A CHARGE of hypocrisy has been laid at the door of Preston Borough Council by war pensioners angry at their treatment.

Council dignitaries lined up on Remembrance Sunday this week to honour those who gave their lives defending our country.

Yet those ex-servicemen who survived the wars are still fighting a long, drawn out battle - to stop council discrimination against them for receiving a war pension.

Preston Council is the only authority in the county which does not disregard all the income from war and war widows' pensions when calculating rent and council tax rebates.

Now, even Preston Mayor Ron Marshall admits his council should have been ashamed of itself during the Remembrance Sunday Service and is demanding a change of policy. He said: "I think members of the council should have hung their heads in shame.

"Many women have lived half their life alone and have brought up families without a husband because of the war. As the Mayor of the town I must keep this issue alive."

In Preston the first £30 of a war or war widow's pension is taken into account when deciding whether someone is eligible for benefits - for some this can mean life on the breadline.

Kenneth Duggan, Secretary of the Royal British Legion, Preston Branch, said: "Some have had to come to us cap in hand." But Town Clerk Jim Carr defended the council's stand, adding that all pensioners over 70 receive a free bus pass, unlike their peers in the rest of the county.

He said: "The council has every sympathy with the individuals concerned but the council believes it's the Government's responsibility to make the disregard of war pensions mandatory."

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