This is Pete (see inset)! Pete is a big issue seller in Wimborne, Dorset. You may of seen him if you are regularly in town. You may look him up and down, think that he is going to take your money you give him and spend it on drink and drugs, but Pete is not like that. You see Pete is a GENUINE homeless person, he sleeps under a bridge at night with his faithful dog Zeus. The money you give him will be spent on hearty food to keep himself warm on these cold nights which is exactly what you would expect from a big issue seller isn’t it?
But you see there is another Big Issue seller in town! This seller is NOT homeless; she lives in a rather large house in Bournemouth, with other Big Issue sellers. She has a meal to go home to every night, Pete doesn’t. She has a warm bed to sleep in at night, Pete doesn’t. She can afford Costa coffee every day, Pete can’t. This is because she and her ‘housemates’ all club together and buy the Big Issue in huge volumes. The profit they get in huge! Today Pete was sacked by the Big Issue! yes sacked, one week away from Christmas, all because he questioned the Big Issue as to why they were allowed to do it?
Why she is allowed to stand on his pitch and sell when she and others are clearly abusing the system, the very system that was put in place to support people? Vulnerable people like Pete. Our society today in Britain is disgusting, we should be supporting British Big Issue sellers!
Donna Smyth
