'My son has textitis'

Barry sent a message once every two minutes

A teenager has presented his father with a huge mobile phone bill after sending more than 2,500 text messages in just one month.

Barry de Lacey sent out £216 worth of text messages to his friends when he got his new mobile, according to the Sun newspaper.

His father, also called Barry, was so stunned by the bill he immediately called the phone company to complain.

But he was forced to accept his 14-year-old son was the culprit when he was sent a 38-page fax itemising all 18,678 units of phone time used.

The newspaper says Barry tapped out more than 80 texts a day to friends on his phone, not realising how much each one cost.

Barry de Lacey : "I hit the roof"

He sent a message, on average, once every two minutes, at times spanning from 9am until 2am.

His father Barry, from Wolverhampton, told the paper: "I've invented a new name for the disease - textitis.

"You see kids in the street and on buses doing it all the time and it's all got out of hand.

"I just don't know how he could keep awake to send out so many messages.

"When the faxed bill came through the machine went berserk and was churning out sheets for 10 minutes. I hit the roof when I saw it."