Too poor to ride a bus… the grim reality of life in a UK town with no pubs or public toilets

Too poor to ride a bus… the grim reality of life in a UK town with no pubs or public toilets

me dad’s dying with cancer terminal and we do not resuscitate he’s in hospital as we speak so I’ve been catching the train in weather like this I’m walking four or five miles to the hospital because I haven’t got any money [Music] not had a penny since December of Universal Credit no sir not a penny I’ve uh I’ve had a bit of agency work for one month and I’ve had the sell me Range Rover and I’m selling a camper van and a motorik just to pay me bills and I’ve this been notified by the bank from £161 overdrawn and within the next 7 Days my mortgage War rates councel tax that hasn’t been stopped will be going out so I’ll be over a grand over S no me I didn’t vote because I don’t see the right politics or the view to myself at the moment so it’s the first election that I didn’t vote no I didn’t want this time why not because it’s just a local election isn’t it why did you vote in the local you are normally uh vot in a general election not the local ones well why not the local ones I don’t know I never got given a thought to really I don’t think it makes any difference to be honest I really don’t get into politics I get up and do a day’s work and I think if you voted in Tory there do one thing say they can do this say they do that you vote in labor they say they do this you want the person that actually works and grasps and have been in debt then they realize what is more important rather than cutting budgets and putting budgets up and down Let’s Help the People rather than SC them you know You’ be able to see your doctor more often and things like that simp simple and like the cues at hospitals are endless endless I’ve been here 30 years and I’ve seen I think we’ve had Tories what the last 14 years maybe more they forget about places I guess don’t they they’re not interested in it no money they can’t even cut the fields with the grass of the children play yeah so bad I walk my dog on it nearly every day you know and the grass is just like love and simple things like that important things you know children playing is well too bad for me no government is going to change my life because uh it’s the the way they work out what they say to get into the wall into the uh Power and then don’t do nothing do they I have I’ve been here about 4 months I had like I’ve seen couple of uh troubl right out here as well what what do you mean by trouble a homeless man got beaten up just outside the train station another one there was a guy that he had a fight with a parking know uh police sometimes come in but you know this not all time you know this boy is all time is the problem the other this and they show the problem to boys but you know this police notti come not only the bothering the police it is massive change the roads yeah housing amenities Recreation public toilets nothing else 20 years ago you used to see like pubs in every corner but now most of them are Clos the town’s grown larger there’s more people coming in from outside the area to work mainly all of our customers are do workers or Amazon just about you’re traveling all from H har which is quite a long way every day to get work yeah just like the whole country should invest in its own people local Authority should invest in their own local people local residents so the jobs for local people CU you’ll find job elsewhere it means driving it means spend money on petrol and it really doesn’t the reduce the expenses cuz traveling is expens expensive petrol is expensive and so what happens is you find somebody wants a local job you don’t have the expense of spending money on public transport of you so local jobs to local people we’ve been to Southend sex College on Tuesday Southend these are all for jobs like care assistant education teaching assistant jobs for that will interest young people in south end but again it’s South End would they be able to afford the fair the thing is like the outgoings are so much your bills I think they went up nearly 50% if you look at like 2 years ago not even two years one year ago I would say if you look at the economy people are struggling even myself I’m struggling as well with my mortgage with my bills and me and my M were expecting a baby in a couple of months and things are tough so we are struggling it’s opportunity sometimes there is barriers this is one of the things we help in here in this community center to to remove the barriers whether it’s training where there is language barrier whether is upscaling something in the areas well I’ve been here 17 years used to live in south end but um added a bit of depression 20 years ago when mom died um but apart from that like one Community helped me back to work and I’ve been back to work ever since yeah yeah I’ve worked all me life apart from a bit of mental health 20 years ago there is something that is unspoken even in a very high qualified young people and I experienced that with my daughter is they’ll get a job let’s say he not in the community they’ll get a job somewhere London it needs an attire you don’t have the money for the attire you don’t have the money for transport recovery for one or two months to kick off if you don’t have somebody who can help you how are you going to do it this is where this community can help people and sign and post them in the right direction find out where they can get the help because if you don’t know you don’t know and you’re stuck there’s a gentleman who came in yesterday he wanted to do his bless him he should be retired but he wants to work still but we needed to find out whether this this training can be founded for somebody was unemployed there or maybe on job Seekers allowance a Universal Credit so it removes the barrier so if you get the training opportunity you’ll get a job there where houses in your GP so you could get a looking job or within the borrow say one Community helping people back to work which they did when I had my depression 20 years ago uh they do amazing work here uh it’s just like this they just keep saying it’s not you know they’re not in control they can only help but I’ve signed on in March Pro who I was and now I’m in debt and still haven’t had a penny since December 21st I think it was somewhere like that [Music] oh [Music]

WITH a council £1.3 billion in debt and services cut to the bone, most people in hard-up Tilbury have given up on voting.

The port town in Essex, which has no pub or public toilets but plenty of boarded-up shops, has one of the lowest turnouts for elections in the country.

Even though it is home to London’s biggest dock, a terminal for cruise liners and a huge Amazon distribution centre, the town’s unemployment rate is close to twice the national average.

New research has revealed that the most deprived areas are less likely to put a cross on a ballot paper than those in the richest ones.

That has long been the case in Tilbury.

In the Riverside ward, which is where the Empire Windrush boat arrived with immigrants from the Caribbean in 1948, only 20 per cent of people voted in the previous local elections.

Last week, Tilbury St Chads in the centre, which is one of the poorest areas in the country, went to the polls, but the most impoverished locals felt abandoned by politicians.

The turnout was just 18.7 per cent, by far the lowest in Thurrock council’s poll this month.

With hope in short supply, unemployed local Martin Howlett, 57, carrying a copy of The Sun, told how he’d sold his car, motorbike and caravan because he’d not received any universal credit payments since December.

Martin, who most recently worked as a technician for the London Ambulance service, said: “I didn’t vote. It doesn’t change anything. I have worked all my life and paid in, but now I am struggling to pay my mortgage.

“I’ve not had a universal credit payment since December, I’ve sold my car, caravan and motorbike.

“My dad is dying of cancer, but I have to walk to the hospital because I can’t afford the bus fare.”

We met Martin as he came out of the volunteer-run One Community Centre in Tilbury, which aims to help people find work and to deal with problems such as debt.

They used to have a much larger office, but it was torn down three years ago to build an up-to-date health care facility.

But now that site is a load of rubble in the centre of town and the funding has dried up.

Maria Cabral, 45, who volunteers in the community centre, also didn’t vote.

She says: “We are among the poorest areas, it is very sad to see. Even though we have the port and Amazon there is a lot of unemployment.

“People come in here to collect food stamps, to learn about training opportunities, apprenticeships, possible jobs, because there is no job centre here.”

One local who was born in Tilbury has given up hope.

Sally, 44, who did not wish to give her surname, says: “Tilbury is finished. I wouldn’t walk down the street at night.

“I won’t let my five-year-old son go out on his own here when he gets older.

“They’ve closed down the youth clubs and the only pub is in West Tilbury. There was too much trouble in the pubs in the centre.”

Read more: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/27773010/tilbury-voting-crime-money/

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