One of the rough sleepers kicked out of a Swindon Travelodge the council had housed them in has spoken about their ordeal. 

Swindon Borough Council had been housing a number of homeless people in the hotel, but could only book rooms a week in advance. 

When it came to booking rooms for the weekend of the Royal International International Air Tattoo 2024, the local authority was told there were no rooms available because visitors for the event had fully booked them up. 

As a result, the council wrote to the current hotel residents a choice of either being moved outside of Swindon until Tuesday or having to source accommodation themselves in the town.

One of those people was a mum of two who works in Swindon. She has asked to remain anonymous but has shared her story after she was evicted from her privately rented property earlier this month, following the death of the landlady's husband. 

This week, she found herself staying in the Travelodge with her two children - one 17 and diagnosed with autism and the 14 and seeking mental health treatment for anxiety - until she was then faced with the choice of moving elsewhere out of the area or finding a friend or family to stay with. 

She said: "Luckily, my brother could put us up on an airbed in Aylesbury because  I need to be close to Swindon as I work full time and I am the primary carer for my disabled parents in Swindon.

"The stress this has caused along with the usual stress of being homeless is immense. My kids are scared they are going to end up on the streets, we are all in one room living on takeaways, not what you expect to happen when you are working full time and doing everything the state tells you is the right thing."

She says that she has tried to find a rental property but is struggling to pass affordability checks for a three-bedroom property. 

"I'm angry that we have ended up in this position, lying to people because of the stigma of being homeless, living on takeaways because there are no cooking facilities in the hotel, not knowing day to day where you will be sleeping that night all whilst doing everything I am told to.

"What is the point of me going to work every day," she added. 

"I'm angry that I can go through Swindon and see many empty properties and yet there are lots of people in this hotel that are classed as homeless?! How is that right?

"I don't know what I plan to do next, I'm still looking for private rent but I don't hold out much hope after speaking to local agents, I'm hoping I will be successful in my bids and my children and I will be able to finally say work pays and believe it!

A Swindon Borough Council spokesperson said: “We have to carefully plan the accommodation we are likely to need for this time period. This can be difficult because the number of people presenting as homeless can fluctuate from week to week.

“Due to many of Swindon’s hotels being full this weekend, we have had to source some emergency accommodation outside of the borough for a few days and those that need to access this will be supported with travel arrangements.

“No one affected will be left without an offer of accommodation and we always provide support for those that need it.

“Moving forward, the council’s cabinet has agreed to look into schemes involving pod-based accommodation, which will limit our need to use hotels as temporary accommodation and prevent issues like this in the future.”