A war veteran who faces potential homelessness after being medically discharged from the army with mental health issues has accused the authorities of not doing enough to help service families adapt to civilian life.
Father-of-five John Brotherston served with 1 Scots for 23 years, including tours of Iraq, Afghanistan and Northern Ireland.
He said he knows of numerous ex-squaddies who now find themselves homeless or struggling to survive on civvy street. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has defended its efforts to help veterans.
Mr Brotherston contacted The Courier after being served with an eviction notice that will force him and his family to leave their army married quarters in Rosyth.
While the MoD has allowed him to stay at the Ferrytoll Place property since being discharged from the army in January, a 28-day eviction notice was served to him at Dunfermline Sheriff Court on October 17.
The family, who are settled in local schools and college, would like to stay in Fife. They moved to the region in September 2013.
However, unable to secure a suitable council property or private let, the family now reluctantly plan to leave Fife on November 10 and return to the couple’s home town of Galashiels, where the family own a small house.
Mr Brotherston, who is married to Marie, believes more should have been done to let them and their five children, aged from five to 17 years old, stay.
He said: “Me and my family wanted to settle in Fife. My three younger kids go to primary school in North Queensferry and my oldest daughter goes to Dunfermline High School.
“My wife is also in full-time education at college in Dunfermline.
“The council have constantly advised us to become homeless as they can’t house us. We are now having to move from Fife. My daughter has to drop two of her chosen exams, my wife needs to travel 117 miles, three times a week to continue her college course, I may have to give up my new job and my six-year-old son, who is being investigated for autism, will struggle with a new school.”
Mr Brotherston said he had emailed local politicians but said “no one is all that interested” in his plight. Out of 28 properties on the estate, 10 already sit empty.
He added: “And all this after 23 years’ service. Me and my family are not alone in this.”
Alistair Black, Fife Council area housing and neighbourhoods team leader, said: “We’ve been working with Mr Brotherston to try and find him and his family a suitable property.
“Under normal circumstances, Mr Brotherston and his family would be allocated a house using a points system. Anyone discharged from the armed forces, or who can no longer stay in army accommodation, would be entitled to 75 points.
“You’re entitled to keep these points until you’ve been allocated a property, secured your own accommodation or removed or withdrawn from the housing list.
“This includes anyone who has been discharged for a number of years but who hasn’t managed to secure accommodation.
“However, we simply don’t have any houses available at this time that fit the family’s needs.
“We’ve given Mr Brotherston advice on his housing situation to try to help him and we’ll continue to do our best to help with what is certainly a very stressful ordeal.
“We hope that a solution can be found, although, realistically, the family may have to reconsider some of their housing options.”