Andrei’s Story.

Coming from Romania on a false promise of work, Andrei* moved in with a trusted friend, Ion*, he had since primary school. Starting work at Ion’s upcycled furniture company, his first two weeks in the UK seemed normal. 

Andrei started to notice a change in Ion’s behaviour – ‘he didn’t pay me anything, I had no food, and my passport went missing for weeks.’ With this, he started gathering tips he received from customers in order to put some money aside to get a ticket back to Romania.  

Life took another drastic turn – daily tensions grew into more serious conflicts until the point where Andrei was told he would have to move out. With nowhere to go, Andrei had no choice but to take whatever Ion offered him – a room in a flat he was subletting.  

Anytime Andrei raised the subject of his missing wages, Ion would counterargue that he had received no form of rental payment. Trapped in a vicious cycle, Andrei was torn between Ion or the streets.  

Eventually, finding out about the tips Andrei had been putting aside – something he had fairly earned on his own merit – Ion expressed immediate anger, something which continued to brew in the coming weeks.  

In the meantime, Andrei put his efforts into work, continuing to do deliveries for Ion and make tips on the side.

Days before his flight, he stuck to his word by continuing to work for Ion until the van broke down. Close to his house, Andrei let him know that he had left the work van parked close by.

He believes this brought on an argument the next day, while it was about trivial work-related matters, he knew something was brewing much darker than that. He went back to the house to round up his belongings before heading back to Romania, calling around with any family in the area to stay there for a few nights.  

To control Andrei, Ion reported him to the police for theft of his van as well as electronics and money. Contacted by the police on the morning of his flight, Andrei says he knew that “At that point, I became homeless. I lost everything.”

Asking around online, one friend said to Andrei ‘find some Wi-Fi and I will send you a message, he sent me a link to P3.’  

With nowhere else to turn, Andrei messaged the P3 Facebook while he braved a night in the freezing cold. By the time he was found in the morning, he recalls his limbs being numb and how the porridge and hot drink he was offered felt like a lifeline. For days, P3 would give Andrei food and somewhere to wash while he was living on the streets.  

Andrei can’t speak highly enough of Renata, his assigned support worker. ‘She put in one thousand percent. She made sure I had confirmation from the police to leave the country and then helped me get a ticket and money for transport at the other end.’ 

Andrei’s bit of advice to people is that ‘you can’t understand unless you’re in that situation,’ and tells passersby to be kinder to those on the streets and be less judgemental. He says, ‘of course I was smelly – I’d been working for 48 hours and then in the next 48 hours, I’d only slept for five. Now you can understand why I was full of dirt.’  

Coming back to the UK, Andrei cleared everything up with the police and began to rebuild his life here. He started by finding work at a flower company, where he progressed from labourer to a more senior member of the team – even going to the Netherlands for some training courses.  

His manager helped Andrei secure a National Insurance number and paperwork post-Brexit. With full-time work and his own flat and garden, Andrei lives a happy life in Lincolnshire, surrounded by friends and a healthy working environment.  

Most importantly, he is happy here – and would like others to be too. Eventually he would like to volunteer for P3 to give back to the local community, and the P3 colleagues that helped him on his journey.