A CITY business man took to the streets in his food van to deliver dozens of meals to the city’s homeless.

Mark Fredrickson, 41, of Greene Close in Ringland, Newport, is the owner of the Little Steak Hut food van.

Despite having a history of helping the homeless, Mr Fredrickson told the Argus he had recently been put off by rumours of fake beggars on the city streets.

But one cold night in October changed his mind, and he has since used his food van to feed Newport’s rough sleepers.

“I’ve been raising money for charity for 12 years anyway,” Mr Fredrickson told the Argus.

“About 18 months ago I stated doing stuff with the homeless.

“I used to hand food out under George Street Bridge.”

But, explained Mr Fredrickson, he became disillusioned when he realised some of the people he was helping might not be as needy as he thought.

“It got to the point where it was really difficult to see who was genuine and who wasn’t,” he said.

But on October 28, Mr Fredrickson was inspired to help once more.

“I was on my way to meet a friend at the pub,” he said.

“As I drove, I saw two homeless men in the bus station outside the Riverfront Theatre in freezing temperatures. Something made me pull over, and I had a chat with them.

“You could see they were really struggling, and they weren’t begging for anything.

“They needed help.

“So I didn’t go to the pub, I went and cooked them a meal, and went back into town in my van to give it to them. Then I drove around handing others out to any homeless people I could find.

“There’s not much help out there for these people really.”

Mr Fredrickson said Newport’s struggling city centre could hold an answer to the city’s homelessness problem.

“We have so many empty shops in Newport wasting away it would be a godsend to open one or two for night shelters before winter seriously hits us,” he said.

“If something is not done now someone is going to freeze to death.”

Mr Fredrickson said he was planning to take his van out to feed the homeless again just before Christmas.