Homeless at Helmsdale – elderly Caithness traveller lives in van after claiming his house was under attack

A Caithness man from a traveller background has made himself homeless after claiming he suffered months of harassment at his Thurso house.

Charlie McPhee had previously talked to the John O’Groat Journal about the damp house he had at Castletown and how he intended to move out of it and live in his van despite suffering from numerous health issues, including emphysema and having been treated for lip cancer.

In November 2023, the 71-year-old had said he had had enough of the house, saying he would move, but instead took on a home at Albyn Court in Thurso.

“For three or four months it was perfect, but then they started banging and chapping on my door from about 10.30pm until 4.45am,” Charlie recalled.

“I had cameras up, and then I called the police one night, and they came up. They looked and said, ‘There’s nothing on your cameras, are you sure it’s not something in your head?’. So I said, ‘Get out and don’t come back.’ Ten minutes after they went down the road, it started up again. I said to myself, ‘If they’re going to break in, then just let them break in.’

“I was speaking to someone and they said there was a man who lived in my area who had been interfering with bairnies. I’d heard there were two old wifies who were there before me and they had to run and leave it too as they were also getting bothered.”

Charlie claims that the harassment was incessant and then he heard that a man living close by had been attacked with a cricket bat. “It’s quite a violent area and I don’t like it.”

That was the last straw for him, so he decided to hand back his keys to Albyn Housing, which rents out the house, and took off in his van to live in it at Helmsdale harbour around a month ago. “There’s a doctor I was speaking to on the phone, and he said, ‘I’m worried about your health living there at the harbour in an old van.’

“I got rid of all my stuff and dumped it – just what can I do with it? The whole lot had to go.”

Coming from a Caithness traveller background, Charlie was asked if anyone from that community would be able to help him. “They used to be supportive years ago, but not now. It’s that long ago since I’ve seen that people that I don’t know any of them now. I wouldn’t even know my own ‘daughtery’ if she walked past.”

He went to the Highland Council office in Golspie to notify the local authority that he was homeless. “They said, ‘You made yourself intentionally homeless’ over and over, and I said, ‘You sound like a broken record’. How can you make yourself ‘intentionally homeless’ if you can’t live in the place?

“After the cop said it was all in my head [the banging noises], I went to the doctor in Thurso, and he said he couldn’t do anything for me, but he got me an appointment with a mental health nurse. She said to me, ‘Do you not think that’s no good for your health?’. Anyway, she said she’d talk to the council and try and get me somewhere to live down here, but nothing’s happened. I heard nothing back from Citizens’ Advice either after I called them.”

Charlie believes he was targeted by local gangs, mistakenly believing he was an alleged paedophile who had previously lived around his location. “It was every night, but it was Sunday nights that were the worst. A lot of people think I’m mental and that it’s all in my head, but I’ll tell you straight now, there’s no way.

“I’d not have a leg to stand on if they burst in through the door at two or three in the morning.”

He says that his parents used to take him on trips to Helmsdale as a child, and he feels peaceful there. Charlie claims he spoke to a local woman who said he would be better off changing his surname if he wanted help. “If you’re called McPhee, you’ll get nowhere, so she said change your second name. I’m no being funny, but if they think you’re a ‘tinkler’, they want nothing to do with you.”

He says he has not received any benefits since making himself homeless, and refused to take money as charity. “I’ve two or three pennies in my account, but that’s all. They say I need to find a proper address.”

A few years ago, he had an operation at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness to remove a cancerous tumour on his lip. Charlie also suffers from emphysema, arthritis and says he has a “leaking kidney”.

The Groat contacted Highland Council about the matter and said it could not comment on individual cases. Its spokesperson said: “We encourage anyone who is homeless or threatened with homelessness to contact their local housing team for advice and assistance.”

It gave a link to a page on its website concerning homelessness: www.highland.gov.uk/info/997/housing_advice/245/homelessness

Charity and social landlord Albyn Housing Society (AHS), which owns the Thurso home where Charlie formerly lived, says that its tenant satisfaction rates have risen to over 90 per cent since undertaking a “significant redesign” of its customer services in 2023.

A spokesperson for AHS said: “Our dedicated, expert tenancy sustainment team works with our customers across the Highlands so that they can stay in their homes for as long as possible should they wish to do so. This includes working closely with other agencies across the area to ensure that our tenants have the tailored support they need for their individual circumstances.”

The Travellers’ Times, which supports gypsy and traveller people in the UK, was also contacted to see if it could give some advice on the issue.

Charlie added: “The doctor says I shouldn’t be sleeping in the back of a van and said he would try and get me somewhere to stay but I’ve heard nothing back.”