A FAMILY of eight, forced to leave their homes because of fumes, have attacked council chiefs for putting them up in one room of a hostel for the homeless.

And Mr Neil Richardson (35), even threatened to spend the following night in a tent in his back garden rather than face a second evening at the hostel.

However, he and his wife Donna (33), together with their six children, were accommodated by friends.

The trouble started after Bury Council contractors carried out work in the pantry of the family home in Thompson Avenue, Ainsworth, on Monday (Sept 8).

They replaced a joist and floorboards and, to protect the woodwork, put down a solvent-based preservative.

However, Mr Robinson said the fumes were unbearable and he feared for the health of his family.

"The smell was just too much to enable us to stay," he said. "My wife has asthma and a collapsed lung, so there was no way we could stay there."

The local authority arranged for the family to stay in the hostel for the homeless in Bury.

But Mr Robinson was unhappy only one room was set aside for the family to sleep in.

"I said it was far too small, but the council said they were fulfilling their legal obligation by offering us the hostel."

When the family returned home on Tuesday, they discovered the fumes had not subsided sufficiently to allow them to move back in.

"The council said we could go back to the same hostel," he added. "But I asked if they could put us up in an empty council house - but they said they couldn't."

Mr Robinson borrowed a tent and had planned to spend the night with his family in their back garden.

However, friends intervened and they were accommodated elsewhere for the evening.

Mr Robinson said he is unhappy that the council had been unable to offer other alternative temporary accommodation.

A spokesman for Bury Council explained the work carried out at the family home would not have normally been a problem.

"But we were unaware of Mrs Robinson's complaint. Although there was no medical confirmation, we accepted at face value what she told us and the concern about any impact on her health."

He said the family was put up at the hostel for the homeless as an emergency arrangement and they stayed in a large family room.

"We were looking at a temporary solution until the fumes dissipated."

On Wednesday, council inspectors visited the family's home in Thompson Avenue and sealed the pantry door and undertook other measures to cut down the extent to which the fumes were circulating.

"We also advised Mr Robinson if he felt he was inconvenienced to the extent where he suffered loss or hardship, then he could write to us and we would look at the situation."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.