A Merseyside nan said she was left feeling suicidal after being made homeless weeks before her 60th birthday.
Marion Chalmers, from Oxton in Wirral , described living out of her car for two years as a horrendous experience that will “haunt” her till her dying day.
The 63-year-old was evicted by her landlord in 2016 after being accused of anti-social behaviour following a row with her neighbours.
Marion, who always denied the allegations, claims she was “physically carried out” of her home by bailiffs, losing all her possessions except for the clothes on her back.
She told the ECHO: “It was a terrible time. I was 60 in April and out in the March.
"I felt like there was no one I could appeal to. I was homeless on the streets and slept in my car for two years.
“There was one Christmas outside the town hall. I looked at it. I thought, I can’t believe in this day and age we have a soup kitchen delivered here by a charity.
“People were waiting outside. It was like something from Oliver Twist. It was the silence that will haunt me forever, of the people waiting in the queue in the cold. It will haunt me until the day I die."
Marion was made homeless through a controversial Section 21 Notice, which allows landlords to evict tenants without reason.
However, because she had been issued with anti-social behaviour warnings in the build up to this, she was treated as “intentionally homeless” by Wirral Council’s housing options team.
People are classed as intentionally homeless if authorities deem they could have avoided becoming homeless.
This meant she was not classed as a priority when it came to being rehoused, and was also denied support from a local housing association.
Documents seen by the ECHO say Wirral Council’s ASB enforcement team received complaints from neighbours that she had placed dog faeces on neighbours’ garden furniture.
But the vulnerable nan, who lived alone with her dog at the time, claims she was bullied and harassed by the family who made the allegations and was never shown evidence to support their claims.
She said: “I am not perfect but I am not a bad person. To get to 60 and be accused of being anti-social, it's not nice. I don't have many years left to live and I don't want to live them with that hanging over my head. "
It is understood the local authority attempted to re-house Ms Chalmers but she chose not to take it as it was not in her local area.
The mum-of-four said she was left feeling “suicidal” during her time on the streets, but did not want to burden her daughters by taking her problems to their doorstep.
She was able to get back on her feet thanks to members of the community who helped her secure privately rented accommodation last year.
The former community and youth officer has experience working with homeless people and says it was friends who she had helped in the past that kept her going.
Marion said: “Being homeless made me feel suicidal. It was like being picked up and thrown into nothing.
“Thankfully my friends and family and the people I worked with in the past from my community work, they supported me and that gave me the strength to carry on. I am so grateful to them.
“Those individuals helped me more than any organisation. They would give me food and cups of tea and that would keep me going. My dog has also been my life through all of this.
“When you are homeless you are on your own, you are just passed around. You are dependent on the kindness of others.
“It was horrendous. I don’t think I will get over it. In fact I know I won’t.”
Earlier this year the government announced a ban on Section 21 Notices.
Then Housing Secretary James Brokenshire said that evidence showed so-called Section 21 evictions were one of the biggest causes of family homelessness.
Marion added: “I am doing this for other homeless people and for the parents with children being evicted under Section 21. The knock on effect that has can set off a huge spiral of events.
"It makes you realise your own prejudice and that being homeless could happen to anyone."
