Doreen man forced to live in a van targeted by vandals

A man forced to live inside his truck in Doreen for the last four years says he has been abused, threatened and had his truck damaged. Now the rough sleeper has had enough and is calling on the vandals to stop their ‘belittling’ behaviour.

The truck which Anthony has been living out of for the past four years. Picture: Hamish Blair

A Doreen man forced to live out of his truck says vandals are verbally abusing him, hurling rocks, spray painting offensive language and even threatening to blow up his mobile home.

Anthony* has been living in the truck for four years after being kicked out of home by his family due to personal reasons.

“I was doing well during that period, working, saving a lot of money, but when I say got kicked out, I literally mean got kicked out on the spot,” he said.

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“It wasn’t like I had time to look for a place — I was forced to live out of my car.”

Anthony, who is in his 30s, then used “his last dollar” on a truck hoping he could use it for work and living purposes.

But he said he needed to pay $15,000 to get the Queensland vehicle roadworthy in Victoria — money he did not have.

While attempting to save the cash the truck’s registration then expired, causing Anthony to park the truck permanently in a Doreen residential estate.

He said vandals had targeted his truck about 20 times in that period, causing him to fork out $2000 on repairs and security.

“There have been a lot of rocks thrown causing dints on the sides, someone spray painted the front (of the truck), kids attempted to break in, the windscreen has been smashed and I’ve had the lock broken three times,” he said.

“It’s belittling — one teenager even threatened to blow up my truck.”

Vandals have smashed the windscreen of Anthony's truck. Picture: Hamish Blair

Anthony said the harassment caused him to become fearful and withdrawn.

“I’m not doing any harm to anyone being here — I’m just keeping to myself,” he said.

“When I first got the truck I was feeling good, I was high on life.

“I would just leave the door open and sit outside watching the kangaroos — I was happy and thinking about all the possibilities and now I stay in my truck with the door closed.”

Anthony said job agencies had found him at least 10 warehousing jobs over the last four years.

But he said constant fear of being attacked made it “impossible” for him to maintain a job.

He now survives on weekly Centrelink payments, addressed to his family home nearby.

“I just want to find a location to put the truck — if someone has some spare land where I can move it so then I can be free of all this fear,” he said.

“I just need somewhere I can be at peace, from there my motivation will rise and I can maintain a job and get back on my feet.”

Anthony's truck has also been spray painted by vandals while he was inside.

While Anthony said he understood how easily someone could be thrown into a life of homelessness, he still had hope of getting back to that “high on life” feeling.

“I just want people to realise that I’m here trying to do the right thing,” he said.

“In that truck is a human and I deserve to be treated like one, in that truck is someone who pays taxes, maybe not as much, but I do.

“I’m trying and I just want to be treated with dignity.”

If you can help Anthony contact [e-mail]

*To protect Anthony’s privacy Leader chose not to reveal his surname.