A street cleaner who labelled homeless people as “a disgrace and the lowest of the low” has been sacked from a council contract.

His outburst was witnessed by charity worker Frank Charles, of Chester Road, Wanstead as he handed out a free breakfast to homeless people in the Stratford Centre with his wife on May 5.

At 7.15am they were approached by a street cleaner who complained about litter.

The unnamed cleaner said: “You and people like you encourage them to make a mess which I and we have to clear up.”

“They are a disgrace and the lowest of the low”.

Frank, 53, who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2010, was shocked by the outburst.

“I couldn’t believe what I was hearing”, he said.

“He actually came over to me and then started putting the homeless people down and that’s not acceptable.”

Frank, who was homeless himself when he was 16, tried to explain how homelessness could happen to anyone.

The cleaner refused to give Frank his name, instead just pointing at his orange tabard that said he was a London Borough of Newham employee, and as he walked away, he shouted over his shoulder: “If that was me, I would rather kill myself.”

The entire tirade took place in front of several homeless people.

Frank said he was “furious” after the “verbally aggressive” rant: “That’s not acceptable in this day and age. He was actually shouting it out.”

“Everybody is entitled to their own views but you can’t shout it out at the most vulnerable of society.”

He added: “It’s sad to know that in our borough there are people like that. How do they treat the homeless when people are not around?”

After the early-morning altercation, Frank contacted Newham Council, who confirmed that the man was an employee, and arranged for him to apologise to the couple over the phone.

A spokeswoman said: “This is a deeply regrettable incident and we want to make clear that the actions of this individual in no way reflect the views of Newham Council. We apologise to Mr Charles and his wife for any distress caused.

“The person was an agency worker employed to provide cleaning services on behalf of the council. As a result of an investigation into the incident we have terminated his contract with the council with immediate effect.”