Kent community misses good Samaritan vendor Colin

Broadstairs Big Issue readers told this week’s The Big Miss You Podcast that they are missing their local “good Samaritan”, vendor Colin Davey.

Jane Simpson and her husband Vic got in contact with our podcast to tell us about how Colin had come to the rescue following an accident in the Kent seaside town.

“I tripped over in the High Street, and went down, whallop,” Vic said. “He was chatting to me and making sure I was ok, and just being a good Samaritan really. He’s a nice chap.”

Colin waited with the stricken Vic until Jane was able to get to him and take her husband to hospital to be checked over. Vic had suffered a nasty hit to the head but was otherwise given a clean bill of health.

Speaking to the podcast, Colin was modest about the incident.

“If anyone falls over I’d try and help them out,” he said, adding that he sees his role in the community as bigger than just selling people the magazine. “It’s gone beyond The Big Issue for me, it’s about helping people. It’s all a part of the job.”

Jane confirmed that Colin is a “fixture” of Broadstairs. “We miss seeing him there. He’s a fixture, almost, a part of the High Street,” she said. “We do like having a chat with him.”

The Big Miss You Podcast is a weekly celebration of the relationships between Big Issue vendors and their communities. It is our way of maintaining those relationships while the coronavirus pandemic makes it impossible for Big Issue vendors to sell the magazine on the UK’s streets.

To hear more from Colin, including his story of how The Big Issue turned his life around and allowed him to fulfil some of his most important ambitions, tune in to this week’s The Big Miss You Podcast.

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