A stabbing victim living in his car after being forced out of his crime-ridden flat by gangs says he has been overwhelmed by support from the community.

Robert Woodward has been sleeping in his Skoda in Thanet for the past three months after his harrowing ordeal prompted him to relocate from Essex.

“I left Grays because it was full of drugs and gangs – it wasn’t how I wanted to live,” he said.

“The area was so horrible.”

The 40-year-old recalled being stabbed by three masked men outside a post office in South Ockenden, suffering wounds to his knee, thigh and stomach.

“I had to be escorted to hospital by police,” he said.

“I was very lucky I was okay. To this day I still don’t know who did it.”

“I drove down not knowing the area or where I was going to sleep…”

He decided to leave his former flat – which he says was “rife” with drug-dealing, burglaries and knife crime – and move to Thanet for a better life.

Mr Woodward has no family, but does have a friend in the district whose shower he uses.

“I wanted to move to Thanet seven years ago before my dad passed away from a heart attack, but after his death I stayed in Essex to be my mum’s full-time carer,” he said.

Tragically, his mum Jonquill died of cancer last October, closely followed by his beloved dog Lola.

He explained: “I promised my mum before she died that I’d move out of the area, and when Lola died I bit the bullet and moved down here. I drove down not knowing the area or where I was going to sleep.”

Despite some push-back from locals when he first parked up, Mr Woodward says he has been largely welcomed by the people of Thanet.

“I’ve never met a group of people like them, it’s unbelievable,” he said.

After three months living in his Skoda – which is funded through his Personal Independence Payments – and using the heating to keep warm during the cold snap, Mr Woodward took to Facebook to ask for help with a jump-start when the car’s battery died.

But he was left touched when the community offered him far more than some jump leads.

“I have been inundated with offers of blankets, gloves, hats and food by so many people,” he said.

“I have never felt support and generosity like this in my 40 years of living…”

A GoFundMe page has since been set up, raising enough money for him to put down a deposit on a flat and stay in a hotel over Christmas.

Expressing his gratitude to the community, Mr Woodward said: “They are so, so special.

“When I was in Grays, if I was to ask someone to give me a jump-start, they wouldn’t even reply.

“I feel so humble to have a community like this round me at the moment.

“I have never felt support and generosity like this in my 40 years of living. You would genuinely never know just how much this means to me.”

Mr Woodward is disabled and on benefits, but is considered voluntarily homeless and therefore not eligible for housing help from the council.

He says he would rather someone sleeping on the street take an emergency housing space than him.

“I know there are people out there worse off than me,” he added.

Despite suffering hardships and the loss of his mum, he is no longer “worried” about facing Christmas alone.

“It was October she passed,” he said.

“Then my dog, who was my reason for living after my mum, also passed away – both through cancer.

“It really ruined Christmas for me.

“I don’t do Christmas, it’s about family and the kids – and I don’t have any of that.

“It’s just a normal day to me at the moment.”