Pensioner Marie Wood is still waiting for a leak in her flat to be repaired - three years after it first appeared.

The 85-year-old said she has made numerous complaints to her landlord Brighton and Hove City Council without success.

When the rain falls, so do the drips seeping through the ceiling of her fourth-floor flat in Hereford Street, Brighton.

Mrs Wood has shifted furniture around as best as she can but otherwise relies on an array of strategically placed buckets to catch the drips.

Mrs Wood, who has lived in the flat since it was first built 39 years ago, said: "It started off as one leak but now there are two.

"When it rains it is a constant drip like a clock ticking. The council have sent four or five surveyors but they haven't fixed it yet."

She tried to lodge complaints at the council offices close to her home but was told she must contact a call centre.

Surveyors concluded that the problem was on the outside of the building.

The council has employed Kier Construction to repair the fault.

Mrs Wood's hopes were raised when workers arrived before Christmas to put up scaffolding around the tower block.

However, they stopped short of her flat and she has seen no sign of any work taking place.

The council has told Mrs Wood she must contact Kier to discover when the repairs will be carried out but she said calls to the firm have not been answered.

A spokesman for the council said the complaint would be drawn to the attention of repair managers so it could be sorted out as soon as possible.

He added: "These things often relate to some sort of misunderstanding between us and the tenant as clearly it doesn't need to take three years to fix a leak.

"If it turns out to be our mistake we apologise for the inconvenience."

Happily, Mrs Wood received a telephone call from Kier soon after The Argus called and the company promised it would send a staff member around the following day.

A spokeswoman said: "Kier recognises there have recently been some delays on this type of work due to the volume of repairs currently in progress and would like to apologise for any inconvenience."