Bristol rough sleepers warned of 'killer weather'

Rough sleepers are being urged to use night shelters and not risk "dying on the streets" after half of emergency beds in Bristol were not taken up.

Sixty extra places have opened under the severe weather emergency protocol but only half were used at the weekend.

Outreach workers say numbers are going up but are warning people of hypothermia, as severe weather is forecast for Friday.

One homelessness charity warned: "This is killer weather."

The extra emergency beds were made available last Thursday, as temperatures dipped below freezing but some told BBC Radio Bristol they would rather risk the cold.

Alice, 26, said she was trying to "couch surf" and would not use shelters: "The gift is somewhere warm and dry but the cost is your safety, the exposure to drugs, being bullied."

Bristol councillor Paul Smith tweeted that half of those sleeping rough would not use emergency shelters.

He said numbers were improving and acknowledged it was a "short-term fix".

But he added: "We don't want people getting in a situation where they are choosing between going in a night shelter, which isn't a brilliant place, or sleeping out and potentially dying on the streets from the cold."

David Ingerslev, of St Mungo's, said outreach teams were trying to persuade rough sleepers to come in: "What we are talking about ... is helping people to survive this week."

He said of 60 people nominated for places over the weekend, only 30 took them up.

"Fortunately as it's got colder and our outreach teams have gone out and reached more people and talked to them about the dangers that has increased the number.

"We are expecting that to have been very close to the 60 spaces last night."

More spaces could be opened this week.