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An elderly swimmer has been banned from using her local pool on her own because of health and safety regulations.

Maureen Blake, 76, has spent the past 11 months using the indoor swimming pool at the Holiday Inn as she bids to improve her fitness ahead of a knee operation.

However, bosses at the hotel in Hertfordshire have now told Ms Blake that she will no longer be able to use the facility unless she has a carer with her because of fears over her safety.

Maureen Blake, 76, has spent the past 11 months using the swimming pool at the Holiday Inn hotel in Elstree

Ms Blake claims she had visited the pool each morning accompanied by a group of friends, and that her daily trips are an important part of her social life.

She said that many of the people who swim at the hotel in Elstree are older than herself.

However, staff say that it is against the hotel's policy to allow anyone who requires assistance getting in and out of the pool to swim unaccompanied as the facility is unmanned.

Ms Blake was asked by the hotel's management to get a form signed by her GP that stated she would be able to swim unaided, which the doctor decided not to do.

But Maureen has insisted she is capable of visiting the pool alone, telling the Borehamwood Times: 'I'm broken-hearted. I used to get up at quarter to six every morning to go there as it was only about a mile.

Pensioner Ms Blake lives in Borehamwood in Hertfordshire and has used the pool at her local Holiday Inn for the past 11 months as she bids to improve her health ahead of a knee operation 

'My life was so different but now sometimes I don't get dressed until three or four in the afternoon. 

'It was lovely there – I'd made friends with so many lovely people, most of them older than myself, but it seems to be just me that can no longer go.'

Holiday Inn has now refunded one month's membership, but insisted that Mrs Blake will also need to have a form signed by her doctor to be able to use the pool in the future.

Angela Fairgrieve, general manager of the hotel, said: 'The safety of our guests and our employees is our primary concern.

'The pool at our hotel is unmanned and therefore we ask all guests who require assistance whilst entering and exiting the pool not to swim unaccompanied in case of an emergency.

'Ms Blake is welcome to swim in the pool provided her doctor gives her the all clear to swim unaccompanied. Her safety in an unmanned pool is our primary concern.'