Camping commuter angry with MPs

Mr Hanman camps outside London from Tuesday to Friday

A man from Cornwall forced to live on a campsite when he works in London during the week has said he is "disgusted" by the MPs' expenses scandal.

Philip Hanman camps in Epping Forest, Essex, from Tuesday to Friday, because he said he cannot afford a second home.

He said he would "love" a job in Cornwall but there was nothing in his "line of work" available locally.

Mr Hanman's MP, Andrew George, has rejected claims his daughter lived in a flat he claimed mortgage interest for.

Mr Hanman, a council benefit fraud investigator, said: "I see Mr George (Lib Dem MP for St Ives) has a £300,000 second home in Rotherhithe.

Politicians are coming out with exactly the same excuses that benefit cheats do Philip Hanman

"I would very much like him to come out to Epping and share the bliss of the forest and see what life is like outside the sheltered environment of the Palace of Westminster.

"Just to see how ordinary people who have to work a long way from home have to live.

"I interview suspected benefits cheats every day of the week and the politicians are coming out with exactly the same excuses that they do."

Mr Hanman, who is married with two children under 10, said it costs him £100 a week to commute to London and £7 a night for the campsite "plus money for food".

The only furniture in his tent, apart from the Cornish flag of St Piran flying outside, is an army sleeping bag and "brew kit".

He has been camping in Epping each summer for four years. During the winter he stays in a nearby conference centre.

"Last summer it was foul weather," the former Territorial Army member commented.

"Dressing up in the morning to attend court for my job when you're surrounded by mud takes some doing."

"I'm pretty exhausted by the time I get home to Penzance.

"I would love a job in Cornwall, I really would, but there's only one council here and no positions in my line of work or similar available."

'No private profit'

Mr Hanman believes MPs should have accommodation in London like the army's Union Jack club, where servicemen can stay the night for a low cost.

Earlier this week Andrew George MP said he was "incandescent" about newspaper allegations his student daughter lived in the London second home he was claiming mortgage interest and furniture for.

He also said he was against MPs profiting from the sale of their second homes and any capital gains tax should be returned.

"Parliamentary allowances are not there for private profit or gain," he told BBC News.