A FAMILY whose disabled son must travel from Bury to Whitefield for a bath say their patience is seeping down the plughole.

Barbara and Edward Gilbert, of Raymond Avenue, Bury, have been locked in a two-year dispute with Bury Council over providing wheelchair access for their bathroom for 26-year-old Matthew.

The family want his bedroom door and part of the landing to be widened -- requiring the shower to be replumbed.

But Bury's disability team says that a new door from his adjacent bedroom must be created.

Because of the lack of wheelchair access, Matthew, who is quadriplegic and has cerebral palsy, must currently bathe at the Wheatfields Centre in Whitefield.

Mr Gilbert said: "The door would be right in front of the toilet and would not give him any privacy. Matthew's room is his own bit of space. All that we are asking for is that the shower is moved a little so that the door can go in from the landing. They tried telling us to do something about it ourselves -- if I could do it myself, I would."

Mrs Gilbert added: "They will offer us help where we don't need it but don't want to do anything when we ask."

A spokesman for social services said the department must carry out work by the most cost-effective methods. She said: "We have a duty to do things that meet the needs of individuals and a lot of families might have their own preferred outcome in how that can be done. What we have to do is meet those needs in the most cost-effective way, according to council policy, and this may not be the same as the family want. The intention is that no individual gets favourable treatment."