A MAN who successfully battled on his father's behalf to win compensation for a war injury has failed to get bureaucrats to apologise for their treatment of war veterans.

David Butterfield and his sister Mary Creasy won a landmark victory for their late father in the High Court in 2002.

But Mr Butterfield, former head of human resources at Kennet District Council, claims that veterans are continuing to be neglected and mistreated by the system.

"It's absolutely amazing that we can win the appeal, the judge criticises both agencies, our parents lose tens of thousands of pounds and no changes take place to the workings of these agencies," he said.

"We are not able to even question how the Pensions Appeal Tribunal Service works.

"We have tried to highlight how this affects other war pensioners but Government ministers are clearly not interested."

Mr Butterfield's father, James, who lived near Barnsley, Yorkshire, had served in the Royal Artillery during the war in Italy and North Africa where he contracted hepatitis.

A stomach operation necessitated by the disease meant that he was unable to be treated for the serious heart condition he developed in his 60s.

He applied for an extra war pension in light of his heart condition, but in August 1998 his claim was turned down by the War Pensions Agency, now known as the Veterans' Agency.

So began a four-year fight for justice which Mr Butterfield junior and his sister thought they had won when the High Court decision came down in their favour in 2002.

Unfortunately, their father died of heart failure two years before the High Court victory but it meant extra money for their 82-year-old mother, Kathleen.

Now Mr Butterfield and his sister have come up against a brick wall of bureaucracy when trying to have the Veterans' Agency and the Pension Appeals Tribunal Service investigated by parliamentary watchdogs.

They asked the Parliamentary Commissioner for Maladministration to investigate but they were told the office has no jurisdiction to investigate either agency.

A letter to Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon has remained unanswered and so has one to the Minister for Veterans' Affairs.

Finally, after almost a year of correspondence, the Parliamentary Commissioner has agreed to investigate the criticisms of the Veterans' Agency raised by the High Court decision.

But Mr Butterfield said the struggle should not have been necessary.

"No veteran of my father's age or state of health would have been able to continue with the court case in the way my sister and I, who are younger and more robust, were able to," he said.

"There are issues of serious concern for all war pensioners as a result of the failures expressed in the High Court judgement.

"It begs the question of how many other war pensioners have suffered through unfair and unlawful practices being followed by the Pension Appeals Tribunal Service and the Veterans' Agency."

Mr Butterfield added: "It should be a matter of concern for Parliament that there is an aspect of our democracy where an agency cannot be challenged or called to account where its actions and behaviour have been found to be unlawful."