A family of Croatian refugees faces an uncertain future after being ordered out of Britain.
The Sokcevic family, of Newbury, Berkshire, has been told to leave on December 31 after spending more than four years in Britain.
But a defiant Vlatko Sokcevic has vowed to stay put with his wife and two young daughters.
The Home Office ordered Mr Sokcevic to go despite a 3535-signature petition being presented to the Government on behalf of the town's residents.
Newbury's MP, Liberal-Democrat David Rendel, who handed over the petition, said: ``This season of all seasons, this is an appalling way to treat a family - throwing them out when they have nowhere else to go.''
Mr Sokcevic, 37, said his family has no home to return to in Vukovar and that the situation there is out of control.
He is planning to appeal against the decision.
He said: ``The only thing now is to wait for the probation order and hope to launch an appeal.
``We have been ordered to leave on December 31 but if we did, it would be suicidal. Croatia is very dangerous and there is an unstable political situation there.
``The only solution is to stay in this country. Going back there would have a tragic end.
``My family would end up homeless in the middle of nowhere and I would not like to think what might happen to me.''
Mr Sokcevic said he would rather stay here and take whatever punishment the British authorities hand out than return to an uncertain future.
Since arriving in Britain the Sokcevic family has become part of the local community and the children, aged 11 and five, attend nearby schools.
Mr Sokcevic, who works for an engineering company in Silchester, near Reading, added: ``When I received the letter, I was desperate. It is not a very humane way to treat anyone.
``We are not criminals and they have just given us a couple of weeks to sort everything out.''
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article