A DISABLED pensioner has been denied home care because she lives on a travellers’ site.

Eileen Cooper, 65, has spent her life savings adapting her caravan to suit her needs, after a major stroke 12 years ago left her in a wheelchair.

But now she has been told she cannot be looked after in her own home because more than half the carers at Spire Homecare are too frightened to visit her at Oaktree Field caravan site in Odstock.

Her son Tommy Turner said he was disgusted by the company’s “racist” treatment of his mother.

“Whether you are a tramp on the streets or a millionaire in a mansion, we are all human.

“There’s good and bad everywhere. You can’t paint everyone with the same brush.”

At first, Spire was happy to offer the care package, with four visits a day.

But when staff found out where Mrs Cooper lived, the offer was withdrawn.

One member of staff told Mr Turner that 10 of the company’s 17 carers had refused to visit the site and the firm could not force them to go there, meaning they could not guarantee “100 per cent care”.

And she agreed that if Mrs Cooper had been living in a bungalow elsewhere in the city, staff would have been “comfortable” attending.

She said the family had been offered an alternative package of live-in care, but the council had refused to pay for it.

Mrs Cooper, who has been staying at Milford House in Salisbury, just wants to return home to be near her family.

Her niece, Daisy Wells, said: “Why can’t they come here and care for her? It’s no different to being in a house or a flat. It’s racist.”

Mr Turner said another company, Mears Care, had since agreed to assess Mrs Cooper.

Spire Homecare would not comment on the allegations of racism, but issued the following statement: "We were happy to take the contract on however we did not have the full staffing capacity to fulfill the required package of care. An alternative package of care was offered to the family."

Wiltshire Council said: "We have been working closely with Mrs Cooper’s family and the care provider to help fulfil her request for her to receive care at home as soon as possible.”