A BABY was fighting for her life last night after being taken to hospital with pneumonia.

Fifteen-month-old Niamh Callaghan was taken to Darlington Memorial Hospital on Sunday morning after her mother Helen found her lying "purple and floppy" in her cot.

Ms Callaghan was told yesterday that the next 24 hours would be critical for her daughter.

"She's now really, really poorly," said the distraught mother-of-four. "She has deteriorated. I'm just so worried."

Ms Callaghan, a single mother, hit out at electricity firm Powergen after the company left her family without heating on Friday night.

She and her children moved into their home in Darlington at the end of January and immediately contacted Powergen to ask for a key card for the electricity meter.

Instead of a key card, the company sent out a workman who put £25 on the meter.

Since then, Ms Callaghan, a social work assistant, says she has made at least six calls to the company to try to obtain a card to top the meter up.

On Friday, Niamh, an asthma sufferer, was discharged from hospital after a bout of bronchitis.

That evening, at 6pm, the electricity meter ran out and the family, including Cameron, six, Imogen, four, and Samuel, two, spent the night without heating, bitterly cold and huddled in blankets.

"I spent more than three hours on the phone to Powergen on Friday night, trying to get them to come out with a key," said Ms Callaghan, 26.

"I put Niamh in pyjamas, a dressing gown and three blankets. I put three quilts on my own bed and I was freezing cold. We all were."

"On Saturday, a Powergen workman arrived at 10.30am without a key but put £5 on the meter. The next morning, Niamh took a turn for the worse. I walked in the bedroom where Niamh was and she was just purple and floppy. Being without heating would not have helped her get better."

A key for the meter arrived at the family's home yesterday. A Powergen spokeswoman said: "We were very concerned to hear about this incident and would like to apologise to Ms Callaghan. We're currently investigating the situation."

A hospital spokeswoman described Niamh's condition last night as "poorly but better than she was".