A homeless man has said he felt “like I was no one” after a McDonald’s security guard soaked his sleeping bag with dirty water.
Aaron McCarthy was sat outside a Nationwide bank branch next door to McDonald’s on Victoria Street, near Victoria Station, when he was asked to move by guards hired by the fast food chain on Saturday night.
Footage of the incident shows one of them kicking Mr McCarthy’s bedding before splashing water with a mop where the 25-year-old was sitting, as a passers-by can be heard saying "why are you doing this?"
Mr McCarthy told the Sun newspaper that he was unable to sleep after the incident because “my stuff was soaked”. He added: “It was cold water and it's winter. I could've died.”
He also told the MailOnline he will be sleeping on the streets at Christmas as “no one” is offering him help.
Speaking to the news website, he said: “It made me feel like I was no one, nothing.
“What happened has really affected my mental health. It has made my PTSD go off again and made my ADHD get worse.
“There was no reason for that security guard to throw water on my sleeping bag.
“I told him that I was not outside McDonald's and that the private Victoria security [who control the pavement area around Victoria station] said it was ok.”
Mr McCarthy explained how he has been living on London’s streets since he left his adopted mother’s home in Wales when he was 17.
During that time he said he had been stabbed, had bricks smashed over his head and been mugged as he slept.
He continued: “I was born a heroin addict. My mum and my dad were addicts.
“My dad was in jail. I don't know my real parents. I met my real mum once when I was 18. I've never met my dad. I don't know him.
“My adopted mother lives in Wales. I realise [now] why she has had to take a step back [from being in a close relationship with me] because I have severe ADHD, post-traumatic distress disorder, borderline personality disorder.
“She never knew this when she adopted me. So she did not know I was going to grow up the way I am now.
“But it's tough living on the streets. But to be abused like I was by that security guard was not on. He did not have to do that.
“Everyone seems to think that people on the streets are drug addicts. But I'm not. I don't choose to be here. I've asked and asked and asked for help but it seems like no one wants to know. I need help and I don't get help.”
In a statement posted on X, formerly Twitter, McDonald’s said it was “shocked and saddened” by the incident and it has permanently removed the "third party security guards" from its restaurant.
The statement said: “We are shocked and saddened by this incident. The third party security guards involved have been permanently removed from our restaurants and the restaurant team has been reminded of the importance of treating all people with respect including vulnerable people both in the restaurant and within the wider community.
"We would like to wholeheartedly apologise to the gentleman in the video and will work with the council to locate him and make amends, as part of our ongoing work to support homelessness charities in and around the area.”
