A heartbroken dad who spent two weeks as a mental-health patient at Lynfield Mount after attempting to take his own life has been left penniless by a benefits mix-up.

Alan Simpkins tried to kill himself by attaching a hosepipe to the exhaust pipe of his car.

But a neighbour intervened and instead Mr Simpkins was admitted to Lynfield Mount Hospital in Bradford.

He applied to switch from Jobseekers' Allowance to sickness benefit to cover his period of treatment, but there was a mix up, he said.

The result is that he has been living on £44 for the past three weeks and his gas, electricity and food stocks are running low.

"When I went into hospital, someone sent a four-week sick note to the DSS in Leeds Road explaining I was incapable of work and wouldn't be signing on," he said. "I was on a secure ward, I wasn't supposed to leave it at all for the first three days, so I couldn't sort it out."

Mr Simpkins, of Lonsdale Street, Bradford, said that he had hit rock bottom due to family problems and the trauma of not seeing his five-year-old son.

Thanks to a neighbour's intervention he didn't go through with the suicide bid, but went straight for medical help.

"This makes you feel like a burden on society," he said. "If you have a breakdown and finish up going into Lynfield Mount, you then can't get your money, which only makes your situation worse and adds to the stress.

"I can feel myself getting worked up over it."

A spokesman for the Benefits Agency said he was not allowed to discuss individual cases, but it was possible that benefit money could be updated in cases where new information came to light.

"Obviously we try and give a sympathetic and flexible service to those who we realise are suffering from serious mental illness," he said.

"When someone claiming JSA is taken to hospital, they would normally submit a claim for incapacity benefit or income support right away, or within a couple of days, perhaps helped by a hospital social worker. We don't normally backdate any claim that is made after hospital discharge, particularly if the reasons for the delay aren't clear.

"If we became aware later that there are exceptional circumstances, for instance the person being treated for severe mental illness, we may be able to change our decision."