Family of four moves into double-decker bus after shock eviction notice leaves them homeless

Rather than leaving us homeless or burdening the council with the responsibility to find us somewhere to live, we decided to take matters into our own hands,’ says Simon Lewis, who was faced with homelessness after being served a shock eviction notice by their private landlord.

Their landlord had decided he wanted to sell the property and Simon, his partner Sophie Underwood, and his three children, were told to leave by August 9.

With ‘literally no homes’ up for rent in their seaside town of Felixstowe, Suffolk, and not enough money to buy, the family-of-five decided to move into a double-decker bus they bought from eBay for £6,000.

Simon and Sophie plan to spend an extra £20,000 converting the green school bus, which was owned by a Cambridge bus company, into a four-bed home.

There are literally no homes with estate agents so basically, we decided we could either move out of town or end up homeless,’ says Simon, who owns a vaping shop.

He adds that the Covid-19 pandemic had made it harder for the family to get ‘back on their feet’ financially.

(Simon and Sophie plan to spend £20,000 converting the bus )

(The family is seeing the silver lining of their situation)

With the £20,000, he plans to create four bedrooms, a bathroom and a toilet on the top deck and a kitchen, dining room and seating area downstairs.

Despite everything, Simon is seeing the silver lining: not only does he believe his family will save thousands of pounds a year by living on the bus, he’s looking forward to exploring the UK with ease.

‘It has always been a dream of ours to travel the country around the UK and visit the four parts of the country,’ he says. ‘This gives us the opportunity to visit the Lake District and see the rest of the UK.’

(The old school bus cost just £6,000)

Ref: Family of four moves into double-decker bus after shock eviction notice leaves them homeless (metro)