Darren, 63, who does not wish to provide his second name, is parked up not far from a stunning view of the Clifton Suspension Bridge, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who did not live to see the iconic structure completed.

The care worker, who specialises in mental health problems and addictions, tells the Express while leaning out of his window: “I’d always had a hankering for an alternative lifestyle, but I separated from my partner, and my two children, they are all grown up now.

“I couldn’t afford, really, to live in another flat or a house.”

He adds that working in the care sector does not mean he is paid a large amount, and living this way ensures he has more to support his children.

Darren adds: “Over the years I’ve known pensioners in the vans. They sold all their assets, claimed their pensions and bought a van.

“I’ve seen single parents, women with children, unemployed, employed.”

He has owned his van for eight years and over this period of time it has become “more and more difficult to find places to park”.

Like many other cities across Britain, Bristol has changed drastically, as poorer, working class people, many of whom had been living in the same area for generations, were displaced by wealthier residents perfectly suited to gentrified streets in places like Stokes Croft, St Pauls and Bedminster.

A female van dweller, who does not wish to be named, says she has watched housing problems in Bristol get worse over 50 years.

“The rents in this city are out of control,” she says.

Big businesses have established themselves in Bristol because of its convenient location next to the M5 and M4 and good connections with London, she believes, whose employees can afford to pay incrementally higher rents.

The woman, who has lived in a van for a year after being served a Section 21 notice evicting her from her previous home, which she rented for 16 years, also thinks that an expansion of student accommodation means there is less affordable housing available for the city’s permanent residents.

She asks: “Where do we live? Who keeps the city running on low paid work? It can’t just be for people who’ve got money.”

The woman adds: “People can tell us, ‘live where you can afford to live’. But I’ve got family here.

“If I go to any other county, they’ll say go back [to Bristol].”

Some van occupants choose the lifestyle, she says, which is “their right”. “But, for a lot of us,” she adds, “it’s because we can’t afford [any other option].”

The Bristolian does not want to live in a mixed house at her age.

“I haven’t got a problem with the people that come, the students that come,” she says.

“It’s the system that’s broken, and greedy landlords.

“Housing is a commodity rather than a human right. You don’t have a right to shelter anymore; it’s almost becoming a luxury.”

Craig Collier, 44, earns £60,000 per year, and believes the current housing system is fundamentally unfair, and living in a van gives him “tonnes more security” than he has ever had.

Stepping away from his laptop, he says: “I’m living my life making the best out of it. Why would I spend more of my money to appease someone else’s rules?

“I’ve never wallpapered a room in my life, and I’m 44 years old. You’ve got zero rights.”

The software engineer adds: “If you speak to 100 people here, you’ll get 100 different stories.

“They can’t afford to move into a flat. If you have kids, you’re at the bottom of the list. If you’ve got a dog, you’re at the bottom of the list.

“What we’re doing is finding a way to live our lives. The rents were f***** in the 2000s, and they’re even worse now.

“I don’t need an address to be a real person. We don’t want to have to go through bulls*** to make other people money.”

Margaret Thatcher’s “Right to Buy” policy, which saw council housing sold to residents at a discount in the 1980s, was a “huge mistake”, Mr Collier adds, and contributed towards today’s shortage.

As well as those already dwelling in vehicles are those on the edge, fearing they may soon have to join them.

Ali Edgley, 68, who worked as a taxi driver and careworker, is renting a “very cheap property” in Dorset.

But the pensioner is waiting for her monthly accommodation cost of £525 per month to increase – she believes it could go as high as £1,400 – or be thrown out.

“I’m absolutely sure it’s going to go up sometime,” Ali says, “or they’ll give me a Section 21 and get me out that way.

“This is the precariousness of renting a property, particularly these days.

“I’m future-proofing myself. I’ve got a van. The only alternative is a retirement flat somewhere, and I’m not ready for that.”

Living on the Downs is a “step up” for many, Ali tells the Express.

“In my rented property, I have no control over what’s going to happen to me.”

Living in a vehicle is a choice, she adds, “but it’s a way out of a trap”.

Lee James, 45, a handyman from Lichfield, has lived in his van – which he bought for £500 – for just over a year after paying £830 per month for a room in a shared house.

“It’s a lifestyle I like to be part of,” he says. “I was renting a room, then I’ve got no money left. It doesn’t feel right spending that much money on a room. Unless you really get on with the people.

“I’m not great in social situations. It doesn’t do me any favours for my mental health and stuff.

“I need to be able to move around, sort of nomadic out in the countryside.”

“I’m here to chill out,” Phillip, 68, who also does not wish to disclose his second name, says.

The retired taxi driver has owned his van for around four or five months, and has applied for a flat after being “kicked out” of his previous home by his girlfriend.

The way of life is one of “freedom”, he adds.

“People live this way because… you’re tied up in your flat. We can go anywhere we want.”

Conor, 26, who does not wish to provide his surname, was born in Bristol and used to work in a bereavement specialist call centre.

He has been living in a van on and off for several years.

For the most part, Conor says, people living in vehicles are “struggling” and “not getting enough hours at work”, and so cannot afford fixed accommodation, including himself.

“My health gets worse throughout the winter, and I can’t afford rent,” he says. “I can’t work as much.”

Conor previously coped by making deals with his landlord whereby, during the summer, he paid £500 a month more as he could cope with more shifts.

There have been tensions, though, between the van dwellers and the wider community.

Sharon Scott, a campaigner with Protect the Downs, a group formed earlier this year, claims that she has heard reports of people encountering faeces in bushes, and a child had even rubbed some in their eyes.

She also alleges that locals have been verbally and physically abused and spat at by some of the van owners, that “possible prostitution” is taking place, and that women are “being flashed at”.

“People just don’t feel safe here anymore,” the former Conservative councillor adds.

“And it’s not fair, because this green space was left to the people of Bristol… I’ve got teenage girls, I always say don’t go down to the Downs.”

Urging the council to enforce parking bylaws and make sure van dwellers have better facilities, she says: “This isn’t a class thing. Myself, I grew up in a council estate.

“Unfortunately, we hit on hard times because of my mother’s illness. I grew up on benefits in a council house.

“I understand what it’s like to live in poverty, and I do really sympathise with the genuine people that are homeless here.”

She says that elderly locals stay in their homes, frightened.

Conor claims that residents against the presence of him and his fellow vehicle occupants have filmed him through his window while he was just in his pants.

Another van had fireworks launched at it, he adds, and he and his neighbours have had to deploy counter-surveillance techniques suggested to them by the police.

The Express was also told that people drive past the vans blaring their car horns, and those living inside feel vulnerable, which one van dweller pointed out is “anti-social” behaviour in itself.

Mr Collier laments at he and his neighbours being “victimised”, and van dwellers have “tried to infiltrate” a Facebook group used to discuss their presence to present their point of view.

“People are struggling in silence,” he says. “We’ve had the balls to stand up and say, ‘f*** this’.

“I’m free because I don’t let this system grind me into the ground anymore.”

Councillor Barry Parsons, chair of the Homes and Housing Delivery Committee at Bristol City Council, now controlled by the Greens, insists that teams are “regularly” in the area, and adds that the Downs is a “busy and well-used” place that “does bring a lot of challenges”.

“What I will say is we haven’t got any evidence that vehicle dwelling encampments on the Downs are associated with any increased level of anti-social behaviour or anything else,” he says.

“This stuff hasn’t been reported to us. We see isolated incidents of things going on… but, in general, I would say the Downs is a safe and welcoming place for people to go.”

A female van dweller says: “We don’t want to do anybody harm. We just want to be here.

“Protect the Downs are full of fear and ignorance. They’re privileged. They’re afraid of us, that we’re having a free life.

“They seem to think we’re all free loading. If I could afford a different [place to live], I would [live there].”

Cllr Parsons emphasises that Bristol City Council coordinates a group of local authorities nationwide that get together regularly to discuss people living in vehicles on their patch.

“The issues are different in different parts of the country,” he says, “but there are very much common themes.

“And one of those is definitely the national housing crisis that we’re experiencing.”

He mentions spiralling rents, adding: “Your choices are often quite limited. So people are making the best choice that they can see for themselves in the circumstances.”

Focusing on Bristol Cllr Parsons says: “We can’t go on like this – we need to find a better plan.”

This entails better support for people living in vehicles, including setting up this year “meanwhile sites” away from the road, where people can get access to clean water and toilet and waste disposal facilities.

He adds: “Most of the people that I speak to who live in vehicles, they’ve lived in Bristol for years and, in some cases, their whole lives.

“We can’t pretend that this is just someone else’s problem and, if we just push people away, then it will go away.

“Actually, we need to provide better ways of supporting people.”

This is not without taking “proportionate” enforcement action, Cllr Parsons says.

The van dwellers are there for “a whole range of different reasons”, the committee Chair adds.

“I don’t think it’s ever quite as simple as saying, ‘this group of people living in vehicles are homeless, and therefore need our support, and then this other group of people are doing it just as a lifestyle choice.’”

Sir Keir Starmer’s Housing Secretary, Angela Rayner, has made it her mission to provide more affordable housing for Brits, aiming to build around 300,000 social and affordable homes through the new £39billion Social and Affordable Homes Programme, with at least 60% for social rent.

Cllr Parsons says: “Whether this phenomenon gets bigger in the future really depends, I think, on our national housing policy, and whether we are actually providing people with the homes that they need.”