Grenfell Tower estate residents: Our fears over fire were ignored because we are working class

The raging inferno at the Grenwell Tower
Jeremy Selwyn

Distraught residents of the estate where at least 17 people were killed in a horrific tower block blaze have told how they believe safety concerns were ignored because officials "don't care" about working class people.

Residents living in tower blocks close to Grenfell Tower on the Lancaster West estate said they were now "scared" for their own safety, and that managers and the council had not acted on concerns raised in meetings.

It comes after it emerged a resident of the tower block had written a chilling blog post after a renovation in 2016, saying only a "catastrophe" would lead to changes being made.

Firefighters are still searching the Grenfell Tower block after it became engulfed in flames in just minutes when a fire broke out in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Theresa May visited the tower today
Rick Findler/PA

Andrew McLeod, 25, said he knew residents who had concerns raised during meetings that were ignored.

He said: "I think there's a bigger picture here. We've been trying to get change and improvements and everything.

The Prime Minister at the site of the blaze
Jeremy Selwyn

"I think that people on this side of the class divide do feel that they are unfairly treated and not listened to.

"If you do look at the bare facts things were flagged up on numerous occasions in a very formal way.

"People have asked why are we not being heard? They've ignored people."

Andrew McLeod, 25, said working class people on the estate felt unfairly treated

Scrawled alongside tributes to victims on a wall outside Latymer Community Centre, where volunteers set up a makeshift refuge centre, were messages calling for "justice for Grenfell."

Another referenced "poor people politics".

Cye Elliot, 75, a visa adviser who lives close to the estate, said: "It's just total neglect.

The burnt out shell of Grenfell Tower

"It's arrogance, disrespecting people. Because they were working class they can get away with it."

She added: "You see the block where all these people were killed and then you see the people coming along with the kids going to private schools. It's poignant."

Marcus Smith, 40, has spent most of his life living in a low-rise building on the estate and had friends in Grenfell Tower when it burned.

His friend, who lived in the 12th floor of the tower, escaped the blaze but is thought to have suffered severe burns.

He said: "They wanted to make it look nice because they're regenerating the area.

"Don't get me wrong, it looked nice. But you could see how dangerous it was. That plastic [cladding.] Heads need to roll over this."

Retired window fitter Neil Davis, 67, lives in Dixon House on the Ladbroke West estate, a multi-storey tower block opposite Grenfell Tower.

He said his tower block had been visited and fire doors fitted, but safety concerns still existed.

Neil Davis said the tower blocks needed more investment

He said: "They haven't invested enough in the blocks.

"That shouldn't burn. Putting a plastic front on and expecting it to hold a fire back.

"It takes years to get anything done - that guy predicted this."

Among those who added tributes on Thursday morning was a woman who said she knew 11 people who perished in the tower.

Her two friends and their children were neighbours on the 22nd floor of the building and are thought to have been unable to escape.

One woman living in Dixon House, who did not want to be named, said she was concerned that there is "only one way out" of the block if a fire breaks out.

She said: "[The staircase] is narrow and small as well. To be honest I'm scared, even when I'm sleeping I'm not sleeping fully now.

"I think they don't care about people on this estate".

It came as claims emerged the cladding fitted to the exterior of the building was fitted to dozens — and possibly hundreds — of other towers across London.

Some of those refurbished by Rydon, the contractor that worked on the Grenfell Tower, include Ferrier Point in Canning Town and five towers on the Chalcot Estate in Camden. Southwark alone has 317 tall towers, more than any other UK local authority area.

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