GULF conflict veteran Ian Farmer is going into battle again as he takes on borough bosses in a row over war pensions.
The 43-year-old former Royal Naval petty officer from Portland who served in the Gulf War suffered serious liver and spleen damage which means he can never work again.
He claims his life is made more difficult by Weymouth and Portland Borough Council's refusal to disregard pensions when working out housing benefits and council tax relief that injured veterans are entitled to.
But borough treasurer David Furley says all cases have to be worked out on an individual basis but the level of war pensions now disregarded has increased this year to £45 and that figure will continue to rise year on year until the entire benefit will be discounted.
Yet even after the success of the Dorset Echo's campaign with the Royal British Legion to win new concessions from the borough council, veterans like Ian are still counting the cost.
He said: "It would just be nice for them to do what is right. Weymouth and Portland is one of only a handful of authorities that chooses only to disregard a portion of a war pension before calculating benefits and rebates for people like me.
"It is so demoralising to have to fight just to get people to do what is right."
Ian and his wife Catherine have two young daughters - Eloise, five, and two-year-old Alicia to support. Catherine cannot work because Ian isn't well enough to look after his daughters.
He said: "I feel as if I am being penalised after having served my country and becoming ill while there are other people who perhaps have never worked in their lives but are better off than I am under the current system." Ian, of Woolcombe Road on Portland, says he became ill after being subjected to a cocktail of innoculations and drugs while serving in the Gulf.
Today he becomes tired very easily and is forced to use a motorised wheelchair to get about. He says several times a week his condition becomes so bad that he falls into a 'dead sleep', which leaves him paralysed from the neck down while he recovers his strength.
Ian served in the Royal Navy for 17 years and during the Gulf War was stationed on HMS London.
He took part in operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
He added: "We find it very difficult to manage financially. Anything the council could do to make our lives easier would be a help."
Mr Furley said: "We are moving towards a situation when we will disregard the total amount paid in war pensions, but these changes will cost the borough council a lot of money and they have to be phased in."
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