Having had to clean up urine from the windows and paving of a sheltered shopfront on many occasions, I can completely understand why people do this. Not that spikes would necessarily completely stop this kind of behaviour, but anything that discourages people from sleeping or even hanging around where you are trying to do business is a good thing.

Supermarket chain Tesco, have agreed to remove the spikes due to public complaints and protests. They claim they didn't put them there in order to prevent the homeless sleeping there, but to deter anti-social behaviour. They have promised to find an alternative method.

 

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/jun/12/tesco-spikes-remove-regent-street-homeless-protests

It was the drunks on the way home after "drinkeys and kebabs" that urinated and defacated in the area around my business premises.  It's not usually  the homeless that do that.  That's like "-----------in their own nest"

 

I used to leave cardboard boxes in the rear yard for the homeless.  That was the best I could do for them at the time.  But they complained about being woken at 3.30am by the arrival of delivery trucks.  

 

The local golden arches had a promotion for second cup of coffee free.  The homeless picked the local bins for discarded cups and fronted up for their "second" cup.  I believe that practice has ceased.

 

In regard to spikes as a deterrent. I think they could be dangerous to the public in general.  Tripping? Falling backwards and hitting head?

 

The princess and the pea?  Do the homeless really feel them through a piece of cardboard/bedding?  Not as uncomfortable as an alternate arrangement perhaps.

 

DEB

 

Disgusting!

I was talking with a com services manager and was surprised to learn that the homeless up here are not allowed to seek shelter in evacuation centres. The council's solution in keeping these people safe during a cyclone was for them to occupy an underground carpark, one that floods!

Homelessness can and does happen to anyone, they don't need your judgement or to be treated like they are scum.

appears a better placement option to me

 

The homeless have nothing.  It's hard to face the day when you're in that position.  I wonder if the people who came up with this idea understand the meaning of the word "cruelty."  But there was a time when steeling a loaf of bread would get you transportation for life.  Good for Australia - bad for England.

Tesco - the supermarket in question - are notorious for buying up land in towns and cities, ostensibly to build a store, whether or not they already have one in situ. This is nonsense, as the reason behind this move is to prevent the other supermarkets - Asda, Morrison, Sainsbury, Waitrose, etc, to muscle in.

 

Perhaps a better idea would be for them to build a shelter for the homeless on these derelict sites. Would certainly give them more kudos with the public, and maybe help their falling profits, which were 6% last year.