A DISABLED veteran is battling to return home more than six years after a benefits mix-up saw him evicted from his bungalow and sent 300 miles to a North-East shelter.

Michael Atkinson, who has post-traumatic stress disorder, was rehoused in Woodland, near Bishop Auckland, in 2011, after his rent went unpaid as changes to his benefits were processed.

The former soldier was unable to get back to Hampshire in time to save his possessions, all of which were thrown into a skip, including precious photographs and valuable books.

He has fruitlessly applied for houses in his home county ever since, with the stress triggering a heart attack last year.

The Northern Echo:

He said: “I’m half the man I was. This has broken what was left of me.”

The 60-year-old was medically discharged from the Army’s Royal Hampshire Regiment in 1983 after nine years, including two tours in Northern Ireland. Despite medication, he regularly suffers from nightmares and flashbacks.

Mr Atkinson moved into the bungalow, owned by housing association Radian Homes, in Selborne, near Alton, in 2006. He received some housing benefit, but paid most of his rent from his war pensions.

In 2010, Mr Atkinson was told he was eligible for Disability Living Allowance (DLA), which would also entitle him to full housing benefit. He was awarded DLA on June 7 that year.

Mr Atkinson claims he phoned East Hampshire District Council and alerted them to the change. He says he was told not to worry if he received letters from Radian Homes about unpaid rent while his housing benefit claim was processed.

However, East Hampshire District Council claims there is no record of this call.

As the months went by, Mr Atkinson received warning letters from Radian Homes, but having been told to expect this and distracted by his mental health issues, he ignored them.

Finally, in April 2011, he was summoned to court. When he returned, Radian Homes had changed the locks on the bungalow. The only emergency accommodation available was a homeless veterans’ shelter in County Durham, 300 miles away from his support network.

The council claims it was only made aware of the housing benefit application after the eviction. This was processed, and the money owed to Radian Homes paid, but Mr Atkinson was already homeless.

While in the hostel, Mr Atkinson met fellow veteran David Tindale. Despite having lost his own home, Mr Tindale was shocked by Mr Atkinson’s story and vowed to help him. The 59-year-old, from Crook, has being fighting Mr Atkinson's corner ever since and set up Changing Step (North-East), a veterans’ support service.

He said: “Hampshire is often referred to as the home of the British Army. Here is a veteran who is not only from Hampshire, but who served with the county's regiment, and he’s lost his home because of maladministration. All we want is for them to put right their mistake and for Michael to be given something comparable to what he had.”

Mr Atkinson said: “I want to go back to Hampshire with my head held high. I don’t want people to point at me and say there is the veteran who didn’t pay his rent. That’s not what happened. ”

An East Hampshire District Council spokesperson said the authority was doing everything possible to find Mr Atkinson a new home in his preferred location.

“We have great empathy with his position and have given him a very high priority, however he has quite specific needs and we have not yet had a suitable property become available.

“If we had had the right information on Mr Atkinson’s entitlement to DLA when he was in his Radian-owned home we may have been able to help him earlier and prevent his eviction.

“Unfortunately, we have no record of Mr Atkinson contacting us about his entitlement to DLA until after the eviction in 2011.”

Radian Homes said it would not comment on individual cases.