Emmanuel’s story: Reaching people on London’s transport network
13 November 2025
How the Rapid Response TfL team helped Emmanuel take his first steps away from rough sleeping
When we first met Emmanuel at North Greenwich station, he had been rough sleeping there since 2020. Our Rapid Response TfL team — an outreach service run by Thames Reach in partnership with Transport for London — had begun to see him regularly across the station concourse and on nearby night buses.
“I used to sleep at the station most nights,” Emmanuel says. “When it got too cold, I’d take the night buses instead. You could at least keep warm that way.”
For Emmanuel, buses became a way to get through the night. “When you’re on a bus, you don’t have to think about the weather or people bothering you,” he explains. “You just stay quiet and keep going until morning.”
The exhaustion of those years stayed with him. “It’s not just the cold — it’s the tiredness,” he says. “You never really sleep properly. You’re always half-awake, waiting for the night to end.”
As TfL staff and our outreach workers became aware of what he was facing, Emmanuel began to receive regular contact and support. “When people knew what was going on, they were understanding,” he recalls. “They treated me with respect. That made a big difference.”
Our Rapid Response TfL team specialises in meeting people where they are — on buses, at stations and on the wider transport network — and offering them a consistent point of contact. For Emmanuel, that meant having someone check in, listen and help him navigate the uncertainty of waiting for a Home Office decision on his immigration status.
Earlier this year, once his right to remain in the UK was confirmed, we supported him to move into a private rented flat through our Aspire service. In August 2025, after five years of rough sleeping, he finally moved into his own home.
Now, Emmanuel is focused on getting back into work. A qualified security officer, he is renewing his licence so he can return to employment — something he has been working towards with determination. “That’s my goal,” he says. “To get back to work and live normally again.”
Looking back, he hopes that others sleeping rough on London’s transport network can find the same chance to move forward. “Sometimes people just need to be spoken to,” he says. “When someone takes the time to talk to you, that’s how everything starts.”
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