The story begins HERE
Upon our arrival at Travelodge (the hotel chain that supplies temporary accommodation to our Council) in Ashford, we were exhausted. It was freezing outside. We haven’t eaten, we were angry, sad, scared and desperate to spend a night indoors.
We checked in. I asked the reception where could I store my mobility scooter? They told me that the reception was fine. I also got permission to plug it into a socket on the wall. So I parked my Mobby against the wall, between two pillar style advertising posts. It was almost invisible there.
We all settled into our rooms. One for me and my other half, the second for my son. Apart from rusty bath tubs, the rooms were clean and the staff helpful. We could finally rest. We arrived on Tuesday and we were initially booked for 5 nights, till the following Monday.
The next morning, I came down to the reception to unplug the charger. There was a lady Supervisor on duty and she told me that the Mobby can’t be stored in the reception, (or anywhere inside the hotel), nor it can be charged there due to fire regulations. My room was on the first floor, but my son’s room was on the ground floor, so I decided to park Mobby outside, under my son’s window. We spent the day resting apart from a shopping trip to get some necessities. When we came back, I parked under my son’s window, and we plugged it to charge through his window. just to have a peace of mind, we bought a brand new extension, so everything was up to the standard.
Thursday morning, at 9am, we heard a loud banging on the door. You know, like the sound of American SWAT. I jumped on my bed, my partner (D) rushed to the door wearing just his boxers. On the other side was a manager. A “lad” type guy with a sort of goat beard. He asked, with a very patronising tune, D to get dressed because he “needs to have a word”. D was pissed off. He didn’t wake up yet, he was in pain. We were both exhausted by the situation and in physical pain. D went back to the door. The manager started a tirade about my scooter being charged through the window. How this is a breach of fire regulations, how this is a dangerous behaviour on our part etc. Imagine yourself in pain and tired listening to something like that first thing in the morning. Miraculously, D managed to keep his cool. Then the manager announced that we are not allowed to keep or charge the scooter anywhere on Travelodge property. D looked at him and asked “Where are we supposed to charge it then?” The answer was “not here”. So D asked again, “how are we going to keep it running then”? “not my problem” was the answer. The manager spoke very loud and D was getting louder too, mainly due to his deafness. As the manager was going louder though, so was D.
Suddenly, the manager announced that he will not put up with abuse and he wants us out of the hotel NOW, and he left. I couldn’t believe my ears. The whole conversation lasted 2-3 minutes, and here we were being thrown out of the hotel for “bad behaviour”. I grabbed the phone and phoned the council. It took me a while to get connected. When I did, I heard that the manager have already spoken to someone describing us as “extremely aggressive”! WTF!!?? Nevertheless, we had to go; However, the council managed to arrange out checkout as planned – on Monday. All that just because we asked where to charge my scooter! For the remaining time, I was stuck in the room. I had to save the battery for our future travels. Just for a piece of mind, I checked online and found out that indeed the hotel rules were against storing and charging the scooter on the premises. It was enough just to give us a warning. Not to treat us like dogs. I was initially asked to avoid charging n the reception and storing the machine indoors. I didn’t argue with that and found a solution. Unfortunately Adrian the manager is not used to nice people (unlike all others working along with him at the hotel) and barking is clearly his way of dealing with everyone. The way he spoke to some of the employees was questionable too.
Dealings with the Temporary Accommodation Team added to the stress. When I called, there was some guy on the other side. When I described my problems with the mobility scooter, he said (and I quote) “Why don’t you sell the big scooter and get a small one?”. I was speechless! When I asked what am I supposed to do, he relied (quote): “Deal with it” and he put the phone down. I collapsed.
I tried to understand why we are treated such a way… I spoke to some people smoking outside the hotel. many of them were in the same situation. Evicted, homeless, in temporary accommodation. Some of them forced to leave under Section 21 (like us); many of them for some other reasons. Most of the clientele though were people just released from prison and the hotel played a role of some sort of a halfway house. it was rather disturbing to hear some young lad proudly announcing the end of his “6 years stretch” for robbing cash machines. Others shared their offences, clearly indicating that it was not going to be their last. Sad but true. All this got me thinking, and somewhat understanding the manager’s attitude. However, you can’t really treat all the people in the same way, just because they live under the same roof. Life is so cruel.
I was really worried where we are going to be sent on Monday. The offices were closed for the weekend and we didn’t have a clue till the very morning on Monday. We heard that we were going to another Travelodge, this time in Canterbury. Tired but a bit happier, we started getting ready for our departure. We checked the maps and got a bit confused, so we decided to contact the hotel directly and ask for directions. It was the phone call that we will never forget, but about this in the next post…
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