AN ELECTION may be in the air but as scrap man Terry Birt doesn't officially exist at any address in the Forest, he can't apparently vote.
And that's only part of his problem. Terry's home beside his scrapyard off Valley Road in Cinderford, was last year billed for Band C council tax, but the authorities won't give him relief to which he is financially entitled because, they say, he DOESN'T live there.
Nor will they give him grants to improve the property, he says, because it is in too bad a state.
"I feel like I've done something wrong but I don't know what it is and nobody will tell me," said Mr Birt, 64, who spends his time when he is not at his yard caring for his 88 year-old mother who lives in Dockham Road, Cinderford.
"On one hand they tell me they don't believe I live there – yet they've rated it for tax. And naturally I spend a lot of time with my mum – in my age it is natural to look after our parents when they need it. But I don't live there – it's a rented home anyway."
He has been back and forth to the Forest of Dean District Council and has enlisted the help of the Citizens' Advice Bureau – now an appeal is pending on March 28.
And he has obtained and filled in voting registration forms but has yet to hear back from the council.
"I have even asked them if they think I am committing a fraud, because it seems like it. But I've never had a penny out of them in council tax relief, nor any improvement grants.
"I looked into improvement money the year before last, when I was told they had no money remaining for that financial year, and I started filling in forms last year. But council staff told me I should sort the tax matter out first and the application never went in.
"As for voting, I have never had any papers sent to me for years."
And now he fears that even if somebody starts sorting out the polling problem it will not be in time for him to vote in May, the month widely tipped for a general election.