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Meet the homeless people being handed free beer in Liverpool city centre today.

Stunned shoppers watched a Bud Light 4X4 park up near the Subway in Whitechapel this afternoon where staff gifted cans of lager to passers-by as part of a promotional campaign.

The vehicle was quickly told to move on by council staff because it did not have permission to be there.

But we found several rough sleepers in the nearby area who had been given free beers as part of the promotion - with one man lying sleeping next to a can.

Another rough sleeper told us he had been given quite a few cans and had handed some of these out to his friends.

He said: “They were just handing them out to everyone, I ended up with a trolley full.

“I think it was sound. I think its ok giving those out, it doesn’t do any harm does it.”

But City Centre councillor Nick Small took a dimmer view of the marketing campaign, describing the actions of Anheuser-Busch - the company behind Bud Light - as irresponsible, aggressive and wrong.

He said: “They have done this without permission from the council’s Licensing Team or City Centre Team.

“I’ve had reports from members of the public that they’ve seen street drinkers and other vulnerable residents being handed free cans of beer by Bud Light.

“I’m outraged that this is happening when Liverpool schools are on half-term too.

“I’d like to thank the City Council’s Licensing and City Centre Teams for acting so quickly and getting the van moved.

“I’m demanding that enforcement action is taken against the company for what appears to be a flagrant breach of alcohol promotion guideline and licensing laws. This has no place whatsoever in Liverpool or anywhere else.”

American beer Bud Light has reappeared in the UK this year, 16 years after failing to make the product take off over here.

The light beer, which went on sale in February, has a much lower ABV than normal Budweiser as well as less calories.

In a statement to the ECHO, Anheuser-Busch said: “As a company and founding member of the Portman Group, we are committed to responsible drinking and take our role in promoting this very seriously.

“For our UK Bud Light sampling tour we have processes in place to make sure only those of legal drinking age, who are not under the influence and not in a vulnerable position, receive a single 150ml sample can of Bud Light. This incident has recently been brought to our attention and while we believe it to be an isolated case, we are working with our sampling team to understand the specific circumstances of how this happened and to ensure that any future activity sees these products being distributed and enjoyed responsibly.”