A hotel is apologising for refusing a room to a British soldier who was injured on active service in Afghanistan.
Corporal Tomos Stringer was forced to sleep in his car overnight after staff at the hotel in Surrey refused him a bed for the night because he was wearing his uniform.
Cpl Stringer, 24, had travelled to Woking on a heartbreak mission to help make the arrangements for the funeral of a friend, also a soldier who was killed in action.
He needed to stay-in the town, realised he would need a hotel for the night and walked into the Metro Hotel in Chertsey Road.
But the receptionist at the Metro Hotel gave him a frosty reception.
He showed them his ID and and his military pass but was told him it was company policy to turn away members of the Armed Forces.
Cpl Stringer, who joined the Army at 16 and now serves with the 13th Air Assaut Support Regiment of the Royal Logistics Corps, was forced to spend the night in his car.
His mother Gaynor Stringer, of Criccieth, North Wales, was so upset over the her son had been treated by the hotel she wrote to her MP Hywel Williams.
Mrs Stringer, 60, said: "It’s a disgrace. Tomas is in Afghanistan for the third time and has been in Iraq twice and this is the way he is treated.
"All he has ever wanted to do is be in the Army. He was in the cadets and then signed up when he was 16. He told me he would die for his Queen and country and he just wants to make a difference.
"He was back from Afghanistan after breaking his wrist when he fell out of his truck when they were under fire.
"Just before he went back he wanted to go down to Surrey to help with the preparations for a friend's funeral.
"When he went to check in everything was fine until they asked him for ID and he produced his military pass. That’s when they refused to give him a room.
"Soldiers don’t get treated like this in America. There they are treated like heroes but here they are being treated like scum. It is heartbreaking.
"Our boys should be able to wear the uniform with pride, after all they are protecting are way of life but he was dealt with like he was a beggar walking in off the street.
"The hotel say it is company policy not to let squaddies stay for the night but it's disgusting how they stereotype people.
"I am upset and angry about the whole thing, I often wonder sometimes why he is fighting for a country who treats him like this."
Mr Williams wrote to the government about the case and Defence Minister Derek Twigg wrote back describing the hotel's actions as "deplorable".
Mr Twigg's letter said:"I think it is deplorable for the management of a hotel to have a policy not to accept military personnel and that this case is especially egregious given that the individual concerned was on injury leave from Afghanistan.
Caernarfon MP Mr Williams said: "It's unacceptable and outrageous that anyone is discriminated against in this way.
"What aggravates this situation and makes it much worse is that he was back on injury leave.
"I have written to the hotel but have heard nothing from them."
The Metro Hotel haas offered an apology to Tomas via the MP.
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