Rough sleepers are being pestered by well-meaning people wanting to help them, it has been claimed.

Homeless people on the streets are wary of strangers and the attention can be disturbing for them, says Neil Charlick, from Medway Street Angels.

The experienced worker buys the homeless breakfast every morning has said he is concerned about the growing number of groups trying to offer ‘help’ which as grown in the light of a recent increase in numbers and at least three deaths.

Mr Charlick said many of the people who sleep on Medway’s high streets are frightened and will only accept help from people they know. He said he was worried that if well-wishers approach them it could lead to more problems.

His comments come amid growing concern over the numbers of rough sleepers in Medway and at least three deaths last year, including two in December.

Mr Charlick said: “There are a lot more Facebook groups popping up with people saying they want to help the homeless. One group said they were going to hand out food to people and film them to show that they are happy receiving food.

“This is going to cause a lot of problems. Most of the homeless people are petrified of strangers. A lot of them go off the street and hide because they don’t want to be seen.”

He said if people want to help the best thing to do is to contact groups which are already helping the homeless like Halo, Medway Street Angels and One Big Family.

He said: “We all met up for a meeting and we’re going to be working as a team. I go out very early to make sure everyone is still alive and to buy them breakfast.

If you want to help please just talk to one of the groups – don’t drive along the High Street looking for people. Some people don’t want to be spoken to.”

Not everyone has kind intentions towards the homeless and recent figures showed about eight out of 10 rough sleepers have experienced violence, abuse or anti-social behaviour.

The charity Crisis surveyed 458 rough sleepers in England and Wales and found that people sleeping on the street are almost 17 times more likely to have been victims of violence and 15 times more likely to have suffered verbal abuse in the past year, compared to the public.

Mr Charlick added: “We had a guy last week who was beaten up – he had his cheekbone broken.

“It’s Catch-22. He wants to sleep in the High Street because there’s cameras and he thinks he’ll be safe and then you get drunk people doing things like that.

“I tried to give someone a white blanket the other day and they wouldn’t take it and said if they did someone would set fire to them. What sort of world do we live in that someone is scared in this way?”