Disabled veteran who pulled himself up to salute the Queen faces homelessness as council can't find him a house
13 May 2023, 13:47 | Updated: 15 May 2023, 16:07
A disabled veteran who pulled himself to his feet to pay his respects to the Queen is facing homelessness because his local council cannot find him a suitable place to live.
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Sergeant Nick Wilson, who served in Afghanistan, Kosovo, and Iraq over 15 years in the Royal Logistic Corps, uses a wheelchair because of a severe spinal injury caused by his time in the army.
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He was recently told to move out by his landlord, who is struggling himself with increased mortgage payments.
Mr Wilson turned to West Northamptonshire Council for help, but they have been unable to find accommodation that meets his accessibility needs.
Mr Wilson told MailOnline: "Disabled people are sleeping on friends' sofas and in cars as they have nowhere else to go.
"It puts you in a dark place, I'm already battling suicidal thoughts.'I live in chronic pain every single day and the one thing you need to know is you're safe and secure in where you live."
He said he may have to resort to living in a cheap hotel to get by.
"I don't want to live in a hotel, it seems fun and exciting and then it gets boring," he said.
"It's not a home, I can't cook or settle. I'm disadvantaged because of my age as medically I would be entitled to go into assisted living but as I'm 46 they don't need to take me on.
"Rental sites like Zoopla and Rightmove don't let you search for accessible features which means a lot of time is wasted."
It comes less than a year after Mr Wilson was pictured hauling himself out of his chair to pay his respects to the Queen while she was lying in state in September last year.
A spokesperson for West Northamptonshire council said: "While we wouldn't discuss specific cases, we can say that our teams work extremely hard to manage all housing requests based on the accommodation we have available and in line with our allocations policy."
