Nearly 20 cars and vans parked on the grounds of a former church have been hit with notices saying they will be removed as they are 'abandoned' and 'untaxed'.
The owners of the 13 cars and five vans in the car park of the former Freemantle United Reformed Church, Shirley Road, have seven days to move them, according to the A4 printed notice placed on each vehicle.
The warnings - placed on Monday- say: "Abandoned untaxed vehicle seven-day notice before removal."
Among the vehicles is one car that has been home to two homeless men since Easter. They told the Echo they are unsure where to move to now.
One of the men - one did not want to be named - told the Echo: “We’ve been here a couple of months, the church was all boarded up last week and we have a van directly behind us which means we’re boxed in and can’t move until it leaves.
“I’m starting a new job on Wednesday as a decorator so it means I can begin to earn some money again and look to find some permanent housing.
“I lost my previous maintenance job and I’ve been sharing my buddy’s car pretty much ever since.”
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He added: “I don’t know where all the cars have come from – they’ve just built up – some have grass growing underneath they’ve been here that long, but I guess whoever owns the building has had enough.”
One of the vehicles at risk of removal is a van previously occupied by a Caribbean chef, Robert Green, who cooked and sold dishes from his remodelled prisoner transport van.
Tony Weafer, a member of the Shirley and Freemantle Community Watch group, told the Echo he noticed the car park becoming more congested in recent weeks.
He said: “I thought the car park has been getting busier which is odd because the church itself has been closed for a long time now.
“It looks like people have abandoned the vehicles or thought it would be fine as a parking spot and now they’ve been told they can’t do that anymore.
“The church was being secured by workmen last week as there have been incidents on the premises, so somebody is overseeing that.”
It's understood the landowner placed the notices on the vehicles.
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