HOMELESS people are being handed train tickets to move to Brighton from London.

Crisis, one of the country’s biggest homeless charities, said tickets were bought for people if that was “what’s best for them” and if the person had a local connection.

A spokesman said the tickets were provided on “rare occasions” and not on the basis that rough sleeping services and resources in Brighton and Hove were better than London.

Big Issue seller Nittin Patel, 48, came to Brighton from London in April.

He said: “I know that guys down here have had tickets bought for them by people in London.

“The deal is that you need to have a local link or you won’t get help but, theoretically, I don’t know what’s stopping someone saying they have a relation down here when they don’t.

“There’s too much violence and overcrowding in London and people are friendlier in Brighton.

“As far as I’m concerned, there are plenty of organisations who will buy you a ticket somewhere as long as you don’t come back.”

Sarah Mitchell, of Brighton-based homeless charity CRI, said instances in which rough sleepers are bought train tickets are labelled “travel warrants”.

She said: “Yes, I know people are relocated with travel warrants sometimes.

“If we know somebody has been sent down from somewhere like London then we always follow up with the local authority to let them know.

“We don’t personally relocate people ourselves though, because it just passes on the problem.”

Earlier this month, The Argus reported that Brighton and Hove is in its worst homeless crisis, with more than 150 people believed to be sleeping on its streets each night.

But Thomas McCormack, from Crisis Skylight London, insisted the charity was not passing the buck by buying train fares.

He said: “We can’t comment on individual clients’ cases. We treat everyone we work with as an individual by addressing the particular issues they face to help them out of homelessness for good – be it through year-round education, training and housing services or warmth, comfort and vital services over Christmas.

“On rare occasions, this means helping people back to where they have family or other connections.

“When it’s helpful for our clients to reconnect in this way, we may help with travel costs. We would never pay for people to relocate on the basis of the services available to them in different parts of the country – only on the basis of what is best for them.

“On the rare occasions when Crisis helps people to reconnect with other parts of the country, we work on a one-to-one basis with our clients to ensure that family or other connections can help provide a safe roof over their head on arrival.”

A Brighton and Hove City Council spokesman said: “Homeless charities such as Crisis might use travel warrants to help homeless people who have a local connection to return to our city.

“We would normally expect charities to notify us in advance whenever they are intending to do so. We are not aware of any recent instances where Crisis has used this strategy.”