Has anyone else noticed an increase in the number of Sheffield tramps?

I don't really understand how people can be tramps in a city of this size, there is so much support out there. To be honest, I think most of them probably have homes and cars :cry:

Also, where have the police gone?! Haven't seen a police car driving about in ages, maybe there is a link betweent this and the increase in tramps?

When you say 'tramps' do you mean homeless people? Sheffield has a shortage of hostel places and no night shelter, unlike most other big cities. Most of these people do not meet the criteria to be accepted as eligible for assistance by the Council. Could it be that the city centre building programme is depriving these people of the derelict buildings they have made their homes and, consequently, made them more visible? The police do move these people on-but where to? And beggars are prosecuted and have to return to begging to pay the fines imposed upon them. I don't think many of these individuals choose begging as a career option but more as a way of subsidising addictions or enhancing state benefits.

It does my head in though, when people come up to you and ask for '50p' for a bus fare etc. etc. etc. Ok, it's not a lot of money, but I'm a student and I can't afford to go giving money away.

I wonder if we still get the scroungers who cadge all day in the city centre and then get in their cars and drive home ?

yes, it was on calender the other day :shock:

Yeah, I've seen "tramps" (or homeless) people in the centre of Sheffield, and then suddenly their family pulls up in a car and "tramp" gets in and drives home... :evil:

My boyfriend and I had a really strange experience. We were looking at the menu in the window of a restaurant, when we heard a man talking. He was stood directly behind us, speaking to us! He blabbered on about the police having moved him on, and how he had to keep walking so as not to get moved etc. He then called himself "Sheffield's friendliest tramp" which I found rather amusing. I didn't quite know what to believe, because I'd never been approached like this before. After exchanging puzzled looks, my boyfriend gave him some change from his pocket and sent him on his way! Hmm! Has anyone else met the friendly tramp?

Originally posted by "caprice"

He then called himself "Sheffield's friendliest tramp" which I found rather amusing
Ahh! :shock:

This happened to me 2 days ago. I was walking along West Street and this guy appeared. He looked quite agressive and told me that he "was Sheffield's friendliest tramp" and could he have some money. I decided it was too risky to get my wallet out. I guess the part when he said "I was" kind of worried me :shock:


Geoff

PS. It's a small world!

Thats odd! I was near west street too! He probably just walks up and down there all day, asking for money! I did recall him having greenish looking fingers which freaked me out a little. eek!

I've worked with homeless people and the drinkers you see on West Street (no not the ones frequenting the trendy bars) and it's true most of them are friendly. I don't give anyone 'bus fare' 'spare change' etc. and can understand how some of them might seem intimidating. I acknowledge that there may be people who are cashing in on 'begging' and then going home to nice houses but the press does flag these up whilst not attempting to talk to genuine homeless/marginalised people. Most of these individuals are in this position because of situations that we all could encounter but think we never would.

There is no need for anyone to be a tramp on the street,here, or anywhere else.(male or female).A lot of them have money and cars,and the rest choose to live that way,in filth,and degredation due to drink ,drugs,gambling,and they are too bone Idle to keep themselves clean. I am sorry but I will not give them anything, or help them in any way because it is self imposed. I have been abused by these people more than once, due to my refusal and am talking obscenities in the street. The police have taken them away, but they were back again within one hour,they are just scum and not deserving of any consideration. I could have got like that after I lost all my family,but Instead I kept myself decent and I can hold my head up.

Good for you, I'm pleased you were able to overcome the adversity you experienced. Other people aren't so fortunate. There are very good reasons why people are homeless in Sheffield today. For example people are led to believe that Housing Benefit will cover the cost of their rent but Sheffield Council include Water Rates as rent which is not covered by Housing Benefit. People who are not aware that they have to pay the Water Rate component of their rent can be evicted for rent arrears. Anyone in owner occupied accomodation who did not pay Water Rates might eventually have their supply cut off but would never lose their home. Would mortgage companies bother to take homeowners to court seeking repossession for £200 arrears, the Council does even when the arrears are due to the inefficiencies of its own privately contracted Housing Benefit administrators. The Council has to provide acomodation for any roofless person on nights when the temperature is sub zero but when the temperature is 1 degree above freezing many people ineligable for Council help will rely on the rough sleepers packs (a quilt,hat,gloves, filled hot water flask and a Mars bar) distributed by local charities. There for my good fortune go I.

Who leads them to believe housing benefit covers it all ? Shouldn't they check the tenancy agreement/contract that they enter into with the council for the provision of the property to see what they are responsible for ?

The rent card would show that this amount is payable and this would be picked up early enough on to resolve without being made homeless. £200 is a lot of water when it's not metered, about 10 months worth.

I'm quite sure if you were to poll the 'tramps/homeless' the reason they're where they are now would not be down to non-payment of water rates.

There are more people living on housing benefit than there are tramps/homeless - doesn't that make a point, you can live on housing benefit.

I don't know why people are homeless, I know I would not want to be, neither would I like it of one of my family. Problems and hard times can befall anyone it's about dealing with those problems, most of us do fortunately, can anyone explain why so many people are homeless ?

Talking about tramps and the like, what happened to the Big Issue seller that always used to stand outside the Nelson Mandella Building opposite the station? He was great.

Another related thing... A while ago, I was walking into uni reading the paper, like you do, when an elderly woman walked up to me and said "Glossy magazines, my son, glossy magazines", to which I replied "Pardon?". "Glossy magazines" she said. "Ok, what about them?" I said very confused. "Just think about it" she said and walked away. I walked, very swiftly, in the opposite direction.

The main cause of homelessness for young people is parents/carers who are no longer willing to provide them accomodation due to problem relationships with step parents, leaving care, parental abuse, substance missuse and the breakdown of relationships with parents. For older people it is often down to relationship breakdown, unemployment, mental ill health, substance missuse etc. Perhaps it is the increase in these that is resulting in more homeless people of all ages

Hey geoff,
My boyfriend and I had dinner at que tal (west street) for valentines, and just as we were waiting for the bus home, guess who approached us? The friendliest tramp! lol! My mouth must have touched the ground when I saw him again! He started his usual speech, but I was terribly rude and told him I'd already had an encounter with him :roll: I'm awful aren't I? :oops:

Has anyone ever thought about what put that person in that position??
There is good & bad in all race & creed. Some of these people are GENUINE. You do not know thier background. An agrophobic has a fear of open spaces...claustrophobic is a fear of closed in spaces...some GENUINE street people actually suffer from this. No matter what help is available they can not cope with being in buildings for a length of time ...so even if they were offered a room at the Grosvenor they would reject it. Presumption & assumption is where society is at fault. You just presume that the person is on the street through ignorance. If they have been evicted through not paying "water rates" (previously mentioned), do you assume that EVERYONE can read & write or even understand basic english language?? Through my work I have found that there is a very high percentage of people (aged14-70) that can only just write their name & address......unbelievable in the 21st century..but believe me literacy skills are on par with the 1860s.. PS I do not condone the street begging..just giving you something to think about!

I am sorry but I have no sympathy for any tramps. There is dozens of house standing empty. These people do have a choice.

Shocking!!!!

I was talking with my Gran last night about this discussion we are having on here. She told me that earlier, she had been approached by an old beggar, with "tears" in his eyes, asking for some money for a cup of tea. Feeling very sorry for him, my Gran scooped a couple of pounds out of her purse and gave him them, instructing him to go to Mc Donald's or somewhere and sit where its warm. Later that afternoon, she was passing a newsagents where she spotted the old beggar happily buying a packet of cigarrettes! :shock: So she's sworn that she'll never, ever give money to the beggars again. Its no wonder people refuse to give their change to these people, when they waste them on pointless cigarettes. :x

If you think Sheffield is bad for beggars... I used to work in London, and walked from Charing Cross to Tottenham court road every day. I had to run a gauntlet of beggars in virtually every shop door and street corner. Many of them had dogs.

A friend at work said he stopped giving money to beggars when he noticed they had more expensive trainers on than he had! :lol:

I've been noticing more and more tramps/Winos around town lately. They are always at the bottom of the Moor and seem to be all the way up to Fargate.

Are the police just ignoring the problem?

I've not really noticed that many more than usual....

I suppose that the problem the police have is what to do with them. Just moving people around just shifts the problem, and also we're always saying how we want the police to be focusisng on crime - unless the people cncerned are causing a breach of the peace it's not exactly criminal to be homeless.

You might actually say whether we as a society are ignoring this problem.

Joe

Originally posted by JoePritchard
You might actually say whether we as a society are ignoring this problem.

Joe

Can't agree more with that, what are you supposed to do when some of these people (yes they are people not all winos/tramps) just know the life they are living and don't want to change? It's expected of the police to be locking them up and then making them dissapear from the public eye.

How many people walk past just looking at them without thinking why they are actually there and just pass them off as another piece of crap? There's a story behind each on of them to why they are there.

There is sometimes a bloke with straggly beard, drinking super strength lager or something near the Spar at woodseats. I can't believe that this would be a good place to sleep on the streets, as when we walk down to Heeley bottom, it's often 2-3 degrees warmer, because it is lower and more sheltered.
I don't give money to people who beg, because I imagine that it is just fuelling their alcohol or drugs habit. (somebody please tell me otherwise) If I was in town and someone asked for a cup of tea, then I would like to actually fetch them a cup of tea rather than give them the money for it.
I was on an annual pub crawl yeasterday and it was very cold in town. And I noticed an empty 2 litre cider bottle and a cardboard matress in an office doorway.
And as usual, I wonder how close any one of us is, to that situation. Especially as I drank 9 pints that day, and was probably more than the poor person who slept in that doorway.

I volunteer with Samaritans and we are in the same courtyard as Ben's Place which is open a few days a week for street people so they congregate in the yard.

Initially I was very nervous when walking past a group of them but then realised how stupid I was being and began to smile and say hello. I now find them extremely friendly and gentle people - they are so used to being knocked back that they respond very positively to anyone taking the trouble to say hello.

Originally posted by muddycoffee
If I was in town and someone asked for a cup of tea, then I would like to actually fetch them a cup of tea rather than give them the money for it.
.

When I was a student I left a cafe in London and put a few sugar lumps in my pocket to suck later. A tramp in the underpass at Hyde Park asked, "Can you give me something for a cup of tea?"

I gave him the sugar lumps.

Originally posted by Katya
I volunteer with Samaritans and we are in the same courtyard as Ben's Place which is open a few days a week for street people so they congregate in the yard.

Initially I was very nervous when walking past a group of them but then realised how stupid I was being and began to smile and say hello. I now find them extremely friendly and gentle people - they are so used to being knocked back that they respond very positively to anyone taking the trouble to say hello.

Thanks for that kind word - we can learn from that. (As long as they aren't swaying about waving a tin of Tennants Extra).

Originally posted by muddycoffee
There is sometimes a bloke with straggly beard, drinking super strength lager or something near the Spar at woodseats. I can't believe that this would be a good place to sleep on the streets, as when we walk down to Heeley bottom, it's often 2-3 degrees warmer, because it is lower and more sheltered.
.
This particular guy has been around for years, he has been found sleeping on the bit of land just along from the vets on Abbey Lane by our then street cleaner Tony.
I used to go in a cafe at Woodseats on a regular basis and so had in the back yard erected a tent structure with an old tarpauling and some lengths of wood. This was for the use of my alsatian so he didn't have to sit in the rain. One morning the cafe owners spotted a pair of feet sticking out from this D.I.Y. kennel and sure enough the guy had turned it into his accomadation and had obviously been using it for a while from the number of discarded food wrappers. No wonder my dog was often seen sitting in the rain.
The guy is harmless and very shy but does have the annoying habit of taking bags of clothes left outside the charity shops to some nearby woodland and then after rummaging through the bags leaving stuff strewn around.

I have to wonder how many of these people are victims of the (don't) care in the community? I certainly remember seeing a report on the news that many rough sleepers are seriously psychologically disturbed and have been left with nowhere to go after the closure of long term psychiatric hospitals :(

Some vagrants are actually really intelligent people - there is one bloke in the Broomhill area who used to have quite an important job (can't remember what) and is really articulate. Just because they have no home and smell of dried wee, it doesn't make them a less person :p

There's a lot of bogus tramps though, I was pestered twice in a week by the same guy, both times he said he needed money for the train and first time round I gave him 20p.

Second time though, I was half drunk and on my way to corporation, so he got a fair bit of abuse and a lecture :D

He's seen me since and has moved out the way :clap:

The fat man with the dirty blue coat (usually round Cambridge Street area) pi55es me off for being a pest, he's got nothing out of me yet and never will if I can help it.

Well, I for one was prone to being charitable once upon a time, then after being taken for a ride and being verbally harrassed by a gentleman of the streets over a period of time, I became rather uptight about it.
Now, I would say there's differing stories for each person.
There's someone I've known for years who has gone from having a house, a mortgage, three gorgeous kids, a lovely and fun wife, a steady job, holidays every year and nice household items to....
.....living at the Sally Army using all the money he begs from people to pay for cheap cider, super strength lager and drugs.
This is because he was an alcoholic, drug user while having all the wonderful part of his life, he finally lost his driving licence, kids, car, wife and job and quite a lot of friends. People tried to help many many times and he would throw it back in their faces, he chose his life.
Only thing is - he's the nicest guy you could ever meet when he's too skint to buy anything and therefore sober and drug free.
So, I don't feel people like him deserve my money or my help, (especially since I was one of the ones who tried before he lost it all).
I give more to charities who have a more defined way of identifying who needs my money.

Originally posted by andywatton
Some vagrants are actually really intelligent people - there is one bloke in the Broomhill area who used to have quite an important job (can't remember what) and is really articulate. Just because they have no home and smell of dried wee, it doesn't make them a less person :p

Appologies for any implication of lack of intelligence - psychiatric "illness" is an area that seems to provoke much fear, personally I don't even see it as an illness but more an extreme of psychological variance - it certainly doesn't (and shouldn't) mean a lack of intelligence...

Originally posted by Katya

Initially I was very nervous when walking past a group of them but then realised how stupid I was being and began to smile and say hello. I now find them extremely friendly and gentle people - they are so used to being knocked back that they respond very positively to anyone taking the trouble to say hello.

I agree. I see so many people ignoring the big issue sellers in the street, or the people begging, and just pretending they're not there at all. Even if I don't have any spare change, I always make a point of looking them in the eye and apologising. I'm not saying I agree with begging, but I try to treat them with a little respect.

I don't mind the Big Issue sellers, at all.

I feel that, "at least they are doing something about their situation"...

For the most part, the vendors aren't just sitting there, and begging, for what is usually drugs money (unlike the other beggars). They are taking steps to get out of whatever rut they are in, and turn their lives around, and I think that we have to give them some Kudos for that, at least. and the "Big ISS" also has a socail "arm" which is called the big step, which helps support the vendors iont o housing detox or employment.. It's a worthwhile cause.

I have a regular vendor, from whom I buy my copy of the Big Issue, but I don't ignore the other vendors, I will explain to them that I have already got my copy, from my regular vendor. I will ask how they are, and if I haven't seen a particular vendor for a week or two, I will ask the other vendors if they have seen them, and whether everything is okay.

PT

There is often some occurance of trouble with the drunks at the bottom of the moor. A few weeks back I heard there was a fight and then a week later heard another story about a drunk smashing a bottle over another drunks head.

There is a good chance that children could be present on the moor and they should not be subjected do these disgusting people with their filthy language.

I'd much rather speak to a Big Issue seller than a Market Researcher:gag:

they are a nuisance

Don't give any money to the three guys working the shops around ecclesall road (mainly spar and bottoms up). They wear tracksuits and one one has a baseball cap. One of them has started sitting out there with crutches (although I saw him running along sharrowvale road yesterday), and they each take it in turns to go on the scrounge while the others sit at the bus stop or in yummy hut. Two of them are definitely not homeless or short of cash for that matter.

They probably pull in more cash than I make at work.

Does anyone know anything about the homeless guy who hangs around on eccy road,
Looks a bit like captain birdseye. Usually sleeps near the river in endcliffe park.

Originally posted by Nathen
Does anyone know anything about the homeless guy who hangs around on eccy road,
Looks a bit like captain birdseye. Usually sleeps near the river in endcliffe park.

My heart always goes out to that bloke. He seems to be wearing everything he owns at once. I just want to take him home for a bath, a hot meal and a bed for the night. Particularly in this weather. He's at the age where he should be enjoying the fruits of his labour from a life time of work, watching his grandkids play in the garden and the like. He coule even be someone's grandad.

Originally posted by robbie
I've been noticing more and more tramps/Winos around town lately. They are always at the bottom of the Moor and seem to be all the way up to Fargate.

Are the police just ignoring the problem?
maybe cos its christmas and they think people have £££
i always buy my big issue and give to tramps although my friends shout at me

I'm usually an 'ignorer' but this one man around the london road/ring road junction really caught my eye, everyone was ignoring him or telling him to 'go away', so tried me and i let him tell me his story. said he'd tried the council but he had to wait or something or other, didn't really understand because he was drunk (i could smell the gin!). Anyway he asked for 30p for chips, so i gave him 50p cos i'm a great guy ;).



I bet he spent it on booze!

Originally posted by NatalieSheff

i always buy my big issue and give to tramps although my friends shout at me

buying the big issue is a really excellent way of helping the homeless people round town, Natalie. The vendors are doing something useful, and helping themselves.

However, speaking as someone who has many years' experience, of working with the street drinkers and beggars, you are best not giving beggars, etc money, as it more often than not will get p***d up against the wall, or taken as drugs.

All you are doing is perpetuating their behaviour, giving them no incentive to change, as well as wasting your money, on drugs or alcohol, by proxy (them)

By far, you would be much better giving any spare money you are donating to somewhere like the cathedral breakfast/ archer project, or HARC (Homeless and Rootless At Christmas) or perhaps Bens Place (where I used to work), or the Sunday centre, at carver street.

Monies given to those charitable organisations would be put to better use, and directed at the areas of most need.

(here endeth the sermon for today !! ;) )

PT

plain talker i hear ya, but sometimes if i have drunk sprawled over my shoulder telling me, all these ******** ignore me, then its easiest for me just to give him money so he goes away. I don't like feeling threatened.

Tramps at the bottom of the Moor, don't you mean us civil servants? Oh, I see!

I stopped giving to beggars / big issue sellers the moment I saw one of them pull out a mobile phone and start yapping on it about which club they were going to that night...

Originally posted by AndrewC
i gave him 50p cos i'm a great guy


Sorry Andrew,
this does not make you a great guy. It makes you directly responsible for this man not starting to think about improving his lifestyle. If you want to give him money for chips. Go buy the chips and give them to him.

While people, like you, give money to people who tell cock and bull stories about the council not giving them a place to sleep, then you will continue to attract more of them out of any rehabilitation they might be in. There are loads of beds for homeless to stay in this city. Social services can get someone like this sorted out straight away.

Don't know f he was homeless or mad or just extremely drunk, but has anyone seen the big Irish bloke in town? He came over and tried to start a fight with me because I'm English(!?). When I dodged past he started on two passing women. Not wishing to be unsympathetic, but you have to draw the line when your safety is threatened.

Giant Haystacks type. He walks up Div/Dev street a lot.

Mad

Also my mate refuses to give money to beggers but goes and buys them a sausage roll or something like that.

Originally posted by muddycoffee
Sorry Andrew,
this does not make you a great guy. It makes you directly responsible for this man not starting to think about improving his lifestyle. If you want to give him money for chips. Go buy the chips and give them to him.

While people, like you, give money to people who tell cock and bull stories about the council not giving them a place to sleep, then you will continue to attract more of them out of any rehabilitation they might be in. There are loads of beds for homeless to stay in this city. Social services can get someone like this sorted out straight away.

Point taken, i was being kind of sarcastic, though i know that doesn't work on the internet.

Originally posted by Plain Talker
buying the big issue is a really excellent way of helping the homeless people round town, Natalie. The vendors are doing something useful, and helping themselves.

However, speaking as someone who has many years' experience, of working with the street drinkers and beggars, you are best not giving beggars, etc money, as it more often than not will get p***d up against the wall, or taken as drugs.


PT
Thats why my friends stress at me, but i have my pity head on, esp if they have a dog. i dont like the ones who jump out at u but the ones who just sit there i, i, i, it gets me every time. i give lots to charity and work for one but ... oh i dont know.
thanks anyway for advice xx

Sometimes i feel guilty when i see the ones with dogs, guilty for wanting to feed the dog more than the owner!!

Originally posted by AndrewC
Sometimes i feel guilty when i see the ones with dogs, guilty for wanting to feed the dog more than the owner!!

i just feel sorry for the dog more and i dont mean that in a nasty way either

its a tough decision morally, on one hand you want to say "you're not fit or rich enough to take care of this dog properly", on the oter hand it could well be the only true companion a homeless person has..

where do the dogs come from in the first plpace? have they been abandoned?

I'm guessing most Man/Dog combos on the street have been together when a house was owned and they've been evicted/moved away together. I only know of one regular - the one outside Tesco on ecclesall road.

Originally posted by AndrewC
I'm guessing most Man/Dog combos on the street have been together when a house was owned and they've been evicted/moved away together. I only know of one regular - the one outside Tesco on ecclesall road.

You are both missing the point, they're not homeless. The dogs are passed around and according to Duffman, one of them has 9 dogs which he manages. They are proffessional beggars.

There was a beggar a couple of years ago who came down from leeds in his car every day. He averaged 40k a year begging. That's £128 a day. And tax free.
If I remember the story right, he used to get changed into his begging clothes in the train station.

Originally posted by al_partridge
Tramps at the bottom of the Moor, don't you mean us civil servants? Oh, I see!

I stopped giving to beggars / big issue sellers the moment I saw one of them pull out a mobile phone and start yapping on it about which club they were going to that night...

to be fair I was following some people down the Moor who I thought were tramps and they turned out to be civil servants!!:suspect:

Originally posted by muddycoffee
You are both missing the point, they're not homeless. The dogs are passed around and according to Duffman, one of them has 9 dogs which he manages. They are proffessional beggars.

There was a beggar a couple of years ago who came down from leeds in his car every day. He averaged 40k a year begging. That's £128 a day. And tax free.
If I remember the story right, he used to get changed into his begging clothes in the train station.
i heard a similar thing down south about a guy who had Jag but begged every day

Originally posted by muddycoffee
There was a beggar a couple of years ago who came down from leeds in his car every day. He averaged 40k a year begging. That's £128 a day. And tax free.
If I remember the story right, he used to get changed into his begging clothes in the train station.

When I worked in Chesterfield there was a guy and his dog used to get the same train as me to work, he would spend all day begging in the shopping arcade in Chesterfield, then get the train home with me at night.

Originally posted by nick2
When I worked in Chesterfield there was a guy and his dog used to get the same train as me to work, he would spend all day begging in the shopping arcade in Chesterfield, then get the train home with me at night.
its just taking advantge of peoples good nature and ruins it for people who really need charity.
in cyprus or spain or wherever, if u dont work and have no money its tough - you starve. i once met a man who slept on the beach, but he didnt just beg, he did tricks or sang or whatever

Dont know if anyone's mentioned the guy with the deffinate limp-small with fair hair. who begs -usually fargate or top of snig hill.

Originally posted by NatalieSheff
its just taking advantge of peoples good nature and ruins it for people who really need charity.
in cyprus or spain or wherever, if u dont work and have no money its tough - you starve. i once met a man who slept on the beach, but he didnt just beg, he did tricks or sang or whatever

A big issue seller in my home city of norwich sings a song to entice people to buy a copy. He rules.

Originally posted by tara
the deffinate limp-small

What is a limp-small?

do you mean whelk stall?

big issue sellers are generally quite nice people but you do get the odd freak - same in any job really

interesting read form newspaper:
More than half of rough sleepers have been attacked by the public
A recent report found that homeless people are 13 times more likely to be the victims of violent crimes than the general public.
More than half interviewed in a survey said they had suffered a violent attack from a member of the public.

Ray Wilson, 45, has been homeless for 10 years, and has suffered violence more than once.

One attack happened while he was drifting off in his sleeping bag, he said.

"These three lads had gathered round and they had started kicking me.

"I was lying down in my sleeping bag and I was the perfect target. They just saw it as a prank. They were lads and they were all quite drunk.

Then he suddenly punched me. He has a ring on one of his fingers and he cut me close to my left eye. There was blood everywhere

"They all wore boots and no doubt if they wanted me they could have done some serious damage.

"I had drifted off, but once you feel someone's boot you wake up pretty quickly. But they just kicked me for several minutes and then went off."

Mr Wilson chose sleeping rough as a lifestyle, saying he felt having a job or owning a home was pointless.

'Leech'

On another occasion, he says, he was sitting down going through his rucksack, when a man came along and started yelling insults.

Mr Wilson said: "He just started calling me a leech on society and saying 'why didn't I get a real job?'"

"Then he suddenly punched me. He has a ring on one of his fingers and he cut me close to my left eye. There was blood everywhere."

Mr Wilson treated himself and did not report the attack to police. He said: "There is no point. If the police know that you are a rough sleeper they think you have asked for it."


So why are the homeless so much more likely to suffer violence?

Professor Paul Rock, co-author of the report which uncovered the statistics, says part of it is simply that the homeless are seen as "legitimate targets", and people of not much worth.

People who are spoiling for a fight, abuse them for fun

He said: "They don't have the elementary physical protection that the rest of us have, such as four walls. They are exposed and vulnerable.

"They also tend to be out in the open, in city centres when binge drinkers are out. The homeless are regarded as being of no worth at all and so people who have got very drunk pick on them."

He added: "The homeless are seen as legitimate targets because they are not regarded as people of any great account. People who are spoiling for a fight abuse them for fun."

Mr Elie Godsi, consultant clinical psychologist, said Britain's competitive society had made people more aggressive and less tolerant.

'Fearful'

He said there was a "hierarchy of violence" which worked its way down to the least vulnerable in society.

He added: "It is all part of the spin culture, where you just judge people on their appearance rather than the substance.

"You see a bum lying in a doorway in his sleeping bag. You don't think about the background, the reason why they are there."

And it seems the psychological impact of the violence may linger longer than the physical scars for the homeless victims.

Professor Rock added: "Our study revealed them as a group of people who were unusually fearful."

Natalie,
which newspaper is this from though? Sounds more like a problem in London where there are many hundreds of rough sleepers. I doubt that this kind of thing happens every week around here in sheffield.

BBC i think, i know it prob happend everywhere, with people aggrevates drunk tramps who lare trying to sleep

I suggest that all of you out there ought to try living on the streets and sleeping rough I had to do it for two years when I had abust up with my foster parents I went to ground so to speak I have slept in and a round doncaster,barnsley,rotherham,sheffield,chesterfiel d and I once stopped out in derby for a couple of months now I know what you are thinking how did I get from one place to the other simple I either thumb a lift or walking from rotherham to sheffield I have walked rotherham to doncaster in the hot weather I have stopped in the salvation army hostels I have even slept out in tempretures as low as minus 10c in graveyards and even on the canal banks after two years I had to go back home and try and make amends with my foster parents I would have stayed on the streets but my health was not good I spent 4 months in the hospital to recover,Then about 4 years ago I found myself sleeping on the streets again due to being thrown out of my second foster parents this was not my fault they had a son who in the space of 2 weeks started causing trouble so out I went only this time my girlfriend had split up from her husband and we had to live rough as we had got know where to go but my girlfriend was 2 months pregnant and we lost the baby but in the end we was offered a house and we have been together now for 4 years my son is now 2 years old so I suggest you try it living rough dont knock the street people it is not there fault

Nit pickers are at it again. Havent you anything better to do.
so sad.

what do you mean nit pickers have you ever lived on the streets and slept rough,listen if you have never done it then keep you mouth shut. you want to try it and see how bloody hard it is to live one day at time we are not all well off people you know ! people like you make me sick the do gooders I am so angry to be called a nit picker I have been there on the streets and had to live day by day so what right have to say I am a nit picker next thing you will be saying I was a wino and if I was then that is my business not yours.

Do you ever think before opening your mouth. -
Its obvious i was reffering to muddycoffee as he completely pulled my post to bits as per usual.
pointing out that i put a dash in the wrong place.
Big deal.

Big kev you have completely got the wrong end of the stick.

And yes ive been homeless years ago.
Also stayed at sali army.
Maybe its my fault for going off subject before and confusing you but i hate it when people pull you up for things that can only be described as trivialities grammer wise.

To get back on the subject, i hate it when people describe people on the street as wino's and tramps.
As some are genuine people down on their luck as i once was.
But some really do take the p---.
Asking for money for busfares etc.
as it was proved that some really have their own flats etc.

Anyway sorry for confusion.