Fire-hit family still living in hotel

10:30am Wednesday 13th June 2012 in Didcot

A YOUNG mother and her two children are still in a hotel more than two months after losing their home in a fire in Didcot.

Dozens of people were forced to flee a block of flats in Venners Water on the Ladygrove estate when fire broke out during the early hours of Good Friday, April 6.

The blaze started in a top-floor flat and left two people needing hospital treatment. About 40 people from 11 families lived in the block and they all needed to be rehoused.

Six families chose to stay with relatives, while five families were found emergency accommodation at the Premier Inn and Apple Cart restaurant at the Milton interchange.

But, more than two months later, Kelly Jones, 21, and daughters, Skye, three, and Brooke, one, are still staying in one room at the hotel.

Discussions have taken place with Home Group housing association, which owns the block of flats.

Miss Jones, whose flat was water-damaged, said: “I feel completely isolated.

“It’s very difficult to manage with two small children in one room with an ensuite bathroom.

“The children’s meal and bed times have been totally disrupted.”

Miss Jones said she had to get a taxi into Didcot to take her eldest daughter to nursery because she could not drive, although the housing association paid for the fare.

Home Group director of customer services Scott Black said: “Customers have been found alternative homes.

“One customer declined an initial property which was offered to her. She has now been offered a second.”

Miss Jones said she had turned down the offer of a house in Thame because it was too far from friends and family.

Comments(23)

Bartsimpson_uk says...
10:53am Wed 13 Jun 12

"Miss Jones said she had to get a taxi into Didcot to take her eldest daughter to nursery because she could not drive, although the housing association paid for the fare."
She lives in Didcot so why are we paying for her to take her daughter to nursery??? How did she get there before??
She does not work, so what was the problem of moving to Thame in the short term?? Wheres the father in all this??

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Diddyman says...
11:13am Wed 13 Jun 12

bartsimpson_uk you are a fool!! If this poor family have been moved to The Applecart on the Milton interchange would you want to walk your young family along the link road with cars reaching 60MPH!!

She doesn’t work because of her young family, why should she move to Thame and feel even more isolated! It wasn’t her fault that the block of flats she lived in caught fire. Maybe you should learn to keep ya mouth shut if you haven’t got anything decent to say!!

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Gand dalf says...
1:11pm Wed 13 Jun 12

Well said Diddyman

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Bartsimpson_uk says...
2:03pm Wed 13 Jun 12

She does not work because of her young family!!!! Many DO work because they HAVE a young family. Where is the father in all this?? She should move to Thame in the short term as it gets her out of the hotel. Maybe she likes it in the hotel then. She was offered a place and refused. Beggars can not be chosers.

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Bartsimpson_uk says...
2:24pm Wed 13 Jun 12

Am I not allowed to have an opinion?? I suspect you do not know this girl at all. I know its not her fault, but again you can not answer any of my questions. Where is the father in all this? There is a housing shortage if you had not noticed, and if I was in her situation and was offered a place not many miles away, I would take it if the hotel was so bad. The fact thet she has turned it down suggests it is not as bad as she makes out. She can't drive, so her family must visit her. If they can not be bothered to drive the short distance to Thame to see her, shows what sort of family she has.

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Bartsimpson_uk says...
2:25pm Wed 13 Jun 12

The fact that out of eleven families that had to move out, she is the only one left in the hotel. Looks like shes being to fussy.

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Lady Penelopee says...
2:27pm Wed 13 Jun 12

I think the point that Bart is trying to make is that this (very young) woman has two children yet no way of providing for them other than accepting handouts off the state, so should therefore be grateful for having a roof over her head provided, rather than running to the papers to moan.

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online_reader says...
2:27pm Wed 13 Jun 12

I run along the link road on occasion; it's getting on for four miles from the Applecart to the centre of Didcot along a busy main road. I really don't think you could expect anyone to walk there and back twice a day with a pushchair, and daycare for a one-year-old is so expensive it wouldn't be worth her working. As others have said, we've no idea what happened to the father, so cannot judge.

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Bartsimpson_uk says...
2:35pm Wed 13 Jun 12

Spot on LadyP

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Gand dalf says...
3:43pm Wed 13 Jun 12

Bartsimpson_uk wrote:
Am I not allowed to have an opinion?? I suspect you do not know this girl at all. I know its not her fault, but again you can not answer any of my questions. Where is the father in all this? There is a housing shortage if you had not noticed, and if I was in her situation and was offered a place not many miles away, I would take it if the hotel was so bad. The fact thet she has turned it down suggests it is not as bad as she makes out. She can't drive, so her family must visit her. If they can not be bothered to drive the short distance to Thame to see her, shows what sort of family she has.
Well seeing as my comment appears to have been deleted by the censorship police, I will say again. Unless you know the full circumstances, I suggest you mind your own business and stop passing judgement on someone you clearly don't know and who happens to have landed in a difficult situation. I don't know her, but that makes no difference and is not my point. Its people like you, with your "why should I pay for this from my taxes" type attitude that just love to jump on the misfortune of others because you believe you are somehow paying for it. As a young mother with small kids, I am pretty sure she is NOT enjoying being stuck right out on the edge of Didcot. Why don't you contact her, get the full facts from HER, and then come back here and moan and criticise if it would make you feel better...

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Bartsimpson_uk says...
3:57pm Wed 13 Jun 12

Touched a nerve have I Gand dalf? The point is, she has been offered accomodation and she has refused it. This tells me her misfourtune is not as bad as she makes out. She has now chosen to be in the postiton she is in now, no one else. Yes I am paying for her to stay in the hotel, taxi expenses and any other home she is given. She chose to have two children, has no partner and no job. Who pays for that, she don't!

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aliej says...
7:10pm Wed 13 Jun 12

for all of you that are putting this young woman down, just think "there but for the grace of God go I" Any one's situation can change - in less than a year though no fault of ours our household income has nearly halved and for the first time in my life i had to claim benifits. I hope you don't begrudge me this without knowing all my circumstances....by the way I know the young lady concerned in the article and she does a great job bringing up her kids in the circumstances she has found herself in!

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Annieo says...
9:34pm Wed 13 Jun 12

Bartman, she may have chosen to have 2 children, but not having a partner may have been totally out of her control... believe it or not, some men just don't give a **** and disappear on their kids, leaving the women to cope with the destruction left behind... so don't sully your points by bringing the lack of partner into the equation.
Another question is why this lady cannot privately rent... housing benefit, along with unemployment (if that is her status) monies and other credits should easily cover the rental of a 2 bed flat/house in didcot?

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Andrew:Oxford says...
10:48pm Wed 13 Jun 12

Thame is only 19 miles away. Surely her friends and family wouldn't abandon her for the sake of half an hour.

It's a far more desirable place to live too, better schools, Waitrose and a rail ticket into London that is considerably cheaper and only takes 35 minutes on the Silver Services - Perfect for anyone who is seeking a decent job to support their family.

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Gand dalf says...
7:25am Thu 14 Jun 12

Bartsimpson_uk wrote:
Touched a nerve have I Gand dalf? The point is, she has been offered accomodation and she has refused it. This tells me her misfourtune is not as bad as she makes out. She has now chosen to be in the postiton she is in now, no one else. Yes I am paying for her to stay in the hotel, taxi expenses and any other home she is given. She chose to have two children, has no partner and no job. Who pays for that, she don't!
No you haven't touched a nerve, I'm just sick of reading these sort of comments from people who don't know the facts. Do you know the full reasons why she turned down the accommodation, apart from what it says in the article ? No you don't, but you are still willing to base everything on that, judge her and make the decisions that she is a scrounger. You are a moron.

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Lady Penelopee says...
8:13am Thu 14 Jun 12

Gand dalf wrote:
Bartsimpson_uk wrote: Touched a nerve have I Gand dalf? The point is, she has been offered accomodation and she has refused it. This tells me her misfourtune is not as bad as she makes out. She has now chosen to be in the postiton she is in now, no one else. Yes I am paying for her to stay in the hotel, taxi expenses and any other home she is given. She chose to have two children, has no partner and no job. Who pays for that, she don't!
No you haven't touched a nerve, I'm just sick of reading these sort of comments from people who don't know the facts. Do you know the full reasons why she turned down the accommodation, apart from what it says in the article ? No you don't, but you are still willing to base everything on that, judge her and make the decisions that she is a scrounger. You are a moron.
Facts or no facts, the main point is that this lady is reliant on state handouts to feed and house herself and her children, so she is in no position to pick and choose where she gets to live, and should be GRATEFUL that she's not living on the streets with her kids in care.

If I were in her position, I would be grateful for any accomodation I was offered.

Aliej, of course no one begrudges benefits. The system is there to give people a helping hand to get back on their feet, and I'm sure you're grateful for the help you're being given.

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Didcot2012 says...
9:14am Thu 14 Jun 12

Let's just hope you never end up in this situation lady penelopee! She has every right to refuse a house she will have to live in for a long time, she didn't cause the fire, and I know alot of her friends and family don't drive, imagine losing all your belongings and then be moved away from the place you've lived your whole life, where there will be no support for her and her children at ths time. Hope you get some where in didcot soon Kelly, don't listen to these rude people it's just jealousy

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Lady Penelopee says...
10:45am Thu 14 Jun 12

Didcot2012 wrote:
Let's just hope you never end up in this situation lady penelopee! She has every right to refuse a house she will have to live in for a long time, she didn't cause the fire, and I know alot of her friends and family don't drive, imagine losing all your belongings and then be moved away from the place you've lived your whole life, where there will be no support for her and her children at ths time. Hope you get some where in didcot soon Kelly, don't listen to these rude people it's just jealousy
If I ended up homeless, I would be grateful for a roof over my head until I could get myself back on my feet again.

I have lived all over the UK and moved wherever the work was, so yes it is cr*p moving away from friends and family, but that's life, I needed to earn a living, and I made new friends every time I moved.

Life is hard, and beggars can't be choosers.

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## Nonny Mouse ## says...
11:48am Thu 14 Jun 12

Lady Penelopee wrote:
I think the point that Bart is trying to make is that this (very young) woman has two children yet no way of providing for them other than accepting handouts off the state, so should therefore be grateful for having a roof over her head provided, rather than running to the papers to moan.
^This. Very eloquently put.

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jdracinguk says...
4:32pm Thu 14 Jun 12

Yet again another slow news day story.

Yes it was not her fault her home was destroyed. But it hits a nerve with honest tax paying people when such stories make the papers when people on bebefits should be grateful of any help they receive.

Surely any roof is better than no roof, she is not working locally so there is no real reason not to move to Thame.

I think the HA has done a great job in helping everyone else, yet that is not reported?

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lfcaware says...
1:29am Fri 15 Jun 12

Why don't we just shoot anyone on benifits.
God forbid it happens to you. Three million people must love it.

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gel says...
10:37pm Sat 16 Jun 12

The mindset that because you are a single mum the rest of us have responsibility for feeding you & your brood, plus housing you for years to come needs to change. Hopefully we are seeing some moves along that line, so the females who inevitably carry the can, as it were, think about who provides the money to feed/house any offspring.
The State should not be viewed as the universal provider, as we're skint, with a benefits bill/culture out of control.

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Didcot2012 says...
1:37pm Mon 25 Jun 12

Not everyone sets out to be a single mum, you can't judge anyone unless you know the truth and what's happened in there's lives. Some of you are so stuck up it's unbelievable, god help you if you ever lose your job, get ill, have a house fire and have no where to turn but the council or benefits office. You should be ashamed of yourselves!
Im glad the tax man uses money to help less fortunate than myself!

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