A wheelchair bound Keighley woman says a decision to deny her disability living allowance will leave her helpless.

Pamela Hudson, 55, of Redcliffe Avenue, Highfield, suffers from chronic asthma and non-epileptic fits, which she usually experiences every day.

She needs 24-hour care, which her 30-year-old daughter provides, and has received disability living allowance since 1993.

Every eight weeks Pamela goes into St Ives Nursing Home for a fortnight to give her daughter a break. She goes to a day care centre two days a week and has an evening sitter once a week so her daughter can go out.

But her allowance was stopped in October, and this week she found out her appeal against this decision had failed.

The reason given was that her daughter -- her main carer -- should be able to get a job to support them both.

Pamela, who has just come out of hospital after a bout of pneumonia, said: "I don't go out on my own. I'm fetched and carried. I'm a Christian and I tell the truth but this is what happens.

"It makes you think about telling a pack of lies."

But Simon Wilkinson, a spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions, which administers the benefit, said: "While I'm unable to discuss individual cases, it is the level of dependency resulting from a disability or illness rather than that condition itself which determines whether or not the allowance is payable.

"While the benefit is essentially self assessment, it's quite normal for medical evidence to be obtained before a formal decision is made.

"If someone disagrees with the outcome of their case they can apply for reconsideration, and also appeal procedures exist for customers who remain dissatisfied.

"It's fair to say not everybody with a disability would be entitled to the benefit."