EPPING FOREST: 'Camping Commuter' hits out at MP's second homes (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)

EPPING FOREST: 'Camping Commuter' hits out at MP's second homes

1:21pm Tuesday 19th May 2009

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A CORNISH MAN who spends his working week living on a local campsite has spoken of his anger over the MP's expenses scandal.

Philip Hanman, lives in Penzance, Cornwall but during the week he travels 330 miles to live at the Debden House campsite in Loughton and commutes into London, where he works as a Council benefit fraud investigator.

He admits it is an unusual lifestyle, saying: "Getting up at seven in the morning to put on a suit and get ready for work is a bit odd, the other campers must think I look a bit strange, as they're all on holiday. There are others like me but they're mainly manual workers, I think i'm the only one that works in an office."

"When I first got the job I was staying with my mother in Cambridge, but that was still a long commute each day and was costing me a fortune in petrol and wear and tear on the car."

He added: "Its been so good here, I've met so many kinds of people there's a lot of the same faces each year, and I meet people from all over Europe."

Mr Hanman lives on a modest budget, with tent hire costing £7 a night. His biggest outlay is still commuting into work, which sets him back £100 a week.

In contrast, the MP for Epping Forest, Eleanor Laing lives in Theydon Bois, on the central line but also owns a flat in London for which she claimed £117,445 between 2001 and 2007.

She previously said she had to maintain two homes to be an efficient MP but admitted the system should be overhauled adding: “It needs to be totally reviewed. We need to have a much clearer system because it leads to confusion.”

Mr Hanman said: "If I can do it, she can. Where we are in Debden its only ten minutes on the central line -I don't see any problem with doing that at all.

If I lived in Epping Forest i'd just get the tube - it's not a big problem so how can they justify it?"

He added: "I would suggest to all MP's that they stay in the Union Jack club, which is right by the House of Commons, that's where I stayed when I was in the Territorial Army. These MP's need to see how real people live."

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