Residents hit out at ‘information vacuum’ over hotel used for asylum seekers – as migrants tell of traumatic journeys
In Altrincham near Manchester asylum seekers are just settling in at the Cresta Court Hotel, many of them just days after making a treacherous journey across the English Channel.
But, as the new arrivals find sanctuary in a northern town, their presence is causing controversy.
The government said it would end the use of hotels for asylum seekers but, without warning, this one has been newly created.
Now young men are huddled in groups outside the hotel drinking coffee or smoking.
Thousands of bookings were suddenly cancelled at the hotel
In Arabic, a Kurdish man in his 20s tells me: “I’ve been here for a few days, and I haven’t faced any hostility since I arrived. In fact, they’ve shown us a lot of respect.”
In contradiction, someone shouts from a passing car: “Get back on the boats!”
About 200 yards down the road people are gathering in a church to air their concerns.
Residents have just learned about the new arrivals, and only because thousands of bookings were suddenly cancelled, along with meetings and even wedding receptions, as the hotel cleared its commitments to make way for the asylum seekers.
“There’s been an information vacuum,” says a mother of two children.
Standing to raise her objections in the public meeting, she asks if the migrants are “illegal” and if so, is the hotel “effectively an open prison” near several local girls’ schools and a nursery?
Her voice shakes as she tells the room she has already cancelled a night out with her girlfriends over safety concerns.
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Local resident Roger Roper was among those who raised objections
‘We don’t know what they are capable of’
Community police officer Colin Dytor says the men’s refugee status is a matter for the Home Office but tries to calm the room.
He adds: “I can assure you we’ve had asylum seekers in Trafford for several years and there has been no spike in crime attributed to these asylum seekers.”
Local resident Roger Roper objects, saying the Britannia Ashley Hotel in Hale the officer is referring to is mostly for migrant families, adding: “This is up to 300 young men. We don’t know anything about them.
“If they don’t have any papers or passports, we don’t know what they are capable of.”
Another woman says she worries about her daughter going out at night, as the men come from a country that “doesn’t value women”.
One woman worries about her daughter’s safety
There is an objection to this point from across the room by two women from a pro-refugee campaign group, but the majority applaud in approval.
The concerned resident continues: “Is there going to be a curfew or are they just going to be able to wander around after seven o’clock? Is my daughter going to be safe? No!”
Inspector Dytor responds: “We can’t just lock people up who haven’t committed a crime. We live in a very tolerant and open society, and we have to continue that.”
Community police officer Colin Dytor tries to reassure residents
‘Some of the comments online have been racist’
Further objections are raised about the cost to the town and the added pressure on already stretched GP services.
A spokesperson for Serco, which runs the hotel, tells us: “No decision has yet been made by the local authority on how healthcare will be provided to those in the hotel.”
Connor Rand, the Labour MP for Altrincham and Sale West, released a statement saying he’s been assured background checks had been done on the men by the Home Office.
Outside the church, protesters hold banners which read “Stand Up to Racism” and “Refugees Welcome in Altrincham.”
A protester who gave her first name as Jane says: “Some of the comments online have been racist. When you are saying refugees should be vetted to make sure they are not paedophiles I think that is racist.”
A pro-refugee campaign group outside the church
‘We’ve just been kept in the dark’
Back inside Gwyneth and Roger Roper say it isn’t racist to raise concerns. The couple had a Ukrainian family in their home for 14 months and say they welcome documented asylum seekers.
Gwyneth is chairperson for the chapel who provided the venue after the town hall was cancelled last minute a few days earlier.
She says: “I can’t say I agree or disagree with what’s going on because we’ve just been kept in the dark and treated like mushrooms.
“It’s wrong of local, central government and the Home Office not to consult us on something that could impact the local community.”
Councillor Nathan Evans, leader of the Trafford Conservative Group, who called the meeting, agrees, saying there has been a “wall of silence” where residents have “genuine concerns”.
He adds: “One hundred to probably 150 people stay in that hotel a night. They all go into Altrincham to spend money. That’s gone from the town. Nobody is going to compensate businesses for that.”
Asylum seekers describe treacherous journeys
Unaware of any local uproar, back at the hotel the new arrivals tell me of treacherous journeys from places such as Syria and Afghanistan.
A Kurdish man describes being trafficked through countries in the back of a lorry not knowing where he was when he got let out.
He says: “Eventually, we arrived at a beach, and the smuggler ordered me to board a boat. When I told him I was afraid of the sea, he slapped me several times. Then he reached for his gun and said, ‘You’re in a safe country now, get on the boat’.”
One young man not wanting to speak on camera says he saw people drown in the channel on his crossing as a nearby dingy sank.
Another asylum seeker, Fahad, tells of panic on his boat as waves started to beat against the vessel packed with 70 migrants, but they pressed on wanting the escape conditions in the French migrant camps.
Asylum seekers outside the Cresta Court Hotel
Heated national debate becomes local issue
The government promised it would end the use of hotels for migrants but blames this move on the Rwanda policy, which halted the asylum claims of people who arrived in the UK on small boats, causing a processing backlog.
While the thousands crossing the channel have caused heated national debate, the residents of Altrincham are learning how that sharpens when it becomes a local issue.
Mr Rand, the local Labour MP, said in a statement he wants to find out people’s concerns about Cresta Court, which is why he organised the public meeting.
He said it’s “not the first time a hotel in our community has needed to be used for this purpose”, pointing to the “huge backlog” in the asylum system and the almost 119,000 asylum seekers waiting for their claims to be decided.
“Labour is committed to a fair and controlled asylum system,” he said, but warned “there are no quick fixes”.
Mr Rand pledged to “continue to meet with Home Office officials and with ministers to push for the claims of those in the Cresta Court Hotel to be processed as quickly as possible, so this situation can be resolved.”
As a ban on the sale of disposable vapes comes into force on Sunday, a doctor who set up the first-ever clinic to help children stop vaping has said she has seen patients so addicted they couldn’t sleep through the night without them.
Professor Rachel Isba established the clinic at Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool in January and has now seen several patients as young as 11 years old who are nicotine dependent.
“Some of the young people vape before they get out of bed. They are sleeping with them under their pillow,” she told Sky News.
Professor Rachel Isba set up the first-ever stop vaping clinic for children
“I’m hearing stories of some children waking up at three o’clock in the morning, thinking they can’t sleep, thinking the vape will help them get back to sleep. Whereas, actually, that’s the complete opposite of how nicotine works.”
Ms Isba said most of her patients use disposable vapes, and while some young people may use the chance to give up, others will simply move to refillable devices after the ban.
“To me, vaping feels quite a lot like the beginning of smoking. I’m not surprised, but disappointed on behalf of the children that history has repeated itself.”
A government ban on single-use vapes comes into effect from Sunday, prohibiting the sale of disposable vaping products across the UK, both online and in-store, whether or not they contain nicotine.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said usage among young vapers remained too high, and the ban would “put an end to their alarming rise in school playgrounds and the avalanche of rubbish flooding the nation’s streets”.
Pic: PA
Circular economy minister Mary Creagh said: “For too long, single-use vapes have blighted our streets as litter and hooked our children on nicotine. That ends today. The government calls time on these nasty devices.”
At nearby Shrewsbury House Youth Club in Everton, a group of 11 and 12-year-old girls said vape addiction is already rife among their friends.
Yasmin Dumbell said: “Every day we go out, and at least someone has a vape. I know people who started in year five. It’s constantly in their hand.”
Yasmin Dumbell says she knows students who started vaping in year five
Her friend Una Quayle said metal detectors were installed at her school to try to stop pupils bringing in vapes, and they are having special assemblies about the dangers of the devices.
But, she said, students “find ways to get around the scanners though – they hide them in their shorts and go to the bathroom and do it”.
Una Quayle says metal detectors installed at her school won’t stop students using vapes
The girls said the ban on disposables is unlikely to make a difference for their friends who are already addicted.
According to Una, they’ll “find a way to get nicotine into their system”.
As well as trying to address the rise in young people vaping, the government hopes banning single-use vapes will reduce some of the environmental impact the devices have.
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Although all vapes can be recycled, only a tiny proportion are – with around eight million a week ending up in the bin or on the floor.
Pulled apart by hand
Even those that are recycled have to be pulled apart by hand, as there is currently no way to automate the process.
Scott Butler, executive director of Material Focus, a recycling non-profit group, said vapes were “some of the most environmentally wasteful, damaging, dangerous consumer products ever sold”.
His organisation worries that with new, legal models being designed to almost exactly mimic disposables in look and feel – and being sold for a similar price – people will just keep throwing them away.
He said the behaviour “is too ingrained. The general public have been told ‘vapes are disposable’. They’ve even been marketed this way. But they never were disposable”.
A ban on disposable vapes comes into force on Sunday, with a warning issued about the “life-threatening dangers” of stockpiling.
From Sunday it will be illegal for any business to sell or supply, or have in their possession for sale, all single-use or disposable vapes.
Online nicotine retailer Haypp said 82% of the 369 customers they surveyed plan to bulk purchase the vapes before they are no longer available.
But the vapes contain lithium batteries and could catch fire if not stored correctly.
A sign for customers at a Tesco store in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire. Pic: PA
While more than a third (34%) of people surveyed by Haypp said they would consider buying an illegal vape after the ban, the overall number of people using disposable products has fallen from 30% to to 24% of vapers, according to Action on Smoking and Health.
Shops selling vapes are required to offer a “take back” service, where they accept vapes and vape parts that customers return for recycling – including single use products.
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The Local Government Association (LGA) led the call for a ban two years ago, due to environmental and wellbeing concerns, and is warning people not to stockpile.
Cllr David Fothergill, chairman of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing Board, said: “Failing to store disposable vapes correctly could cost lives, given the significant fire risk they pose.”
How disposable vapes catch fire – or even explode
Figures obtained by the Electric Tobacconist, via Freedom of Information requests, found an increase in vape related fires – from 89 in 2020 to 399 in 2024.
Many disposable vapes use cheap, or even unregulated lithium-ion batteries, to keep the costs down. These batteries often lack proper safety features, like thermal cut offs, making them more prone to overheating and catching fire.
If the battery is damaged, or overheats in any way it can cause thermal runaway – a chain reaction where the battery’s temperature rapidly increases, causing it to overheat uncontrollably.
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Then, once these fires start start, they are very hard to stop. Water alone can make things worse if the battery is still generating heat, so they require specialised fire suppressants to put them out.
Batteries can then re-ignite hours, or even days later, making them a persistent hazard.
Disposable vapes are a hazard for waste and litter collection and cause fires in bin lorries, even though customers have been warned not to throw them away in household waste. They are almost impossible to recycle because they are designed as one unit so the batteries cannot be separated from plastic.
Some 8.2 million units were thrown away, or recycled incorrectly, every week prior to the ban.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said usage among young vapers remained too high, and the ban would “put an end to their alarming rise in school playgrounds and the avalanche of rubbish flooding the nation’s streets”.
Circular economy minister Mary Creagh said: “For too long, single-use vapes have blighted our streets as litter and hooked our children on nicotine. That ends today.
“The government calls time on these nasty devices.”
‘One in five say they will return to cigarettes’
Separate research by life insurance experts at Confused.com found two in five people (37%) planned to stop vaping when the ban starts.
Nearly one in five (19%) said they would return to cigarettes once the ban comes into force.
The research was based on the answers of 500 UK adults who currently vape.
Vaping and smoking also appears to be on the rise, with Confused.com saying there was a 44% increase in the number of people declaring they smoke or vape on their life insurance policy since 2019.
Russell Brand has pleaded not guilty to rape and sexual assault charges as he appeared in court in London.
The British comedian and actor, from Hambleden in Buckinghamshire, was charged by post last month with one count each of rape, indecent assault and oral rape as well as two counts of sexual assault.
The charges relate to alleged incidents involving four separate women between 1999 and 2005.
The 49-year-old, who has been living in the US, was flanked by two officers as he pleaded not guilty to all the charges at Southwark Crown Court today.
Russell Brand appears at Southwark Crown Court. Pic: Reuters
Brand stood completely still and looked straight ahead as he delivered his pleas.
The comedian, who has consistently denied having non-consensual sex since allegations were first aired two years ago, is due to stand trial in June 2026.
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Russell Brand arrives at Southwark Crown Court on Friday
He previously told his 11.2 million followers on X that he welcomed the opportunity to prove his innocence.
The allegations were first made in a joint investigation by The Sunday Times, The Times and Channel 4 Dispatches in September 2023.
As Friday’s hearing finished, Brand replaced his sunglasses before exiting the dock and calmly walking past reporters.
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