Fined... for stop to aid homeless man on Christmas Day
A FORMER soldier who stopped his car on Christmas Day to give a freezing homeless man some warm clothes is refusing to pay a fine he was given for illegal parking.
Lee Williamson, 43, spotted the rough sleeper outside Leicester railway station after taking his daughter, a hotel chef, to work and pulled over into an empty bus lane, knowing there were no buses running in the deserted city centre.
A few days later a £70 penalty charge issued by Leicester City Council came through his letterbox.
But he said yesterday: “I will not be paying the fine and am willing to take this all the way to court because I believe they are being grossly unfair and a bunch of jobsworths.
“The council say they are dedicated to helping homeless people but this is just an insult to them and a disgusting abuse of power.”
Carpenter Lee, who is also a parttime charity worker, said: “I was dropping off my daughter at work just before 10am when I spotted this homeless guy outside the station.
“I really felt for him as it was Christmas Day and he looked freezing.
“I gave him some hats, gloves, scarves and tinned food, pot noodles and biscuits.” Lee of Evington, Leicester, added: “He was absolutely over the moon. I think I made his day.
“I spoke to him for a bit but I couldn’t have been there for more than five minutes.
“He was there on his own, which means he’s not a beggar, he wasn’t begging for money or anything, he was just alone and homeless.”
Lee had the clothing and food in his car because he works with the charity Once, We Were Soldiers, which patrols the streets offering homeless veterans help.
Father-of-three Lee. who served with the Royal Anglian Regiment for five years, said he felt as if he was being “punished for doing something good”.
He wrote to the council explaining his actions but was told that “whilst we sympathise with your situation and applaud your intentions” it would not cancel the fine because where he parked was a danger spot.
The council’s letter to him referred to the death of a cyclist by the station. He was knocked off his bike by a passenger getting out of a taxi, making him to fall into the path of a van.