away the fence and hauled the little boy to safety.

A spokesman for Woodside Neighbourhood Housing Office said: "A new manhole cover was ordered for that address last Wednesday, March 31, the day after we were notified that the present one was damaged and rusty.

"Work is usually carried out within three working days but unfortunately the replacement has taken longer than normal because of the extended Bank Holiday weekend. A new cover will be fitted today."

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