A homeless man who allegedly had Coca-Cola poured on him by a McDonald's employee has been left in tears by the generous gift of a woman wanting to help.
Les, described as a "kind" and "lovely guy" by locals, often sits outside the McDonald's restaurant at The Rock Retail Park by Green Lane in Birkenhead.
But he was devastated after an employee allegedly poured two cups of drink over him.
Now Beth, from Wallasey, has started a fundraiser to help him, and met up for lunch on October 11 to give him the first bit of money to "just to tide him over".
She told the LiverpoolEcho : "He literally was just blown away. He couldn't be more grateful. Even something so low as £40 meant so much to him.
"I showed him all the comments that people had been making, how lovely he is. He just got a bit emotional.
"He hugged me, he shook my partner's hand, he even shook my daughter's hand."
She added: "His voice started getting croaky. His eyes started tearing up, and he literally said, 'I'm going to have to stop, I'm going to start crying'.
"You could just see how much it meant to him, and how hurt he was by the actions of this person from McDonald's."
Beth was spurred to action because she felt "awful" for the man she often sees outside McDonald's.
She told the ECHO: "He just sits there and just gets on with his day. Every time we see him, we've always stopped and asked if he wanted anything.
"Nine times out of ten, he hasn't really accepted anything, or if he has, he's just been like, 'Oh can you just get me a hot drink, I'm cold'.
"And so straight away, I just felt awful for him."
Beth isn't the only person to come to Les' aid since the attack.
On the day, Birkenhead woman Tracey Martindale, 53, was left "fuming" when she arrived at McDonald's on Tuesday, September 21 to find a soaked Les "in tears".
Tracey rushed out to fetch fresh clothes from Koala Charity Shop Claughton and Mandy Edwards donated a coat, trousers, jumper and top to the man.
Despite having Coca-Cola poured over him Les wishes the man who did it well.
Beth said this is testament to how "lovely" Les is.
She told the ECHO: "He even said that he doesn't want the man from McDonald's to get sacked, because he'd never want anyone to be without a job.
"He'd never want anyone to be in the same boat that he is now. That's just going to stick in my head.
"After everything that he's been through, he still didn't want this man to be punished.
"He just wanted this man to realise that what he's done was wrong, and like, spread some awareness that it's not their fault that they're in this position.
"They just want some respect."
You can donate to the fundraiser for Les here.
At the time of the incident McDonald's said: "We are aware of this allegation and are investigating this as a matter of urgency.”
