A couple Alan Lane, 71 and his wife Katrina, 62, in their 60s and 70s say they are forced to live at Heathrow Airport after their comfortable lives fell apart.

They were a part of a growing breed of middle-class homeless, forced to shelter there from freezing temperatures and street crime.
They have traded a plush £500,000 home in Dorset for the sterile environment and chaos of the air hub after ill fortune - and some bad decisions. 

Daily Mirror Reports
Previously, Alan was an £80,000 a year communications consultant for international firms, while Katrina was a nanny for the children of wealthy Londoners, including actor Dennis Waterman.
The couple, who have been together for 28 years, spend their time watching TV dramas on a smartphone using the airport's free wi-fi and moving between terminals to remain inconspicuous.
Alan still undertakes consultancy work, operating out of a coffee shop, earning around £7,000, alongside his £527-a-month state pension and £292 occupational pension.

Katrina, at 62, gets no pension but is entitled to £70 a week Jobseeker's Allowance, but does not claim it as she has no home and can't attend meetings with career advisors.
They do not qualify for social housing because they are not considered vulnerable, despite their age. They have spurned other work and housing because it would have meant them separating - something they cannot bear to do.

They spend £300 on storage for their furniture and £485 goes towards a £20,000 bank loan they took out in 2011.

Two nights a week they stay in a £50-a-night B&B close to Heathrow, where they sleep undisturbed and wash their clothes.

Their troubles began when Alan lost a lucrative contract in 2002.
They couldn't afford the mortgage repayments and downsized to a flat, eventually selling that and renting. However, they then began to struggle to pay the rent, starting their downward spiral.

"It seems there's no place for us in the world and that hurts," says Alan.
"We watch other people do what we used to do — they go about their busy lives; they shop, they go home, they sleep in warm beds - and we think: 'Not so long ago, that was us'.
"But we have each other, and that sustains us."

www.gistblognaija.com/2015/02/meet-couple-who-are-forced-to-live-in.html

Make hay, while the sun shine

no condition is permanent.

Very Bizzare story
Was there no equity in the 500K house when they sold it? . . especially bearing in mind he was earning 80k a year.
They could have used that to buy a small flat outright somewhere else
They could have bought one bed flat for 60K in that same Dorset with no mortgage

He was 59 when his troubles started, so he should have been preparing for his retirement.
What did they do with all the money they were earning before then
Where is their family in all of this?

There are thousands of people in worse positions sleeping rough under underpasses, garages and doorways.

I think they are a lot better off.

Some people don't even have a roof or something or anything to call their own.

Just be contended and grateful for whatever you have.