A pensioner is angry after paying for flu jabs to help him through the winter because he could not get one in time on the NHS.

Vincent Talbot and his wife Jean are so upset they have written to Health Secretary Alan Milburn to complain.

Mr Talbot, 84, tried to get a vaccination at his local doctors' surgery in Longridge Avenue, Saltdean. Mrs Talbot, 59, wanted one too.

But they were told no vaccine would be available until well into next month.

The Talbots contacted East Sussex Health Authority, which could not provide a list of GPs prepared to do the job for a fee.

Eventually they found an agency called Euromed. Mrs Talbot, of Westmeston Avenue, Saltdean, said: "The cost was £50 - cheap indeed compared to the cost of a funeral."

Now Tory councillor Geoffrey Theobald has taken up their case.

He said: "I have also been contacted by other people from Saltdean and Rottingdean who say there is no flu vaccine available until the middle of next month.

"There are many elderly people in this area and I am extremely concerned the NHS is letting them down with what could be dreadful consequences."

He has asked East Sussex, Brighton and Hove Health Authority to make vaccines available as a matter of urgency.

But the authority said the vaccinations were a matter for each individual surgery.

A spokeswoman for the Longridge Avenue practice said supplies of the vaccine had been delayed but there would be enough available.