Homeless man living inside city clothes bin says 'it's the comfiest bed I've had'

Nigel, 52, has slept rough on and off for most of his life and says his home of four weeks of a clothes bin in Birmingham has been the 'comfiest bed he has ever slept in'

A recovering heroin addict has been found living inside a clothes bin, showing the stark reality of Britain's homelessness crisis.

Nigel ended up on the streets after leaving a multiple occupancy house filled with drug addicts in Northampton. Nigel, who is recovering from a 20-year heroin addiction, discovered the unlocked clothes bin around five weeks ago and has since made it his home. The 52 year old sleeps there each night and spends his days begging on the streets of Birmingham.

Inside the bin, Nigel has set up what he calls the 'comfiest bed he has ever slept in', complete with bedding, duvets, a selection of books he refers to as his 'library' and a 'beer shelf'. In an interview with a blog called Birmz is Grime blog, Nigel said he hopes to find a permanent place to stay in Coventry, but said he is content where he is for now.

Despite having lived as a rough sleeper on and off for most of his life, he also shared his ambition to start his own homelessness charity. Nigel said: "I've been living in the clothes bin for four or five weeks. I realised it was open. It's warm inside and its waterproof. It's more comfortable than any bed I've ever had.

"There's my library, there's my beer shelf. Nobody has put clothes in while I've been inside. If they did, I think I'd say 'thank you' and they will be like 'hang on, the bin's talking to me'. I'm totally off the heroin but a few beers help me sleep at night. I'm waiting on Coventry Council to rehome a bloke and then I might get a place somewhere hopefully. I'll have a little drink here - but I've been clean of drugs since Christmas Eve. Before that is was crack and heroin. It made me feel numb."

He added: "I love it here, I love Erdington, I have always loved Erdington. The people are nice. I'll probably get about £10 a day but that's enough. If someone else comes up and says I've been begging here two or three years, I'll just say give me 20 minutes and I'll move. I've not had any real problems."

Nigel revealed he started drinking again around eight weeks ago after being placed in a HMO in Northampton. He told Birmz Is Grime: "They were taking drugs and drinking so I walked out of there. So I've been between here and Northampton since. I grew up in London and my family moved to Surrey when I was 12. I left home at 16 because my dad kept beating me up."

"I lost my girlfriend and got jobs as a mechanic and plastering and I didn't start doing class A's until I was 31 and it all went downhill. Most of my mates are dead now from drink and drugs. The youngest one was 31. The others were in their 50s and 60s. I'm trying to get into a home in Coventry and then I want to set up a charity to help the homeless and needy.

"I have three trustees already in line. I want to help drug addicts, alcoholics and the homeless. I first wanted to do it 30 years ago when I was homeless and I've been thinking about it ever since."