|PIC1|Comedian Tim Vine handed in 20,000 postcards from Tearfund supporters for Gordon Brown on Thursday, demanding urgent action in tackling the sanitation crisis in the developing world.

The letters were delivered to Downing Street to mark World Toilet Day. Around the world, 2.5 billion people are without a decent toilet, while 900million people worldwide do not have access to clean water.

Vine said: "This situation is out of order. Going to the toilet and having clean water are basic necessities, something we take for granted. We cannot sit back and allow what is a basic human right to be denied to millions of people."

To draw attention to this injustice, Tearfund campaigners Lis Martin and Rachel Tiffany joined with Tim Vine and loo seats covered in thousands of signatures as an unusual petition hand-in.

"The stark facts speak for themselves," said Vine. "We need the UK Government to act now by joining with other governments to support poor countries to develop plans to provide sanitation and water for all, and to make sure that these plans do not fail due to a lack of funding."