SMARTLY dressed and proudly wearing his Second World War medals, defiant pensioner Fred Estall marched into Eastleigh's Civic Offices to make a last stand in his council tax protest.

Backed by about 40 supporters from anticouncil tax campaign group Isitfair, 81-year-old Fred, of Foord Road, Hedge End, used a wheelbarrow to deliver the last £132.50 he owed in pennies.

"I'm telling them that my pension is peanuts and I'm paying my council tax bill in peanuts. I'm not on the breadline, but someone has got to put on a show. The tax is so unfair," he declared.

The grandfather of three, who served in the Royal Navy during the Second World War, had refused to pay his council tax until someone explained what his money was being spent on. He had even said he would go to prison before paying up.

He stopped paying last October, but in January was ordered by magistrates to pay the outstanding sum of £452.

Yesterday was D-Day for the £132.50 he still owed to be paid and Fred was determined not to go out with a whimper.

Backed by supporters - some from as far away as Buckinghamshire and east Dorset - Fred took part in a placard-waving, whistle-blowing parade around the streets outside the Civic Offices in Eastleigh's Leigh Road before everyone crowded into the building to see Fred's high-noon showdown.

Isitfair member Margaret Forrest, of Bishop's Waltham, said: "Fred is an ex-naval man and has given his services to the country.

"He is more than 80 years old and I think he has been treated abominably by the courts in trying to force the money out of him. We are here to support him."

A council spokesman said the pennies had been accepted, the money would be counted and Mr Estall would be sent a receipt.

Fred said: "I'm very pleased they accepted it. They were very nice about it."