CHRIS Tague is sleeping behind bars tonight in a prison cell of his own making. He has built an amazing giant steel cage in his front room and locked himself inside in a bid to avoid being forced out of the home he owns. Now he intends to live in the huge wire box, which reaches from wall to wall and floor to ceiling, for the foreseeable future.

Mr Tague told Citizen reporter Alex Tate through the bars of his 15ft sq cage: "I moved in here on Sunday night and I will not come out until the council make me a sensible offer for my house.

"The council want me out - well, I'd like to see them try and get me out of here! They sent me a Notice of Entry saying they would come and take possession of my house this week."

Lancaster Council plan to bulldoze Mr Tague's house on Parliament Street, Morecambe, as part of a regeneration scheme which would include a children's play area and a car park.

Compulsory purchase orders have been made to force owners of property on Parliament Street to sell.

But Mr Tague claims the offer of just over £17,000 for his four-storey terrace is ridiculously low.

City Council Chief Solicitor Mike Dudfield said: "Mr Tague is not happy with his offer and as a result he has referred the matter to the Lands Tribunal who, no doubt, will arrange for a hearing.

"But I fail to see how building a cage is going to help him change the offer on his house."

He warned that if Mr Tague did not give up his house voluntarily the council would have no option bu to apply for a warrant to remove him. After years of waiting in vain for an improved final offer, Chris was shocked to receive a brief letter from the council's solicitors saying they would take possession of his home this week.

Now Chris, who has lost both his businesses since the order was made, intends to stage a sit-in protest with his brother Andrew in the home-made cell which took the pair three weeks to weld together from scrap metal.

He explained: "I've got a bed and a telly in here, and my girlfriend brings me food - I can last for ages."

The only other items in the sparse cell are a slop bucket, a dumbbell for exercising and takeaway food cartons. Chris will also be facing freezing temperatures when he sleeps in the cage as vandals have smashed the glass in his barred window.

Despite all this he remains resolute. "I will fight on until I get justice," he said.

The owners of two other properties on Parliament Street are contesting the council's offers, including cancer sufferer James Howard, 49, who was too ill to comment at the time of going to press.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.