THE family of a disabled man who are faced with a huge bill to repair a specialist bath are appealing for help to repair it.

Nathan Booth, 21, of Oakwood Drive, who has had cerebral palsy from birth, needs the Aquanova (Gemini) bath with a special platform to enable him to safely get in and out of it.

The bath sprang a leak last November.

His mum Catherine, who cares for him full time, was told that the bath, which cost £5,000 ten years ago, could not be repaired by the maker.

But as she was short of cash to buy another one, she looked for an independent specialist to come and sort out the problem with the old bath.

She said: “The bath is so important for his quality of life and he is very prone to falls or trips. I decided to employ a Stoke-on-Trent firm Medecare, who came along to replace a ‘refurbished wet end’, which was attached to the pump. The man who repaired it also gave me a 12 months warranty on the work and charged me £285.

"However, within a few months the new piece started leaking.”

Attempts by Catherine to get the firm to come back and deal with the fault failed and over the summer she took her case through the online County Court who ruled in her favour and ordered the firm refund a total of £325.

Catherine now understands that the man has gone out of business and he has told her that, as such, he is no longer liable for the debt or to repay her the money he charged.

She said: “This is so frustrating because the bath has been leaking water since June and the only way I can now take enforcement action against him is to pay out at least £200 to a solicitor.

"I just don’t know what the point is of the small claims court is if it can’t impose its decision on people like this.”

The County Court advises that somebody who is owed money can order an individual debtor to attend court to provide evidence of their income or spending, for example bills and statements.

Catherine added: “To replace the bath would cost at least £5,000 and that is money we just don’t have, but it would improve Nathan’s life considerably if there is somebody out there who could fix the leak properly for us.”

If you know of anyone who can help out you can contact Catherine by email at mcnk@hotmail.co.uk