A mum who five-years-ago became Britain's oldest mother of quadruplets is now living with them across two room at a budget hotel. Tracey Britten gave birth to the quads when she was 50 but now five years on is living in a Travelodge while the children's dad sleeps at his mum's house after they were made homeless.
Tracey has to journey 90 minutes each day to pick her three daughters and son up from nursery and with no cooking facilities at the hotel has to use a plug-in slow cooker with milk kept tepid in bath water. They are spread out across two rooms at the hotel, with one for sleeping and another kitted out as a play room for the four kids.
They have been living through this for two months now, The Mirror reports, after they were forced to vacate their four-bed rented house in North London. But, they have been warned they could be at the hotel for up to 10 years.
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Speaking to the Daily Mail, Tracey said: "I feel untidy, grotty, and there are days I don’t want to get out of bed, but I have to stay strong, to keep going for them."
Tracey broke the record for the oldest mum to give birth to quads in October 2018 after IVF treatment in Cyprus. Her and husband, Stephen, were hoping for just the one child, but got four with Grace, George and identical twins Fredrica and Francesca.
She says she burst into tears when she first found out they would be having four babies, not knowing how they would cope. The babies were born premature and spent months in special care.
Stephen works as a roofer to support the family, while Tracey, who is qualified as an aesthetician, administering Botox, fillers and skin treatments, planned to rent a room in a clinic once the kids were at school. However, their landlord decided to sell up and they couldn't find anywhere else they could afford.
"I feel terrible that they are having to live like this, though none of it is their fault, and I’ll do whatever I can to find us another lovely, stable home," Tracey said. Stephen spends his time in the hotel after work and on the weekends but sleeps at his mum's house, which wasn't big enough for everyone.
"He couldn’t cope with being here all the time," said Tracey. "He doesn’t like enclosed spaces and the aircon would set off his asthma."
Rent on their previous home was £2,100 a month - all but £200 was covered by housing benefit payments. But the family can't find anywhere with at least three bedrooms for under £3,000 a month, Tracey said.
They approached their local council in the hopes for being offered a house but they were told they would need to be actually homeless before they could be added to a waiting list. And even this could take up to 10 years. The council is covering the emergency hotel accommodation which costs around £2,500 a week.
Tracey said: "I’ve said we’ll take a two-bedroom place, at least then we’d have a kitchen, but I’m told they’re not legally allowed to house us anywhere with fewer than three — and yet they can keep us here!"
The night before they moved into the hotel, Tracey thought she was having a heart attack and called an ambulance - though paramedics said it was an extreme anxiety attack. And almost every day she receives a call from the nursery saying one of the kids is unwell - and fears it's the heat of the rooms at night or the air con.
Tracey - who survives on around three hours sleep a night - worries about the prospect of getting her children all into the same primary school come September.
"If I didn’t have four children, I wouldn’t be in this situation, but I’ve never once thought why did I have them?" she said.
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