THIS WEEK IN 1977: Home is where their van is

For two months the couple parked in car parks around Portsmouth and camped in it for the night.

Mr Fairley claimed private landlords were reluctant to take them in without a deposit, which they could not pay.

And the city’s housing and social services departments refused to help them, he alleged.

‘We have tried everything to get accommodation but nobody will believe how desperate we are, and the authorities refuse responsibility.

‘We watch the sun rise. It is so cold sleeping in the van’. They drove away from each car park before the police arrived, he added.