Delivery driver lives Vauxhall Astra ‘delight and pleasure’ – ‘even that is on finance’

A dad-of-two has been dwelling in his automotive for the previous six months, describing his life as being like “a TV soap”.

Andrew Reynolds, 40, sleeps on the again seat of his “pride and joy” Vauxhall Astra in Birmingham and survives on quick meals, showering at service stations a few times per week. “It’s the only thing I own in life and I don’t really own that, it’s on finance,” he informed BirminghamReside.

The Asda supply driver claims having a job initially made it troublesome to get housing assist from Birmingham metropolis council. The council says they have been attempting to assist him since July.

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He’s been supplied rooms in bedsits and HMOs, however says he “wouldn’t last 30 seconds in a place like that” as individuals with psychological well being points, addictions and “dealers” are housed collectively.

His homelessness started after a break up together with his spouse, the mom of his two kids. Despite his state of affairs he stored working for months, solely just lately taking sick depart amid the struggles.

“No one [at work] believed I was homeless at first, I was like ‘that’s my bed in my car’,” he shared. “Everyone was like ‘but your car is spotless, it’s clean’. I’m homeless, it doesn’t mean I’m filthy.”

He hopes to return to work quickly however has had additional household points to deal with over Christmas, driving round to assist family. “I’m like a TV cleaning soap, I’m like an episode of Emmerdale each night time,” he joked.

“It’s not ideal, but I’ve got my kids to live for. I keep going for them and nothing else.” About his every day routine, he mentioned: “I park up anyplace and all over the place.

“I’ve been woken up twice by police, they thought I was drunk behind the wheel, but I was asleep in the back. The second time they were doing a welfare check. West Mercia Police have put a marker on my car to say ‘gentleman is homeless and sleeps in his car’.

“I stand up, go and get a wash the place I can, whether or not it is McDonald’s bathrooms or Hopwood providers. But I ended up with a pores and skin an infection, I picked up some sort of bacterial factor from the showers. I finished utilizing them and I’m down to at least one bathe per week, perhaps two. I pop into see my aunty, each on occasion I can seize a bathe there.”

Andrew, who has undergone mental health assessments confirming he “wants a protected place” to live, added: “The locations they’re providing me, I’m surrounded by individuals with drug addictions, alcoholics, drug sellers, I would not final 30 seconds in a spot like that, I’d be a nervous wreck.”

Asked what he would like the council to do, he replied: “Without going into politics, put me someplace; someplace that is not going to have an effect on my psychological well being an excessive amount of.

“We’ve got a lot of people we put in hotels, but the council won’t put me in anything apart from a very unpleasant HMO where I’m expected to sleep like I’m in the army.”

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A council spokesman mentioned: “We have been in contact with Mr Reynolds since July and have been attempting to support him as best as we can. Unfortunately, due to the ongoing national housing crisis the waiting list for accommodation in the city has reached unprecedented levels.

“This scarcity of lodging is severely proscribing what we are able to supply to individuals in want like Mr Reynolds. We acknowledge that Mr Reynolds is in a really troublesome state of affairs and can keep in touch with him once more to debate his present choices.”

* This article was crafted with the help of an AI tool, which speeds up Daily Star’s editorial research. An editor reviewed this content before it was published. You can report any errors to [email protected]

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