A FORMER combat medic launched a one-man protest against Universal Credit outside the Leominster Job Centre.

Dressed in his uniform and surrounded by his week’s worth of food from the Leominster Community Larder, 45-year-old Daniel Johnson made a solitary demonstration to highlight his plight under the government’s benefit system.

He has been left living on £8 a week after a series of events saw him relying on weekly Universal Credit payments of £155, of which £147 goes to cover his bills and accommodation expenses.

Mr Johnson’s problems began when, during a quiet period for his garden maintenance business, he took on casual extra work as a lorry driver to help make ends meet.

Unfortunately Mr Johnson, who left the army in 2004, suffered an accident whilst at work when an insecure load fell on him, leaving him with three fractured vertebra in his neck.

Since the accident, Mr Johnson has been unable to return to work. He remains under consultant led care and continues to suffer severe pain, for which he is still taking high doses of prescription painkillers.

However, despite possessing a sick note from his consultant, a Work Capability Assessment carried out on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions to assess his fitness to work has deemed him fit and able, a decision with which he vehemently disagrees.

Mr Johnson said: “The government is expecting me to live on £8 a week. “The health assessment I had was carried out by a Healthcare Assistant, a non-professional body.

“They are superseding a consultant, a GP and mental health professionals who are all saying I’m unfit for work. “I’m still taking very high doses of morphine, no-one taking that much morphine would be fit for work.”

In addition to his recent spinal injury, Mr Johnson also suffers from post traumatic stress disorder which was diagnosed in 2006, and remains under the care of mental health professionals.

His case has been taken up by the former Mayor of Hereford, Councillor Jim Kenyon.

He said: “The job centre have been brilliant, and have put an action plan into place. “The staff have identified issues and I feel they’ve done an excellent job.

“The problem is that decisions are made in government offices, and it’s people at the front line who take the brunt of it.”