A mother stranded outside her York home in sweltering heat with four children because of a faulty door lock had to wait more than three hours before a council worker came to her aid.

Lisa Bruce, from Kingsway North, Clifton, had no money on her and no family or friends nearby to help - but was told by the council they would get to her within 24 hours.

Lisa went shopping early on Tuesday morning with her four children, Nathan, aged 22 months, Joshua, aged three, Keeley, aged six, and Lauren, aged seven.

But when she returned to her council-owned house, she was unable to open her door because the lock was faulty.

At 10.15am she phoned the council but was told they would get to her within 24 hours.

She said: "I would have expected somebody to come out within an hour-and-a-half, but over three hours is ridiculous."

Lisa continued to phone the council as she had no means of getting her children anything to eat or drink.

She said: "The children were crying and nappies needed changing they had no drinks or anything to eat.

"I think they could have just nipped out - even if they just let me in I could have waited inside."

When a council worker did arrived to fix the lock and let her into her house, it took only minutes to complete the job.

She believes the council should have got to her within at least two hours.

"If someone says you have to wait 24 hours it is annoying. If they had said two hours I would not have been so angry."

A spokeswoman for the City of York Council said: "We are really sorry Miss Bruce had to wait for three-and-a-quarter hours.

"However, we got to her as quickly as we could.

"We have a team of joiners who are called out to these sorts of jobs, but it is a matter of fitting it in with their schedule."

Updated: 08:50 Friday, August 02, 2002