I could be sitting down to write a completely different blog, I could be sitting down right now to tell you how my homeless uncle was burnt to death as he slept on the streets, but as luck would have it I am sitting down to tell you how he dodged that bullet, but the story is nearly just as sad.

My uncle is a 50 year old alcohol dependent man with dementia, and has been living on and off the streets now for nearly twenty years. He is currently sleeping in an old fashioned wooden bus shelter on the edge of Abington Park, Northampton.

On Tuesday 21st of August at about 9pm, my girlfriend and me were driving home, if we drive past the bus shelter we look in to see if my uncle is ok. Well this night something was strange, we heard some shouting, and saw another man there. So we turned around and parked up, we noticed some smoke and smelt it straight away.

Now we didn't know what the hell was going on, but the other man with my uncle filled us in. He had been walking back from the shop when he noticed a gang of lads messing about in the bus shelter, they ran off when he approached. When he got to my uncle he found him quite drunk and asleep, but the more shocking thing was, that the sleeping bag and bedding he was using was on fire. These teenagers thought it was acceptable to set his bedding on fire while he was asleep inside it.

How dehumanized are homeless people if a group of people think it is ok to set one on fire? The saddest thing about it, is this isn't the first time it has happened to him!

Luckily the fire hadn't taken hold and the man came along when he did, because he was able to put most of it out by the time we arrived. When we got there my uncle's coat was smoking, and we had to stamp out some of the smouldering sleeping bag.

By this time my uncle was slowly coming around (he was lying on a soaking wet roll mat), he could hardly move but he was sitting up, unaware of what was going on or what had just happened. I have no doubt that if someone hadn't come along and put the fire out, it would have burnt him alive while he slept.

If this is where the story ended it would still be pretty bad, but it gets worse. The group of teenagers that had tried setting him on fire hadn't ran off but were watching us from the shadows of the park. They started hurling abuse at us as we tended to my uncle, threatening us and trying to goad us into chasing after them. So my girlfriend rang the police and requested an ambulance while I got a wooden pole out our car in case they started doing more than hurl abuse.

The police took about half an hour to arrive, the ambulance never did. All the while this gang is lurking in the shadows hurling abuse, and they tried throwing a few stones at us that missed. When the police arrived they didn't take it seriously, didn't try and give chase to the people, or seem that bothered by it all. Ask yourself would they have acted that way if it wasn't a homeless man being treated this way?

Luckily my uncle is fine because of the dementia he doesn't even really know what happened to him! But will he be next time? What will it take for the council and the country to act and help the homeless?

We have been trying for months and months to get him access to services and the support he needs, we have repeatedly tried to find him a place to live, but there is a clear lack of services, support and accommodation.

So he shouldn't have been there in the first place, if he dies on the streets, it would be an avoidable death that happened because of a lack of services, and the support he so desperately needs!

If he had died those kids would have been ultimately responsible, but some of the blame would have to be shared with the council and the government. It is cuts to vital services which create situations like this.

Firstly, cuts to homeless services, meaning a lack of support and a lack of accommodation. Secondly, cuts to youth services, which means less support for emotionally and physically damaged children, who in turn grow up to a whole host of problems and exhibit antisocial behaviours. Thirdly, cuts to public services, meaning the streets are less safe and while people who have homes can rest easy in the relative safety of their homes, it is a luxury those on the street do not have. Finally, cuts to dementia services, meaning those with complex needs like my uncle, fall through the cracks.

We need to act now before it is too late, we cannot tolerate this within our society anymore! How many homeless people are going to have to die before we say enough is enough? Please help get my uncle off the streets, so he is somewhere safe and can get the support he needs

Thank you.