AN elderly couple claim they are stranded in their home because they are unable to get a wheelchair past a rotting gatepost.

Eric Levey, 76, needs the wheelchair to leave his home in Within Grove, Huncoat. But his long-term partner Joan Rydeheard, 64, struggles to push the chair through the gateway, which is currently held together with string.

Joan said: "My husband is disabled and I look after him. I can't push the chair and gate at the same time because it is so rotten. It has to be opened very carefully and has fallen apart a number of times. It has been like that for a good year."

The house is managed by Hyndburn Homes since they took over the maintenance of the council-owned properties from Hyndburn Council and it has pledged to resolve the problem.

The couple say they have contacted Hyndburn Homes about the state of the fence but heard nothing until last week, when a worker was supposed to come to carry out repairs.

But Joan, who has lived at the house for 15 years, added: "Nobody turned up. Something needs to be done because it is dangerous. Once the gate fell off and knocked my young great-niece over when she was playing next to it.

" We had someone turn up to fix the gatepost and instead of taking away the rotten post they took away the good one. Now we just use the string to hold it together."

Nigel Fenton, head of Hyndburn Homes' neighbourhood services, said that they had received no formal complaint about the fence but would be looking into the situation. He added that a workman had been dispatched to the property but no one had answered the door.

Mr Fenton continued: "We do make every attempt to reach mutually satisfactory conclusions when tenants have repair issues, but there is a procedure to follow.

"New tenants should complete and return an ingoing tenants report' as soon as possible and all tenants can use our repairs line to report any repairs and maintenance problems,