A man from New Cross told a heartbreaking tale about living in Britain without a job or family, living off one meal a day and scavenging for food in bins.

Mike, 35 from New Cross told radio station LBC of how his life changed after losing his job and his marriage, and he now struggles to eat one meal a day.

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Despite having a degree in Broadcast Journalism, Mike has been unable to find work since being made redundant and has to survive on one tin of beans or spaghetti a day.

Mike said: "You just don't know what you're going to do and you haven't got nothing to eat, you open the cupboard 10-50 times a day and there's nothing there, it doesn't change "Some times you have to go to a foodbank, you don't have any choice, some times because you haven't registered they have to turn you away."

"I live in a tiny little flat and I've got black mould growing up the walls, I sit in the evening with a quilt wrapped round me because I can't afford to have the heating on."

Mike couldn't understand some of the stereotypes about people living off benefits, and said that the money he got from the government wasn't enough to get by.

He said: "I've found myself looking in bins, how bad is that? Hanging round the back of supermarkets taking stuff that they've thrown away.

"You're out there every day with just enough money to buy a dinner, you're just trying to get by, there are days some times when I can't eat, when I don't eat.

"I haven't got a telly, I've got a tiny little radio, buying batteries for that is an extravagance for me.

Mike goes out every day in seach of a job to try and better his circumstances, but has been unsuccesful.

He said: "It's not fun and for these people who sit there and say go out and get a job, I'm out there every day, looking and searching, and you're trying to do it on you're own but you can't, it just gets harder and harder.

Peter Wood, chief executive of the 999 Club, a charity who offer help and advice to society's most vulnerable in Deptford and Downham, said: "Mike's story of isolation and loneliness is all too common.

"A radio and an empty cupboard, this is what growing inequality in Britain looks like."

When asked about what he was doing for Christmas, Mike said: "I'm doing nothing. I can't do nothing for Christmas, I will just shut the door and listen to the radio, that will be my Christmas, I don't have anyone so that's the way it is."

Despite all of the problems in his life, Mike is insistent that he will not accept charity, and urges people to donate to food banks instead.