Swindon female asylum seekers moved with 10 hours' notice

"Amanda", 21, was moved from Swindon with 10 hours' notice

A group of female asylum seekers from Swindon say they were moved hundreds of miles with 10 hours' notice, leaving one woman feeling suicidal.

Many of the group has studied, volunteered and made strong friendships in the town.

The Home Office said accommodation was on a "no-choice basis" to "asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute".

Charity The Harbour Project said short notice moves were proving costly.

Amanda - her name has been changed to protect her identity - is a 21-year-old and left the Middle East more than a year ago for fear of persecution based on her sexuality.

She said: "I used to hide my sexuality. Back home I would be executed."

'Barely slept'

For more than a year Amanda has been accommodated in a Swindon hotel and was studying at a local college.

The news of the move came suddenly. Amanda said: "At around 23:00, one of my friends came to me crying telling me that we're going to move.

"I checked with security and they had a list of names of the single women.

"We had many emotions and we only had 10 hours to pack our stuff and to figure everything out.

"We had only a few hours to say goodbye (to friends).

"We barely slept that night."

21-year-old "Amanda" moved from Swindon with 10-hours notice

Amanda said by the morning more names had been added to the list. She added: "Some people got three hours only.

"How can you pack all your stuff that you had for months in three hours?"

Amanda said the mental health impact of moving at short notice was considerable and she worried about homophobia.

"My mental health went really bad because of this night, it still impacts me.

"I came here to be safe, (I worried that), if they move me to a place that's homophobic it's going to be very scary."

Amanda understands movement is necessary but said having limited time to prepare for a move is not right.

She added: "We are mad that we didn't get enough time to prepare for the move.

"Telling us 10-hours before is not ok at all, that day I had some suicidal thoughts."

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She added: "I'm not against the policy but I'm against the time.

"I didn't feel the Home Office treated us like humans when they decided to move us in 10-hours notice.

"We have feelings and emotions too like others."

Since the move Amanda said there had been no welfare checks by the Home Office but they have had a local church visit them in the new hotel.

Mural outside the Harbour Project

The Harbour Project, Swindon's asylum seeker and refugee charity, was supporting the women prior to their relocation.

The impact for those left behind is still felt.

Clementine Meukeugni Noumbisse, 33, an asylum seeker from the Cameroon was also housed with the other women in a Swindon hotel.

Clementine Meukeugni Noumbisse, a guest of the Harbour Project

After the news of the move, Miss Noumbisse's health worsened and she was left behind.

She said: "I have high blood pressure. I started panicking, my blood pressure went high and I fell ill."

Miss Noumbisse said she misses the women who were moved.

"We were so close. Volunteering or courses, anything to attend we do together, because we are family.

"I'm missing them, I stay by myself now, all I can say is that I am missing them," she added.

Claire Garrett, CEO at the Harbour Project

The Home Office said service users were given a minimum of five days' notice of moving - something CEO of the Harbour Project, Claire Garrett, 59, had never known happen.

She said: "I'm not aware of anybody getting five days notice.

"I absolutely understand the logic of increasing the occupancy in hotels by moving people around, we all understand the economics.

"But with the economics comes the human impact."

Service users are given a minimum of five days' notice according to the Home Office

Mrs Garrett believed there was also a cost to the country when people were moved at short notice.

She said: "There was a case six months ago. A house of four men had to be moved to another town, they were given a day's notice and were told to be ready at six the next morning, to get in a taxi and move.

"Nobody travelled so the Home Office sent a taxi which nobody got into.

"We worked with the Home Office to understand the reasons for the move, we helped the men that were moving to identify new support organisations so they knew where they were going to go and what they were going to do.

"And the move then happened a week later, they all travelled.

"With less than 24-hours notice cost more money to the country because nobody got into that taxi."

Missed GP appointments

As well as transport costs, Mrs Garrett identified other costs to a local area when people were moved at short notice.

She said: "People are registered at doctors, so there will have been missed GP and hospital appointments as a result of moving at such short notice.

"People were in college and volunteering at the local hospital. We had persuaded a local college to take one of our people on to do three A-levels.

"They were in the middle of that and they've been moved.

"So that's an empty seat at a college that's now no longer filled and somebody now sitting in a hotel room in another town not able to carry on with their education."

A Home Office spokesperson said it "continues to provide safe accommodation for asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute, as we work to end the use of hotels which are costing UK taxpayers £8.2m a day.

"Accommodation is allocated on a no-choice basis and individuals may be moved to other locations in line with the 'allocation of accommodation' guidance.

"We take all necessary considerations into account before any move. Support is also provided to help resettlement in a new area, including regular welfare checks."