00:00Hello, yes, members of a group of rough sleepers evicted from an encampment on Park Lane are thought to have relocated to spots along Oxford Street.
00:13The Park Lane site, set up on a patch of land opposite the Hilton Hotel by Hyde Park Corner, had mirrored a similar camp closer to Marble Arch the previous summer.
00:26That, too, was removed after Transport for London secured a court possession order.
00:33Now, according to a recent local democracy reporting service, TfL had already spent nearly £37,000 over two years on legal fees, bailiffs and counsel to clear the encampments from Park Lane.
00:50Now, one nearby restaurant owner had announced, according to the BBC, they had tried to move people on, but they wouldn't leave, adding that it was bad for trade and for the area's reputation.
01:03It's an absolute disgrace that you think you can do that, in the same way it's an absolute disgrace to put those bumps on the ground when people try to sleep.
01:13It's like, that is not tackling a homeless crisis at all.
01:17That is a not-in-my-backyard approach, which isn't going to work at all for anybody.
01:24And the problem will literally move.
01:27I don't agree with it.
01:30I think homeless people are human beings.
01:33They're probably familiar with that area.
01:36And it's almost like moving house for them.
01:41I don't, I actually don't agree with it.
01:43I think that homeless people are treated in such a disrespectful way.
01:49Just because they don't have a home, many of them are professionals, actually.
01:53And I used to work for, very briefly, for a charity.
01:57And I got talking with some of the homeless people.
01:59And some of them are from fantastically well, you know, well-educated families.
02:07I just, even the ones that are not, I just think that they're human beings and they shouldn't be moved.
02:14I've noticed it.
02:15I mean, I've been here a long time.
02:17I'm Irish.
02:19There's always been a homeless issue.
02:20Absolutely.
02:22I've spent some time working, did a few Christmases for shelter and one for crisis.
02:30The myriad of problems these people have is obviously what needs to be addressed.
02:37The mental health issues they have, the poverty that they live within, how to raise people out of that poverty, et cetera, et cetera.
02:44I know it's a huge topic.
02:45But that is obviously, to me, what needs to be addressed is, you know, they were somebody's baby once.
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