Council admits blunder over passes for asylum-seekers

By John Pring

A council that told a disabled asylum-seeker he was not entitled to a free travel pass has been forced to apologise and admit it was wrong.

Lambeth Council in London told wheelchair-user Youcef Bey-Zekkoub that it would not renew his Freedom Pass.

But following protests by campaign groups WinVisible and Transport for All and a legal challenge, Lambeth reversed its position and last month sent Mr Bey-Zekkoub a written apology.

Five other disabled asylum-seekers in similar positions are also now being issued with Freedom Passes.

Mr Bey-Zekkoub had held a pass for six years before the council told him he was not entitled to it.

He said: “The reason they named it the Freedom Pass is because it offers a great amount of freedom to people with restricted mobility such as myself, and makes our daily lives easier. Without it I was housebound, isolated from my local community, and that only worsened my mental stability.”

He said the Freedom Pass was also vital to the other five asylum-seekers. “This will have had a big impact in them carrying out basic activities for needs such as shopping or attending hospital appointments. I believe that the Freedom Pass gives them motivation and encourages them to live their lives to the full.”

Another of the asylum-seekers who was denied a pass, Iman Saab, said: “I feel like I am imprisoned if I don’t have my bus pass. When I got my pass, I was so happy – I felt free.”

A Lambeth Council spokeswoman said: “We apologise to the few individuals who were incorrectly denied a Freedom Pass – all of whom have been contacted and are being issued with their passes. This was a genuine, isolated error and we rectified the situation as soon as we realised the legal advice we had been given was wrong.”

4 August, 2008