AN ELDERLY homeless man who was sleeping rough in a park was taken in by a hotel for free after he came to visit the place where his parents’ ashes were scattered.
The man, who did not want to be named, was said to have travelled along the South-coast from Cornwall and was found by two walkers looking “tired and confused” inside his tent in the Salts recreation ground in Richmond Road, Seaford.
The two women from Seaford, Lisa Evans and Kellie Johnson, asked the White Lion Hotel in Claremont Road if there was a room which they could give up for the man, who was in his 70s.
Michael Treacy, 36, managing director of the hotel said seeing the man “broke his heart” and they took him in with no hesitation.
He had come to Seaford to come and pay his respects to where his parents’ ashes had been scattered at Seaford Head.
The man was also said to be suffering from Parkinson's disease.
Michael, whose family have run the hotel for 18 years, said: “We let him in, no problem at all. We said he could have the room as long as he wants, he can have food and drink. We didn’t want payment, nothing like that.
“It was just something we wanted to help with because we’re in that position to help.
"I like to think that anyone else would do the same, you have to look at yourself as a human being sometimes and think ‘wow, that could be me in the future or that might be my grandparent going through hard times and scared in a tent down at the park.
“I have had messages saying it’s an amazing thing to do, but we don’t see it as an amazing thing to do.
"I just think it’s a moral duty. It’s just natural to do that, money means nothing when you’re helping someone vulnerable.
“I didn’t get to know much of his back story unfortunately, but I know he had travelled all along the South coast.
“The only time I did properly speak to him was when he came down to try and pay for the room.”
The man stayed from Friday, March 11, to Monday, March 14, where he went to London.
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