BY BERYL PATEMAN

D-DAY found battling home-owner Alan Nuttall ready and waiting for the bailiffs.

He had barred the way through the front door of his Valley Road home in a bid to keep out the men he believed would turn up last Wednesday.

He had vowed they would have to handcuff him to get him out.

But no one came and the 61-year-old loner, who is defying a council order to quit, is still hanging on. Every day he anticipates a knock on the door and a demand for the keys.

"I am getting more and more stressed and can't sleep at night, but there's no way I am just going to hand over my house," he said.

Mr Nuttall accepts that his leaving and the eventual demolition of his house is inevitable. His furniture has already left, safe in the hands of his family.

"I just have my mattress on the floor, a chair and TV. They will have to throw me out. I have no plans about where I will go. My children are worried about me of course and want me to go to them. But I don't want to have do that. Whilst I am fit enough to fend for myself I will," he said.

A last minute bid to block his eviction failed.

The borough council has Government backing for the Compulsory Purchase Order they served on him after he refused to hand over his Valley Road property to enable Bett Homes to redevelop the whole of Crewe's Moathouse estate.

Sympathisers launched a bid to persuade councillors to change their minds.

It was led by Cllr Gwyn Griffiths who wrote to Chief Executive Alan Wenham suggesting a meeting involving Mr Nuttall, the authority and developers in a final effort to sort out the dispute.

In reply, the council boss ruled the idea out, stressing that the council needed "to be firm when required".

He claimed that the authority had been fair, reasonable and flexible. Mr Nuttall had been offered a £70,000 Bett home at a bargain price, although not on the site of his present home as this had been earmarked for more expensive properties.

"I am very disappointed by Mr Wenham's response," said Cllr Griffiths.

"I am not sure who gains by taking such a negative position. Mr Nuttall loses his home, while the council is likely to face a lot of criticism for adopting a heavy-handed position.

"What has anyone to lose by making one last effort to get round a table, to look for an agreement which would satisfy all those involved?" he added.

Picture - Hanging on in there - Alan Nuttall with the door he has reinforced to keep out the bailiffs.