Dagenham fire: Residents’ fury at ‘woeful’ response to blaze that nearly killed them

Published

1 month ago

October 4, 2024

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Residents who escaped a fire in a “deathtrap” block of flats have told Sky News they feel abandoned after both the management firm and owner of the building have failed to meet them.

The response has been branded “woeful” by the local council – who have had to pay £500,000 to support residents who have lost everything.

It’s been five weeks since people ran for their lives in the early hours after fire ripped through the privately owned Spectrum Building in east London during works to remove dangerous cladding.

Residents said fire alarms failed to sound and an escape route was padlocked, which meant some had to climb fences to flee.

“They don’t care… we are nothing to them,” said Kasia Stantke as we sat in her budget hotel room next to a busy dual carriageway where she’s been living for most of the past five weeks.

“We are worthless [to them], why would they not meet us?” she asked.

The 43-year-old management accountant describes the building that she, and 80 other residents, called home as a “death trap”.

She was horrified to learn various works to address fire safety problems had been ongoing for the past four years.

“The people responsible should be prosecuted, if guilty they should go to jail,” said Kasia.

Other residents have told Sky News they too feel abandoned.

Some are tenants who were renting their flats, others own the leases of their properties.

The freeholder – who owns the building – employed a firm called Block Management to manage the communal areas.

One woman described the response since the fire as “an insult” that has compounded the trauma of that night.

A children’s nursery on the ground floor has also had to move to a new temporary home.

Sky News tracked down the director of Block Management, who reluctantly agreed to speak to us near their headquarters in Suffolk.

David Collinson acknowledged the situation residents have been left in is “absolutely awful”.

However, he rejects the council’s claim that his company should have led on support for residents.

“I’m very sorry we don’t have that legal obligation,” he said.

“We are employed as a block manager to manage the common parts of the property, not the leasehold flats and not the tenants.

“We don’t have a contract with them. Obviously, we’re massively sympathetic. And if I could wave a magic wand to help them out, I promise you, you know, that’s exactly what we would do.”

“I would love to go meet with the residents, but I haven’t,” he added. “We physically haven’t got anything tangible to say to the residents.”

We asked if he was aware of the history of fire safety problems in the block.

He said: “There’s been various projects over probably the last 48 months of fire remediation works. And to the best of our knowledge, everything was done as it should be.”

“The freeholder has the ultimate responsibility. It’s his building,” Mr Collinson added.

‘Attitude needs to change’

Sky News has tried repeatedly to reach Brijesh Patel, the director of Arinium, the listed freeholder, but he has not responded to calls or messages.

The local authority has had to step in with emergency help and accommodation for residents and has so far spent over £500,000.

The leader of the council told Sky News the management company’s remote communications have been unacceptable given the circumstances.

“Contacting remotely from an office? It’s woeful, isn’t it?” Councillor Dominic Twomey told Sky News.

“If Block Management are symptomatic, and I’m hopeful they’re not, of management companies, then I think that attitude needs to change.”

“Just go and talk to people,” he pleaded.

After the fire, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner visited the Spectrum building and promised to make sure residents were supported.

She also vowed to accelerate the remediation works to remove dangerous cladding on residential blocks around the country.

Cllr Twomey added: “It has to be a national change… more teeth for local authorities like us.

“Because if we had more powers to speak to and tackle freeholders or block management companies, if we could actually make them come to the table and engage, that would just be a step in the right direction.”

The fire, which broke out on 26 August, is still under investigation by the Metropolitan Police, London Fire Brigade and the Health and Safety Executive.

More immediately for Kasia, the erection of scaffolding outside her budget hotel room has brought the memories of that night flooding back.

“I’m scared now again, I’m really hoping it will be a week or so and I will be able to move on,” she said.

“But for now, another scaffolding outside my window.”

“Am I again trapped? What’s going to happen now? I can’t believe it, it’s a living nightmare, absolutely,” she added.

UK

Mpox: More cases of new Clade 1b strain detected in UK

Published

7 hours ago

November 4, 2024

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Mpox: More cases of new Clade 1b strain detected in UK

More cases of a new strain of mpox have been detected in the UK, officials say.

Last week, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said a single case of the mpox virus variant Clade 1b had been confirmed in London.

The agency has now announced a further two cases have been detected.

The two patients are household contacts of the first and are currently under specialist care at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in London, it added.

“The risk to the UK population remains low,” the UKHSA said.

“There has been extensive planning under way to ensure healthcare professionals are equipped and prepared to respond to any further confirmed cases.”

The UKHSA’s chief medical adviser, Professor Susan Hopkins, said: “Mpox is very infectious in households with close contact and so it is not unexpected to see further cases within the same household.

“The overall risk to the UK population remains low. We are working with partners to make sure all contacts of the cases are identified and contacted to reduce the risk of further spread.”

The first case detected in London last week was a person who had been on holiday in Africa.

They developed flu-like symptoms more than 24 hours after returning to the UK and later developed a rash which worsened in the following days.

The agency said contacts of all three cases are being followed up on and would be offered testing and vaccination as needed.

What are the symptoms of mpox and how is it passed on?

Common symptoms of the disease include a skin rash or pus-filled lesions, which can last between two to four weeks. It can also cause fever, headaches, muscle aches, back pain, low energy and swollen lymph nodes.

Mpox, and the Clade 1b strain, is usually passed on by close physical contact, contact with infected animals, or sexual transmission.

The UK has a stock of mpox vaccines and last month announced more were being procured to support a routine immunisation programme.

UK

Valencia floods: British couple Don and Terry Turner found dead in their car after going missing

Published

10 hours ago

November 4, 2024

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Valencia floods: British couple Don and Terry Turner found dead in their car after going missing

A British couple have been found dead in Spain after being caught in the floods last week, their daughters have said.

At least 217 people have died after heavy rain in eastern Spain caused flash floods, with thousands of cars left wrecked in the streets and an unknown number still missing.

Ruth O’Loughlin and Renee Turner told Sky News their parents Don, 78, and 74-year-old Terry Turner, from Pedralba, about 20 miles (33km) west of central Valencia, went missing during the floods – only for their bodies to be found in their car days later.

An FCDO spokesperson said it is “supporting the family” and is “in contact with the local authorities”.

It comes as a red alert warning of “extreme danger” from torrential rain has been issued for Barcelona today, with 180mm of rain set to fall in 12 hours according to the national weather agency Aemet.

Speaking to Sky News, Ms O’Loughlin said she last spoke to her mother on Monday last week, and a day later saw her messages to Mr Turner were not delivering on WhatsApp.

After seeing reports of the floods, she tried to contact her father and again received no response, before her nephew rang on Thursday to say her parents were reported as missing.

Despite social media campaigning and calls to the British Consulate, Renee Turner said it was Saturday when they found out Mr and Mrs Turner had died.

“My sister and I both got a phone call to say that they’d been found in their car, and unfortunately they had died,” she said.

Ms O’Loughlin added: “We’d got told they’d nipped out for gas, as they do.

“Obviously, they weren’t aware of how bad the area was, and their friend said they were aware [the couple went out] as they used to talk all the time.

“And then they didn’t come home.”

Renee Turner insisted both Mr and Mrs Turner would have “without a doubt” heeded flood warnings, but told Sky News “there was no alert”.

“My parents would not have been out,” she added. “We are so angry at the slackness of the Spanish authorities in that respect.

“Not just our mum and dad [have died], there’s hundreds of people, hundreds, and they have to be held accountable for that.”

In their hometown of Burntwood, Staffordshire, Ms O’Loughlin said “everybody knows my mum and dad”. As kids, she recalled how people would come over when Ruth was baking.

She added that Mr Turner “was the clown – everyone loved Dad… he made our childhood absolutely wonderful,” before saying that when they moved to Spain, “everyone knew them there”.

Terry volunteered at a local dog rescue centre and adopted two kittens, Ms O’Loughlin said, which are currently being looked after by the couple’s friends in the area.

“We sort of knew [they were dead] because we knew that our mum would have done anything to get back to those pets,” Ms O’Loughlin added.

Both Renee Turner and Ms O’Loughlin had wanted to move their parents back to England, and the couple had been expected to return home permanently soon.

“We had plans,” Ms O’Loughlin said. “Mum was desperate to come back. She’s a shopper, she missed Morrisons.

“We were looking at maybe getting a bigger house and moving mum and dad in with us. We could keep our eye on them, we could make sure they were okay.

“The thought of that: My mum said to me that ‘that’s more than I could ever wish for’.”

Foreign Secretary David Lammy expressed the UK’s condolences on X, saying: “The UK government expresses its heartfelt condolences to those affected by the tragic floods across Spain – our thoughts are with those that have lost their lives, their families and all those affected. I have offered the UK’s full support to my friend @jmalbares.”

Meanwhile, the local government in Catalonia warned of “continuous and torrential” rain in two regions today, saying people should avoid travel and stay away from streams and ravines.

Authorities told those nearby the “extreme danger” warning issued for the Barcelona region: “Do not travel unless strictly necessary.”

Authorities have also suspended train services in northeast Catalonia on request from civil protection officials.

UK

University tuition fees to increase in England for first time in eight years

Published

10 hours ago

November 4, 2024

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University tuition fees to increase in England for first time in eight years

University tuition fees in England will increase for the first time in eight years, the education secretary has announced.

Fees have been frozen at an annual level of £9,250 since the 2017/18 academic year.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said the maximum cap will now rise in line with inflation from April 2025.

That will increase the cost of tuition to £9,535 next year – a rise of £285.

Politics latest: Badenoch announcing shadow cabinet

Ms Phillipson also announced a rise in maximum maintenance loans so they will now increase in line with inflation, giving an increase of £414 a year to help students with living costs.

The education secretary tried to ward off any panic from students as she said: “I want to reassure students already at university when you start repaying your loan, you will not see higher monthly repayments as a result of these changes to fee and maintenance loans.

“That’s because student loans are not like consumer loans, monthly repayments depend on earnings, not simply the amount borrowed or interest rates – and the end of any long term, any outstanding loan balance, including interest built up, will be written off.”

She said the decision had not been easy but added: “It is no use keeping tuition fees down for future students if the universities are not there for them to attend, nor if students can’t afford to support themselves while they study.”

Sir Keir Starmer had pledged to abolish tuition fees when he stood to be Labour leader in 2020.

However, the prime minister rowed back on that promise early last year, saying it was no longer affordable because of the “different financial situation” the country was in, and he was choosing to prioritise the NHS.

He said Labour would set out a “fairer solution” for students if they won the election – which they did with a landslide in July.

The change comes as universities have been dealing with a funding crisis, largely driven by a huge drop in overseas students.

Rules brought in by Rishi Sunak’s government made it harder for international students, who pay higher fees than British ones, to bring their families with them to the UK.

Universities have been pleading for more investment, but Ms Phillipson said recently institutes should seek to manage their own budgets before hoping for a bailout from the taxpayer.

When she was in opposition, she also touted the idea of reducing the monthly repayments “for every single graduate” by changing how the loan is paid back.

Writing in The Times in June 2023, she said: “Reworking the present system gives scope for a month-on-month tax cut for graduates, putting money back in people’s pockets when they most need it.”

However, the idea did not make it into Labour’s 2024 manifesto, which only says that “the current higher education funding settlement does not work for the taxpayer, universities, staff, or students”.

It adds: “Labour will act to create a secure future for higher education and the opportunities it creates across the UK.”

Independent MP Zarah Sultana, who lost the Labour whip after rebelling over the two-child benefit cap, called the latest development “wrong”.

“It’s time to abolish tuition fees and cancel student debt because education is a public good, not a commodity,” she posted on X.

‘Maintenance loans bigger issue’

Money saving expert Martin Lewis earlier explained how higher fees will not necessarily lead to students facing higher yearly repayments, as that “solely depends on what you earn not on what you borrow”.

In a thread on X, he said a more damaging policy was the Tories’ decision last year to drop the salary threshold at which repayments must be made – from £27,000 to £25,000 – and increase the time to clear the loan before it is written off, from 30 to 40 years.

He said: “Increasing tuition fees will only see those who clear the loan in full over the 40yrs pay more. That is generally mid-high to higher earning university leavers only, so the cost of increasing them will generally be born by the more affluent.”

University fees of £1,000 per year were first introduced by the Labour government in 1998, going up to £3,000 in 2006.

The coalition government then tripled the amount to £9,000 in 2012, sparking a huge backlash, particularly against the Lib Dems who had vowed to scrap fees in the 2010 general election campaign.

Since then, there have been further changes to student finance such as the abolition of maintenance grants and NHS bursaries, moving student support increasingly away from non-repayable grants and towards loans.