A MAN who suffered a heart attack after being stripped of benefits demanded an apology yesterday from Tory minister Esther McVey.

Kevin Griffin, 59, of Salford in Greater Manchester had his jobseeker’s allowance stopped by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) because he failed to attend a “back to work” appointment.

But the DWP had not told him about the appointment.With no money coming in Mr Griffin was made destitute, relying on food parcels, and suffered a heart attack.

Salford Unemployed and Community Resource Centre took his case to a tribunal and earlier this month his allowance was restored.

Barbara Bentham, who represented Mr Griffin, said: “The DWP was unable to provide any proof of the existence of the letter that it had alleged it had sent to Kevin.”

Mr Griffin said: “Going to court when it was obviously the DWP’s fault and not mine was a complete waste of public money.“I know lots of people who are also sanctioned for no reason.

The minister (Ms McVey, who as employment minister is in charge of overseeing benefit sanctions) needs to apologise to us and sort this out.”Resource centre manager Alec McFadden said reports of unfair sanctions were increasing.

They include a severely disabled widow who had not been told about an appointment, and several people with learning disabilities who could not fill in compulsory “diary sheets” about their search for jobs.