'Without her I’d be dead' How Wednesbury Bus Station manager Sue helped rough sleeper Jeff

Express & Star

Bus station supervisor rallies Black Country community to help rough sleeper return home

Transcript

00:00Do you remember when you were sleeping on this bench?

00:02Yes.

00:02And how were you feeling?

00:04Lonesome.

00:05Hmm?

00:05I was feeling lonesome.

00:07I know you were.

00:08I'm getting all emotional thinking about it.

00:10A few weeks ago, every morning I came into work

00:13and there was an elderly guy sleeping where I'm sitting now.

00:18And I'd go up to him and say,

00:20are you okay?

00:21I'd seen him around Wensbury

00:23but I didn't know him that well.

00:25You know I'm fine, I'm fine,

00:27I'm getting the keys to my flat tomorrow.

00:29I said, are you okay?

00:30And he'd get up, he'd leave,

00:32never cause any problems.

00:34But then every night for the next week

00:39he would still be here in the bus station every morning

00:42sleeping on the hard metal seats,

00:44no cupboards, nothing.

00:47And I thought, this just isn't right

00:49for a 75-year-old male.

00:51So I contacted Streetlink,

00:54which is one of our partners.

00:56He lost everything in his house,

00:58his flat fire.

01:00He got the keys back to his flat.

01:02I run a local Wensbury page,

01:05called Wensbury People on Facebook

01:07and put out a plea to the local community.

01:10And I was just overwhelmed by the response.

01:14He got a bed, he got a fridge,

01:16he got a settee, he got chairs,

01:18he got bedding, he got clothes,

01:20he got everything he could possibly wish for,

01:22all through the kindness of strangers.

01:24People just wanted to help.

01:29And I was just overwhelmed.

01:30And now he's back in his flat.

01:32You can't believe how grateful he is.

01:34He could have been dead.

01:35Every bus station supervisor would have done the same thing.

01:38I can guarantee you that.

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