The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
MAN LIVING IN A PHONE BOX
Rough sleeper found living in box
A phone booth previously occupied by a rough sleeper who put curtains up inside is being occupied again.
A man was seen this week living inside the phone booth in Gladstone Street, and when he was not there clothes were seen to have been left behind.
It comes two years after another rough sleeper was found living there after Peterborough City Council said he had turned down its assistance.
The phone booth is also the same one where last December a man was found unconscious, before being confirmed dead two days later despite being taken to hospital.
It has not been confirmed whether the rough sleeper in the phone booth now is the same person who was living there in 2016, but the council said the man has been offered help and will meet the authority’s housing needs team in its Bayard Place offices in Broadway.
Speaking yesterday, a council spokesman said: “We are engaging with him and have made him aware of the services available.
“He has indicated that he will be attending Bayard Place, but we have a visit scheduled again tomorrow morning in case this doesn’t happen.”
Cllr Ansar Ali, member for North ward on the council, said he had made the council aware of the rough sleeper.
He added: “I’m very disappointed in our society today people are finding a board in a phone booth.
“We should as a society be doing more to find out what are the causes and addressing this issue head on as it’s getting worse. And I can’t see it getting better. The weather is milder now but it’s set to get colder at the weekend.”
The number of rough sleepers in Peterborough had risen to an estimated 31 following a count last November, but the council insists everybody on the streets is offered help. In an interview with the Peterborough Telegraph in February, council housing needs manager Sean Evans said each rough sleeper was offered a “package of assistance” which varies depending on how long they have been sleeping outside.
‘The weather is milder now but it’s set to get colder at the weekend’