A charity boss claims the 'old and vulnerable' can't even afford to ask for his help due to the cost-of-living crisis - after receiving a desperate letter from a bloke who 'couldn't afford a stamp'. James Anderson, founder of plumbing and heating repair charity Depher CIC, claims he received a handwritten note from a 65-year-old man called Anthony begging for help with his heating.
In the heart-breaking letter, the universal credit recipient claims he has just £60 a week to live off and cannot afford gas, electricity or hot water. He claims he cannot afford credit on his phone to make calls and has to wash by boiling water in a pan, admitting he is 'dreading' winter.
James, 55, initially tried to reach out to Anthony but claimed his mobile phone is repeatedly going to voicemail - fearing he might not have been able to afford to charge it. But the following evening, he revealed the charity had finally managed to get in touch with Anthony and a support package had been put in place, including heating and food deliveries.
But the dad-of-six now worries raising costs could mean people won't be able to afford to reach out for help in the first place as they can't afford stamps, the internet or electricity for phone chargers. Sharing the heart-breaking note on Twitter, James wrote: "He couldn't even afford a stamp. I know what I'm going to do!! What would you do??"
James, from Burnley, Lancashire, said: "This is the first time someone hasn't been able to afford a stamp. It might be the first of many. I received this letter on Monday at the Depher community shop.
"We get a lot of letters and requests by email for help, but this struck me because on the envelope it says 'Dear Royal Mail, I didn't have the full address but James was on telly and he helps old and vulnerable people'.
"It had 'free post' on the front which means he couldn't afford a stamp. Royal Mail could have easily binned it or sent a recharge to us but they didn't, they just delivered it because of the way it was written. There's a phone number on the letter. I rung the phone number a few times and we couldn't get through. It was going straight to voicemail.
"He could have run out of money to charge it. This could be a new barrier for people reaching out for help. It could possibly be a situation people could be put into and it's something we need to be aware of."
James, dubbed 'the kindest plumber in Britain', is now appealing publicly for the person behind the letter to get in touch as soon as they can as help is available.
James said: "He said he can't afford gas and just has a pre-payment meter for electric. If he can get the gas back on, maybe we can put £500 on it. That's not an issue. We could put other stuff in place. For the next six months, we could get him a free shop every month delivered by Tesco or Asda.
"We can do what he needs to keep him safe and alive. It was hard to contact him because we couldn't get him on the phone."
The charity has been helping old and vulnerable people for five years [since 2017] - not only with repair works but by providing food and other free services to those most in need.
James said: "It's a hard time for everybody and a lot of people will use us in different ways. This is just one letter of thousands that we get every month. We see a lot of this because a lot of older people don't have access to the internet, laptops or social media, so they don't know what [help] they're entitled to. It's really hard for them.
"This is one of the worst letters we've had. We had a lady, 83 years old, who was ready to hang herself because she didn't want to live anymore. That's because nobody would listen to her. It wasn't just because she had little income or was hungry, it was because nobody would stop and say 'come here, let's sit down and deal with what the issue is'.
"In her mind, she thought if she didn't matter she might as well not be here. It was a happy ending because we ended up getting in contact with her daughter and she's now living abroad. She's safe, happy and still alive. Every person has got to be treated as an individual case."
James had asked Cheshire Police to perform a welfare check to make sure the man is safe - but planned to visit his home if necessary. James said: "I contacted Cheshire Police asking if they could do a check on him. The next step is going to be that we contact social services to see if they know of anything that can be done to help him.
"After that, it would be a personal visit by myself because I can't get through to the number."
Royal Mail thanked James for his kind words and said they were happy the post was delivered.
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: "We are pleased that this item of mail was successfully delivered, and are grateful to our customer for his kind words about this."
Cheshire Police were contacted for comment.
