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Zimmers’ Alfie Caretta |
Heat or eat? The dilemma facing pensioners living on £87 a week
Zimmers star reveals reality of life for thousands of elderly people struggling to pay bills
HE’S famous as lead singer with The Zimmers, the phenomenal OAP band, but away from the spotlight Alfie Caretta is just another struggling Islington pensioner.
For Alfie, who raucously sang The Who’s My Generation on TV and who can boast Hollywood star George Clooney among his fans, has become a symbol of hard-up pensioners having to make ends meet.
They have had to cut back on food, heating and clothing bills in the struggle to live on Britain’s “meagre” state pension.
Alfie was speaking this week after an event in Islington to mark the 100th anniversary of the introduction of Britain’s state pension, which at a basic £87 a week – soon to increase to £90 – is said to be one of the lowest in Europe.
He said: “All The Zimmers work was for charity. I think I got about £50 from the BBC. Not that I’m complaining. I had a marvellous time travelling to Los Angeles and Berlin. Although, for the Berlin trip, I had to buy my own overcoat, which cost me £40.”
Alfie – like many pensioners – survives by shopping at fruit and vegetable markets or supermarkets where they have the best offers. “And like too many pensioners these days, I couldn’t afford a holiday unless I was invited to stay with friends,” he said.
Retired union official and former Islington Labour councillor George Durack, 84, said that nationwide there are two-and-a-half million pensioners in poverty.
“That’s absolutely disgraceful,” said Mr Durack, chairman of Islington Pensioners Forum. “The basic pension is so small it’s unbelievable.”
He added: “Even with welfare credit, most people are having to pay most of their pension on rent or mortgage. People say they would rather heat than eat. With the downturn in the economy the price of food has shot up.”
He has not had a foreign holiday for three years. “I was fortunate the last time to stay with friends in Spain, which meant free accommodation,” he said.
He voiced support for Dorset pensioner Richard Maurice, jailed for three days last week for refusing to pay council tax.
Mr Durack added: “As a councillor I refused to pay my poll tax in the early 1990s under Tory Prime Minister Mrs Thatcher. I was taken to Highbury court but I ended up paying a little each week.”
If council tax continues to rise, he expects pensioners in Islington to go to prison rather than pay.
Former administrator Liz Anderson, 68, from Highbury, cares for an 18-year-old grandson, and says she can only buy essentials. “I go to the markets and buy the cheapest fruit and vegetables available,” she said. “I don’t go to charity shops. They are too expensive. We get our clothes in the market.
“We try and cut down on central heating by wearing more clothes in the house.” She does enjoy holidays, however, thanks to friends who invite her to stay.
General secretary of the National Pensioners Convention, Joe Harris, who lives in Islington, would like to see the state pension increased to £138 a week, although that will still be low compared with some countries.
He added: “Even those above the poverty line struggle to pay rising utility bills, meet the costs of care and get out and enjoy life. The scale of inequality affects every older person in one way or another.” |
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