Bristol vendor Robin, saw his sales skyrocket after investing £30 on a contactless card payment reader and the story of his ingenuity has reached more than 230 million people.
Robin completed numerous TV and radio interviews with aplomb; and sparked other vendors to became interested too.
Earlier this year he told The Big Issue:
“Just before Christmas I invested in a credit card reader, which paid for itself after the first day. I reckon since then I’ve sold about 200 extra issues by having that on me, although I have to hold it on top of my issues so people can see that I have it. I think I’m the only vendor in the area who has one, which gives me a bit of an edge over the others.
I’m originally from Harrow in north-west London but I lived for a while in Germany with my wife and two kids. Unfortunately, my marriage broke up and I had a bad accident in the mountains where I hurt my leg and started using opiates for the pain. I came back to England, where I was living in squats and sofa-surfing.