Banned Big Issue seller returns to campus

The Big Issue seller, known amongst students as Sammy, was spotted back on campus yesterday despite University officials previously ousting him for inappropriate behaviour.

Earlier this month, [the _Boar_ reported on how the controversial Big Issue salesman had been banned from selling on campus](https://theboar.org/news/2012/oct/2/sammys-back-leamington/) at the end of the last academic year following a series of complaints to the University regarding his behaviour.

Sammy has been back to campus on several occasions since and has been seen talking to students outside the library entrance. He assured the _Boar_ that he wasn’t here in any working capacity; he was only on campus “to visit a friend”.

When asked about his ban from selling on campus, Sammy said: “It’s crazy, I have friends [on campus]; people here love me, I only had to go because of a few stupid complaints.

“No one buys [the Big Issue] from me in Leamington. I only sell three or four a day, but I used to sell twenty or thirty [on campus].”

He claimed that his family in Romania is suffering and he needs to make money in order to provide for them. His mother allegedly requires an operation and his sister has brain cancer. He said that 11 people live in his home in Romania.

“This money’s for my family,” he said. “This money’s for my food for a whole week.”

Sammy subsequently disappeared off campus. It is unclear whether security asked him to leave.

He hopes that despite his ban from campus, students will rally round him. He has asked for help from the students that “loved” him, saying: “There were maybe two or three complaints, but there are two or three hundred people who love me here. Probably more.

“Everyone knows me. They could start a campaign, get me back here. Get Sammy back!”

Commenting on a potential petition, Dominic Huntley, third-year Morse student, said to the _Boar_: “If he has actually been offending people then it would be bizarre if he was allowed back. Besides, do people really want him back?”

Mr Huntley explained: “After the Library Café stopped doing the cheap breakfast, within minutes there was an online campaign to get it back, but this is the first I’ve heard about Sammy. I’ve never had a problem with him, but it would be a bit of a stretch to say I ‘love’ him.”

Earlier this year, when rumours spread that Sammy may return to campus permanently, the University dismissed the claim as “not true”.