A train driver who has worked for Eurotunnel for 30 years was told certain employee benefits were being cut, all because he has reached retirement age.

Stephen Horne worked on constructing the Channel Tunnel before becoming a driver but when he turned 66, the company wrote to him telling him they would not be contributing any longer.

His health insurance, death in service benefit and his income protection policy for long term sickness and accidents were all stopped.

Although the company's actions were entirely legal, an MP has now taken up Stephen's case as an example of highlighting workplace age discrimination in a bid to change the law.

Mr Horne, from Deal, said: “I’m doing the same job I was doing before I was 66. I can’t see why I shouldn’t receive the same pay and conditions.

"I’m pleased my MP is putting forward a change in the law to stop this happening to others.

"However, I am also still hoping that the company will think again and put this straight in relation to me.”

Mr Horne, who worked in the construction of the tunnel itself in the 1990s, got a letter from his employers as he approached his statutory pensionable age telling him of the change.

It said he could not be sacked because of his age but his benefits would be terminated.

Details of this were relayed in the House of Commons by Dover MP Natalie Elphicke on Wednesday.

During the debate, she proposed a bill to change the law to tackle age discrimination against older workers in terms of workplace benefits.

The new law proposed by Mrs Elphicke would stop companies taking away benefits such as healthcare insurance and death in service from workers who carry on working past retirement age.

"What's happened is shocking and unacceptable..."

She said the change is vital to treat older people fairly and to support older workers who choose to stay in the workplace.

Mrs Elphicke said: “What’s happened to Stephen is shocking and unacceptable but what’s even more shocking is that it is currently legal.

"It’s so important to treat older people fairly in the workplace and support older workers who chose to continue in their jobs past retirement."

She said there now are a million people in employment who are over 65, contributing 32 million hours of work in an average week.

Mrs Elphicke added: "The number is continuing to rise sharply. Age discrimination, like any other form of discrimination, is humiliating, demeaning and damaging.”

The Bill is to amend Section 9 of the Equality Act 2010.

At present this makes it lawful to prevent health and insurance employment benefits on the basis of age.

Mrs Elphicke said she had written about the case to the chief executive of Getlink, the operator of Eurotunnel, to ask that it reconsider Mr Horne's case, not least because of his long service and commitment to the company.

The bill was read for the first time on Wednesday and will be read for the second time on Friday, November 24.

The law change has been supported by MPs from across the political spectrum.

A spokesman for Eurotunnel said: "For reasons of confidentiality we cannot discuss individual contractual details, however we support the actions of Natalie Elphicke MP to clarify the law in relation to this issue and are in regular contact on the subject."