According to the most recent figures, one million Britons claim to have gotten a tattoo during a late night drinking session.

But for one man, the consequences proved particularly severe. Not only did Lee, a father-of-five from Grimsby lose his job, his facial tattoos have also resulted in social ostracism and his children being picked on at school.

So desperate to get rid of them did the 35-year-old become, he even resorted to trying to scratch them off using a cheese grater.

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Disaster: 35-year-old Lee says his facial inkings have ruined his life and left him an outcast

'I went from a hard-working father to unemployed overnight,' says Lee. 'I find it hard to get a job of any kind and as for paid work, I haven't had any in five years.

'Interviewers say "I don't think you'd be quite right for this position" and I know it's because of my face.'

Lee's ordeal began following a drunken party. After the discussion moved to inkings, a friend boasted he could make a tattoo gun. Much to everyone's surprise, he did.

'He got a little motor, some biros and this welding thing and he came back an hour later with this machine,' remembers Lee.

'I thought: "This is pretty cool!" He didn't have any ink so someone went and got a printer cartridge and we all thought: well this will do! It was nuts!'

Unemployed: Since getting the tattoos, the Grimsby father-of-five has been unable to find a job

Difference: Lee wishes he had kept his face tattoo-free and says people judge him for his tattoos

The next morning, much to his horror, he woke up to find three wobbly tears etched into his cheeks with jet black ink.

'When I sobered up I looked in the mirror and thought: Who are you? What the Hell have you done to yourself? You look like an idiot,' he remembers.

'It looks like an alien sneezed on my face.'

Worse was to come. On his first day back at work after getting the tattoo, his bosses called him into the office and gave him the sack.

'The first day I went back in after having the tattoo, they said: Sorry, you can't work here. Bye-bye, see you later. Straight away.'

But almost as bad was the daily abuse he began to receive and the social ostracism that followed.

'When I'm out and about in town, I get stared at pretty much 24/7,' he says. 'Old ladies cross the street and clutch their handbags like I'm going to nick something of theirs.

'I've been called Coco the Clown, a murderer... I think people think I'm some kind of psychotic clown gangster sort of thing.'

Lee has also had to watch his children be bullied at school as a result of his inkings. 'It makes me feel guilty all the time,' he admits. 'Knowing they're suffering because of something I did.'

Desperate to remove the inkings but unable to afford laser treatment, Lee hit rock bottom and decided to take drastic action.

'I've got a nutmeg grater and I've been trying to grate them off my face,' he reveals. 'It didn't work, so I tried a cheese grater.

Awareness: Lee, who appears on Bodyshockers with Katie Piper, hopes others won't repeat his mistake

Brighter future: Lee, who is now having laser treatment, tried to get rid of his tattoos using a cheese grater

'I grated them quite a lot and I thought, "oh, it's coming out" because blood was coming but I woke up the next day and they were still there - with scabs too.'

Lee, who has now begun laser treatment to remove the etchings, says he would tell anyone thinking of getting a facial inking not to have it done.

'Bascially, I've regretted it since the day I got it done,' he says. 'People think they can call you every name under the sun.

'What affects me most is people's preconceptions of who I am. Because of the tattoos, they always expect the worst of me.'