Former car mechanic Alan Dubery is single-handedly turning a Sussex estate into one of the most computer literate in the country.

A corner of the Whitehawk Estate in Brighton now has more computers per head than most parts of Britain thanks to 44-year-old Alan's unique service.

Alan seeks out old computers discarded by firms updating their equipment. He then distributes them to families on the estate free of charge.

Alan starts each family off with a basic computer and, when they have mastered that one, he replaces it with a more updated version, passing the original on to another family.

The Pullen-Aldridge family in Selmeston Place has four of his computers.

He has his refurbished computers in seven other homes nearby and his aim is to make Whitehawk the most computer-intensive estate in Britain.

He even plans links with other estates in France, where he lived for ten years, via the internet.

Unlike most people who work in computers, Alan is homeless. He works and lives from his Vauxhall car parked on the estate.

Alan may be unemployed, but he spends most his time taking apart and mending old computers, putting in more hours than a highly-paid computer technician.

Alan often takes his car and computers to the multi-storey car park at the Brighton Marina and works throughout the night tinkering with hard drives, computer keyboards and circuits.

Most of his stock comes from the Crash computer company in New England House, Brighton, which updates computers throughout the area.

He is driven by a love of computers and a desire to see people who cannot normally afford the equipment make use of new technology.

His car is packed with old computers, keyboards, and components. His office is two mobile phones round his neck and a notepad.

Alan is often offered a bed to sleep in at the homes where he has installed computers, but declines, saying he prefers to sleep in the car so he can make most use of all available daylight.

"People think I am crazy as I could get a highly-paid job with a computer company. But it has not worked out that way. Some people call me 'Mad Al'.

"I don't have a home, following a broken relationship, and the one thing I love doing is taking computers apart and making good computers out of old ones.

"I love seeing people who would not usually have computers making use of them. I suppose you could call me the Robin Hood of the computer world because I only deal with poor families. If I get a job with someone who is rich I will charge them."

One of the families he has helped is Peter Pullen's in Selmeston Place. There are seven children in the family, including those of his partner Janet Aldridge, and all of them are learning computer skills.

Mark Pullen, 15, now helps Alan strip and rebuild the computers. His sister, Sarah, 16, a pupil at Uplands School, has been impressing teachers with her neatly-typed work.

Peter, 45, said: "We could not have afforded four computers in the house as I am unemployed.

"The children have been learning computer skills and it has really helped Mark and Sarah.

"I have offered Alan a bed for the night, but he prefers to sleep in his car. He comes in first thing, has a cup of tea, and the next thing I know another computer is up and running in the house."

Alan said: "Seeing how the Pullens and the Aldridges have responded makes everything worthwhile. As soon as they have learned one thing on the computer, one member of the family passes it on to another.

"People should not be denied computer skills just because they are poor."