A DISABLED victim of the APW pensions scandal today spoke of his deep sense of bitterness towards the company he gave nearly 30 years to.

George Dunford, calling for action by politicians, implored: "Give us back a bit of respect."

He is among more than 1,000 members of a final salary scheme who have seen their dreams of financial security left in tatters by the American-owned electronics company near Southampton.

Retirement funds have been slashed by 80 per cent in a bid to save APW, which has a £55m black hole in its pension fund.

George, who has Parkinson's disease, was to draw his company pension on his 65th birthday in just three weeks' time.

He was also due to collect a lump sum of £25,000 on the same day, which was earmarked to pay off the mortgage on the bungalow he lives in with wife Andrea in Sholing, Southampton.

But the former machinist, who was on £22,000 a year, has been told by scheme trustees that he won't receive a single penny of the lump sum, and that his annual pension is being cut from £7,000 to just £1,848.

George paid into the pension fund for 26 years, and racked up just under 30 years' service with Chandler's Ford-based APW and its previous owners.

The father-of-two said: "It's a working life wasted. I feel very, very bitter. We have well and truly had it. I thought I had a bad enough time when I was told I had Parkinson's, but now this."

He added: "The company knew there was a £55m deficit but it kept taking our money - that's despicable. No words can tell you how I feel."

George, who was made redundant in March, said their house in Garrick Gardens may now have to be sold as a last resort.

George and Andrea, 65, a recently retired clerical worker, have a combined state pension of £6,240, meaning they will have to both live off £8,088 a year when the reduced APW pension is added - half what they had banked on originally.

Andrea also has a tiny pension of £230 a year, bringing the total value of their annual pension to £8,318.

George said: "We are clutching at straws, and we cannot fight this on our own.

"Hopefully we can get out of this with a bit of respect."

The Daily Echo tried to contact David Gallitano, who is the president of parent company APW in America, but he was away for today's Thanksgiving, which is a national holiday to celebrate the end of the harvest.

An APW spokesman in Wisconsin, where the corporate headquarters are based, said of the problem at Chandler's Ford: "We certainly know what's going on. I do not think there is much else to say."