The 77-year-old reckons he's got a genuine phobia of birds – yet every night he has to go to sleep to the sound of cooing and fluttering from the balcony of his Fleetwood home.

And after years of complaining, the former taxi business owner, says landlord Regenda housing association still have not solved his problem.

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He said: "You get the smell and lots of tiny flies – it's been like this for three-and-a-half years."

The housing association has placed a net over the balcony and have also installed deterrent plastic spikes.

But the dogged birds manage to get under the net and even sit comfortably on top of it.

Phobia

Mr Austyn, who lives at the Marine View apartments on The Esplanade, said: "I wouldn't harm a bird for all the tea in China.

"But I have a phobia and I can't be near them when they are flapping about.

"If one came in through the window I would be gone. I'm 6ft and 16 stone, but I can't stand them."

For a while Mr Austyn tried his own DIY solution – a plastic hawk. But eventually the pigeons got wise and ignored it.

To avoid smell and flies from the bird muck he keeps one of his two windows closed, even in hot weather.

Mr Austyn suffers from breathing difficulties because of his emphysema and also has angina.

He said: "My doctor said I could get problems from pigeon mites and spores but he couldn't say for sure without tests which would take
months.

"But it's certainly not doing me any good."

The netting has been in place for 18 months and he complained again six weeks ago, but still doesn't have a solution.

Regenda bosses said they would look into the matter.

A spokeswoman said: "The contractor we used is no longer in business and we only just found that out.

"We are finding an alternative. We have a few people we can use and it will be sorted as soon as possible. We will resolve this problem."