DISABLED mum Amanda Robbins claims an impatient official threat-her six-year-old daughter that her father could be arrested for not answering the door quickly enough.

Amanda says she could not get to the door quickly because she is registered disabled with painful pelvic problems.

Husband Brian could not answer because he was in the bathroom when the official came knocking recently, she claims.

The 41-year-old mum-of-one says he was moving across the living room towards the window to check who was at the door but Phoebe got there first.

"Phoebe got there before me and opened the window," said the Cinderford mum.

"When she asked what the official wanted, they said that if her daddy did not come to the door he could be arrested.

"It was an outrageous thing to say to a six-year-old. It took me an hour to calm Phoebe down and she's still not convinced that her daddy isn't going to prison."

Amanda claims the official, who did not show any ID, did not give them a chance explain that she is disabled and Brian, 43, is her main carer.

"I tried to tell the official how outraged I was that they had spoken to my daughter like that, but they just said if we hadn't been acting so stupid it wouldn't have happened," said Amanda.

The official called at the family home in Cinderford recently as part of a council initiative to visit 5,000 homes which have not completed an electoral registration form.

More than 65,000 forms were sent out in August and residents were told to fill them in by November 19.

Council leaders say around half of the 10,000 reminder forms dispatched at the end of September have still not been sent back.

Now officials are trying to collect names for the register which will be published on December 1 and form the basis for the district and parish elections scheduled for May 5 2011.

Amanda said they filled in the register, which is required by law, but when she phoned the council to complain, she was told to put it in writing.

Marie Rosenthal, electoral registration officer for the district, said: "We have been contacted by the family involved about this situation. We have explained the registration process to them and encouraged them to write to us with full details of the alleged incident so we can investigate thoroughly what has happened here.

"Our canvassers have been contacting households who have not yet returned their electoral registration forms. Each year the council has to produce a list of names and addresses of people eligible to vote in local and parliamentary elections."