A FORMER soldier who has suffered two heart attacks and two strokes is battling to be given his Army pension early.

Barry Ansell, who served 12 years in the Royal Artillery, has been told by doctors that he will never be able to regularly work full-time again as he also struggles to breathe due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and has limited vision.

The ex-49 Field Regiment lance bombardier, of Bankhead Road, Northallerton, said after 17 years as a lorry driver, he reluctantly gave up his job in 2007 after suffering a heart attack.

The father-of-five, 54, said although he had been given the Disability Living Allowance after a medical assessment, officials he had never met at a Ministry of Defence (MoD) office in Glasgow told him he was not sufficiently unhealthy to receive his Army pension six years’ early.

Last year, Mr Ansell’s GP, Dr Catherine Todd, of Mowbray House Surgery, in Malpas Road, Northallerton, wrote a report to the MoD to support his early payment claim.

After his claim was refused, she wrote a letter of appeal to the MoD, in which she detailed her concerns, saying Mr Ansell had also suffered from depression following a catalogue of health issues.

However, the MoD’s Service Personnel and Veterans Agency said following repeated reviews of Mr Ansell’s medical history, two of its medical advisers had independently concluded “on the balance of probabilities” that Mr Ansell would be capable having a regular full-time job.

Mr Ansell said he was desperate for money to provide for his youngest daughter, Charlene, nine, but struggled to perform everyday tasks, such as light lifting.

He said he would press his MP, William Hague, to get the MoD to reconsider as he expected to have regular and lengthy admissions to hospital in the coming years.

He said: “The MoD has strict rules over authorising early pension payments, but no one there has examined me and in six years I could be dead.

“I feel the Army has let me down, and I feel sorry about the way the ones coming back from Afghanistan with arms and legs missing will be treated.

“They say they look after their own, but once you hand in your ID card, you are not considered.”

Jackie Reid, head of Veterans Services at the Ministry of Defence, said Mr Ansell had the right to appeal again, this time to the Discretionary Awards Review.