A HAMPSHIRE pensioner has vowed to carry on fighting the Government’s compulsory retirement age of 65 despite a ruling by European judges that it is legal.

Anna Johns, from Southampton, is one of 17 campaigners included in Age Concern’s legal battle against forcing UK workers to retire at the age of 65, claiming it is against EU laws on employment discrimination.

The 73-year-old says she will keep fighting the retirement age even though the European Court of Justice yesterday ruled the UK’s law is not discrimination when they are backed up by legitimate aims, “such as those related to employment policy, the labour market or vocational training.”

Daily Echo: Click below to see a video of today's headlines in sixty seconds

The High Court, which sent the case to Luxembourg for clarification of the law, will now have to make a final ruling on whether the aims of the Government’s 65 retirement age are “legitimate’’.

“It’s not over and I will continue to fight,” said Anna, who was forced to leave her customer services job at Solent SD Ltd three years ago.

“Ideally I would like to get my job back, although I know that can’t happen in the current climate.

But the point of this is to stop it happening to other people.

“I am a young 73-year-old who wants to go to work and I am still very able to, and there are a lot of us who can still do our jobs. It is not right to force us out at any age if we can still work,” she said.

Anna, who volunteers every week at Southampton General Hospital, is part of a campaign by Age Concern Hampshire who are representing 17 people at employment tribunal who claim they lost their jobs because of age.

After losing her tribunal, Anna won on appeal, and in June last year Solent SD took the decision of the Employment Appeals Tribunal to Judicial Review.

There it was heard in The Royal Courts of Justice and all three judges agreed with Anna’s claim and awarded her costs.

The EU verdict, which was seen as a test case, still leaves about 260 legal actions pending in tribunals, while thousands more pensioners who were forced to retire against their will, have compensation claims waiting if the High Court's final ruling decides the compulsory retirement age is not justified.

About 25,000 workers are estimated to lose their jobs at 65 in the UK every year, when they would be happy and able to carry on.

Chris Perry, director of Age Concern Hampshire said they are making progress and are confident the compulsory retirement age will be lifted due to the Government’s contradictory rules at a time when people are being told to work for as long as possible.

“We haven’t lost because of the EU ruling,” he said.

“They said it is not necessarily a breach of EU law provided it is part of their employment policy aim.

“But I don’t see how that is possible when you are sacking people at the age of 65,” he said.