A LABOUR party worker went to hospital with chest pains after an incident when Liberal bosses tried to gain access to their rivals' election headquarters.

Labour claim a row with Liberal Tony Greaves and Pendle council leader Alan Davies led to Mohammad Razaq, 54, going to Burnley General Hospital. The hospital has confirmed Mr Razaq was admitted but allowed home later.

Labour allege political adviser Mr Greaves acted in an "irate and threatening" manner and took photographs of the Stanley Street Labour committee rooms in Whitefield when he was denied entry by party officials.

The incident was reported to police and is being investigated by a senior officer.

Former Liberal group leader Mr Greaves - who is acting as agent for candidates in the forthcoming borough council elections - today dismissed the claims as "nonsense" and denied there had been any row. He said: "We got a tip off that the Labour Party were proposing to undertake illegal activities at their Whitefield committee room. We were in the centre of Nelson at the time and we thought we would check it out."

"We asked to speak to the person in charge and spoke to Mr Razaq and requested entry - it is customary for agents to check out other party committee rooms."

Mr Greaves said when permission was refused they simply left without argument.

"There are many witnesses who will tell you that is all that happened," he added.

But Coun Ali, who complained to police two weeks ago that Mr Greaves threatened to "smash his face in", says there was a row and party workers were subject to intimidation by the Liberals.

Mr Razaq claimed Mr Greaves and Mr Davies made their request to inspect the rooms in an aggressive and threatening manner. "I got ill because I thought I had done something wrong by not allowing them in and I would get into trouble for it," explained Mr Razaq, of Every Street, Nelson, who suffers from angina.

"They wouldn't say why they wanted to inspect the rooms. They were pressurising us to let them in." Police at Nelson confirmed a complaint had been received and the matter was being investigated.

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