A TEMPORARY reprieve has been granted to two Morecambe homeowners who face eviction from their West End properties. Hours after Sunday's midnight deadline passed for Chris Tague and James Howard to quit their Parliament Street homes, Lancashire's Under Sheriff arrived for talks. Andrew Wilson went to meet council chiefs after spending more than an hour in discussions with the protesters. Now, he has told the pair, they have until Friday morning to leave peacefully.

Mr Howard's spokesman Paul Leigh said: "We have got a stay of execution. They are coming to ask us to leave at 10am on Friday and if we say no they will go ahead.

"The next step is forcible eviction but the only thing that will change our minds is if they increase their offer."

Lancaster Council has a compulsory purchase order giving them the right to buy every property on Parliament St which is to be demolished and replaced with a carpark.

Council valuers offered £60,000 for Mr Howard's house, but he will only accept £85,000.

Chris Tague, 28, who has locked himself inside a metal cage built in his bedroom to avoid eviction, did not come out for the talks.

He said: "This nightmare has been going on since June 1993 and it seems stupid to me that Lancaster City Council cannot wait an extra couple of months for the Lands Tribunal to give its decision.

"We are being treated as criminals when in actual fact we are the victims in this situation."

After the meeting, his brother Andrew, 31, said: "To get us out it would take an offer of £55,000 which the house has been valued at. Otherwise they will have to pick me up and carry me out."

Mr Wilson stated he still has a warrant to evict residents and if they do not have a change of heart he will carry it out.

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