Portsmouth store replaces Russell Lucas Allen’s belongings after water poured out on him from inside shop as he slept in doorway

Debenhams has apologised to a homeless man after his possessions were drenched as he slept in a doorway of its city-centre Portsmouth store on Boxing Day.

Russell Lucas Allen alleged a security guard told him to “enjoy your water bed” after he woke up to find his belongings, and those of his dog Lexy, soaked with water. He wrote on Facebook that water poured from inside the store had “ruined clothing, food, dog bedding, public donations brought by the kind members of public”.

He wrote that he and some friends had complained, adding: “When confronting the guard I got told I deserve it.”

Debenhams said it was an “unfortunate accident” and replaced Allen’s bedding. The original Facebook post led to hundreds of comments on social media and offers of help. An online petition calling for the guard to be disciplined gathered more than 8,000 signatures within 24 hours.

Allen, a former assistant building site manager, told the Guardian the response was overwhelming. “I didn’t think such a small incident would escalate into such a big situation,” he said.

“I just want to tell everyone I appreciate the love that everyone has shown me … if anything, it will make people think differently towards homeless people and those less fortunate.”

Paul Godier, an independent who chairs Portsmouth city council’s homelessness taskforce and spent 10 years homeless himself, said he and Allen had held “constructive” meetings with Debenhams representatives and expected the store to offer training to its employees.

But a lack of empathy towards the homeless is not unusual, he added: “A church up the road evicted a load of homeless from their grounds a few months ago.”

The incident raised broader questions about homelessness in the port city, and why anybody was sleeping in a doorway on Christmas Day, when overnight temperatures fell as low as -3C.

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A count earlier this year identified 37 rough sleepers in Portsmouth, and others are known to sleep in their cars, but getting firm numbers for homelessness is notoriously difficult. A winter shelter opened a couple of months ago catering for 36 people, but Godier said Allen had told him he was turned away because it was full.

Godier said he and the council’s head of housing had been working to address the situation on Wednesday. “It highlighted a situation that shouldn’t have arisen and we have solved that problem or we had better have,” he said. “I have worked with Russell for a long time. He’s a good guy in a terrible situation.”

A spokeswoman for Debenhams said the retailer took the matter seriously and had investigated. “We have established that this was an unfortunate accident in which the routine cleaning of the fire exit from the inside of the store resulted in some of the gentleman’s property on the other side of the fire exit becoming wet.”



She added: “Debenhams has now supplied the gentleman with new bedding and clothing, and a member of our team has met him to offer our sincere apologies for any distress caused.”