A DESPERATE homeless man has told the Observer he wakes up in tears from cold every night after being forced to sleep in his car.
Daniel Stickley has been bedding down in his Vauxhall Zafira since October after a relationship breakdown.
The Leamington father-of-four says he has been offered accommodation in a hostel dormitory by Warwick District Council but due to suffering from mental health issues he needs a room to himself.
The 37-year-old is also a former class A drug addict and fears being around drug takers at the hostel may tempt him to start using again.
But the council told him no other accommodation was available – despite at first giving him a room on his own for a week at a Leamington hostel – and Daniel says he has been forced to stop in his car ever since.
He said: “I am crying out for help and have been left living in my car.
“Even though we keep being classed as on a severe weather policy, when the temperature is below freezing, I can’t go to the hostel. I was able to stop in a room by myself but now there are no rooms available. They can only put me in a dormitory and I can’t do it.
“I am waking up freezing in the night because I can’t feel my fingers and toes, I literally cry I am so cold.”
And Daniel says despite a chequered past which saw him jailed, he has been on the straight and narrow since being released 11 years ago.
Before becoming homeless he was the full-time carer for his disabled son.
But since then he has been offered a job which he could not take up due to not having a permanent address.
He added: “I used to be a bad person but I have been in jail and stuck to the right path and now I really need some help. I’m constantly asking for support and trying so hard but I’m just not getting it.
“I’ve only seen the children three times since October. I miss them so much but I don’t want them to see me like this. “
The district council say meetings are ongoing.
A spokesman told the Observer: “The housing advice team have been meeting with Mr Stickley regarding his current housing situation. We have provided hostel accommodation to Mr Stickley, particularly in light of the recent cold weather, and are due to meet again to assess his situation.”
