A PENSIONER and long-serving trustee of the Special Metals Wiggin board fears he has been removed from his post as he asks too many ‘awkward’ questions about the American owned company’s pension affairs.

Les Collard, 79, worked at the Hereford company for 34 years and has been a trustee since 2000.

Mr Collard was re-elected by pensioner members as the Member Nominated Director, unopposed, in 2012 for a fixed five-year tenure, with a new election required in 2017.

At least one third of Trustee directors must be nominated by active members or pensioners, a legal requirement that came into effect in 2004 following the Robert Maxwell scandal.

The election procedure involved pensioners nominating themselves and if more than one nomination was put forward, a vote would be held. If only one nomination was put forward, that person would be appointed.

However, Mr Collard claims no nomination forms were released in November when the election was due.

Mr Collard then continued to serve as trustee and attended meetings until he was told in April that his tenure had expired as he had not been legitimately re-elected.

A new process was then put in place to appoint a trustee. Instead of an election, nominations from the pensioners were invited before the trustee was selected by a panel.

A criterion was also added, stating that the candidate should not have served more than two terms, effectively barring the long-serving Mr Collard.

He told the Hereford Times this week: “They are so keen to get rid of me they have put in a new process that disenfranchises the members. The new rules are by selection not election.”

He believes he has been deemed an unsuitable candidate as he questions proposals and decisions which are not in the best interests of all the membership.

The treatment of the company’s pensioners, who retired before 1997, has been a long-standing issue which was been previously reported by the Hereford Times.

Pensioners who retired before 1997 have not seen their pensions increase in real terms. A legal loophole allowed the company to not upgrade the pensions in line with inflation, instead opting for discretionary top-ups.

Mr Collard added: “They would rather get rid of me from the board while still keeping pensions frozen.”

He is unsure if he will be allowed to attend the next meeting.

Special Metals Wiggin did not want to comment when contacted by the Hereford Times.