TOWN Hall chiefs found themselves in hot water after a prize-winning pool used by disabled swimmers was discovered to be...too cold to use!

Visitors to the revamped Jubilee Community Centre pool have been advised not to take the plunge after tests showed the water was not up to the required temperature.

The heating problem has "surfaced" just weeks after the official re-opening of the Darley Street baths, which has been upgraded and extended at a cost of £163,000.

And the fault, which affected the pool on Sunday and Monday, was noticed just days after it was nominated for a special award from the national charity EASE - Ease of Access to Service and Employment.

Today Bolton gran Joan Foster, who uses the pool twice weekly to ease osteo-arthritis in her knees, hit out at the temperature fault which meant she and others went without their exercise.

Mrs Foster, of Jubilee House, Moor Lane, Bolton, said: "All these glorious surroundings are all very well and good but if you can't swim when you get there, it's no advantage.

"It was a waste of time us going. If a person is disabled it takes more time and trouble to get to places and to find out we couldn't use the pool was annoying.

"Cold water would be even more uncomfortable for a disabled person."

The centre itself, with a membership of up to 200 people, has a wide range of facilities for physically disabled adults.

Bolton Council leisure chiefs confirmed that the hydrotherapeutic bath should operate between 92 and 94 deg F.

But a faulty sensor has led to the pool's water being a chillier 88 to 90 deg F, meaning unsuspecting swimmers would have had a shock if they had taken to the water.

Instead staff members advised potential swimmers not to take the plunge.

Assistant director of leisure services Paul Walker said that council engineers are working to repair the fault as a matter of urgency.

He confirmed the latest malfunction followed on other recent boiler room problems at the centre.

He added: "We would like to apologise for the inconvenience caused through this. It is obviously the last thing we would want to have happened. We have had problems before with the boiler room.

"Staff members notified engineers as soon as the fault was identified and they are already looking to rectify the problem as soon as possible. Obviously customer consideration is vital to us."