Council could ask police to ‘forcibly remove’ stubborn residents from Camden flat estate where thousands were evacuated last night over fire fears
DEFIANT residents who have refused to leave their Camden tower block homes over a host of fire failings may be "forcibly removed" by the council, locals claim.
Camden Council has reportedly threatened families with police action after 83 households stayed put despite "urgent fire safety work" being carried out.
The council has confirmed in a statement that there are "various legal routes" they could take to make sure people leave but they don't want to resort to this.
But resident Laura Mitchell told the BBC: "We asked the council, 'what if we don't leave?' And they said we will have the police round to 'forcibly remove you from your flat within an hour'."
Around 4,000 people in 800 flats in five blocks on the Chalcots estate are going to be temporarily rehoused in rest centres and hotels for up to four weeks after the council forked out £500,000.
PM Theresa May said today the government is helping Camden Council to ensure people have somewhere to stay.
It came after leader of Camden Council Georgia Gould said external cladding on the blocks "was not up to the standard that we wanted and was not fire retardant".
But rugby-mad dad-of-two Steve, 49, has refused to budge and is resolutely staying in his fourth-floor flat - especially after he wanted to watch the Lions today.
He said: "When they finished the building work, they said 'it's all lovely, it's all fine, and you need to be grateful for what you've got'.
"What happened in Grenfell Tower is horrendous and now people are crapping themselves, they're frightened.
"They wrote us off, and now all of a sudden it's not fine. Should it take a tragedy?"
He was asked to leave at 3am but he has refused to move because he feels "safe".
London Fire Brigade have confirmed there are issues with "fire doors not working as they should" - meaning flames could spread to other parts of the building.
There is also an issue with gas pipe insulation, which would be "untenable" with the deathtrap cladding if smoke billowed through the tower blocks.
Ms Gould said she had taken the "really, really difficult decision" to move thousands into temporary accommodation while "urgent fire safety work" is carried out.
Tempers have now flared in North London after tired families spent the night on inflatable beds in the Swiss Cottage Leisure Centre after being told yesterday they were being evacuated.
Dozens of residents swarmed Ms Gould, who has been in her job for just six weeks to complain about the chaos.
Some did not understand why the Labour-led council had not organised hotel rooms before the mass evacuation.
Shirley Phillips, 72, slammed: "When I popped back to my flat this morning to get my medication, I found a letter from Camden Council.
"Why was it put through my door and not knocked on my door to tell me we were being evacuated?"
She added: "I am so stressed - why were hotels not looked at before we were evacuated?
"I've sat in a chair over there since nine o'clock last night, I'm 72 years old, suffer with emphysema, and they can't rehouse me because I've got a dog.
"What do people want me to do? Where do you want me to sleep?"
Carl McDowell, 31, said he took one look at the packed inflatable beds offered in the centre's gym and went back to his own apartment.
He said officials knocked on residents' doors Friday night, two hours after he had heard about the evacuation on the news.
Ms Gould, one of the youngest council leaders in the country, said that because the situation had developed so quickly, the council felt they had no option but to evacuate.
She said: "We sent out letters, we had a public meeting on Thursday to hear from everyone.
"What happened on Friday was just so quick.
"They told us that information that it wasn't safe to stay and we just had to act so quickly.
"We started immediately getting people out of the blocks, we were knocking doors so I don't know what happened in your case.
"If we'd had more time, we would've convened a meeting and decided what to do together, because that's how we always want to do things - we just had to act quickly."
Tests carried out on Thursday on the panels of the high-rise estate showed the cladding fitted to five tower blocks was identical to those used at the gutted North Kensington estate.
Throughout the country, 34 high-rise blocks of flats in 17 local authority areas have failed fire cladding safety tests, the Government has said.
Chaotic scenes from outside the estate last night showed confused residents clutching bags and pillows as they are evacuated from the tower blocks.