CONCERNS have been raised about vulnerable homeless people being kicked out of a hotel due to bookings by RIAT visitors.

Several rough sleepers staying in a Swindon Travelodge were reportedly told by Swindon Borough Council last week their rooms will soon be occupied by those visiting the Royal International Air Tattoo.

The local authority’s homeless support team gave the current hotel residents a choice of either being moved outside of Swindon until Tuesday or having to source accommodation themselves in the town.

Swindon Borough Council says everyone affected by this disruption will not be left without an accommodation offer, and added ways to prevent this issue from happening again are being considered.

Jan Bailey told the Adver: “This happens every year when RIAT comes along but the council never prepares for it because they can only block-book the hotel one week at a time.

“The residents were told that the council does not have anywhere in Swindon to move to.

“People’s families can’t suddenly move out of the area – kids can’t change schools for just a few days.

“People in these situations don’t have the facilities to source their own place to stay at such short notice, and some of them have particular issues that make moving out of town very difficult, but if they don’t then they have nowhere to go.

“We need to stop this happening again, not just for RIAT, but any time there’s a big event nearby.”

A Swindon Borough Council spokesperson said: “There is always huge demand for hotel places at this time of year because of the Royal International Air Tattoo, with many of the rooms being booked well in advance of the air show.

“We have to carefully plan the accommodation we are likely to need for this time period. This can be difficult because the number of people presenting as homeless can fluctuate from week to week.

“Due to many of Swindon’s hotels being full this weekend, we have had to source some emergency accommodation outside of the borough for a few days and those that need to access this will be supported with travel arrangements.

“No one affected will be left without an offer of accommodation and we always provide support for those that need it.

“Moving forward, the council’s Cabinet has agreed to look into schemes involving pod-based accommodation, which will limit our need to use hotels as temporary accommodation and prevent issues like this in the future.”