Pensioners among rough sleepers bedding down at UK Airport

Pensioners among rough sleepers bedding down at Manchester Airport.

Manchester airport reportedly had three people in their 70s that were sleeping rough, according to charity workers. Two of the people have been helped into temporary accommodation. Speaking for the Reach Out to the Community charity Steph Moore revealed that around 15 people regularly sleep at the airport.

According to the Manchester Evening News, she said: “It’s very transient,

“It’s not the same people we’re seeing all the time. There are a handful of regulars. People go, come back and go again.”

Manchester airport is the second busiest airport in the UK.

Steph added: “If you’re homeless, where can you go where it’s dry and indoors? And where have they got toilets?

“It’s all those kind of things we all take for granted,

“To a lot of people in the community, the airport feels safe. There are cameras there. It’s warmer than some places.

“People don’t want to go into the city centre. Homelessness has steadily increased and Piccadilly is just bedlam at the moment.”

She went on to add: “And we had a couple of women recently at the airport. One woman came from Europe. During the pandemic there were a lot of European people working lost their jobs in hospitality and ended up on the streets.”

Many of the people sleeping at the airport have been there for some time.

Steph commented: “It’s a mixture of people,”

“There’s no pattern to it. We have got people who have been staying there for quite a while.

“You can easily blend in at the airport if you’ve got a bag or a pull-along case. The only reason we notice some people is because we recognise them. We start saying ‘hi’ and then ask if they are sleeping here. We tend to see most people at 6am.

“We’ve had people coming off the plane who then get stuck here. There are all sorts of reasons people are homeless.

“Some people choose to hide and we don’t see them. Some people will go off to work in the day but are sleeping at the airport.”

A spokesperson for Manchester Council commented on the issue. The spokesperson said: “We are aware that people do sleep rough at the airport.

“We have dedicated officers in our outreach team who work closely with airport staff and the Reach Out to the Community charity to help people access the services they need and support them into accommodation so that we can continue to reduce the number of people sleeping rough in our city.”

Manchester airport is working with the police to help homeless people. A spokesperson commented: “Homeless people frequenting the airport does happen from time to time and is something we work closely with the police and council on, to ensure they are signposted to the right care and local charitable organisations.”

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