Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Disabled man in tears at his plight
ON a bitterly cold evening as rain hammers down, Mohammed Razaq weeps at the thought of another night on the icy streets.
The 49-year-old, who is registered disabled and blind in one eye, has been sleeping rough since splitting from his wife 18 months ago.
He will struggle to find anywhere to keep dry tonight. Gripping my hand as tears stream down his face, he said: “How have I ended up like this?”
He lived in London before going back to his hometown of Blackburn, Lancs, after the relationship breakdown. On his return the former Eddie Stobart truck driver struggled to find work and a home, so for now he is sleeping in the town centre, trying to fend off the cold in a coat and bobble hat.
In a few hours he will bed down near where rough sleeper Andy Davie died a few weeks ago.
Andy, 39, was found dead in his sleeping bag outside a shop. Alongside Mohammed he was one of the 90 regulars at Community Spirit, a soup kitchen and outreach service run by volunteers.
Co-founder and trustee Neil Mistry, 26, said Andy wasn’t the first of their regulars to die on the street. Speaking during the busy Tuesday night food service, Neil added: “Austerity and Universal Credit have been a catastrophe for people here.
“I meet people all the time who are homeless because of Universal Credit.”