A POWER failure late at night is bad enough for any of us, but if you are getting on in years and live on your own it can be distressing, disorientating and leaving people feeling quite vulnerable.

Manweb, like all electricity and gas suppliers, operate a priority services register for people with special needs, including older people. As part of their care-free scheme they provide a range of services to vulnerable customers.

While I would applaud this service, there does appear to be a gap with regard to whether Manweb or any other utility provider are able to offer emergency support.

The advice within the original letter, to try to trace a 24-hour electrician before an emergency arises is superb. But, to take this one step further, I would suggest that it is important to try and ensure that the individual or company identified is reputable and has been vetted at some level.

To this end, within St Helens, we have a service known as Care and Repair, who can be contacted on 01744 283233 and who can give advice on reputable companies.

Within Age Concern we continue to support the establishment of services which can help older people to feel supported and live independently in their own homes. A 24-hour on-call service for such emergencies would be useful.

Philip Longworth, chief executive, Age Concern St Helens.