Homeless campaigners say they do not want to be “swept under the carpet” as they continue to petition the council against mooted anti-social behaviour fines.

Last week, the council ruled out any plans for fining rough sleepers £100, but may still rubber stamp new powers to fine against anti-social behaviour, with a small group of campaigners concerned this could cause problems for the homeless community.

The group have been camped outside the offices of Wycombe District Council in Queen Victoria Road since last Monday.

They say they want to be treated fairly and reported that sleeping bags left in High Wycombe car parks have been removed and destroyed by the council in recent weeks.

Jez Carlisle, who has been campaigning alongside a friend called Jamie-lee, said: “We’re not vermin, we are just people who are down on our luck and there are lots of different reasons for that.

“Everybody has a reason to be out there, none is worse than the other. Every community has those problems within them, but the homeless community is no different to any other community.

“There are a lot of different things which need to be looked at nationally and locally.

“They won’t fine £100 for sleeping rough, but what they are also saying is they will fine for anti-social behaviour.

“What is anti-social behaviour? Is that sleeping in a car park? Is that anti-social? We don’t know, no one is actually saying what anti-social behaviour is.”

However, a WDC housing services manager says the council will do all it can to help rough sleepers.

Brian Daly added that after a series of incidents in Wycombe car parks, including someone spreading excrement across the walls, it might be felt new powers are needed to fine people guilty of anti-social behaviour.

He said: “We’ve had broken glass, vandalism of doors and windows, the ticket machines have been robbed and damaged.

“We’ve got cigarette butts left and rubbish everywhere. They are just some of the things officers are seeing in the car parks which we would consider to be anti-social behaviour.”

Speaking about the removal of sleeping bags, he said: “What has been happening recently is that in the car parks people have been storing belongings there.

“We had a fire the other week so we have had to take action on it and any items which are left behind in the car park have to be removed.

“We can’t store things for people, A because of the unattended items – we assume they’re sleeping bags – but, there is that risk there.

“There is the fire risk, which has actually resulted in a fire, so anything which is left behind in the car parks is removed.”