A pensioner injured when he fell down a broken manhole cover is demanding a year's free council tax for his "lost year".

Don Knight, 81, spent more than two months with his leg in bandages after becoming trapped in a manhole while he crossed Charlton Road, Wantage, near the Lord Nelson Inn.

Two years on, despite repeated phone calls and letters, he is still waiting to hear who was responsible for maintaining it.

Oxfordshire County Council's area engineers informed Southern Electric in September 2002 about the incident, which happened in March 2002. But Southern Electric, which is responsible for maintaining the manhole, said it had no record of the incident.

Mr Knight's wife Sybil and a passing neighbour helped free him and took him to the health centre in Garston Lane.

Despite regular medical attention over the next 10 weeks, the wound became infected and he was forced to cancel a holiday.

In September, while in hospital recovering from a heart attack, he received a letter from the county council's highway claims department saying the accident could be attributed to work carried out by Southern Electric. It said that the electricity board had been informed and he would be contacted, but he never was.

Mr Knight said: "Nobody seemed to be bothered and I still don't know who was responsible for maintaining the manhole. I propose that I be excused at least one year's council tax for what I now regard as a lost year."

Southern Electric spokesman Jennifer McGregor said: "We have no record whatsoever of Mr Knight or Oxfordshire County Council.

"We do want to sort it out for him, so we would ask him to write to our insurance department."