Weymouth man hid in his shed for a year

Steve Morris became so anxious about the bills piling up in his hallway and creditors asking for money that he moved into his shed at the bottom of his garden in Westham, Weymouth.

Mr Morris was about to lose his home in Holly Road and had an eviction notice on his window when debt collectors changed the locks thinking he had left.

His neighbours were worried when they had not seen him and they called the police before he was found.

Then the Citizens’ Advice Bureau’s outreach service was called and they helped save his home.

Mr Morris said he had become so worried about debt collectors visiting he disconnected his front door bell.

Mr Morris got into debt when he took out a £10,000 bank loan to pay for new engineering equipment.

He was working as a self-employed precision engineer and planned to buy a new lathe but ended up needing to use the money on metal materials and was unable to repay the loan.

He said: “I was broke and reached rock bottom.

“I had given up hope and was living in my garden shed to avoid the creditors banging on the door.

“There was a mountain of letters two foot deep. You don’t get any good letters when you’re broke. You only get threats and demands.”

Mr Morris, 60, started using his shed during the day at first.

He said: “I was living in there for a year and my neighbour had not seen me for two months.

“I was sleeping in there so there would not be a light on in the house.”

Mr Morris, a former engineer and sales executive, slept alongside drills and other equipment from when he used it as a workshop.

He slept underneath a worktop and used a television and microwave in the shed while his three bedroom house sat empty.

Everybody who contacts the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) is spoken to in the strictest confidence and all their information is kept secret.

But Mr Morris wanted to tell his story to praise the help he receives from Helen Dyer, his rural outreach adviser from CAB, and Noella Green, from Anchor Crisis Support.

He said: “They’ve been so understanding and patient with me.

“They are lifesavers and if I thanked them 10,000 times per day it would not be enough.

“Without them I would have been homeless and lost everything.”

Mr Morris is now back in his house. He volunteers at a nursing home every week and has installed a new front door bell.

Mr Morris was helped by the Citizens Advice Rural Dorset Service (CARDS).

They helped to freeze his debts to his bank, electric and gas companies for a period and arranged a payment plan using his benefits and his pension from his 40-year career.

Mrs Dyer said: “He’s got a relatively small mortgage and lots of equity but he would have lost his house over a debt of £10,000.