HOUSEBOAT owner John Hunt said he has been "driven to depression" by the prospect of losing his dream home in a hearing at York County Court today.

Mr Hunt's 57ft, 50-ton boat, Waterlily, has been moored near Skeldergate Bridge, York, since 1998, after an eviction order forced him to move from another part of the River Ouse.

He claims City of York Council allowed him to moor at the spot, beside St George's Field Car Park, if he paid council tax and provided his own facilities.

But Mr Hunt, a postman, was today due to appear before York County Court, for proceedings of trespass to be brought against him.

Mr Hunt, 59, who is currently on sick leave, said: "I'm not a well man at all, I'm suffering from stress and anxiety.

"I've never been like this before, I just can't see any way out. If I'm told to move my boat tomorrow, I don't know where I could go. This boat was my dream - now it's turned into a nightmare."

Mr Hunt said he had been financially crippled by a huge bank loan to install a generator on the boat.

He said: "People think it's glamorous and exciting living on a boat, but it's not. It's very hard work when you don't have the proper facilities, when you can't have a washing machine and you can't have a fridge."

Mr Hunt swapped his terraced house in South Bank, for the houseboat ten years ago.

The boat has electricity, running water, large comfortable rooms and two double bedrooms.

In 2000, he rode out the floods in Waterlily, stranded for 19 days on the river.

A spokeswoman for City of York Council, said Mr Hunt was moored illegally and a Yorkshire Water sewage outlet near the boat made mooring there a health hazard.

She said: "We're concerned about Mr Hunt's own safety as well as other issues. We served notice on him in July 2001, so we've given him plenty of notice that this was coming. Because complaints about him have escalated, and because we have had no response from him, we served notice on him on May 23, 2003, and issued the court papers on May 29. The council always tries to work with people and resolve issues before they get to court."

Updated: 10:27 Wednesday, June 04, 2003