A FORMER nurse with progressive multiple sclerosis has been judged to have improved enough to have her motability car taken away.

Penny Aitken, who worked as an anaesthetic nurse for 30 years, but had to retire due to ill health, has now been forced to borrow £3,500 to buy herself another car to get to her appointments and classes.

The 53-year-old, from Marton, Middlesbrough, suffers from the degenerative MS illness, as well as chronic fatigue syndrome and uses a stick or rollator, or on bad days, a wheelchair. But the Department of Work and Pensions says she no longer has enough 'points' in their system to qualify for a motability car.

She said: "I am quite a positive person but this just gets me so down.

"I filled out another form and every answer I gave was that my condition had got worse, because it has, it is degenerative.

"But they came back to me and said I didn't have enough points to keep my motability car.

"They came and took it away and I have had to borrow money to just get a little banger because without a car I am lost.

"I have a real balance problem and just can't manage on buses."

Mrs Aitken cannot work because of her condition but said the amount of red tape she was having to face to prove how ill she was, time and time again, was getting her down.

She tries to get to Pilates and Yoga classes regularly to keep her mobility for as long as possible and wouldn't be able to get there without a car.

She said: "I had a diagnosis two years ago but I have had symptoms for about five years.

"What I have got is progressive so it will just steadily get worse.

"I had to have an assessment with something who didn't know much about MS at all, if anything. They must have assessed that I was better than last time but that isn't possible.

"At first I thought I would manage with taxis but it wasn't feasible with some of the health problems I have."

A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions said: “Decisions for PIP are made following consideration of all the information provided by the claimant, including supporting evidence from their GP or medical specialist.

“Anyone that disagrees with a decision can appeal."