I’m my friend’s guarantor, but I can’t afford his rent

DEAR DEIDRE: My friend has dropped me in it good and proper by getting sacked from his family business.

His family run three shops locally. He’s a friend from school and he’s now 33. He’s never been good with money and when he moved into his flat, he asked me to be a guarantor for his tenancy agreement.

I didn’t really know what I was signing up for if I’m honest. I’m a 32-year-old female teaching assistant and I thought it was a sort of reference.

Now he’s been caught...