Twinnell House fire: Family threatened with eviction

Selma Muuse said "you can't sleep, you're terrified" because of fears of being evicted

A woman whose neighbour died in a flat fire said the council threatened three times to stop paying for emergency accommodation for her and her child.

Selma Muuse, 28, and her son, six, lived next door to a man who fell to his death while escaping from a tower block fire in Bristol on 25 September.

The council said her flat had been repaired but she refused to go back and said she was too traumatised to return.

Bristol City Council said it was now preparing a new property for Ms Muuse.

Ms Muuse said since the fire at Twinnell House the council had placed her in five different hotels, and three times had threatened to stop paying for her emergency accommodation.

She said staff at the Mitchell Lane Travelodge, where she was currently staying, had tried to kick her out twice and at one point cut off her water and power supply for two hours.

"They said 'the council refuse to pay so you have to leave'.

"I said 'I have nowhere to go, it's the streets or here'," Ms Muuse said.

A spokesperson for the council said: "We do not support the actions of the hotel in this matter and cannot condone the lack of empathy shown."

Travelodge said it was "sincerely sorry" about the way Ms Muuse and her son had been treated and said cutting off utility services was an "isolated incident" made in error.

The hotel said it was supporting Ms Muuse to come to an agreement with the council

Ms Muuse said she and her son were effectively trapped in their room for several days when the council stopped paying for the hotel, because she feared if they had left they would have been locked out.

A Travelodge spokesperson said: "We are sympathetic to Ms Muuse's situation but we are a hotel business that provides short-term accommodation."

The council has informed the hotel they will not further extend her booking as they have found alternative accommodation for Ms Muuse.

The spokesperson said that meant Ms Muuse was now a non-paying guest but as a "gesture of goodwill" Travelodge had extended her booking by a few days.

Ms Muuse, who works as a dispenser in a pharmacy, has not been to work since the fire at Twinnell House

Ms Muuse was initially asked to leave the Holiday Inn, Bond Street on 21 October.

She was then asked to leave Travelodge, Mitchell Lane on 31 October, and again on 18 November.

Following each attempt the council agreed to continue paying for the hotel for another few days.

Alternative housing offer

The council has repaired her flat, but neighbours have warned her it still smells of smoke.

Ms Muuse has instead accepted an alternative council property in need of repair.

She said she would be happy to move in while the work took place but she has not been told when that could be.

A spokesperson for Bristol City Council said it was a complex case that required the resident to return to their original council flat to prepare for a move to another council property.

They said: "We are working to get the new flat ready and will do what we can to help this family to settle in their new accommodation in a few weeks."

They said support had been made available by the council "throughout this difficult time".