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Burns, alongside her dog Caz, was popular with her customers on her London pitch and was a fine ambassador for Big Issue. Selling the magazine “gave her a purpose in life”, she said.
“I’m privileged to be working in that environment. To be in the situation that I am in, to enjoy your job, there aren’t many people who can say that.”
Following her death, Big Issue spoke to one of her customers, Steve Gent. A photographer, Gent met Burns back in 2020 and since then had been taking her portrait.
“I usually take one or two photos most times I see her at Wimbledon,” Gent told Big Issue. “I take pictures all the time, that’s just something I do as a hobby, and she was an interesting subject.”
Big Issue vendor Jane Burns selling the magazine to a customer in Wimbledon. Image: Steve Gent / Naboo Photography
He added: “Jane was always good for a chat before her voice went and many of her customers were very generous.
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“I will miss her. She was quite a personality. It was amazing – people saw her and I don’t think it registered that she was selling with one arm and one leg in a wheelchair. She was so resilient.”
Sam, a Big Issue vendor at Covent Garden, also paid tribute to Burns. She said: “I knew Jane for quite a few years and it’s really sad. She was really nice and always happy. Her customers will really miss her, she was always smiling.”
In 2020, when Big Issue vendors were forced off their pitches during the Covid pandemic, Burns spoke to The Times to tell her harrowing story and call for the public to back fellow sellers.
“What’s happened to me I wouldn’t change at all,” she said. “It’s made me the person I am. I’m actually glad it happened in a way. I’m a happy person and I appreciate my life more.”
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