Homeless mother's protest goes unnoticed

But while Thelma Pickard sat in Town Hall Square in the tiny Astramax she has lived in since losing her Sedlescombe home, members of Rother planning committee were across the road debating applications in the Council Chamber and unaware of her presence.

Thelma's van is packed with her bedding and effects. She had parked it by Town Hall Square Gardens.

In the van's windows were posters reading: "I am sleeping in my disabled daughter's van.

"The council have refused to help me even though I meet the government criteria for being re-housed."

But the van was on the opposite side of the road to the Town Hall. Councillors hurrying in to their meeting out of the rain hadn't spotted it.

Amy Pickard, 23, has spent the last six years in a coma, unable to eat or breathe for herself.

She was a 17 year-old student at Filsham Valley School at St Leonards when a heroin incident put her into the coma.

Thelma has been campaigning on her behalf ever since and travelling daily to the Raphael Clinic at Tonbridge to visit her.

They made national headlines recently when Amy began showing signs of improvement.

She has been the subject of an international trial using the sleeping pill Zolpidem. Now her eyes have begun to sparkle once more and she has even managed to stand.

Amy was recently featured in the BBC 1 documentary about the Zolpidem trial, The Waking Pill.

Of 360 coma victims worldwide taking part in the trial, some 60% have started showing signs of improvement.

Heavy rain continued to fall in Town Hall Square as Thelma claimed: "Because Rother are telling me I don't reach the criteria for eligibility for being homeless I have nowhere to go.

"Before this I lived at Sedlescombe for three years."

She says that since being evicted from her home three weeks ago she has had to live in the Astramax.

"I am at the end of my tether now. I live in my daughter's van. I park it where I can sleep in it '“ Stamco, Fairlight, wherever I can get."

A Rother spokesman said later: "As you know we are not at liberty to discuss the details of individual housing cases.

"I am, however, able to advise you that despite the fact that we do not have any duty under the homeless legislation to house Mrs Pickard, we are nevertheless exploring all possible options to see whether we can assist her and are currently awaiting further information from her in order to take the matter further."