I CAN see by Cllr Ashley Mason’s statement about the solution to beggars on the streets of York that he has not done much by the way of travelling.

You only need to take a train ride to Leeds and you are hit by beggars as soon as you step outside the train station.

Begging is a national problem. It is in fact an international problem. It even affected oil-rich countries in the Middle East and Far East.

Having been on the streets and on the homeless list for five years before I got a home in York, the solution is support for accommodation and employment.

You can’t have one without the other.

City of York Council should have enough funds to take over and convert an empty and unused office block.

It has been done with success in Manchester, but the beggars took over the building in the first place.

This forced the council and an international footballer, who owned the building, to act.

Mr S Lamay, York