An asylum seeker sleeping under a boat on a Kent beach has warned others looking to travel to Britain: "Don’t come here - the system is broken."
Alaa Eldin, 25, is sheltering under the upturned craft on Dover seafront after being left homeless and penniless.
Originally from Syria, he is now regularly trying to sneak into the back of lorries at the town’s port to try and get back to mainland Europe.
Mr Eldin, who crossed the Channel on a rubber dinghy more than two years ago, is desperate to leave Britain after his asylum claim failed - and wants to head to Germany to find work.
He said: “I want to work and get a job as a plasterer.
"But I have been here for more than two years and I’ve been out on the street for five months.
“I don’t have money. I don’t have anything. I’m tired and I want to leave.
“Because I don’t have a home I have to sleep on the beach and sometimes it’s so cold I have to light a fire.”
Mr Eldin fled Syria nine years ago because of a civil war there and says his return would mean being conscripted into the army.
He originally moved to Germany, settling in with family members there – but after falling out with them he moved to England.
He got into Britain on a people traffickers’ rubber dinghy in August 2021 and then claimed asylum.
Mr Eldin at first stayed in Leeds and was hoping to settle down in the UK and earn money as a plasterer, but asylum seekers are not allowed to work while their claim is being processed.
With the process dragging on and eventually deciding there was no future in this country, he applied to voluntarily leave. He says because of that officials withdrew his asylum case.
He explains this in turn meant he was no longer entitled to any form of state benefit or accommodation.
Mr Eldin says if he could get his asylum seeker status returned he would be willing to stay in Britain, provided he eventually wins his application.
However, to get that back he needs a solicitor but can’t get legal aid at present because of a backlog of cases.
He hopes he can get back to Germany where he has other relatives he can join.
Asked what message he now has for the tens of thousands of people attempting to reach Britain via small boats across the Channel, he said: “Don’t come here any more - the system is broken.
“England has come down. It’s not like before. There is nothing here.”
Mr Eldin returned to Dover five months ago in the hope of sailing back to the Continent.
He has made friends locally and they put him up a couple of nights a week, but they cannot do so full-time because it would breach their tenancy agreements.
He has also met members of the town’s Dover Outreach Centre.
The homelessness charity is supporting him, such as through legal advice, particularly to get him back into the asylum system.
He uses the charity’s Sunrise community café for meals. It only charges people what they can afford.
