Anne and Steve Burton decided they couldn’t afford to sit back and wait for jobs to come to them.

The couple were both made redundant from their jobs in Lincolnshire within a few days of each other and, with two million others now unemployed, they decided the only way to get work was to go looking for it.

So they packed up their belongings in their mobile home and have been driving around the country in search of work.

Earlier this month they failed to find anything in Oxford and now they are in Banbury.

They refuse to give in, despite spending a seventh unproductive week on the road, with no sign of employment so far.

After a frustrating week in Oxford, they are now trying their luck in Banbury.

Anne, 52, a qualified accountant, said: “There must be a vacancy out there somewhere — and I’m determined to find it.

“I held down my last job for eight years before the company I worked for went bust, but now my qualifications and length of service mean nothing.

“I’ll take any job, I’m not proud what I do."”

So far, she has contacted 30 recruitment agencies and applied for more than 20 jobs on the road without success.

She and Steve have left behind their three-bedrom home in Lincoln and set out on the open road in the camper van with their pets.

They are living and eat aboard their mobile home, which comes equipped with a kingsize bed, leather upholstery, lounge and kitchen — parking up wherever they can until their search for work succeeds.

Forty-eight hours after Steve was made redundant from his maintenance engineer’s post, Anne found herself out of work too.

They are now among the UK’s two million unemployed.

Anne said: “There’s no point waiting for our lives to fall apart — being proactive is the only way to escape this nightmare. So, instead of whining and sitting on our backsides, we’re going to where we hope the jobs will be.

“It’s true we’ve always enjoyed a good lifestyle and, as we don’t have children to worry about, we’re able to be more mobile and active than most.

“We currently have no income and have been forced to dip into our meagre savings at an alarming rate, but we’re determined to get through this.

“It makes sense to make ourselves geographically available and hope it gives us an edge.

“We’ve looked for jobs in Nottingham, Leicester, London and Oxford without any joy and next week we’ll try our luck in Banbury.

“There might be engineering work there for Steve. We’ve got to stay optimistic and show the right spirit.

“We’ve tipped up at scores of employment agencies to try to speed up the process, because the trouble is that while you can register for work online, CVs get delayed.

“It can be really dispiriting, with jobs advertised on websites which fail to materialise.

“I have applied for dozens of jobs and not had a single interview.

“But you have to stay optimistic and remember it takes only one company to say ‘yes’ for you to get your life back on track.”