Grenfell relatives’ anger as tower edited out of advertisement

A company has been forced to apologise after editing Grenfell Tower from the skyline in an advertisement.

In June 2017, a huge fire at the tower block, in North Kensington, resulted in the deaths of 72 people.

Karim Mussilhy, whose uncle Hesham Rahman was among the victims, saw the edit during the airing of a Voltarol pain relief advertisement on Monday.

The advertisement, on Channel 4’s streaming service, showed a group playing on the Westway pitches near Grenfell. Mr Mussilhy said he immediately recognised the horizon, having grown up playing football on the pitches.

The Westway sports facility was used as a relief centre in the aftermath of the fire.

Despite two other council tower blocks remaining in the picture, Grenfell, which is wrapped in white sheeting and has a banner saying “forever in our hearts” at the top, had been scrubbed from the scene.

Mr Mussilhy told The Guardian: “It was really upsetting. It seems nobody wants to see it any more, that it’s an eyesore. The vibe I feel is that [people] want it gone.”

Upon closer inspection, he and his wife said they noticed signs that the clip had been edited.

Haleon, a consumer health company, commissioned the advert, which has also been running on Channel 4’s terrestrial channel.

The company confirmed that the editing had taken place, and a spokesman said: “We are deeply sorry for any distress that our recent Voltarol advertisement may have caused. We will be taking the advert off air with immediate effect.”

It is thought the advert was due to be aired to a foreign audience, which was said to have fed into the decision to edit out Grenfell Tower.

Cllr Elizabeth Campbell, th eleader of Kensington and Chelsea Council, said: “We share the concerns of the families. You can’t edit out Grenfell, and we all have a duty to continue learning from it.”

The Grenfell Tower public inquiry announced this week that it was not ready to publish its final report before the seventh anniversary of the fire.

It means there will be further delays to a police investigation that could result in corporate manslaughter and gross negligence charges being brought following the refurbishment of the building with combustible materials.

In total, 900 bereaved relatives, survivors and Grenfell residents last year received £150 million – an average of £166,000 each – after settling legal claims brought against those responsible, including the London Fire Commissioner.

Survivors and relatives have spoken of their distress at discovering that 114 firefighters received a £20 million settlement – equivalent to £175,000 each. One relative who lost six members of his family said it was “insulting to our loved ones”.