A FURIOUS customer claims shoddy workmanship on a plastering job has left her facing a miserable Christmas dodging debris in her bathroom.

Maureen Strickland, 56, of Heath Road, Widnes, said she paid a plasterer up front in August to do a job on her bathroom. But six months on the job is still not completed and other tradesmen are being held up.

Mrs Strickland asked that the wall be battened, plaster boarded and skimmed - a space behind the plasterboard would have accommodated pipes for a bathroom suite.

The plasterer came on August Bank Holiday Monday, knocked off the tiles, re-plastered two thirds of the bathroom and said he do the rest the following week.

But she said that when the plumbers came, they found the room had been 'dry lined', with the plaster board bonded directly to the wall instead.

As there was no room for the pipe work the plumbers struggled to fit the bathroom suite exactly how Mrs Strickland wanted it.

On Monday, September 5, the plasterboard started to fall off the wall and the plasterer said the boards had 'blown' and he would fix them.

She said that on the following Sunday he claimed his van had been broken into and that he needed more adhesive but said a local DIY store had none.

He assured furious Mrs Strickland that he would be back on the following Monday to finish the job.

He then failed to turn up as arranged. But that day he never turned up despite repeated phone calls. After this the man offered to give furious Mrs Strickland her money back - but she is still waiting.

Mrs Strickland said: 'I paid up front for everything £250 for the work and £100 for materials - he should have had enough stuff.

Mrs Strickland has since phoned the man several times but has been told he was a lodger and has moved to Yorkshire.

She said: 'I borrowed money for this and I don't see why I should lose it and then have to start from scratch.

'I can't have a shower because of the plasterboard and the tilers won't touch his work and a piece even fell of the wall and jammed the door closed. I am so angry he has left my bathroom is that state.

'I have just cancelled Christmas - everything is still as he left it.'

A council spokeswoman said: 'The consumer protection division is advising the consumer in relation to any civil claim she may have and because of this is unable to comment any further.'