It never ceases to amaze me the insensitivity of the Press when it comes to dealing with Homeless people..

The Lancashire Evening Press proudly proclaimed on their front page...

Homeless man attacks Council leader

Sounds terrible doesn't it! Sounds like some sort of physical assault, until you actually read the story properly..

A homeless man verbally publicly attacked Preston Council's leader over the city's handling of 'rough sleepers'.

John Worthington, 43, yelled "don't patronise me" at the Conservative leader Ken Hudson during a packed Town Hall meeting, after hitting out at the authority's "scattered" approach to the homeless.

The former turner from Lostock Hall, who regularly sleeps in a city doorway, revealed all 19 available places at the Fox Street shelter are currently taken and claimed the homeless are not being fully catered for – a charge later rebuffed by the city council.

Mr Worthington said to Coun Hudson at the Central Area Forum meeting: "I'm homeless and am sleeping rough about town.
"There seems to be a real scattered approach to the homeless.
"There's no places for single women in Preston and there's a lot of people falling through the net.
"There's not a lot of help apart from police harassment. I'm not getting personal, but it's cold out there."

Coun Hudson responded: "You actually look very tidy."

Mr Worthington angrily said: "Don't patronise me. I do try, just because I'm on the street doesn't mean I have to behave like I'm on the street."

He later told the Lancashire Evening Post: "All the places are taken.
"I was in Fox Street and had some issues though it's okay for some people. Other projects like Recycling Lives are not open yet."

Preston Council opposition leader Coun John Collins said: "I think Mr Worthington alerted us to problems we have at the moment.
"We have a lot of concerns about the homeless and there will be facilities opening soon.

"At the moment we haven't got enough spaces and there will be moves to improve the accommodation for homeless people."
Coun Hudson said after the meeting: "We are committing £420,000 towards helping all the agencies for the homeless.

One commentator stated: "I find this a very provocative headline. It sounds like some sort of physical assault. Even reading the article the homeless man concerned only responded to a patronising and irrelevant remark by the Leader of the Council. Why not have the heading "Council leader humiliates homeless man at public meeting Councillor Hudson remarks remind me of the conservative politicians definition of a homeless person - "someone you step over when you leave the ballet." He has shown a similar amount of insensitivity."

I for one will be circulating details of this distorted 'reporting' widely
crap like this cannot be tolerated!
I would appreciate help or advice in this

Their email is  lep.newsdesk@lep.co.uk
01772254841 (newsdesk)
Lancashire Evening Press
Olivers Place
Preston
PR2 9ZA