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Writer's pictureBea Biechowiak

NO HOME, NO HOPE, LOST TRUST IN THE SYSTEM…

The story begins HERE

So it happened! From 24.01.2023 we are officially homeless. Happy Birthday to me (25.01.2023).

Nothing gets to you more than lies and general ignorance. We experienced both from our Landlord, council, temporary accommodation team and practically everyone that we turned to for help. The only support we received was from the medical professionals who were genuinely concerned with our wellbeing. All the others washed hands.

Over the last 6 months, we experienced all the possible failures of this country’s system. As we were going through our ordeal, we were wondering how many suicides are a direct fault of conservative government and their senseless policies. Housing policies are the biggest failure, which we just experienced first hand.

30 years in the property means nothing. In our case, the original landlord died in 2011 and his grandson waited till 2015 to sign a new tenancy agreement with us, just to enable himself to throw us out legally. No interest in maintenance of the building, because “he will probably be selling”, so why should he bother. Asbestos reported – we could see the report online. Case reported, and “dealt with and closed”. Nobody came to see it, not to mention removing it. He was waiting for us to go.

Here we are then, all three disabled with our 2 dogs (the big one is a week after a major surgery). We were dumped into a hotel in Ashford (20 miles away). They offered a transport (a taxi that would probably cost them a fortune), but they wouldn’t be able to take my mobility scooter onboard, so we would have to all split. We have opted for a train (which they wouldn’t pay for) and we could place ourselves, the dogs and my “mobby” in the carriage. I have to mention that my son is agoraphobic and we had many “incidents” on our way, when he couldn’t breath and got palpitations. Imagine yourself waking up on a pick of the very narrow mountain. Nothing around, everything looks the same. At the same time you hear a mix of various noises drilling into your ears. That’s more less what he experiences when stepping outside. His anxiety hits the roof, he shakes and sometimes cries.

We went to the train platform, where we faced an obstacle. The station Master was worried that Mobby might be too large to be on the train. With 10 minutes to the arrival of our train, we were measuring. It appeared that it is small enough, by a hair width. We were happier again and boarded the train without further issues.

The next challenge hit us the moment we got off the train. It looked like our hotel was about 2-3 miles away. We looked at each other – TAXI it is! We decided that boys, dogs and luggage will go in the taxi; I was going to drive my Mobby on my own. So, taxi refused to take the dogs – non of them would. So I had to take them both with me.


I set my GPS and started driving. After about 2 meters, I realised that the route that Google Maps recommended is impossible – no ramps for disabled vehicles. It was so cold. 0 degrees Celsius, wet mist. I didn’t have enough clothing on me. My Yorkie was shivering despite wearing her winter coat. We asked people and they directed us totally different direction, but I trusted locals and began my journey. Destination – Travelodge! After about 15 minutes I spotted a sign. It was weird because according to the maps, it was supposed to be a 30 minutes walk. I thought that the scooter is fast, so we made it quickly. I was so tired that I disregarded the fact that we were moving much slower than pedestrians, because the dogs were stiff from cold, and on top of it the big one was interested in every bush on our way. We found the hotel. Went through an automatic door and… there were 2 lifts and no reception. Some stairs and absolutely no one to ask. That was not enough: I have a little trolley attached to the back of my scooter and I had one of the bags in it. The bloody thing got loose and detached completely. So here I was, trying to deal with dogs, to attach the trolley back to the scooter and cursing the automatic door, as it was constantly opening and closing because we were too close. You might say “why didn’t you move away”. Well no, I couldn’t. There was just not enough space to do it. It appeared that we were in some back stairwell, unattended.

So we went out again. Asking people where to go. We learned that there were in fact three Travelodge’s and we just have to find a right one. It was absolutely freezing, and myself and the dogs were hungry and exhausted. Finally we found the right building and booked ourselves in. The reception was nice and warm. Little did we know that the troubles are not yet over…

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