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Kip Gurney at home with his wife Pauline |
Fire hero former caretaker ‘is being forced out of home’
Man who saved tenant from blaze fights eviction
A POPULAR Islington caretaker who suffered a nervous breakdown faces eviction from his home on the Holloway estate after 32 years’ “exemplary” service.
Kip Gurney, 53, who in 1986 won a bravery award for saving the life of a tenant in a fire, will be fighting the eviction order from the Corporation of London at Clerkenwell County Court on June 23.
Mr Gurney, who was sacked from his job in January this year, is being supported by Archway-based mental health charity Islington MIND. It accuses the Corporation of “acting worse than a Victorian mill owner”.
But the Corporation maintain that as Mr Gurney no longer works for them he is not entitled to the flat which came with the job. He was unable to work for a total of two years.
MIND say that while the government supports people with physical disablements at work, the rights of those with mental health problems are being woefully ignored.
Mr Gurney wants to remain with his wife Pauline, on the estate off Parkhurst Road, until such time as the Corporation can provide “reasonable” alternative accommodation. The couple are being supported by 160 tenants, many of them longstanding friends, who have signed a petition.
Mr Gurney’s troubles began in 2005 when he complained to the Corporation that he was getting into disputes with a family on the estate which were gradually wearing him down.
After two years of “relentless sniping and pressure” from the family and what he claims was a lack of support from the Corporation’s housing management, Mr Gurney was diagnosed with depression.
He later suffered a nervous breakdown when he “went missing” for two days on Hampstead Heath.
Father of three Mr Gurney said: “When I started this job at 22 I was full of optimism. I put my life and soul into being responsible for 192 flats, which is not a nine to five job.”
In 1987, Mr Gurney was presented with a bravery award by the Corporation after rescuing a tenant from a flat at Fairweather House. He had forced his way into the property and found the tenant unconscious and pulled him out to safety.
David Leigh, an employment adviser for MIND in Islington, said: “I’ve never known a case like this. This is a man who has given his life to the service of an estate and is being punished because he dared to suffer a mental illness.
“There’s no thought for Mr Gurney’s dignity. He should be given ill-health retirement, which is what he would get if he had a physical disablement, and provided with a retirement home. “
Mr Gurney has been offered £2,000 and a one-bedroom flat in Hackney, which he has refused.
Mrs Gurney, a night shelf stacker at Sainsbury’s in Camden Town, said she would prefer to be rehoused in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, where she has family who will support her and her husband.
“We know the Corporation has property in that area,” she added.
Mr Leigh said the Corporation were “acting like Victorian mill owners”.
A spokesman for the Corporation said: “We have been as supportive as possible, but unfortunately after a very prolonged period of absence and having exhausted all other options, we have had to take reasonable and appropriate actions.
“We have, however, tried to provide continued support.” |
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