Big Issue seller Daniel Collins left school and trained as a chef but said he'd "rather do this now".

 

The 42-year-old from East Kilbride said: "When I started selling I decided not to be one of those vendors that people crossed the street to avoid, but I became invisible. Now I try to attract attention by saying 'hello'.

"It can be hard. Some people look at you like they want to scrape you off the bottom of their shoe. It's a look that says 'you're beneath me'.

"You get people that go by and look at you while they count their money. You're frequently called a 'junkie' or a 'beggar'. I try not to let it bother me.

"The worst is when people lash out. I've had young guys punch me and steal my magazines."

Mr Collins makes enough money to live but says he has less than £5 a day to feed himself.

"I average about 70 copies a week, which puts me in the top three in Glasgow. It gets me just over £100.

"I was homeless when I first started but I have a flat now. I had addiction issues in the past but I'm more stable now.

"I don't claim benefits. Selling the Big Issue isn't brilliant but it's better than signing on."

Mr Collins has slept rough in East Kilbride and spent several months in Glasgow hostels.

He said: "I used to sleep in an air vent in the back of a church. The vicar had it boarded it up and I lost everything I had, including my sleeping bag.

"After that I was in hostels but it was a struggle. There are people in there who will bully you and try to steal what little money you have."

Mr Collins, whose pitch is in Byres Road, said he plans to return to further education.

"I'm hoping to do an access course and get into university to study sociology," he added.

"I'd like to work with people and maybe help those who are going through what I've been through."

Robert Brownlee, 59, from Manchester, sells the magazine at Central Station.

He settled in Dalmarnock but has been homeless several times and slept rough at one stage.

"I couldn't do it now," he said. "The old bones wouldn't take it."

He admits that it can be tough to sell the weekly magazine in the centre of Glasgow.

"You get people telling you to get a job, but I have a job," he said. "Then there are all the people who completely ignore you. It's as if you don't exist."

Mr Brownlee estimates that 95% of people walk straight past him as they rush to catch a train.

He said: "I've been doing this for quite a long time. You can never be sure how many you're going to sell. It depends on the weather, the time of year, the time of the month when people have money.

"In an average week I probably sell about 60. More than 60% of my customers are regulars, because people are used to seeing me here. If it wasn't for them I don't know what I'd do."

Floren and his wife Nicoletta came to Scotland from Romania and now live in Halfway with their baby girl.

Before settling down, he and his family "slept on the street" for several nights.

The 24-year-old, whose pitch is behind John Lewis in Renfrew Street, said: "Things are a lot better since I started selling the Big Issue. We got our flat and I was able to provide a little for my family.

"I came to Scotland for a job, for a better life than I can have in my country. It's hard work to sell the Big Issue but people are nice to me."

Read: abused and ignored - a day in the life of a Big Issue vendor in Glasgow