Blind woman left without food and forced to sleep on floor of council home

By Jacob Phillips, Local Democracy Reporter

A blind woman said she was forced to sleep on the floor when she moved home due to council failures.

The Hammersmith and Fulham resident was given a blow-up mattress to sleep on when she moved home as her bed had not arrived in time, according to an Ombudsman report.

But the woman, referred to only as Miss X, said she was left stuck on the floor, unable to blow up the mattress and without food on moving day.

Miss X had got in touch with her council in July 2021 to say she was moving home in six weeks.

Due to issues with her new home, her moving date was pushed back to September 24, and Hammersmith and Fulham council agreed to help her to buy a bed, book removals and sort her housing benefits in the week before she moved.

Miss X also asked the council to provide her with Meals on Wheels and on September 21 the council arranged for her to be delivered meals.

But due to an error with the Meals on Wheels provider, her meals were delivered to her old address the day she moved and she was left without food.

Hammersmith and Fulham council told the Ombudsman it was willing to pay Miss X £400.

A Hammersmith and Fulham council spokesman said: “We’ve apologised to Miss X and have compensated her for the inconvenience and distress.

“We seek to be a compassionate council – we’re the only council in the country to abolish home care charges and we’ve just put an extra £5 million into social care. We accept we’ve fallen short here.

“We reiterate our apology and have strengthened our systems to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

Pictured top: Fulham Town Hall (Picture: Wikimedia Commons/MOs810)