Some 15 homeless people are using Heathrow airport – supposedly one of the most secure in the world – as a hostel, according to a man who claims to have lived there for four years.
The Daily Telegraph today recounts the tale of a 26-year-old man identified only as George, who is the subject of a BBC documentary called The Day They Disappeared.
The man reportedly first stayed a night at the airport after getting into debt at university and, despite going back to his parents house, returned to Heathrow because it was “dry, warm and safe”.
He reportedly said: “There are showers in every terminal”, adding that there was plenty of food thrown out by catering outlets and lots of newspaper and magazines discarded by newsagents.
George reportedly told programme makers that there were about 15 people who lived at Heathrow full-time, including one man who spends winters in the airport and summers in a tent in Cornwall.
A spokesman for Heathrow reportedly said: “It is a warm, dry and safe place that is open 24 hours. Our policy is to move these people on but we know that some regularly come back.”
Report by Tim Gillett, News From Abroad
