A SHOPKEEPER who has mounted a hunger strike outside Maidenhead's Customs and Excise offices said he will go all the way just like Bobby Sands.

Mike Savage, who owns the Model Motors shop in Bourne End, received an apology from the organisation after he was wrongly accused of financial irregularities totalling £50,000 in 1997.

But his dogged pursuit for compensation has culminated in the 13-day hunger strike, and the determined 46-year-old has pledged not to give up.

Speaking to Midweek while stationed outside Customs and Excise's Bell Street offices, Mr Savage explained: "I'm prepared to go all the way like Bobby Sands the whole kaboodle. The last time I had something to eat was on August 20. I'm only drinking water and fruit juice. I used to weigh 14 stone. I'm down to 12.

"My wife has had to have compassionate leave from work because she is so upset, but some things are worth fighting for."

The allegations of financial irregularities were later proven untrue by Mr Savage, but he claims the pain of the six month ordeal is still haunting him. And the father-of-two has branded the £100 compensation offered by Customs and Excise as "ridiculous".

Bob Gaiger, a spokesman for Customs and Excise, said staff had sympathy with Mr Savage's plight, but nothing could be done about his grievances at such a local level. He added: "He has gone through several appeals and the independent adjudicator has said £100 compensation is fair."

Sands was an IRA man who starved himself to death in prison in protest at being treated as a criminal as opposed to a political prisoner in the early 1980s.