AN elderly Teignmouth woman fears she will be left virtually housebound if she cannot continue to store a mobility scooter outside her flat.

Joan Carlson, 79, has always kept the machine, which she describes as a lifeline, in a corner of the corridor of her third floor home at Douglas House.

'I struggle to walk, and for six years have always kept the scooter in a corner of the passageway. It does not cause an obstruction to anybody, and there have never been any complaints from neighbours.

'But now Teign Housing have told me it cannot stay there because it is a fire and health and safety risk. They said I could keep it in my flat, but that would mean tipping it on its side to get it in – something I could not do on my own,' said Mrs Carlson, a widow who lives alone and has had a replacement knee.