Residents of Grenfell Tower ‘did not know’ about the stay-put policy

By Julia Gregory, local democracy reporter

Residents of Grenfell Tower did not know about the stay put policy or where to gather if there was an emergency.

Maria Jafari who lived on the 11th floor of the tower and lost her father Ali in the 2017 fire recalled:” Nobody ever spoke to us about what to do in the event of  a fire.

“We never took part in a fire drill and we were never given any information about where the assembly point would be if the building was evacuated.

“We were not warned about the lifts or told what to do or how to get out if fire broke out.”

She added: “I think there was a fire sign next to the lifts but I do not recall reading it or understanding it. “

In a statement read to the Inquiry today (Thursday, May 20, Ms Jafari said she would have left if there was a fire and recalled she never heard a fire alarm go off in the 14 years she lived at Grenfell.

Her 82-year-old father was a jeweller in Afghanistan before moving to the UK had heart problems and diabetes and died in the fire.

People who lived in Grenfell Tower and the surrounding council homes shared their frustration about trying to get repairs done in the years leading up to the fire.

Witness statements were read out from a number of residents who spoke about repeatedly contacting Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (TMO) which looked after the council’s 9,000 homes.

Fourth floor resident Jenny Dainton said it was “most frustrating” dealing with the TMO to get repairs done.

“I had to chase appointments. Or they would turn up unannounced.”

She said sometimes she would return to find a note to say the repairs team had visited without warning only to find no one at home.

“It was most frustrating,” she said.

Elizabeth Sobieszczak who lived on the seventh floor with her husband and daughter said she “had very little faith in the TMO”.

She said: “You would very rarely get a call back and would have to call again and again about the problem.”

She said it left her “with little faith that anything would be actioned”.

She added: “They would attend just for the purpose of doing assessment so  the whole ordeal began again.”

The safety catch was missing on one new window installed at a flat on the eighth floor “meaning it could be opened all the way”, whilst another was jammed shut.

Resident Shantilal Patel said: “To me it was evidence of shoddy work or poor materials being used.”

He described waiting weeks to get it fixed before a workman visited and said he did not have the right parts.

Mr Patel heard there were other flats with the same problem, the Inquiry heard.

William Thompson moved onto the same floor in 1997.

He said he was never asked what kind of windows or cladding he wanted on the Tower. He started complaining about problems in 2015 and 2016 and residents came together to raise their concerns.

“Some did not feel able to speak out or felt tired of speaking out,” he said.

“My impression living in the tower is there were so many residents who were so used to being  bullied by the TMO and RBKC that they just didn’t want to rock the boat as they were afraid of the consequences.”

He said people were afraid of speaking out as they didn’t want to use their homes.

“I used to picture  some of these older and vulnerable residents sitting in their homes with no water scared to complain.”

Hanan Wahabi was another member of the Grenfell Compact which highlighted concerns that renumbering the floors during the renovation could cause problems for firefighters along with concerns about vehicles blocking access for the emergency services.

Her brother Abdulaziz, sister-in-law Fouzia and their children Yasin, Mehdi and Nurhouda all died in the fire.

Both she and her brother had problems with the self-closers on their doors.

She said no one called when she raised her concerns and she had to chase them up.

“For this reason  I felt that my complaints were not properly dealt with,” she said.