Basically you get a young copper that hasn’t got a clue about anything and he comes up to you and says you’ve got to move because you are harassing people. One warned me seriously and made accusations that I was threatening people. He said I was demanding money from people which was total rubbish. I was just sitting there saying “spare change please.” I used to do it up by Archway by the supermarket. I still go there; I’ve been in that spot for years. But I don’t want to be sitting there forever; I want to get my life together somehow.
It’s not all the Old Bill, it’s just certain ones. I don’t know what their problem is, I really don’t understand them. Most of the time they walk past and say “alright mate, don’t get caught.” I never want to scare anyone because that doesn’t get you anywhere. It’s futile, you don’t go about threatening people to get what you want because it’s a dead end, a brick wall that you walk into.
I’ve been fined a few times for begging. They say it’s supposed to be a deterrent. The fines go up into hundreds of pounds; how do they think you can get the money? One time a police officer said to me “why don’t you get a loan from the dole office to pay your fine?” Get into debt to get out of debt – it’s madness. When you get a fine you go straight back on the street to pay it off. If they catch you again you have to tell them you were begging to pay off a fine and they just laugh. It’s a Catch 22. They’re making a criminal of you so when they pull you up for it again they can use it against you. It’s so insulting. I’m over 50 years old now and there’s no way I want to get nicked again.
One time I was sitting begging and a guy chucked his wage packet at me – it was £300. He had got the sack and was in a bad way, didn’t know what he was doing. At first I thought it was great. I wouldn’t have to sit down here and beg for a while. I could go off and score, buy food, not worry so much. I went off to the shop thinking about what I was going to buy, but then I felt bad and took the money back to him. I followed him down the road and caught up with him. He said a lot of nice words about how he didn’t think homeless people were capable of doing such good things and that he thought we were all the same – thieves and junkies.
A lot of people haven’t got the time and don’t want to make the time to understand why we are in the situations we are, why we are begging, and they think we are useless and this is an easy way of doing things. Let them try it!
B
