A 22-STONE disabled charity worker is to spend four days and nights in a squalid industrial park in order to help orphaned children.

Rod Jones is to spend the rest of the week sleeping at his Stockton loading yard with a wagon container and eight carousels for insurance reasons.

He had hoped an army of volunteers would help him load the 22-tons of carousel parts last Saturday on a wagon to be taken to Romanian orphanages.

But despite his appeal through newspapers and contacting church groups across Teesside, not a single volunteer turned up. As a result, Mr Jones had to send the empty wagon back to Manchester.

Fortunately, bosses at wagon hire company Bergen agreed to send another lorry free-of-charge from today to Saturday so Mr Jones and his team have another chance of loading up the vehicle. However, the company stipulated that he stay with the wagon for insurance reasons.

Mr Jones, who runs a charity for Romanian orphanages called Convoy Aid, bought the eight carousels more than three months ago from a former fun fair operator for £1,000.

He and a small team of helpers have spent three months collecting the carousels and loading them into boxes for transportation.

Mr Jones has heart problems, deep vein thrombosis and is a chronic diabetic.

He said: "It certainly will not be pleasant staying in the yard. There are no toilets, no running water and no lights and it is not the nicest place in the world at the best times. However, I can hardly ask anyone else to do it."

The carousels will be taken to orphanages across Romania along with 11 rolls of industrial carpet and medical equipment.

Mr Jones said that three or volunteers working for three or four hours over the next four days would be enough to load the equipment.

He said: "It's not me they would be helping, but the children in Romania.

"We'll take Christian volunteers, Muslim volunteers or anyone at all.

"If only people could see what things like this mean to the children, I'm sure we'd have hundreds of volunteers."

The loading and storage yard is at Blue House Point Road in Stockton. To find out more, call Mr Jones on (01642) 613106 or 0787 6077110.