Torment of disabled man's prison' home

9:46am Thursday 8th March 2001

A carer for a disabled Croydon man has told of the anguish suffered by his patient as he endures a long wait to be placed in a new home.

Michael Czar, 34, claims wheelchair-bound diabetic kidney patient John Matlock's life has been made unbearable and he will barely be able to cope living at his Princess Road home for much longer.

“John's home has been turned into a virtual prison, as his bedroom is situated at the top of a flight of stairs and the lounge is packed to the ceiling with boxes of fluid for his dialysis,” said Mr Czar.

He added: “To add insult to injury the heating and hot water did not work for two months which made sterilising John's things with kettles and pans of boiling water painstaking.

“John needs everything sterilised because his life-threatening illness means he is prone to contracting infections.”

In July renal social worker for St Helier Hospital in Carshalton, Celia Fall, told Croydon Council that 26-year-old John urgently needed to move.

In August a ground floor flat with disabled facilities was found, but Mr Czar claims because of problems with John's council tax payments, the opportunity was lost.

Mr Czar said: “John's housing benefit was stopped for six months and that resulted in non-payment of rent and council tax. In November the council took him to court.

“The court lost the letter from our solicitor asking for extra time to prepare and the case was heard without our solicitor or myself present.”

Mr Czar said the council agreed to waive the costs but John continued to be billed.

He claims this was followed in February by another bill for more than £1,200, and an explanation that he was not entitled to housing benefit because he was not receiving income support. I went to see the benefits agency and they said they had supplied the council many times with confirmation that John gets income support,” said Mr Czar.

He said John was born in Croydon and paid tax in Croydon before he became incapacitated, and is appalled he has been forced to live through this trauma.

“John has now become very depressed and does not want to have his treatment this is a real nightmare as this is the only thing keeping him alive,” said Mr Czar.

John is hoping for a pioneering operation to replace his pancreas and kidneys.

A council spokesman said the council had a break in his benefit entitlement from November 1999 until April 2000 due to his failure to provide satisfactory proof of his incapacity.

“In view of the poor state of Mr Matlock's health, the council agreed to write off the court costs in January 2001 to allow him to be rehoused,” said the spokesman. He added: “It is not our policy to pursue recovery action where this would cause extreme hardship to the person concerned.

“However, we can only exercise our discretion after receiving a formal written appeal and I would therefore urge Mr Matlock to contact us before his appeal rights expire on March 14 so that we can resolve this matter.”

Mr Matlock has now submitted his appeal and continues to wait to be rehoused.

Around the site