Man evicted from clothes bank where he had ‘comfiest bed he had ever slept in’

A homeless man in Birmingham who was living in a clothes bank has been evicted after complaints from locals.

52-year-old Nigel was living in the ‘comfiest bed’ he had ‘ever slept in’ before members of a nearby church and school complained he had been sleeping there.

The rough sleeper had realised the clothes bank, in the Erdington area of Birmingham, was unlocked about five weeks ago, and had made himself comfortable.

He found himself on the streets after being placed in a house of multiple occupancy (HMO) with drink and drug users – and as a recovering heroin addict he left in an attempt to stay clean.

To stop Nigel or other rough sleepers making themselves at home, the charity bin is now being relocated.

A woman, who is believed to be a worker at the parish centre told Mail Online that Nigel was ‘gone and you won’t find him’.

‘He should never have been there in the first place and there have been lots of complaints. He was not wanted!

‘Plus the clothes bank is on private land,’ she continued.

‘It is no longer in use, we are moving it to another place so the same thing doesn’t happen.’

In an interview with the Birmz is Grime blog, Nigel gave a ‘tour’ of his new home including the ‘library’ and ‘kitchen’ and called the clothes bank the ‘comfiest bed I’ve ever slept in’.

The rough sleeper wants to set up his own homelessness charity, so he can support others who have struggled as he has.

He said: ‘I’ve been living in the clothes bin for four or five weeks. I realised it was open. It’s warm inside and its waterproof.

‘It’s more comfortable than any bed I’ve ever had. There’s my library, there’s my beer shelf.

‘Nobody has put clothes in while I’ve been inside. If they did, I think I’d say “thank you” and they will be like “hang on, the bin’s talking to me”.

‘I’m totally off the heroin but a few beers help me sleep at night.

‘I’m waiting on Coventry Council to rehome a bloke and then I might get a place somewhere hopefully.

‘I’ll have a little drink here – but I’ve been clean of drugs since Christmas Eve. Before that is was crack and heroin. It made me feel numb.

‘But I love it here, I love Erdington, I have always loved Erdington. The people are nice. I’ll probably get about £10 a day but that’s enough.

‘If someone else comes up and says I’ve been begging here two or three years, I’ll just say give me 20 minutes and I’ll move. I’ve not had no real problems.’

Nigel grew up in London before his family moved to Surrey when he was 12. He left the family home when he was 16 because he says his dad physically abused him.

He worked as a mechanic and a plasterer throughout his 20s but started doing class A drugs aged 31, which is where it ‘all went downhill’.

He said most of his friends had died due to alcohol or drug abuse, the youngest of whom was just 31.

‘I’m trying to get into a home in Coventry and then I want to set up a charity to help the homeless and needy. I have three trustees already in line,’ Nigel explained.

‘I want to help drug addicts, alcoholics and the homeless. I first wanted to do it 30 years ago when I was homeless and I’ve been thinking about it ever since.

‘But thinking about something and doing something is two different things though.’

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