An elderly woman died after she was unable to call for help because the phone company had disconnected the mobile she kept for emergencies.

Sheila Secker, 78, had been given the pay-as-you-go phone by her son, but as she had not used the phone for some time it had been cut off.

When the grandmother collapsed in her home in December, she could not contact her family and died in hospital a few days later, the Sunday Times reports.

Cancelled: As Sheila Secker had not used her pay-as-you-go phone for any chargeable services, Vodafone retired her number without warning

Mrs Secker's son Steve told the newspaper how his mother had owned the mobile phone for 14 years, and recently topped up the credit, but had not made any calls.

Shortly before her fall, Mrs Secker moved into a new home, near York, and had yet to have a landline installed, so relied on her mobile.

Mr Secker told the Sunday Times' Money section how the family raised the alarm the next day after not hearing from his mother, and emergency services were called.

Mrs Secker died in hospital on New Year's Day.

When Mr Secker contacted Vodafone he was told his mother's number had been retired, and that a 'glitch' in the system had allowed the elderly woman to continue to 'top up' her credit.

Take heed: Most major mobile phone operators regularly 'recycle' numbers when they have been out of use for a three to six months

'What I cannot fathom is, if Vodafone has retired a number, how can it permit money to be taken as a top-up,' Mr Secker, 46, told the Sunday Times.

'This is nothing more than a rip-off to add insult to injury'.

Most major phone operators regularly 'recycle' phone numbers when they have been out of use for a certain time.

A Vodafone pay-as-you-go mobile is put into 'semi-quarantine' if no chargeable calls or texts are made for 90 days.

After a further 90 days the number is disconnected, and 270 days later the number is recycled and given to another customer, with any credit on the phone lost.

EE retires a pay-as-you-go number after 180 days of inactivity and O2 disconnects a pay-as-you-go phone after six months of no chargeable services.

Tesco Mobile allows six months of inactivity before sending the customer a text to remind them to use their phone again, or their number will be lost.