WITH reference to the article on new fridges for £25 (LET, March 25), I rang on behalf of my mother who is 88, on DSS pension, income support, care allowance and got the complete runaround on the phone.

First I rang 01772 262146 - the answer machine advised me to ring 0131 5542532 which I did, several times. The recording said lines were busy, advising me to press a number if I wished to hold. I did, and every time I got a voice, possibly another answer phone, which said 'goodbye' and the phone went dead.

My mother has an old small fridge, without a proper freezer. I make a weekly batch of soup - unfortunately there is no way of putting much in the freezer part.

I am living with my mum trying to look after her. I'm on DSS incapacity benefit at the age of 51. In the circumstances it seems a sensible thing to do. With a decent fridge/freezer, I could freeze a lot of what I make, without things going off.

I have had to involve emergency services several times - my mum has thick blood and her heart misses a beat from time to time, causing her to collapse.

Someone has organised this 'new fridge for £25' badly and furthermore, I find it rather rude to have an answer phone cut me off by saying 'goodbye.'

PETER CUNLIFFE, Woodfold Place, Blackburn.

Footnote: Lancashire County Council said it was given a limited number of application forms by the fridgesaver scheme and given an Edinburgh telephone number to pass inquiries on to. Anyone who is interested in the scheme can get more information by writing to Fridgesavers, Freepost EH 2357, Edinburgh EH6 0JP.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.