A COUPLE who spent their life savings on a doomed two-year battle over a telephone mast now face financial ruin after being presented with a claim for £400,000 in legal costs.

Agnes Ingvarsdottir, 61 and her husband, Ericur Petursson, 63, began proceedings to have Hutchison 3G’s mast removed after the telecommunications company installed it on the roof of a restaurant opposite their home.

Soon after the mast became operational in August 2003 the couple and their son, Neils Erickson, 42, said that they began to suffer nausea, headaches and other health problems. But their attempt to prove that the mast caused the symptoms was thrown out by the High Court and they were instructed to pay Hutchison 3G’s legal costs.

The company has now presented the couple’s solicitor with a statement of its costs, which amount to £407,398. The company said that it had offered the family numerous opportunities to settle out of court.

Mrs Ingvarsdottir said yesterday that her family cannot pay. “We face financial ruin. We have no way of ever getting anywhere near paying this,” she said. “It is just unbelievable. We have no money. Even if the figure they eventually are awarded is less I doubt we could pay. The case was dragged out and it drained us of our savings.”

The family moved into their three-bedroom, Grade II-listed Georgian house in London Road, Worcester, in 1999, after coming to Britain from Denmark. Their son ran the family business, designing and making air filtering systems, from the property.

All three of them claim that they began to get ill when the mast became operational. Mrs Ingvarsdottir said: “Our lives just changed, it became very hard. We suffered headaches, nausea and vomiting, tinnitus and cardiovascular disease. I developed a blood clot in my leg, which I believe was caused by the mast.

“We have always been healthy people but suddenly we got everything going. I got chest infections. My guts were infected and my teeth started to fall out. It was like there was no immunity any more.” She added: “The doctor said there was no guidance on treatment of illness supposedly caused by phone masts. We had to move.”

They sold their house for £220,000 in August 2005, £50,000 less than it had been valued in 2003. Their new home, in Upper Colwall, Worcestershire, is surrounded by a conservation area.

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Science News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Sarah Brown says 'no thanks' to veal at G8 - twice
• Stockton-on-Tees is obesity capital of Britain
• Stores blame poor sales on Murray factor