Eric Joyce has racked up a £13,000 expenses bill on train tickets and hotel costs for staff – some of which was run up on a special Parliamentary credit card . Parliament’s expenses watchdog has been forced to dock an MP's wages until the election in a bid to recoup £13,000 in debts he owes the taxpayer, MailOnline can reveal. Eric Joyce, who was convicted of assault in 2012 after head-butting a fellow MP in a bar, racked up the bill on train tickets and other expenses – some of which was put on a special Parliamentary credit card. Commons expenses chiefs made the unprecedented decision to recoup the cash by deducting around £1,000 a month from Mr Joyce’s wages after he objected to handing back the cash. The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority [IPSA], which overseas MPs’ expenses, began deducting cash from his salary in February, but he only has another two months’ pay before the election. Mr Joyce, who was kicked out of the Labour Party following the 2012 Commons brawl, is not standing for election in May and will therefore still owe thousands of pounds after leaving Parliament. IPSA has revealed that Mr Joyce now owes just over £10,000 - down from £12,919.61 at the end of January. If he refuses to repay the money after leaving Parliament he will be pursued through the civil courts, an IPSA source told MailOnline. The expenses body has never deducted cash directly from an MP’s salary before – and Mr Joyce is understood to be furious about the move. A source said: ‘We are doing it and he knows we are doing it. We have these powers to be able to do it. I wouldn’t say he was happy about it.’ IPSA informed the MP last month that they would not pay a host of travel and other expenses. A spokesman for the expenses watchdog said: ‘It is unusual for us to be in this situation, but we are clear that the MP has a duty to repay the sums due and it is our job to make sure that the taxpayer doesn’t lose out. ‘We are taking payments direct from the MP’s salary to recover the money due. If the MP leaves Parliament at the election and there are still amounts owing, we will continue to seek repayment.’ Mr Joyce, a former army officer, was thrown out of the Labour party after being arrested for head-butting Tory MP Stuart Andrew (right) in a House of Commons bar . Mr Joyce confirmed to MailOnline he owed around £10,000 in claims for ‘travel and accommodation for staff’. He revealed he was being docked ‘around a grand a month’ from his wages. Mr Joyce said he was told out of the blue by IPSA that he owed them the money and insisted that they had previously signed off his expenses claims – a claim which IPSA denies. The MP said he had made a complaint to the expenses watchdog’s compliance officer who was investigating whether it was a ‘fair demand’. He said: ‘It won’t be finished when I finish next month. I will have to pay them it anyway. ‘If I owe them it then I will pay them it, but I just dispute that I owe them it.’ In a blog post posted on his website last month he attacked IPSA for making it look like he ‘had knowingly left a debt unpaid for over a year’. Sir Ian Kennedy has led the clampdown on MPs' expenses as chair of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority . He said: ‘IPSA accepts that the claims were agreed in advance, then confirmed as OK, then checked and paid by IPSA.’ But he said: ‘They say that the original reading of the rules by IPSA staff was wrong and so was all of the advice they gave. ‘My staff member or me, as it’s my responsibility should therefore repay all of the cash paid out by IPSA last year.’ He added: ‘I have at no point in my parliamentary career failed to promptly pay anything to IPSA which may have been owed by my office, nor have I made any public complaint about IPSA. ‘I will not repay IPSA in cash unless the situation is resolved in IPSA’s favour.’ The revelation that Mr Joyce owes more than £10,000 to the Commons authorities comes after his expenses claims sparked controversy last year when it emerged he had bought expensive computers and charged them to the taxpayer. In total Mr Joyce claimed £185,635 in expenses last year. Among the items he charged to the taxpayer was £1,777 of 'replacement laptops' and £125 on accessories from the Apple shop. Mr Joyce will be able to keep the technology despite agreeing to refrain from seeking re-election in 2015. The MP was thrown out of the Labour party after being arrested for head-butting Tory MP Stuart Andrew in a House of Commons bar. In March 2013 the former Army major was banned from buying alcohol in Parliament following another bust-up. He was fined £1,500 for abusive language towards a baggage handler at Edinburgh Airport earlier this year. Mr Joyce has refused to resign his seat despite pressure from critics.
EXCLUSIVE: Eric Joyce racked up the bill on train tickets hotels for staff . Some of the debt was run up on a special Commons credit card for MPs . Mr Joyce now owes just over £10,000, down from £12,919.61 in January . Commons expenses watchdog IPSA docking his wages by around £1,000 . But the MP only has two pay packets left before leaving Parliament . He is fighting the claim, insisting that IPSA signed off his expense claims . Mr Joyce was convicted of assault in 2012 after head-butting a fellow MP . Ex Army major was also banned from buying alcohol in Parliament in 2013 . Fined £1,500 for abusive language towards staff at Edinburgh Airport .