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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to think you can't claim to be homeless living in an airport if your income is £1400 a month

444 replies

dhdjdbrjrkbr · 07/02/2015 11:15

Strange DM story today, nothing adds up

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2943251/Homeless-Heathrow-look-holiday-truth-middle-class-couple-living-airport-losing-500-000-home.html#article-2943251

OP posts:
youbethemummylion · 07/02/2015 17:33

They have already had more money than most people will ever have, the fact they have spent it all is nobody's fault but their own, the fact they didn't put enough away for the future is their fault, the fact they dont claim what they are entitled to is their fault, the fact they haven't sold their furniture instead of paying to store it is their fault, the fact they haven't negotiated a better repayment rate on their loan is their fault. I cant find it anywhere inside myself to feel sorry for these people!

Pipbin · 07/02/2015 17:34

I love that the Fail needed to repeatedly point out that they were Middle Class!

LovestFromest · 07/02/2015 18:02

Agree with a PP that the story has been changed.

Earlier it stated that they moved out of the larger house in Poole year ago and bought a flat. Later they realised 200k equity in the flat which they spent on rent and living expenses. Went to Canada for 6 months and were surprised on their return to hear that the Council no longer had any obligation to house them! Even though they're middle class!

I'm middle class. It's simply a socio-economic group. It doesn't mean that the world owes you a living.

Hamiltoes · 07/02/2015 18:07

I bet this comes out as being some weird social experiment gone wrong.

www.janaschilder.com/ou r-people/alan-lane/

Alan’s four main areas of specialty cover issues management, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), media/government relations and crisis management.

Hes worked for the BBC & Sky, and got his fingers in various PR pots.

Maybe they will report on Monday that the DM just wanted to see how many gullable folks they could get to donate to a couple who have owned half a million pound houses, refuse to take paid emloyment, and have a monthly income of £1400?

269 of them raising £4,561 so far Hmm

VixxFace · 07/02/2015 18:08

There are how many homeless people living on the street through no fault of there own. Where are the funds for them, where is the public outrage.

This couple seem like fraudsters who have lived beyond their means. Rent a room which will be less than 100 a week which they pay for their b&b treat. Angry Angry

LovestFromest · 07/02/2015 18:12

No no Vixx you don't understand! They're white, English, and MIDDLE CLASS!

VixxFace · 07/02/2015 18:13

Fuck em

VivaLeBeaver · 07/02/2015 18:13

£700 a month would rent quite a nice house round here.

helpmekeepstrong · 07/02/2015 18:14

TheFairyCaravan arf! a goat and a free house..... I think it is a Mail sly bash at benefit scroungers. Oh no! Look! We are middle class people who have always worked hard. A cheerful, indomitable woman with her lovely enterprising hubby who have had so much and yet even though they tried their best to be upstanding members of the community; when they fell on their uppers... there was nothing for them because it had all been allocated elsewhere.
Apart from that, htf does this story make sense. Ffs a middle aged couple living in Heathrow? Gtf. DM what a crock.

VixxFace · 07/02/2015 18:14

Good old hard working English people are homeless but all those foreigners get a brand new council house and benefits as soon as they arrive. Hmm

fakenamefornow · 07/02/2015 18:15

Can't believe the vitriol and lack of sympathy for this couple.

Let's imagine the story is true (not that I believe it all) why would anybody completely lack any sympathy for a homeless couple. Regardless of the back story and what they may have had in the past, I would feel sorry from anybody without a home. I bet there'd be a lot more sympathy from mn if they were alcoholic gamblers in this situation, although there might have been rather less from the DM.

Oh, and even if it could be argued they are choosing not to live somewhere just because it might not meet the standards they think they should have, well so what, do we really have no sympathy just because they are thick.

LovestFromest · 07/02/2015 18:18

Fakename it's more that the story is completely full of holes.

helpmekeepstrong · 07/02/2015 18:18

Hamiltoes See what you mean. The plucky little lady with her tinkling laugh and hubby with his shiny dental work doesn't ring true.

EhricLovesTheBhrothers · 07/02/2015 18:24

Fake name of course I would have no sympathy for them

Their plight is not unusual, they have a reduced income and spent all their money. This is a total non story. What makes it a story is the absurd 'living in heathrow' angle which there is absolutely no reason for them to be doing. Dickheads.

BMW6 · 07/02/2015 18:24

Well, here's a way to get money fvrom the gullible - flog a made up pile of shite to the DM and get an acclomplice to set up a Gofund me account.......

(now that this has been printed in the Dm I imagine Airport Security will be on the lookout for them - if there were ever there......)

helpmekeepstrong · 07/02/2015 18:26

fakenamefornow Well, you don't believe their story so why should I? I speak as someone recently homeless and now safe. I resent the DM playing with this. I don't believe for a second that this isn't either a sly political snipe at the benefit system or a scam social experiment.

DoraGora · 07/02/2015 18:27

I've got to go with the I call bullshit on this couple, comment. Not one bit of this story makes sense, not one bit.

WhatWouldBlairWaldorfDo · 07/02/2015 18:27

So glad its not just me! I read the story just thinking 'so what? Help yourselves!' They made shit choices, lost money, and now waste the money they do have. If she had claimed jsa she was entitled to thats an income of £1750 a month including what they earn now. Plenty to rent somewhere!
I hope it all turns out to be bollocks, i would hate to think there really are people this dumb and entitled.....jesus christ...

duplodon · 07/02/2015 18:28

I haven't read it but rent round here, like literally the ONLY available properties within a sixty mile radius, is about that amount.

PlantCurtain · 07/02/2015 18:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

expatinscotland · 07/02/2015 18:28

'Let's imagine the story is true (not that I believe it all) why would anybody completely lack any sympathy for a homeless couple.'

They are homeless by choice is why. £1400/month. £100/week on B&Bs. £300 a month on furniture storage. £285 (or was it more)/month on a loan. Her not claiming JSA and his not claiming Pension Tax Credit not because they are clueless illiterates.

They are not thick.

She turns down work. That is printed in the original article.

noddyholder · 07/02/2015 18:28

Such nonsense You would not be allowed to live at the airport full stop

paxtecum · 07/02/2015 18:30

The fund is close to £5k.
If they receive that money I hope they set up a monthly direct debit to a homeless charity and spend their copious spare time volunteering at a homeless hostel.

Icimoi · 07/02/2015 18:31

fakename, people lack sympathy because, even if it is true, there is absolutely no need for them to be homeless. As pointed out upthread, with that sort of monthly income they could easily rent a nice property in the North. In fact, they could rent a small flat even in the Greater London area.

helpmekeepstrong · 07/02/2015 18:32

Hamiltoes BMW6 Set me up a Gofund... aw gwaaan! Promise I'll sell me story and split the funds wid-ye Grin x