A VETERAN who has lived in a caravan for four years wants a site set up to give former troops a home.

Nathan Gray joined the army in 1995 and was stationed in Bosnia but was medically discharged in 1998 after being wounded. That experience has affected him mentally and he suffers with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Since being back in the UK the former Swindon resident has struggled to integrate back into society, something he said “has become common for military men”, with many former service personnel finding themselves homeless.

The 44-year-old said: “No residential sites are available for us yet there are traveller camps being set up all over Wiltshire."

He claims he has met hundreds of people throughout Wiltshire who have resorted to living vans and moving from location to location, as he does.

Nathan added: “It seems like there is just no help being offered to people who have served for their country – I just don’t understand it.

“If there was a piece of land we could call home to create a community amongst us it would help so many people.

“The treatment of veterans is unacceptable, the Armed Forces Covenant and Community Covenant needs to be properly enforced.”

A spokesman for Wiltshire Council said: “We take our duty towards all ex-service people in the county extremely seriously indeed.

“As part of our commitment to honour the Armed Forces Covenant, we are deeply involved in protecting and promoting the welfare of the men and women who have served their country and community so faithfully.

“In this instance we will do all we can to help the gentleman concerned and one of our officers will visit him soon to see if we can offer any immediate help.”

A Swindon Borough Council spokesman said: “We are not aware of dozens of veterans living in caravans in Swindon.

“Travellers are a recognised group and have been identified as having special circumstances which is why we have both our Hay Lane residential site and the Chiseldon Firs Transit site in Swindon. Although we do not have such sites specifically for armed forces veterans, we are more than happy to meet with Mr Gray to discuss his housing needs.We do give preference to ex-forces personnel when allocating housing. In fact one of the houses at the former Royal British Legion site in Penhill was offered to an ex-forces household.”

The Veterans' Association says 15,000 former serving personnel are homeless.