Council is holding me to ransom with rising debts after I became paralysed

JAMES IS DESPERATE TO MOVE INTO HIS OWN ACCOMMODATION

- By LOUIS CORBETT

A MAN left paralysed from the waist down after a gardening accident says he can't afford the care he is being forced to pay for and has little hope of a way out any time soon.

James Prosser, from Bilborough, was gardening for his parents when he blacked out in March 2025. He woke up surrounded by the beeps and shouts of a hospital, only to be told that he had been paralysed from the waist down by a neurological condition.

After two months in hospital, surgery and aftercare, the 34-year-old was able to go home but this was not easy as he lived with his parents, one of whom is already disabled.

In need of space for his equipment and his own care, he ended up having to register himself as homeless in May 2025.

Since registering, he was told that there was no available supported living accommodation, leaving the former ambulance care assistant with no choice but to be admitted to St Martin's Care Home in Bilborough in July 2025, at a heavy cost.

As James is on benefits, universal credit and the mobility component of PIP, he is entitled to £700 of benefits each month, with the council-run care home asking for a bill of £600 for his monthly care.