A homeless mother and son have been urged to contact their former housing providers after sleeping in a bus shelter for nine days.

Loraine Seabourne, 52 and Darren Seabourne, 25, have been living on the streets of Walthamstow since being evicted from their Romford home.

The duo were being helped by the council until they ‘fled’ the area.

The Seabourne’s told the Guardian that they had been evicted for non-payment of rent and had issues with family in the area. They came to Waltham Forest to find a new home.

A spokesman for Havering Borough Council said: “Loraine Seabourne decided to withdraw her homelessness application on Wednesday 4 June.

“Since she no longer wanted our assistance, we had no choice but to close the case.

"To be clear, we have not refused to help her and would ask her to approach Havering Council again so we can discuss all the options for finding a more permanent solution to this situation."

According to Ascham Homes the Seabourne’s also did not accept help from them.

A spokesman said: “During our conversation with her, it transpired that Ms Seabourne had a live housing application with Havering Council, and was entitled to a decision from them.

“She was advised to return to Havering Council as they were currently dealing with her case.

“Ms Seabourne and her son returned to Cedar Wood House on June 5 and they were seen by a Customer Services Officer who made an emergency appointment for the following day so we could look into her case in more detail.

“However Ms Seabourne failed to attend the appointment and there has been no further contact from her.”

On Wednesday they were waiting for homelessness charity Street Link to collect them and find them shelter.