A FAMILY is facing financial ruin - in a bitter row with the Child Support Agency.

Mark Jefferies, 38, is separated from his wife and is now struggling to support their two young sons aged nine and 11.

His commercial tyre-fitting job earns him £1,500 a month.

But after the £600 payment to the Child Support Agency (CSA) and the cost of looking after four other children with his new partner, he is left with little more than financial heartache.

Mark, who lives in Wilcox Close, Gorse Hill, pleaded with the CSA to reduce his payment to £300 a month over two years, instead of £600 a month over one year.

But his offer fell on deaf ears.

And his dire financial situation now means his new family, made up of children aged 16, 15, three and seven months, cannot visit their dying granddad.

Mark and his 37-year-old partner Tracey Newman cannot afford to pay to travel to visit William in Camberwell, London.

Tracey's 58-year-old dad has terminal lung cancer and heart problems and has been given just months to live by doctors.

"It's not that I don't want to support my two boys, I do," said Mark.

"I see them every day as they only live a few minutes from my house. I want to pay for them and assist them in any way I can.

"I just think the amount the CSA is asking for is unmanageable for me.

"I can't understand how they can justify taking that amount of money. I've tried reducing it but they say I'm responsible and have to pay.

"It's been such a difficult time for us with Tracey's dad being ill. We used to visit him twice a month but we haven't seen him since before Christmas."

Mark has made one payment of £600 so far and is trying to contest the next one, due at the end of this month.

He says the hefty CSA bill has meant he has fallen behind in his council tax bills by £238.

And he's three months behind on payments to Littlewoods amounting to £600, as well as owing £400 in phone bills.

A spokesman from the Child Support Agency said: "The CSA is committed to getting more money to more children. Both parents should take financial responsibility for their children.

"When calculating child maintenance payments, we always take individual circumstances into account.

"In any cases where child maintenance is not paid, arrears will build-up and we will do everything in our power to secure payment for the benefit of the children involved.

"Unfortunately we cannot comment on individual cases, but we can confirm we will be in further contact with Mr Jefferies."