A GIPSY widow claims that hornets feeding near her caravan are making life a misery and wants action to be taken.

Mizelly Johns, aged 53, says that the flying insects - which can inflict a severe sting - have forced her out of her home and she has to stay with relatives on the site and in other towns.

Mrs Johns and her daughters, Tina Reynolds and Tracey Haines, have asked Wychavon District Council to destroy the nest or, if they cannot locate it, cut down the trees to remove the food source. But they say so far not enough has been done.

Furthermore Mrs Johns has been told by a Worcestershire County Council officer that the nuisance is "part and parcel of country life."

"The site is being done up in January, so they don't want to spend any money on it now," said Mrs Haines.

"But in the meantime we are being tortured by the hornets. They come into the mobile home - we've got a box full of them which we've killed with a piece of paper."

Mrs Johns, who was widowed five years ago, said: "I haven't slept in the caravan for weeks. When I put the light on at night it attracts them through the windows, sometimes three or four at a time.

"The pest control man put spray on the trees but it still didn't stop them."

In a letter to Mrs Johns, Sam Smith, gipsy services officer for Worcestershire County Council, said his department had done as much as possible and advised her not to antagonise or annoy the hornets and "allow nature to take its course".

He told the Journal: "We could have had this resolved before but we do not know where the nest is. It could be a mile away."

Mr Smith added he would be visiting the site again with a pest controller this week.