A Bradford pensioner is having to go that extra mile -- just to have a bath!

Retired market worker Desmond Whiteley, 72, says he is physically unable to use the shower in his Thorpe Edge flat - but his appeal to Bradford to swap it for a bath didn't wash.

He now has to make a mile-long round trip from his home at the Haven to a friend's home in Idle every time he needs a bath.

Today, housing sub-committee chairman Councillor Jim O'Neill and Councillor Jeanette Sunderland (Lib-Dem, Idle) said that they would be taking Mr Whiteley's problem up with Council officials.

Mr Whiteley said: "I have fallen five times using the shower.

"I just cannot do with the pressure of the water on me. The floor in the shower is very smooth and I've slipped there several times and bruised my leg. As you get older, these things affect you a bit more. It has shaken me up quite a bit.

"I now have to go to a friend's house in Idle to have a bath. It's a bit awkward asking if it's convenient to have one."

Mr Whiteley said he has twice written to the Council to try to get a bath installed and has said that he would even settle for an old bath salvaged from the flats being demolished near his home. In reply he was asked to return a self-assessment form to the Council's occupational therapy section. He explained in the form that although he is not disabled, he cannot manage with a shower in his single floor bungalow.

But the Council said that as he already had access to a means of keeping clean, it could not recommend a new bath although it might be able to provide handrails or a shower seat through the occupational therapy section.

A Bradford Council housing spokesman said: "Mr Whiteley will have had the opportunity to look round the bungalow before he moved in in June 1997.

"Some properties have baths and some have showers and we do not have the money available to make alterations unless there is a medical need."

Mr Whiteley said: "It's hard to see the workmen smashing good baths and toilets up when I have been refused one. I have told them that I would be satisfied with a bath out of the old flats but it doesn't make a difference.

"When I first moved in, they said they wouldn't put a bath in but I was desperate - I had to move in somewhere. I hoped they would change their minds once I was in."

Councillor O'Neill said it was not right for Mr Whiteley to travel for a bath and it was up to the Council to provide him with one.

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