A FEISTY grandmother held the key to a stand-off against central heating workmen - by locking their tools away until they agreed to do a better job.

No-nonsense Worcester gran Mary Mahtesian took drastic measures when she decided work on her house was not up to scratch.

The 70-year-old locked their tools in an upstairs bedroom until they promised to rectify the work they had carried out on her 100-year-old home.

Work to install a new central heating system at her Droitwich Road home began on Monday.

But she claims workmen did not tell her in advance that the water pipes would stretch from the bathroom through the living room ceiling down to the floor.

She said her front room was an "eyesore" and her bathroom and landing were strewn with debris and dust.

"If I knew that was what they were going to do, I wouldn't have let them in to do the job," she added. "There was a lot of mess. When I saw it I thought 'blooming hell' - they didn't put any dust sheets down on the stairs and landing."

When the workmen from a company sub-contracting for Premier Heating Installation turned up yesterday morning to continue the work, Mrs Mahtesian was at the end of her tether and confronted them.

"I said 'If you want to play dirty, so can I'," she said. "I locked up their tools and said I didn't care if they took me to court."

The issue was resolved later when Ray Hazell, from Bristol-based Premier Heating, visited her and promised to find another set of workmen to do the work again today.

He added he would be present to tell the new workmen exactly what work to do.

"It wasn't a good job," said Mr Hazell, "It isn't our usual standard."