He’s worked all his life, but past trauma saw him spiral and lose his home. Now, despite doctor’s confirming his serious health issues, he has been told he doesn’t qualify for support.
The ECHO spoke to a former taxi driver who has fallen into homelessness and is now sleeping on in parks in the city (Image: )
A Liverpool man, who has ‘worked all of his life’ but fallen into homelessness and is now sleeping in Sefton Park, has been told he is “not a priority” for support from the city council, despite a range of debilitating and serious health conditions.
The 52-year-old man is originally from south Liverpool and has worked for 25 years as a taxi driver. But in recent years, a combination of mental and physical health issues saw him unable to work, leading him to lose his home.
For most of last year the man – who has asked not to be named – was living in his car, but having recently lost it, he has now been sleeping in the city’s most famous park during the freezing winter nights.
Talking to the ECHO this week, he revealed that when he was a boy, he suffered sexual abuse at the hands of notorious paedophile football coach Barry Bennell, who operated at Crewe Alexandra.
Bennell abused boys he coached in the 1970s, 80s and 90s and was jailed for more than 30-years in 2018. He died in prison in 2023.
The man the ECHO has spoken to was one of those victims. He said he has suppressed the abuse he suffered for decades and when the case came out into public view more recently, his mental health spiralled.
He told us: “I had kept that to myself for about 30 years. I was a victim of him. When it came out and everyone was talking about it I basically had a breakdown. I had it locked away before that.
“I had to stop working because I wasn’t well and that’s when the s*** hit the fan. I fell behind on rent and lost the house I was living in.”
The man has been sleeping in Sefton Park during the harsh winter weeks (Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
After his situation spiralled, the man was forced to live in his car from January last year because he had no other options. But he recently lost his vehicle, which he couldn’t afford to tax or insure, and since Christmas he has been sleeping in Sefton Park most nights, unless he can scrape the money together for a hotel room.
He explains: “I’m on Universal Credit, but all the money I have had is to stay on and off in a hotel in town. A family member paid for me to have a night in there tonight, but then I am back on the streets tomorrow. I haven’t got a f****** penny now. I’m already panicking.”
Speaking about the reality of sleeping in a park in deepest winter, he adds: “I’ve been sleeping in Sefton Park because it is local to where I am from and it feels fairly safe. But it is f****** freezing, it takes me about an hour and a half to get the legs moving after a night in there.”
To make matters worse, the man suffers with a range of debilitating and ever-worsening health conditions. When we met him he was able to show us graphic images of wounds he suffered as a result of developing septic arthritis in recent years, a condition that caused him to lose more than four stone in weight.
A letter from his GP, seen by the ECHO, confirms the man also suffers with gout, a liver cyst, a hiatal hernia and hypertension as well as serious eye conditions, depression and anxiety. He is also currently undergoing tests for cancer.
The doctor’s note, which has been sent to Liverpool City Council’s housing team, states: “(The man) has been living out of his car for the past 11 months, this has had a major impact on his health.
“It would be greatly appreciated if you could offer him a home as soon as possible due to the impact his living situation is having on his physical and mental health.”
But despite this note from his GP and what he says have been repeated unanswered emails to the council from himself over a number of months, he has been struggling to get responses from the housing team.
This week, after the ECHO raised the case with the local authority, the 52-year-old finally received a response to his homelessness application – but it was not the response he was hoping for.
The ECHO spoke to a former taxi driver who has fallen into homelessness and is now sleeping on in parks in the city (Image: )
The response, seen by the ECHO, states that while the city council does have a duty to help him find somewhere to live, he is not being classed as a priority and therefore will not be entitled to emergency accommodation while what could be a long search for a home goes on.
The letter from the housing officer states: “My decision is that the harm you may suffer, or be at risk of suffering (being homeless), is likely to be ‘within the range’, or put in simple language ‘similar to’, the harm that an ordinary person would suffer, or be at risk of suffering.
“I am not satisfied that your ability to manage being homeless would deteriorate to a level where the harm you are likely to experience would be outside of the range of vulnerability that an ordinary person would experience if they were to be in the same situation as you.”
Speaking to the man after he received that decision, he is dumfounded. He says: “If my medical records don’t make me a priority, then what is a priority? You only have to look at my GP notes. It’s crazy.”
“I first told them I was homeless last January and a year later I get this letter. It’s horrible.”
It is another huge setback for the man, who believes that with the support to get accommodation, he could quickly get back on his feet, get working in his taxi again and get his life back on track.
“I just need a base,” he explains. “I have worked all my life but s*** happens doesn’t it? I try not to let many people know what’s happened to me because pride is all I have left.”
Worryingly, he adds: “I’m not too sure how much longer I can go on for, everyone has a breaking point.”
In response, a Liverpool City Council spokesperson said: “Every case of homelessness is hugely distressing but we are bound by government legislation when making decisions over eligibility.
“We are currently processing more than 1,000 referrals every month, many of them complex cases. It is vital that people present us with as much evidence as possible to enable us to be fully informed about their situation when we make a decision.
“In situations where someone is not owed what is known as an ‘accommodation duty’ because they are not in priority need, we will still support them with looking for accommodation and signpost them to relevant organisations such as housing providers and the homeless support services we commission.
“If someone disagrees with the non-priority need decision, they may request a review and also request accommodation pending the review decision, although the accommodation is at the discretion of the review officer. We provide guidance around requesting a review when we issue a decision letter.
“If someone has nowhere to go, our Night Assessment Hub is open, so there is no need for anyone to be sleeping on the streets.
“In December 2025, 71% of those identified as rough sleeping were supported into accommodation and there was a 13% reduction in numbers compared to the same month in 2024.”