Chloe Leighton is crammed into the disabled toilet of a busy pub, pleading on the phone with her social worker to find her a place to stay for the night.

She records the conversation because she doesn’t trust anyone anymore. What makes her situation even more perilous is that Chloe is disabled and autistic.

Until recently, the 33-year-old’s life was happy and stable.

Then last November, her father had a stroke and was unable to care for her, leaving her alone.

“Dad would keep me safe from all these people. He was the barrier,” she says.

Due to her vulnerabilities, her local council in Buckinghamshire had a legal duty to find her emergency accommodation and social care support – except she says that hasn’t happened.

At first, the council, then friends and family paid for hotel accommodation, but the money ran out and now Chloe has nowhere to go. 

“Nobody knows what to do with me,” she explains. “I fall through the gaps.”

‘Mould and antisocial behaviour’

The law says that any accommodation must be suitable for Chloe’s needs, but if she refuses somewhere, the council doesn’t have to do anymore to house her – but it can still support her.

So when the council offered her a place in a hostel with a bad reputation in a rural location she refused it.

Around 160,000 households live in temporary accommodation in the UK – and even though it costs councils £2.3bn per year – the quality of it is often poor.

Sky News saw the hostel Chloe was offered. Residents there told us there was mould and antisocial behaviour.

They urged anyone offered a place there to turn it down.

Chloe struggled to arrange a visit to the hostel and wasn’t confident her social care needs would be met there.

A few weeks after she refused the hostel, the council wrote to her, explaining that they no longer have an obligation to find her accommodation.

The pub she was sheltering in had closed. Her friends and family could no longer pay for hotels.

With neither side backing down, Chloe faced her first night on the streets. 

That’s where I found her, scared and alone in the cold.

“I don’t know what to do, I’ve never been like this before,” she said.

I decided to phone the police.

While I was on hold, Chloe received a call from the out-of-hours housing department, who were made aware that we were filming the exchange.

Chloe’s disability needs not met

After weeks of refusing to give her alternative accommodation, she was offered a place at a hotel a short distance away and she accepted.

But when she arrived, there was a problem.

The room wasn’t wheelchair accessible.

She couldn’t use the toilet in the room or anywhere else in the hotel.

Her fears of not being given suitable accommodation were realised. It was 3am.

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A Buckinghamshire Council spokesperson said: “We stand by the actions of our staff and as an organisation in regard to the content featured in this piece. We take our duty of care extremely seriously in regard to any resident who presents to us with housing and/or social care need and follow process and procedures rigorously and to the letter.

“We cannot discuss details of any individual case but do recognise the incredibly difficult circumstances any individual or household will be experiencing if they have come to us for help. We keep the person at the heart of all we do, doing what we can to tailor our support offer to their individual needs.

“Some cases can be long and complex, involving various stages that may include an emergency response, other offers of support and ultimately, we aim to provide a long-term solution that meets the needs of the individual or household. At all points in the process, any individual or household has a right to decline any support or options put to them. In such circumstances the council continues to work with the individual or household to seek a solution to meet their needs, within our statutory duties and the resources available to us.”

Last year council adult social care budgets were overspent by nearly £600m, according to the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services. 

A government spokesperson told us they had “inherited a devastating housing crisis and a social care system” that they are committed to fixing.

They pointed to their provision of the “largest-ever cash boost in homeless prevention services”, adding that they were also “delivering £26bn for health and social care” and had appointed Baroness Louise Casey to lead an independent commission “to build a social care system that is fair and affordable for all”.

Our few days with Chloe reveal a complicated story.

It’s about what happens when someone with complex needs comes face to face with a social care system that is chronically underfunded.

Understanding autism requires time, resources, money – something councils don’t have.

And for Chloe, it’s about trying to find some calm amid the chaos, so she can live her life.

Sir Keir Starmer has said US-UK trade talks are “well advanced” ahead of tariffs expected to be imposed by Donald Trump on the UK this week – but rejected a “knee-jerk” response.

Speaking to Sky News political editor Beth Rigby, the prime minister said the UK is “working hard on an economic deal” with the US and said “rapid progress” has been made on it ahead of tariffs expected to be imposed on Wednesday.

But, he admitted: “Look, the likelihood is there will be tariffs. Nobody welcomes that, nobody wants a trade war.

“But I have to act in the national interest and that means all options have to remain on the table.”

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Sir Keir added: “We are discussing economic deals. We’re well advanced.

“These would normally take months or years, and in a matter of weeks, we’ve got well advanced in those discussions, so I think that a calm approach, a collected approach, not a knee-jerk approach, is what’s needed in the best interests of our country.”

Downing Street said on Monday the UK is expecting to be hit by new US tariffs on Wednesday – branded “liberation day” by the US president – as a deal to exempt British goods would not be reached in time.

A 25% levy on car and car parts had already been announced but the new tariffs are expected to cover all exports to the US.

Jonathan Reynolds, the business and trade secretary, earlier told Sky News he is “hopeful” the tariffs can be reversed soon.

But he warned: “The longer we don’t have a potential resolution, the more we will have to consider our own position in relation to [tariffs], precluding retaliatory tariffs.”

He added the government was taking a “calm-headed” approach in the hope a deal can be agreed but said it is only “reasonable” retaliatory tariffs are an option, echoing Sir Keir’s sentiments over the weekend.

Read more:
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Tariff announcement on Wednesday

Mr Trump has been threatening tariffs – import taxes – on countries with the biggest trade imbalances with the US.

However, over the weekend, he suggested the tariffs would hit all countries, but did not name them or reveal which industries would be targeted.

Read more: How Trump’s tariffs could affect the UK

Mr Trump will unveil his tariff plan on Wednesday afternoon at the first Rose Garden news conference of his second term, the White House press secretary said.

“Wednesday, it will be Liberation Day in America, as President Trump has so proudly dubbed it,” Karoline Leavitt said.

“The president will be announcing a tariff plan that will roll back the unfair trade practices that have been ripping off our country for decades. He’s doing this in the best interest of the American worker.”

Tariffs would cut UK economy by 1%

UK government forecaster the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said a 20 percentage point increase in tariffs on UK goods and services would cut the size of the British economy by 1% and force tax rises this autumn.

Global markets remained flat or down on Monday in anticipation of the tariffs, with the FTSE 100 stock exchange trading about 1.3% lower on Monday, closing with a 0.9% loss.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 0.6% after a volatile day which saw it down as much as 1.7% in the morning.

However, the FTSE 100 is expected to open about 0.4% higher on Tuesday, while Asian markets also steadied, with Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 broadly unchanged after a 4% slump yesterday.

Motorists who fail roadside drug tests are being allowed to continue to drive for up to six months because of a backlog in testing confirmatory blood samples.

Some of those drivers have gone on to kill behind the wheel while their results are pending.

The backlog and delay have been described as “unacceptable” by the families of some of those who have died in accidents caused by drug-drivers on bail.

Mother-of-two Jane Hickson died at a junction just metres from her home in Chester when her car was hit by a motorist who had gone through a red light.

It was later revealed that the driver Paul Wright had been on bail for drug-driving at that time, having been arrested six months earlier after testing positive at the roadside.

Police were still waiting for the blood test results at the time of the accident in which Ms Hickson died.

“The fact is that those people are out there, driving under the influence of drugs as we’re sat here now. People are at risk, and I don’t think that’s acceptable,” her husband John told Sky News.

“It’s hard to move on from something that was such a senseless way for Jane to die. I think it’s also completely avoidable. I think, as a society, we have to do something about it. They need to be off the roads as soon as possible.”

Like many, Mr Hickson believes the system for dealing with drug-drivers has not kept pace with the way drink-drivers are caught. They are generally banned within days as the result of confirmatory breath tests at police stations.

This comes at a time when many police forces across the UK report they now are regularly arresting more people for drug-driving than drink-driving.

Experts point to the system used in France and Australia which tests saliva rather than blood and provides a confirmatory, evidential sample within days.

Ean Lewin, the founder of D.tec International, which provides roadside drug tests to police forces across the country, told Sky News: “Saliva is a perfectly acceptable solution, and it can be processed in the laboratory much quicker.

“If we could have an evidential confirmation within a week, we could maybe get them in court the week after, which is the same timescale as is acceptable at the moment for alcohol.”

In January, the minister for the future of roads, Lilian Greenwood, told the Commons she had heard concerns about the issue first-hand while on patrol with police.

Any action now would come too late for the family of Tim Burgess. He was killed in a collision in July which also left his partner with life-changing injuries.

The other driver, Joshua Eldred, was two-and-a-half times the cocaine limit and 16 times over the limit for a compound which shows recent cocaine usage.

Eldred had been in another crash ten days earlier but had been bailed pending a blood test, meaning he was free to drive. That test later confirmed he’d been taking cocaine.

Mr Burgess’s sister Linzi Stewart has launched a campaign calling for a change in the law.

“I think people just think they can take drugs and get behind the wheel and get away with it because there isn’t an effective system in prosecuting and charging them. There isn’t enough deterrent.

“Road deaths have almost become normalised and there’s so much complacency in the UK around road deaths.”

The National Police Chiefs’ Council declined our request for an interview. Last year it called for new powers to allow officers to instantly disqualify drink or drug-drivers at the side of the road.

Read more:
Officers should be allowed to ban drug-drivers at roadside – police chiefs
Drug-driving warning as footage shows crash

On the backlog of blood tests for drug-drivers, it said: “The NPCC has been aware in the past of difficulties in the processing of drug-drive blood samples, with backlogs and delays up to six months in some cases.

“However, currently the position is much different with the majority of cases now being processed within six months.”

Months-long delays though, families say, are putting lives at risk.

“I don’t feel angry with the offender because I feel that, if he had been dealt with ten days previously, he hopefully would have learned his lesson,” said Ms Stewart.

“His family’s life has been destroyed, his life’s destroyed, our lives are destroyed. If it had been dealt with at the time, then we wouldn’t be where we are now.”

A Government spokesperson said: “We take road safety extremely seriously, and there are already strict penalties in place for those who are caught drug driving.

“Drug testing is a complex forensic process that must meet strict legal and scientific standards. We are working closely with policing partners to improve efficiency while ensuring the integrity of results that support prosecutions.

“Our roads are among the safest in the world, but we are committed to improving road safety and reducing the number of those killed and injured on our roads.”