The Home Office left a group of around 50 asylum seekers stranded in central London last year, with nowhere to stay and no money, after moving them from an overcrowded asylum centre.
Hashim*, who is in his twenties, was one of the asylum seekers who was dropped off outside Victoria train station late at night in October last year.
*Hashim is not his real name. He wanted to remain anonymous.
He said he was forced to sleep rough in parks for more than 10 days before he was housed in a Home Office hotel after 2 and a half weeks.
The Afghan asylum seeker had spent 10 days in Manston asylum centre in Kent and should have been taken to a hotel run by the Home Office.
Hashim said: “They put us on a coach and they bring us to London. We think they will give us accommodation, like a hotel…
“They leave us in front of Victoria station and they give us one train ticket…
“We said: ‘Where will we go? Where is the hotel?... They said: ‘It’s your problem, you can solve by yourself.’”
The Home Office told The News Movement they can temporarily release asylum seekers where they can be housed by friends and family so they will not be left destitute.
Hashim, who had never seen a UK train ticket before, thought the ticket would lead him to a hotel run by the Home Office.
There are more than 45,500 asylum seekers currently in Home Office hotels in the UK.
Hashim boarded a train with the hopes of finding somewhere to stay. Instead, he arrived in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, where he slept rough for more than 10 days.
Despite visiting two police stations in the area, he said he was not given any help.
“I asked the police: ‘Where will I go?’ because I don't have a place, I’m living in the park, I sleep in the park. What should I do?,” he explained.
“They said: ‘We can’t do anything for you.’ Two, three police stations I went….
“When they saw my paper, they said, ‘you have done your fingerprint and you’ve come out from the hotel’. But I said, ‘they haven’t given me the hotel.’”
Hashim, who fled from the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2021, was homeless for more than 10 days without money or warm clothes.
Hashim fled from the Taliban in Afghanistan
“At night I can’t sleep because it was too cold and in the day, when the sun come out, that’s when I [slept] a little,” he said.
After this, Hashim continued to sleep rough before he was given the number of a refugee charity.
The charity then ordered Hashim a taxi from Southend-on-Sea to a hotel run by the Home Office.
Hashim is now still waiting in a Home Office hotel for his asylum application to be processed.
He said: “The main thing is that they process our documentation work. Some of the people are waiting for their interview for years.”
WHAT'S THE BACKGROUND?
Manston asylum centre in Kent
The Guardian reported last year at least two buses dropped asylum seekers off at a station in Victoria, central London, without accommodation or money between 30 October and 2 November.
A witness told the Guardian: “They were still on the street at midnight, trying to work out what to do, where to go. They had no money, and hadn’t even been told where they were.”
At the time, the Manston asylum centre in Kent was facing severe overcrowding with many asylum seekers having to sleep on the floor or on chairs - 4,000 people were being held at the asylum centre, designed for 1,600.
The Home Office were keen to move as many asylum seekers from the centre as possible to stop the overcrowding.
WHAT HAVE THE HOME OFFICE SAID?
Home Secretary, Suella Braverman Credit: Getty
We contacted the Home Office for a comment on Hashim’s experience.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “The Home Secretary had taken urgent decisions to alleviate issues at Manston at the time using all the legal powers available and sourcing alternative accommodation.
“We do not routinely comment on individual cases.”
We asked the Home Office whether they could confirm if all the asylum seekers who were dropped off outside Victoria station were later rehomed. The Home Office did not answer that question.
The Home Office said they have a duty to accommodate those who are destitute and they will find accommodation for individuals if needed.