Bexley Council is so strapped for temporary accommodation it has resorted to housing people as far away as Manchester.

That’s what a Welling family-of-four soon to be evicted from their home were told when they approached the council in November.

Rachael Sims, husband Tony, 42, and their daughters Hayley, 17, and Chloe, 14, have to be out of their privately rented three-bedroom semi-detached home in Seaton Road by January 25 as the landlord wants to sell.

They are fed-up of renting privately after being forced to move every other year since 1999, and say they cannot afford a deposit for a mortgage on a family home.

Mrs Sims, 32, contacted the council to see if they could help, only to be told that due to a shortage of temporary accommodation in the south east, they have been sending applicants to Manchester - some 230 miles away.

The cover supervisor at Woodside School in Erith says she doesn’t fancy a four-and-a-half hour commute on the motorway.

She told News Shopper: "Up at 4am and home by 10? No thanks.

"I value my job and my local area.

"I would become unemployed, my husband would become unemployed and my eldest daughter would become unemployed.

"My youngest daughter is on the brink of choosing her exams and what future is that for her?

"Why should we be forced to pay £1,300 a month to rent privately or be shipped up to Manchester? It’s just not fair."

Mrs Sims earns around £18,000 a year and her husband not much more in his role as a furniture delivery driver. They both work full time.

She says the last time they were evicted in 2012, she had to sleep on her mother’s floor and her daughters in their aunt’s bedroom in the same two bed house.

A Bexley Council spokesman said: "If the family are unable to secure further accommodation for themselves once the stay in their current property expires then they will be entitled to a full homelessness assessment and emergency accommodation will be offered during the interim.

"Most temporary accommodation is provided in borough or in nearby areas such as Dartford or Gravesend.

"However, due to current housing pressures it has been necessary to use emergency temporary accommodation that is further afield, including on some occasions the Manchester area."

UKIP's ward councillor Chris Beazley said: "As the Sims family have lived in the area all their life and with their children attending local schools it is unacceptable for Bexley Council to threaten to rehouse them in Manchester.

"There is also the possibility that they could lose their jobs as they are both employed by local companies."