As the streets quieten down at night, Ben Smith manoeuvres his caravan a short distance along the road.<\/p>\n
Without a vehicle to tow it, he has improvised, relying on his own strength and ingenuity to move his new home through east Kent.<\/p>\n
Ben Smith lives in a caravan, which he pulls by hand<\/p>\n
He lifts the heavy hitch and slots it through the back of a supermarket trolley, pulling the shopping cart and two-wheeler together to the next stop.<\/p>\n
The slow and physical work is part of the 30-year-old\u2019s effort to hold on to some stability after years of battling addiction, mental health issues, and housing insecurity.<\/p>\n
\u201cPulling the caravan is making me stronger each day,\u201d he says, with each effort bringing him closer to a life he hopes to build.<\/p>\n
The caravan, which he acquired a few months ago, may be modest, but it has given him a space he can call his own.<\/p>\n
Repairs remain ongoing, and the interior is basic, yet Ben describes it with pride.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a little home, but it\u2019s a bit of a project. It\u2019s a bit of a do-upper,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Ben Smith pulling his caravan with a trolley across east Kent<\/p>\n
Daily life requires careful management, where Ben relies on his wits to get by, and occasionally accepts help from the public when necessary.<\/p>\n
Some passersby have even stopped to help him tow the caravan. But not everyone has shown kindness.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have been threatened with violence,\u201d Ben says. \u201cI\u2019ve been told I\u2019d get the s*** beaten out of me and have my caravan set on fire.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is just because I live in a caravan.\u201d<\/p>\n
Inside, conditions are basic with no electricity supply, and both the bathroom and kitchen sink need repairs.<\/p>\n
To help manage his budget, Ben says he \u201csurvives on pasta\u201d and keeps only a few possessions – a television, some DVDs and a bike.<\/p>\n
Ben Smith has opened up about life on the road<\/p>\n
During the recent cold snap, keeping warm has been his biggest concern and fuelling a heater is the priority.<\/p>\n
He speaks of his past with clarity, reflecting on years spent moving between hostels, temporary accommodation, and periods of rough sleeping.<\/p>\n
Originally from Erith, Ben moved to Sittingbourne aged eight and was raised on several Catholic traveller sites.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was sleeping rough for a long time from 15 onwards,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s been a hard journey with a lot of horrible people.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve slept in doorways, tents and car parks.\u201d<\/p>\n
He later stayed in hostels, but says they were unsafe and invasive.<\/p>\n
Ben Smith outside his caravan in the Herne Bay<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were full of violence and alcohol,\u201d he says, adding that staff searches made life difficult.<\/p>\n
Since then, Ben explains, he has been clean of drugs for ten years.<\/p>\n
\u201cCrack, heroin, I have done a lot of things in my life, but I have got off all of it, and I\u2019m trying to get back to my normal self.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t want people to fall into the same holes that I did, being homeless.”<\/p>\n
It was after some of Ben\u2019s friends died and he suffered a serious medical emergency that he decided to turn his life around.<\/p>\n
Following his struggles, living in the caravan has provided more than shelter – it has helped stabilise his mental health.<\/p>\n
Ben Smith, who has pitched up in Herne Bay, inside his caravan<\/p>\n
Now, Ben says, he can establish a routine and focus on settling somewhere permanently. Eventually, he hopes to return to work, having previously earned \u00a3600 a week at a recycling plant.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a year, I would like to be on some private ground, with my caravan and my car, and put some fencing around it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to keep moving forever,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the streets quieten down at night, Ben Smith manoeuvres his caravan a short distance along the road.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":364172,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,2759,192,191,50,194,2555,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-364171","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-kingdom","8":"tag-gb","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-greatbritain","11":"tag-herne-bay","12":"tag-human-interest","13":"tag-kent","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-syndicate","16":"tag-thanet","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom","19":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=364171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364171\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/364172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=364171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=364171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=364171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}