News

A Gurkha soldier serving at Shorncliffe Barracks has been forced to accept a £100 payoff after being discharged from the British Army following 18 years of service.

Rifleman Padan Limbu, who was badly injured after being shot during a training exercise almost five years ago, has also been made homeless after Army chiefs told him they wanted his room back.

He was staying with friends and trying to find a bedsit after being ordered to leave the barracks near Folkestone.

Mr Limbu, 39,  who served Britain in East Timor and Bosnia during his long career,  was left unable to serve on the front line after being hit in the back of his calf by a stray bullet during training in Canada in 2002.

He claimed last night that he had repeatedly pleaded to be allowed a desk job with the Army, but his requests had been turned down.

He said he will take the Army to an employment tribunal and claimed he had been tricked into signing release forms.

He had been told if he failed to do so he would be sent back to Nepal and would also have to pay his own airfare, he added.

He is being supported in his battle by the Gurkha Welfare Trust, but in the meantime he will have to find his rent, food and other living costs out of his pension of around £130 a month.

His treatment comes only six months after an apparent victory for the Gurkhas when the Government finally agreed that those who joined up after July 1997 would receive a pension equal to their British counterparts.

Gurkhas' rights campaigner Peter Carroll,  a former Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate, said he is backing Mr Limbu's case.

Mr Carroll said anyone who knew of the role the Gurkhas play in the Forces would be horrified.

The MoD insisted the Rifleman had been correctly dealt with and may be eligible for help with accommodation and disability payments.