£6M ON 'HELLHOLE' FOR THE HOMELESS

Ex-resident Marius exposes bill for hovel with rats, dirty toilets and needles in sinks

- SALLY HIND

MORE than £6million of public cash has been dished out to a "hellhole" homeless hotel branded "disgusting" by council chiefs.

Stomach-churning revelations over standards at the Copland Hotel in Glasgow's Govan have been exposed by a homeless man once forced to live there.

Marius Samavicius, 31, shared his investigation with the Record after previously describing how he lost all hope during his grim, two-month stay at the B&B sleeping in a dirty, bug-infested room on a soiled bed.

The artist laid bare the huge bill Glasgow City Council paid to house the city's homeless in the Copland and highlighted 20 recent health and safety breaches.

Marius said: "I remember when I was living in the hotel how lonely I felt.

"I wanted to do something to try to help others still living there so I started looking at the facts.

Marius, who grew up in Lithuania, became homeless during Covid after moving to Glasgow from England in 2021.

He was given emergency accommodation at the Copland where he says he was allocated a room "full of flies", taking photos of the mess.

Marius was furious at what his housing benefit of more than £800 a month was being used for so he began research using Freedom of Information laws.

He discovered Glasgow City Council spent £6,439,377 on emergency accommodation at the Copland between April 2010 this April.

Bills have been considerably higher in recent years, with £846,186 handed to the Copland in the last year. The overall amount paid to the Copland is likely to be higher, as bosses say they have been working with the council for more than 20 years.