Dundee veterans have been shut out of a service designed to help them with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Terry Brannan and his father-in-law David McKay have both been banned from the Veterans First Point centre after aggressive behaviour a symptom of the illness the centre is supposed to help them deal with.
Both men were involved for years with the centre, which was known as the Tayforth Veterans Project Centre before it was combined with NHS Tayside.
David served for 15 years in the army and after he returned he lived as a “shut-in”, without any support, before he was diagnosed with severe PTSD three years ago through the service.
The men say the incident on Thursday October 8 was sparked over changes to the service, including to opening hours, and culminated in shouting and both of them being asked to leave.
David said he had attempted to take paintings he had donated off the walls because he had heard they were no longer wanted.
He said: “I suffer from anxiety and when I heard the place was changing I got upset. Yes, I shouted at them. My anxiety was through the roof but no one was hurt.
“Four of those people are supposed to be trained for PTSD and no one came and tried to help me calm down.”
Terry said: “At the end of the day, we are ill. Some of us can snap. They didn’t deal with it properly.
“A woman who works there was standing screaming in our faces. You just don’t do that to a combat veteran with mental health issues. It was like a bomb going off in my head.
“We did nothing except raise our voices. Now we are banned from a service which is supposed to help us.”
Police were called after the incident and attended at the men’s homes the following day to inform them they had been banned.
Terry has since received a letter telling him not to come back, and David said that although he tried to apologise the following day, his call was not answered.
Since then, he said, a number of veterans have been boycotting the centre in solidarity.
Both Terry and David have spent time at specialist combat stress clinic Hollybush House in Ayr but say the great benefit of having a local service in Dundee is that people do not have to leave their homes for weeks on end.
A spokesman for NHS Tayside said: “Due to patient confidentiality, we are unable to discuss individual cases.
“However, NHS Tayside has a very strict zero-tolerance policy to any kind of abuse, both physical and verbal, against any member of our staff, patients or visitors, which we vigorously enforce.
“We take each and every incident extremely seriously as it is a fundamental right of our staff that they can carry out their duties without having to face any kind of abuse.”
A police spokeswoman said: “Police Scotland attended at City Quay at 11.15am on Thursday 8 October following a disturbance. Two men were warned regarding their behaviour.”