A WHEELCHAIR-bound woman who has voted all her life claims she has been left disenfranchised by City of York Council after a blunder with her postal vote.

Janet Slessor, of Highfield, in Osbaldwick, has the condition dystonia - a painful nerve disorder which affects movement.

She had intended to vote for the Liberal Democrat incumbent Jonathan Morley. But because of her lack of mobility, the 53-year-old requested a postal vote and the instructions and envelopes duly came through early last week.

But there were no ballot papers.

Mrs Slessor said: "I phoned them and told them they had failed to put the ballot papers in.

"I was told someone would phone me back as they would have to look into it.

"No one got back to me so I phoned them the next day and was told the matter was being looked into, but it would have to go to the Government. They told me they would have to issue me another number but they couldn't as they had all been allocated."

Mrs Slessor phoned the council again yesterday morning - election day - and asked what she should do.

The person she spoke to said the problem with the postal votes was not just an issue for York, but for the whole country and that there had been complaints nationwide about mistakes in the postal voting system.

The person said Mrs Slessor could still vote but she would have to get to the Guildhall.

"Because I'm on my own and in a wheelchair, it's impossible," she said.

"I've been slowly getting worse and I've been on crutches, but I'm now totally dependent on my wheelchair.

"Because of that, I've been denied my vote."

A spokeswoman for the council said there had not been any problem with the majority of postal votes.

She said: "Of the 13,500 postal voting papers that we have sent out, we are only aware of a couple of cases of people not having received them.

"We are satisfied that papers were posted out to everyone who registered for postal voting.

"In circumstances where people have not received them or they have been spoilt, the only way that we can reissue them is if people bring any documentation that they have received, along with photo ID, to electoral officers at the Guildhall.

"The law dictates that ballot papers can only be reissued in person."