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This story was submitted to the people war Website by a volunteer from Tiverton Museum of Mid Devon Life on behalf of Leonard Spittel.

LEONARD SPITTEL

I was a stoker in the Tottenham and District Gas Company, starting in 1939, when I was 14 (after leaving school).

Having worked in the stores for a while I then went to be a fitter’s mate for a foreman. This foreman deferred me from the forces without my knowledge. He did this because I had just lost my father and the foreman thought my mother needed me. I never went into the forces and I stayed at the Gas Company until 1948.

From my wages (I can remember working 76 hours a week for £7!!) they took income tax and from the remainder they took post-war credit. This credit started in 1942 or 1943 and I stopped paying it after the war.

I finally received my credit back in 1973. It came to a grand total of £90 which is not much when you think I was paying it for 3 years during the war!

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