Bibby Stockholm: Asylum seekers spent four days on board barge after Legionella bacteria was discovered
Asylum seekers spent four days on board the Bibby Stockholm barge after Legionella bacteria was discovered, it has emerged.
Dorset Council says Home Office contractors were notified about the results last Monday – but all 39 migrants only left the controversial site on Friday as a “precautionary measure”.
The council went on to claim that a Home Office staff member was informed about the bacteria on Tuesday.
However, a government source has told Sky News that there is no record of this conversation – and claimed that the Home Office only received a written notification about the Legionella on Wednesday evening.
Legionella bacteria can cause a potentially deadly lung infection known as Legionnaires’ disease. It is contracted by people breathing in droplets of water containing the bacteria.
None of the migrants on the barge have shown any symptoms of the disease, according to the Home Office.
Ministers are facing questions about who was informed about the Legionella test results and when.
Sky News has pieced together a timeline of when Legionella bacteria was found on the barge, and how long it took before those migrants on board were evacuated.
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Inside the Bibby Stockholm barge
Tuesday 25 July
Dorset Council’s environmental health department takes water samples from the Bibby Stockholm barge and sends them to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) for testing in its environmental lab facility.
The tests typically take at least 10 days to complete.
Monday 7 August
Initial test results are received by Dorset Council – the same day the first 15 asylum seekers board the Bibby Stockholm.
Dorset Council said it informed CTM and Landry & Kling – the companies contracted by the Home Office to operate the barge – that same day.
A spokesperson said it was not the council’s responsibility to tell the Home Office about the Legionella, as this fell to the contractors.
Read more on the Bibby Stockholm:
What’s it like inside the barge?
Barge reminded man of hiding from Islamic State group.
People are pictured boarding the barge on Monday
Tuesday 8 August
Dorset Council’s environment health team meet the barge’s contractors “to further discuss results”. The council said a Home Office official was “verbally informed of the test results”.
A government source told Sky News there was no record of that conversation.
A small number of asylum seekers also arrive on the boat the same day.
Wednesday 9 August
Dorset Council officers visit the barge again to take further samples and “concern about control measures” prompt it to alert the UKHSA.
The UKHSA confirmed it was contacted by Dorset Council on Wednesday evening.
Sky News has been told that the first written notification to the Home Office was also that evening.
Thursday 10 August
The UKHSA convenes an “incident management meeting” between Dorset Council, the Home Office and the contractors, as well as representatives from the NHS.
The meeting concludes no more passengers should be allowed to board the vessel while a risk assessment is carried out.
Those recommendations are later confirmed in writing to the Home Office.
A second incident management meeting and risk assessment takes place in the afternoon.
The government said it was advised by the UKHSA to remove the six people who had boarded the barge that day.
A decision to remove all 39 individuals as a “further temporary precaution” was not taken until the next day.
Friday 11 August
Asylum seekers are not evacuated from the barge until Friday – four days after Dorset Council says it informed the barge contractors about the Legionella test results, and three days after it said it told a Home Office staff member.
Dorset Council said it followed “the appropriate technical guidance throughout on what to do when a positive Legionella sample is received”.
One of the barge’s contractors, Landry & Kling, said it was “working closely with local authorities to ensure housing solutions are safe and appropriate for service users”.
Landry & Kling said it and its project partners “have followed all written recommendations made by Dorset Council Environmental Health”.
Sky News has contacted the Home Office to ask when officials were made aware of the test result and when ministers were told.
A spokesperson previously said the health and welfare of those on board the vessel “is our utmost priority”.
UK
‘A catastrophic scandal’: Inside the tower block so dangerous residents face being kicked out at any moment
The moment we step into Willow Rise, the smell of damp is overpowering.
There are water stains across the carpet and rotten wood on the doors.
Around the corner, there’s a hole in the wall, barely patched up with a piece of polystyrene sheet.
We’re meeting a resident on the 13th floor of the building in Kirkby, Merseyside – but the lifts are broken and wires hang out of the service panel.
Like everyone living here, we will have to walk.
The disrepair in this block is everywhere you look.
Damp staining and ceiling damage around the block
It has now been deemed so unsafe by Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service that they are days away from serving a rare prohibition notice on this tower and its neighbour, Beech Rise, meaning residents will have to leave with immediate effect.
In total, 160 households here face instant homelessness.
After climbing 13 flights of stairs, we meet Chris Penfold-Ivany.
‘A catastrophic scandal’
He has terminal cancer, and after chemotherapy and a liver transplant, that climb is now the only way he can get up to his flat.
Chris Penfold-Ivany warns ‘this is another Grenfell in the making’
He tells us it’s making him breathless. He can no longer get his prescriptions delivered, as the drivers won’t come up all the stairs.
“It’s a catastrophic scandal that we have been left like this,” he says.
He has lived in this flat for 15 years and has watched the block slowly begin to fall apart over the last decade.
He tells us that numerous complaints have achieved nothing. “I’m going to say it,” he says, “this is another Grenfell in the making.”
‘Nobody can live like this‘
A few floors down, Arunee Leerasiri opens the door to us, in floods of tears.
The stress of the last few weeks has left her anxious and overwhelmed. There are boxes everywhere, bare hooks on the walls where pictures hung.
She is packing up her life just three years after putting her life savings into buying this flat.
Arunee Leerasiri says she doesn’t even recognise her flat as her home anymore
Her elderly mother has come to visit, but she had to hire removal men already to take her mattress into storage as she couldn’t manage without the lifts.
Tonight, and until they are told they must leave, they will sleep on the floor.
“I can’t eat, I can’t sleep,” she tells us, through tears. “Sometimes, if I’m honest, I can’t even think. This used to be my home, and now I look around and I don’t even recognise it.”
“Nobody can live like this,” she adds.
‘Danger, 415 volts’
Water damage around electrical equipment, including a ‘Danger high voltage’ labelled box
She shows us a video she filmed just a few weeks ago, of one of the electrical risers on the ground floor.
None of us can quite believe what we are seeing – water is pouring through the ceiling, directly on to fuse boxes and electrical wiring.
Arunee takes us down to show us the cupboard. The water has now stopped but there are damp stains all over the floor and around the electrical equipment.
The water pipes and electric boxes are just inches away from one another within the cupboard.
One of the boxes, marked ‘Danger, 415 volts’, is rusted through.
Next to it, there is a notice stuck to a resident’s door telling them a leak has been identified in their flat – and as a leaseholder, they will be responsible for paying to fix it.
“Tell me, how is this safe?” Arunee says. “Why is this building allowed to be open for the public, as a dwelling, with this kind of set-up?”
A hole in a wall patched up with polystyrene
Hidden owners and a plea to the government
Merseyside Fire and Rescue tell us they have been serving enforcement notices on the building managers for years, to no avail.
They have now been told there is no money for the millions of pounds worth of repairs that will be needed to bring the blocks up to a safe standard.
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They have mandated a ‘waking watch’, where teams physically patrol the buildings daily to check for fire risks, without which they will serve the prohibition notice and tell residents they must leave straight away.
Knowsley Council has stepped in to pay for this temporarily – at a cost of £3,000 per day.
Their deputy leader tells us, though, that the money will soon run out.
Willow Rise and Beech Rise Towers in Merseyside have both been condemned by the fire service
Where to go?
With a complex management structure and several owners, managers and agents over the years, the council says it doesn’t even know who is to blame for the disrepair – or who even has the legal responsibility for maintaining the buildings.
It says discussions are ongoing with central government about whether any extra help – or money – can be provided to try to fix the mess.
Right now though, all the residents can do is wait.
With no date to leave and no idea if anything can be done to keep the buildings open, they are spending every day fearing the call to tell them they have to go.
They can only hope there will be somewhere for them if they do.
Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf has reversed his decision to quit the party, saying “the mission is too important” and that he “cannot let people down”.
Instead, he said he will return in a new role, heading up an Elon Musk-inspired “UK DOGE” team.
In a statement, he said: “Over the last 24 hours I have received a huge number of lovely and heartfelt messages from people who have expressed their dismay at my resignation, urging me to reconsider.”
He added: “I know the mission is too important and I cannot let people down.
“So, I will be continuing my work with Reform, my commitment redoubled.”
Mr Yusuf said he would be returning in a new role, seemingly focusing on cuts and efficiency within government.
He said he would “fight for taxpayers”.
Only two days prior, Mr Yusuf dramatically handed in his resignation.
He claimed he no longer thought getting a Reform government elected was a “good use of my time” – but has now seemingly changed his mind.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage welcomed the news of Mr Yusuf’s return.
He said: “I am delighted that Zia Yusuf will head up Reform UK’s DOGE department.”
Nigel Farage welcomed Zia Yusuf’s return. File pic: PA
Read more:
Why did Zia Yusuf resign as chairman of Reform UK?
Reform’s rise forces rethink for SNP
‘Farage could become PM’
Mr Yusuf’s initial decision to quit came after he publicly distanced himself from the party’s new MP, Sarah Pochin, when she asked Sir Keir Starmer about banning the burka at Prime Minister’s Questions.
Reform said a ban was not party policy – and the chairman called it a “dumb” thing to ask.
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What is DOGE?
DOGE is a meme-coin inspired creation of Musk’s, standing for the Department of Government Efficiency.
It is the latest right-wing US import into British politics.
Before his public fallout with Donald Trump, the tech billionaire said his focus was saving taxpayers’ money by locating wasteful spending within government and cutting it.
Read more: How Elon Musk’s mission to cut government spending fell flat
However, opposition politicians questioned the impact of his efforts and how much he actually saved.
Musk initially had ambitions to slash government spending by $2trn (£1.5trn) – but this was dramatically reduced to $1trn (£750bn) and then to just $150bn (£111bn).
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