'It's the comfiest bed I've ever had' - Homeless Nigel lives in clothes bin

-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)
-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)


Britain's homelessness crisis has been laid bare after a man was discovered living - inside a clothes bin. Nigel has set up home inside a clothing bank near a church car park.

The 52-year-old found himself on the streets after being put up in a multiple occupancy house with drug addicts. Nigel is recovering from a 20 year heroin addiction so walked out of the HMO in a bid to stay clean.

He then discovered the unlocked clothes bin around five weeks ago where he now sleeps each night before begging on the streets by day.

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Video footage shows how Nigel has set up a mini home for himself inside the bin -which he describes as the 'comfiest bed he has ever slept in'. As well as bedding and duvets, it even has his own 'library' with a selection of books as well as a 'beer shelf'.

In an interview with the Birmz is Grime blog, Nigel 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'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. 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."

He added: "I left home at 16 because my dad kept beating me up. I lost my girlfriend and got jobs as a mechanic and plastering and I didn't start doing class A's until I was 31 and it all went downhill. Most of my mates are dead now from drink and drugs. The youngest one was 31. The others were in their 50s and 60s.

"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."

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