Homeless given one-way train tickets to get them to leave town

♦ Homeless people are being given one-way train tickets by councils to get them to leave town, an investigation has found.

Some councils spent more than £1,000 on fares in a year. The research by the BBC’S Victoria Derbyshire show found that 10 out of 11 councils that answered a Freedom of Information request had used the “reconnection” policy. It is meant to be used to join a homeless person up with family.

Gareth Glendall-pickton, a rough sleeper, claimed Bournemouth borough council had offered him a ticket to Manchester, where he had never been. “I’ve lived here all my life. It’s soul-destroying,” he said.

The council said it had used the tickets 144 times in three and a half years. Bristol said it had done so 167 times since 2014, and Exeter had “reconnected” 107 rough sleepers in two and a half years, at a cost of £4,651.

Caroline Roundhill, of the Bournemouth authority, said: “We operate a reconnections policy, as do most local authorities, which involves reconnecting rough sleepers who have no local connection to Bournemouth.

“However, this would never just be about returning someone home on a one-way train journey”.