Gransnet on the wireless

She doesn’t sound like a typical poster. If she was on GN I think she would have told us of her plight. No heating and one meal a day sounds a bit extreme.

I really doubt Elsie is a Gransnet user. The poor lady spends all her time on the bus - I doubt she even has a computer, let alone a laptop or iPad. I can’t understand how she is in this plight. Surely, she is entitled to some benefits and the recent £150 offered to all homeowners, Band D and under.

I would think Elsie has mental health problems did it say how old she was because she could certainly be in the warm volunteering and in may cases get free coffee and biscuits
If she’s able to sit on a bus all day surely she could do something more useful with her time there are also elderly day centres drop ins warm dinners Salvation Army etc
So no I don’t think it’s normal for people on or off GN

I understand that Elsie is now getting some support from Age UK Westminster. If that's where she lives, that would explain how her council house was banded F and why she won't automatically get the £150 energy payment. I hope they can help her claim any benefits she may not have realised she is entitled to.

Is there a link to the interview?

I think some elderly people who may be entitled to certain benefits are often overlooked by the system as they are too proud to ask for help and then they don't claim what they may be entitled too. They may have worked for years but in low paid jobs with no private pension and on basic state pension and no savings. I wish Boris had thought to answer by asking Suzanne Reid for this ladies details to be passed on to him and he would get one of his team to look into this ladies plight, instead of his stupid comment about being the person who introduced the free travel pass. Which apparently wasn't even correct. He is worse than stupid.?

merlotgran

Is there a link to the interview?

I can’t see one, just a link to his interview on Good Morning Britain.

youtu.be/QizGkU3HuOs

It was either on Andrew Marr or Eddie Mair’s show, and Bluebelle, she is apparently 77 years old, and surely people of that age shouldn’t have to find things to do to keep warm?
My point was that I wouldn’t think Gransnet users would be best placed to illustrate how the elderly dealt with rising fuel costs.

There's a link here, not sure if you can hear it again:
www.lbc.co.uk/news/pensioner-who-takes-busses-to-keep-warm-disappointed/

Well I m 77 too and very happy to volunteer 3 days a week and also have the thumbs up that I m using their heating coffee and biscuits for almost half the week and coming home feeling fulfilled which I wouldn’t be sitting on a bus for 8 hours but of course in an ideal world it should be a choice but if I had the choice at 77 to ride around on buses all day or do something useful I know what is my choice
Perhaps the lady is very infirm in which case I can’t imagine sitting on a bus for long periods is an ideal way there must be other ways and we need to make our own adjustments if possible
We have a elderly persons club here and people often stay there for hours and get a dinner I m sure most places have somewhere like that even a warm library would be better
All I m pointing out is there are better ways of staying out the house than sitting on a bus in my opinion

What I don't understand is why, when costs rise, benefits don't rise by the same percentage. .

Perhaps she’s getting help from Westminster Age UK is because No 10 contacted them. I must say my experience of buses in London was that you couldn’t rely on them to be heated. There might be a lot of body heat at peak times but not reliably warm throughout the day. Ditto trains. Sitting all day is not good for anyone able to move and I question the one meal a day. She is from a generation that can make a meal out of little. I wonder if it was actually a set up, or she has mental health problems.

Is this the same person who was interviewed on the national news yesterday?

news.sky.com/story/cost-of-living-utterly-shameful-that-pensioners-are-riding-buses-to-keep-warm-says-labour-12604615

Interviewed on ITV's Good Morning Britain programme, the PM was told of one 77-year-old pensioner called Elsie who has seen her energy bill soar so high that she has cut down to eating just one meal a day and spends the day travelling on the bus with her free pass to keep warm.

Asked what other sacrifices vulnerable people such as Elsie could possibly make, the PM replied: "The 24-hour freedom bus pass was actually something that I actually introduced ."

How kind of him.

It must have been on the evening news too in the last couple of days because I don't watch Good Morning.

I have heard of this before and wondered how many are having to do this?

if I had the choice at 77 to ride around on buses all day or do something useful I know what is my choice
Perhaps the lady is very infirm in which case I can’t imagine sitting on a bus for long periods is an ideal way there must be other ways and we need to make our own adjustments if possible
We have a elderly persons club here and people often stay there for hours and get a dinner I m sure most places have somewhere like that even a warm library would be better

If volunteering meant standing up all day long, I know I couldn't do that.
However, I am sure, as you say Bluebelle, in London there must be lunch clubs etc where Elsie could go (on the bus) for warmth, a hot meal and some company.

Judging from the replies on here I would say Elsie doesn’t have much in common with many on Gransnet. Why should she have to volunteer to stay warm? Surely it’s a basic right to be warm and decently fed? She’s 77! Some 77 year olds are still very active and some are not…..Not using her time ‘usefully’ has got nothing to do with the current situation where the energy companies are reporting massive profits whilst the most disadvantaged are living hand to mouth due to the massive hike in fuel charges. Perhaps Elsie was managing perfectly well a few months ago.

Quite a few entitled responses here. I am saddened.

Germanshepherdsmum

She doesn’t sound like a typical poster. If she was on GN I think she would have told us of her plight. No heating and one meal a day sounds a bit extreme.

The person interviewed would have been from GN/MNHQ surely? Their views would have been sought as a source of information on older people.

It sounds a bit crass, but I’d quite like to spend a day travelling round London or any city on the bus! I’d see lots of places I have always meant to go to and it would be sightseeing on the cheap!
I can think of somebody who gets the bus from Brackley to Buckingham or Bicester every day and seems to have made friends with other “regulars” on his bus route.

Libman

Judging from the replies on here I would say Elsie doesn’t have much in common with many on Gransnet. Why should she have to volunteer to stay warm? Surely it’s a basic right to be warm and decently fed? She’s 77! Some 77 year olds are still very active and some are not…..Not using her time ‘usefully’ has got nothing to do with the current situation where the energy companies are reporting massive profits whilst the most disadvantaged are living hand to mouth due to the massive hike in fuel charges. Perhaps Elsie was managing perfectly well a few months ago.

Quite a few entitled responses here. I am saddened.

No, she shouldn't have to do that to keep warm.

And, yes, I was getting outraged discussing the massive profits of energy companies last night with DH.

However, I do think going to a lunch club is a good idea even if just to meet other people for a chat especially if someone like Else spends a lot of time alone.

MawtheMerrier

It sounds a bit crass, but I’d quite like to spend a day travelling round London or any city on the bus! I’d see lots of places I have always meant to go to and it would be sightseeing on the cheap!
I can think of somebody who gets the bus from Brackley to Buckingham or Bicester every day and seems to have made friends with other “regulars” on his bus route.

Only if I could get to the upper deck!

True ☹️☹️

I did not say she had to libman I said it’s something that would be better than sitting on a bus all day
I also mentioned other alternatives, day clubs Sally Army even libraries or luncheon clubs ( which often have people sitting around for hours) local churches
Yes you are right she may be an ‘old’ or an infirm lady at 77 year old she may have mental health problems but there are groups to help all sorts of people
I think we don’t know enough about Elsie really and her living conditions to make a considered judgment

Libman

Judging from the replies on here I would say Elsie doesn’t have much in common with many on Gransnet. Why should she have to volunteer to stay warm? Surely it’s a basic right to be warm and decently fed? She’s 77! Some 77 year olds are still very active and some are not…..Not using her time ‘usefully’ has got nothing to do with the current situation where the energy companies are reporting massive profits whilst the most disadvantaged are living hand to mouth due to the massive hike in fuel charges. Perhaps Elsie was managing perfectly well a few months ago.

Quite a few entitled responses here. I am saddened.

Agree with you Libman. My Mother up to 76 had been helping in a Charity shop but had to stop with health problems. She used to take 'a long bus trip round' to get into town so she could chat to people and take all morning. Her finances were just ok and she wouldn't consider looking into benefits, pride jumps to mind.
2 of the lunch clubs she went to weekly had to stop and then
she went to a day care centre nearby but that closed down.
This was in 2008!

No rural lunch clubs
No rural buses
I think people need to stop basing their own experience on what is happening to other people
That poor bloody woman fgs

I’ve taken the bus from Southend to Stanstead airport more times than I care to remember. It soon became obvious that there were a group of men who took the bus to the airport to have a lovely get together, spend time at the airport and then get the bus home. All free.