The police have the island’s Scouts and Guides out with a ‘homeless experience’ in Castletown square.

To raise money for local homelessness charities Graih and Housing Matters, children taking part in the ‘sponsored sleepout’ were asked to build shelters out of cardboard boxes in the pedestrianised street.

They also brought along camping equipment.

The police said that they were invited by the organisation to have one of their local constables take part in the roleplaying, to order the children to break up their shelters and move along ‘just as they’d completed all’.

This was done to simulate what homeless people would experience in a major UK city like Manchester or Liverpool.

A social media post by the force quipped that the officer acted ‘a little less polite than he normally is’.

Sponsored sleepouts have been held across the UK in aid of homeless charities, with children sometimes encouraged to take part.