A YORK man is feeling hot under the collar after council maintenance workers left him living in a "sauna".

Barry Garside, 31, of Arran Place, Heworth, called City of York Council for help when his boiler unit "boiled over", leaving his flat with a dripping ceiling and peeling wallpaper.

He says two groups of maintenance workers visited his flat, but both said the other should deal with the leaking appliance.

The council's heating spares and repairs team came to his home on Monday, but referred him to another council team because the problem was electrical.

However, he claims, when another group of workers arrived, they said the initial team should have dealt with the leak.

He said: "They are all refusing responsibility and I have to live with water all over the ceiling and the wallpaper hanging off."

Mr Garside, who is on sick leave from his job at a York newsagents, was left trying to protect his furniture with sheets.

He said: "All the steam has come into the living room and left it like a sauna. The ceiling has all bubbled over - it's wrecked.

"I do not want to sleep in there, but I have to because it is my home and I have nowhere else to go." He criticised the council for wasting his time.

But the authority has defended its actions, saying workers had gone to Mr Garside's flat within hours of being called.

A spokeswoman said they had discovered that the boiler was not to blame and the problems were caused by electrical problems involving the immersion heater.

"We need the appropriate experts to deal with specific problems," she said.

Updated: 10:51 Saturday, July 27, 2002