Two disabled Cwmgors pensioners have been forced to go without showering for eight weeks following a series of council foul-ups.

John and Heather Hayward, of 15 Pant y Fedwen Road, have been unable to use their shower since December, while their bathroom has been reported to the environmental health department as hazardous'.

The couple slammed a long list of mistakes that has seen their bathroom floor ripped out and replaced, their bathroom suite moved around the room, 14 air vents installed and their drain pipes pulled up.

"If this wasn't so serious you could turn it into a comedy," said John, aged 73. "But now we have had enough."

Soon after moving in last summer, the couple reported damp - a claim dismissed by the council, even though a family of frogs were living in the cupboard.

Eventually, council workmen arrived to tear plaster off the bathroom walls, damp-proof the house, and lift and relay garden slabs.

On December 9, more builders arrived after the couple again reported damp.

The workmen tore up the bathroom floor and found that - beneath the surface - the ground was soaking. A surveyor discovered that the stench pipe, which links the shower and basin drains to the sewers, was leaking water under the floor. With the problem finally fixed, workmen refitted the bathroom suite for a second time - but in the wrong place.

Because of their disabilities, John, who has suffered a stroke and has had a disabled hand since birth, and 76-year-old Heather, who suffers from osteoporosis, now find it impossible to use their bathroom at all. The couple claim they have spent more than £250 on telephone calls to the authority, but little has been done.

Simon Thomas, head of social housing at Neath Port Talbot, said he was aware of their problems. "A contractor is going back next Friday," he added. "As far as we are concerned we will have then done everything we can to address their complaint."