The super-charged grandmother whose touch blows up kettles

or most of us, making a cup of tea is one of life's simpler tasks.

For Mavis Price, however, it is fraught with danger - because she can blow up kettles just by touching them.

The 60- year- old grandmother seems to have a freakishly high level of static electricity coursing through her body.

She estimates she has destroyed 15 kettles in the last few years. Housework has also become a problem, with 20 irons and ten vacuum cleaners biting the dust after falling foul of her apparently supercharged touch.

And her friends and family are often left with their hair standing on end after touching her.

Mrs Price says her bizarre condition also means she cannot keep a computer in her house because they go berserk at the brush of her hand.

"I am just an electrifying person really, who seems to build up an unusual amount of static," she said. "People have suggested going to the doctor, but I don't know what they would be able to do.

"It is all a bit mind-boggling really. No one has ever been able to offer me an explanation to why this happens to me. I seem to carry far more electricity than normal people.

"People can often get electric shocks just by standing next to me. My grandson sometimes tells me off for holding his hand, because he gets a short, sharp shock from me.

"It doesn't just happen at my house either. When I go to my daughter's house, the television crackles as I walk past it and people's hair stands on end by touching me or standing next to me.

"I think the only option might be to wear a diving suit, rubber gloves and wellingtons."

Widow Mrs Price says her unusual experiences began more than 50 years ago and she has been causing havoc ever since.

The retired community development worker, from Telford, Shropshire, added: "I first noticed it back in the 1950s when I plugged in a television set and ended up blowing up the television and flying across the room.

"Since then, I have spent thousands of pounds on new household goods every few months. When I take them back to the shop to try and explain, I always get told they have stopped working due to wear and tear. But how can a kettle stop working after just a few months? It's ridiculous.

"I had a really bad day last week where I got up, turned the light on, and managed to blow the fuse. Then I went to the supermarket and broke the checkout.

"They had to close the checkout down and said nothing like it had ever happened before.

"Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse I went to get some photographs printed and managed to completely freeze the whole machine."

Mrs Price said her electro-curse can create such mayhem that she was once unable to finish a training course.

"I went on an IT course, but it was a nightmare because every time I touched the computer it would either freeze or shut down.

"The technician had to constantly come over to my machine to see what was wrong and he was completely baffled."