OFFERS of work and shelter have flooded in to the man living in his car at a Helmsley car park.

A long-lost sister has even made contact with 54-year-old-Peter Frost, after he was featured in newspaper and television reports.

Anne Osborne-Craddock, who lives in his home county of Cornwall, last spoke to him after his divorce two years ago. "It upsets me very much to see him like this," she said. "Hopefully now we can be reunited and we can let him know we love him and he is welcome to come home."

Peter has been offered help from far and wide. "I'm delighted and flabbergasted by the kindness of people," he said. "From sitting in the car here alone for days on end, now people come up here, or even when they're walking their dogs, they stop to ask how I am."

A man drove to the car park to offer him accommodation and a job renovating his house - an offer he is poised to accept. Another person got in touch from the Ascension Islands after seeing him on satellite television and said he was welcome to visit.

Help has been offered locally, too. A Pickering man, Frankie Hazlewood-Bell, who works for Nicholson's Butchers in Helmsley, has offered him lodgings. He said: "I hate to see anyone like that. He was a nice man and I just wanted to do something to help."

Helmsley police beat officer Ray Thwaites, who has befriended Mr Frost, said: "Since the report in the paper, some local people have said to me that they could give Peter work."

At present, Peter is still sleeping in his Ford Escort at the Forestry Commission's Newgate Bank car park, where he has been for the past 18 months

Updated: 10:57 Wednesday, March 10, 2004