Caller cries as he tells LBC of his experience with child hunger

26 October 2020, 18:53

This is the moment a caller broke down in tears as he spoke to LBC's Eddie Mair about his personal experience with child hunger.

By Sam Sholli

Gary from Edinburgh, who was a recipient of free school meals during the 1970s, told Eddie of his childhood memories of "waking up starving" and "not having a breakfast".

While talking about his experiences growing up as kid, he opened up to Eddie Mair about how his father was an alcoholic.

Speaking about his father, Gary explained: "He didn't have a job and we relied and money through the Government..."

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"I'm not going to say he was a control freak but maybe he was. But he controlled the money and his idea of controlling the money was spending it on booze.

"So for my mum it was a nightmare honestly, an absolute nightmare.

"I remember loads of times my mum taking us down to the police station and just dumping us [there] and telling the police 'you feed them' and [then] criticising my dad."

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Gary told LBC: "We were always starving as kids. I had two sisters and a brother and it was the same for the four of us."

Later on in his exchange with Eddie, Gary broke down in tears and said: "I feel [a little] bit upset talking about it. I didn't think I would be upset about this."

He added: "I'm just thinking about my family because they've all passed away now..."