There were chaotic scenes on Sunday night as the Home Office carried out a mass evacuation of one of the largest hotels used to accommodate asylum seekers after a failure of the power and water supply.
The hotel near Heathrow airport accommodates more than 500 asylum seekers – a mix of single adults, families, children and babies. The Guardian was sent video footage of adults and children walking around the darkened reception area asking what was happening.
“It is chaos in here,” one female asylum seeker said. “I had to pack up my things in the dark. My phone battery is about to run out.
“I don’t have any money for a taxi but a friend has said I can stay with her tonight so I will get a bus to her place. I can’t see much in the reception area but some of the babies are crying.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We are aware of an issue with the power and water supply at this accommodation site. Where such issues arise, we continue to prioritise the welfare of those in our care and work closely with providers by putting in additional support and safety measures. The Migrant Help 24/7 support line is also available to help resolve issues quickly.”
Home Office sources said asylum seekers evacuated from the hotel could make their own arrangements to stay with friends and relatives if they wished.
It is understood that some people had managed to find emergency accommodation, while others were being moved to different hotels as part of the late-night evacuation. But some said they had not been told what was going on and did not know where they would be spending the night.
“The hotel manager is very busy and he cannot talk to us. The situation is chaos,” said one.
Water and power companies had been called to the scene. It is not known how long the hotel will be unusable for.
Shantanu Rajawat, the leader of Hounslow council, said: “It is shocking to hear of asylum seekers stranded outside a hotel because of a power and water cut that we were not alerted to by the Home Office.
“It is [the Home Office’s] responsibility to ensure asylum seekers are housed safely and any situations that occur are addressed immediately to ensure an already vulnerable group of people are not traumatised further.
“The moment we were made aware of the situation, we alerted other stakeholders and had officers go to the hotel to assess the situation and provide any support required.
“However, this is another example of the failure of the Home Office and the broken asylum system. There needs to be better communication and a desire to work with local authorities to ensure situations such as these are addressed quickly without causing any additional suffering.”
After a major power cut at Heathrow Immigration Removal Centre – Europe’s biggest – in November 2022, the building was evacuated and detainees were moved to other detention centres. In that incident, detainees were also left in darkness and without water.
