News / homelessness
‘Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be asking for money from strangers’
Sitting next to the pay station in Trenchard Street car park, Stephen looks up whenever somebody walks in.
“Hello,” he says meekly, before going back to reading his book, The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman.
Stephen sits snugly between two of three bollards that Bristol City Council has recently erected in an attempt to stop begging in the car park, but he is not discouraged. He occasionally gets moved on by security but soon returns.
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“It’s obviously not great,” he says on a chilly recent morning. “But at least they haven’t put spikes on the floor.
The bollards have been erected next to the pay stations at Trenchard Street car park
Twenty-seven-year-old Stephen has lived in Bristol for five years. He was born in Lincoln and grew up in care from the age of 12.
Since being legally evicted from a house on Cranbrook Road in Redland, where he claims his former landlord did not return his deposit and even threw away his birth certificate, Stephen has stayed in hostels across Bristol including Rock & Bowl on Nelson Street and the Full Moon on Stokes Croft.
He most recently stayed in Bristol Backpackers on St Stephen’s Street while working as a door-to-door canvasser, but has been homeless for the last eight weeks.
“I’m a good canvasser. I’m good at sales. But over time, things started unraveling,” he says.
“I stopped earning so much money, so I ended up on the street. It’s my first time. It’s properly rough.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be sat here with a cup in front of me, asking for money from strangers.”
A council notice in Trenchard Street car park warned that begging could lead to a custodial sentence
Bristol City Council has said the bollards were installed following a “sharp increase in the number of complaints of aggressive begging in these areas”.
A spokesperson said: “Over the last two years we’ve had numerous reports of anti-social behaviour inside Trenchard Street car park.
“Our outreach teams are working directly with those in the area who are known to the service to try and help them access support.”
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