More than 100 Camden flats still occupied after post-Grenfell evacuation

More than 100 households have refused to leave the north London blocks that were evacuated over fears about fire safety this weekend following the Grenfell Tower blaze.

Camden council ordered residents of four towers in Swiss Cottage – Burnham, Bray, Taplow and Dorney – to leave on Friday evening after the cladding on the blocks failed fire safety checks, and fire inspectors identified further serious concerns. The council said it could no longer guarantee residents’ safety.

By 11pm on Sunday night, 541 flats had been evacuated, and 103 remained occupied despite the warnings to leave, the council said.

Residents had learned of the evacuations on Friday evening from TV news, two people told the Guardian. Some stayed in emergency accommodation at Swiss Cottage sports hall. By Monday morning 14 people were still staying there, the council said.

Others were in hotels and bed and breakfasts in Camden and elsewhere. The council had made block bookings with accommodation providers, it said, but residents were also told they could make their own bookings and would be reimbursed for costs of up to £200 a night.

One resident, a lecturer living in Bray tower who asked not to be named and has decided not to leave, told the Guardian he was initially told only Taplow would be evacuated.

“At 12.45am there was a knock on the door. By the time I got there they were talking to my neighbour, saying, ‘we’re advising you to pack for two to three days’. At that point I shut the door and went back to bed,” he said.

The man explained that he is able-bodied and does not live at the top of the building. He has prepared an emergency bag and is taking extra care around his home, but sees no need to leave, he told the Guardian.

“I’ve been living there for 30 years altogether, 10 years since the refurbishment … The biggest change is that there used to be a fire station less than a kilometre away, between Eton Avenue and Lambolle Place, which got shut down under Boris Johnson when he was mayor of London and is now being turned into luxury flats.”

He added: “For the next few weeks I’m going to be working long hours and long days and don’t want to be sleeping on a lilo in Swiss Cottage sports hall.” He described Bray as a “vertical village” with a strong community feeling.

A 44-year-old charity worker who lives in Dorsey tower said that of the seven flats on her floor, two households had not yet left as of Monday. “The people who are remaining are there simply because they have no idea where they are meant to go,” she said.

The order to leave came in the early hours of Saturday morning, she said. “The first we knew about it was 2-3am on Saturday; a lot of people were having knocks on doors saying ‘you need to leave and you have no choice’.”

The mood shifted on Saturday, she said, after security guards were moved into the block, which she said added “a certain element of intimidation”. Other residents also complained at the weekend of some aggressive behaviour.

The resident left to stay with family on Sunday but remains in contact with many of her neighbours. “We have been told [the disruption will last] two to four weeks but we have received nothing from Camden about what the work is and how long it’s realistically going to take,” she said.

Some of those who did get evacuated have been put in hotels far from their daily lives.

Nazma Ahmed, 36, a carer who lives in Dorney tower , was moved with her husband, two children, sister-in-law and her two children to a hotel in Wembley, an hour’s journey away from her work and her children’s schools.

Her 15-year-old daughter is in the middle of her mock GCSEs. “I told them, how can I travel so far from my local area when my daughter’s got mock GCSEs? They said that’s the best we can do,” she said.

Her daughter is having to prepare for her exams in a shared bedroom with no desk.

On Monday evening Ahmed went to Swiss Cottage sports centre to see if the council could help with the extra travel and food costs. The hotel does not offer halal food and there are no cooking facilities, so Ahmed and her family are having to eat in restaurants. “It’s really expensive up there: one meal we have up there costs £40-50,” she said.

Ahmed was offered a voucher allowing the family to order food through the hotel, but she points out there’s nowhere for them to eat it. “We want to go to the shop and buy our own food. There’s nothing there – there’s no table to sit down together.”

Some residents complained of a chaotic evacuation process unfolding over the weekend, and the Dorney resident said she and her neighbours had received no documentation. A council spokesman said Camden had communicated with people face to face and had officers on site to answer residents’ questions, as well as an information point in Burnham tower. The Bray resident said he had received letters from the council as recently as Monday morning.

On Sunday, Camden council told the Guardian it would as a last resort consider legal action against residents who decided to stay. On Monday the council did not respond to requests for comment about what basis legal action might proceed on.