A disabled grandmother has lost her battle to cut down two huge trees which she says leave her trapped inside her home.

Linder Ladbrooke, 50, asked the government if she could fell the lime trees outside her home after the local council said no.

She says she is housebound for weeks each year when leaves from the trees outside her home in Long Eaton, Derbyshire block drains flooding her front garden.

But John Prescott has agreed with Erewash Borough Council and said the 80-foot trees must stay.

Foot stamper

Mrs Ladbrooke, who uses an electric wheelchair to get about, says huge pools of water gather in her garden meaning she cannot get out.

The grandmother-of-10 says the problem has been going on for eight years.

She said:"It just gets worse. If I could stand, I would stamp my feet.

If they had been demolished, the street would have looked quite bare

Dave Andrews, councillor

"I don't want to get rid of those trees because I don't like trees, but because they cause me problems.

"We have gone right to the top and can't make people change their mind."

The former telephonist, of Cleveland Avenue, says the sticky sap from the 70-year-old trees clings to the leaves, which fall and block her drains.

Sympathy given

The mother-of-four has now been told she could be fined �20,000 if she chops down the trees, as both are protected by Tree Preservation Orders.

She has spoken to a lawyer, who says she has a case for the European Court of Human Rights, but it would cost thousands of pounds to go to court.

Councillor Dave Andrews, chairman of the council's planning committee, says the council sympathises with Mrs Ladbroke.

"The question was over the lime trees being part of the street scene.

"If they had been demolished, the street would have looked quite bare."