A Garston dog owner who has been homeless for eight months is not considered a priority by Watford Borough Council because of his charity work.

Steve McMahon, 47, and his dog Lionel have been "sofa surfing" and sleeping in a car since he was evicted from his Third Avenue home in October.

But the council refuses to class him as "priority need" because a petition which had been handed to Watford mayor Dorothy Thornhill last year to highlight Steve’s contribution to the community, was taken by the council as evidence he had friends in the town and was therefore not a priority case.

Mr McMahon, a former British Gas engineer, suffered a workplace injury and has had to have dozens of epidural injuctions in his neck and is now on 20 tablets a day.

A review upheld the council’s decision this week.

Minos Perdios, who carried out the review, used pictures of Steve walking his six-year-old staffie at the annual Poppy Appeal Sponsored Dog Walk in November 2014 to make his decision.

He said: "You are also able to do charity work by fundraising for local military charity collections. You are also able to help with the upkeep of Lea Farm and Garston Parks during your dog walks by clearing rubbish and dog mess left by others.

"All the above, clearly shows you are not significantly more vulnerable than ordinarily vulnerable as the evidence in front of me does not suggest you will suffer significant more harm as a result of being homeless in comparison to an ordinary person being made homeless."

The report also said Mr McMahon had "slept rough twice without any evidence of any significant harm, injury or detriment showing that you are quite resilient".

Martin Harrison, 62, who was instrumental in raising the petition for Mr McMahon, said: "We’re not happy that someone has gone out of his way to try to help us with the charity work we do, but when we’ve tried to help him in return it’s been so misused.

"It’s not right they seem to have looked at it for things to attack him with."

Mr McMahon said: "It’s been terrible. Sleeping in a locked car with a dog next to me is probably one reason why I haven’t been robbed or stabbed.

"It’s gone on for so long now. I can’t keep imposing on the people who have helped me out, they have their own lives.

"I’ve not been in the services but I respect everything they do.

"Lots of lives have been lost for us, and if I can do something for them by holding a collection tin outside a supermarket or by doing a sponsored dog walk for an hour I will," he said.

"I don’t see how that affects my need for housing."

In a statement, Watford Borough Council said: "Homelessness is dreadful for anyone affected and along with our partners, such as local charity New Hope, we are working to support homeless people. 

"But sadly, like much of the UK, Watford is facing an acute housing shortage and we do not have enough homes to provide accommodation for all those who need support.

"For every single homeless person who comes to the council we consider all the circumstances and information that is relevant before carefully reaching a decision.

"When doing this we must follow what legislation and caselaw sets out on which homeless households should be given priority. As part of this we consider relative vulnerability. 

"Mr McMahon challenged our initial assessment that he was not in priority need and the subsequent review upheld that Mr McMahon is not a priority need.

"Mr McMahon’s solicitors have 21 days to appeal the decision in the county courts.”