AN EX-SERVICEMAN has been told to leave his care home in Canterbury because of his habit of smoking in bed.

David Allen had been in hospital receiving treatment for an abdominal illness when the manager of the High Meadow Nursing Home, in Old Dover Road, served him with an eviction notice.

Just days before he was due to be discharged he was told there would be little point returning to the home he had lived in since December, 2002, because he would have to move out anyway in the first week of March.

Staff at the residential home were concerned about him smoking in bed and felt he was compromising the safety of himself and others.

At 59, Mr Allen is the youngest of 27 residents in the home, but injuries he sustained on active service in Borneo in the 1960s have worsened and he now requires constant care.

He has suffered with bowel and abdominal problems since his time with the Army, and a fall in the home last summer left him with a broken hip and wrist. Further complications set in after two life-saving operations.

He says it was when he then returned to the home that the care he was receiving deteriorated, which left him depressed and coincided with him falling out with his children.

He explained: "They tell me they're not happy with me smoking in my bed, but I've only been doing that recently because I haven't been able to get about." Mr Allen moved from Eastbourne 15 months ago because he wanted to be nearer his daughter Hazel Morris, who lives in Herne Bay, and son Christopher Allen, of Walmer, whose mother Jean, Mr Allen divorced in 1996.

"My son and daughter stopped seeing me and ringing me a few weeks back because of all my problems. It got so bad that just before Christmas I tried to commit suicide.

"The doctors sent for a psychiatrist and a psychiatrist nurse and their report stated there was nothing mentally ill with me - what I was suffering from was mental cruelty. The new manager at the home has tried to make things better for me."

The new manager, Nicky Bowles, said: "He will serve the remainder of his 28-day notice period here and it is hoped by ourselves that he will now be found a placement more suited to the needs of a gentleman of his age."

The £741 per week care home fee will continue to be paid by the Army Veterans Agency which Mr Allen is turning to for help in finding a new home.

"I just don't know what's going to happen when the 20-odd days are up," he added. "I have no idea where I'm going."