A retired lollipop lady who lost her home following a split from her partner told yesterday how she has been forced to live in her CAR – after being denied a council house.
Homeless Maryse Mills, 69, is living in her two-door Citroen AX hatchback after she was evicted from her three-bedroomed home.
Maryse, of Exeter, Devon, lost her home when she split up with her longterm partner and she became embroiled in a legal dispute with her mortgage lenders.
She now sleeps in her car every night in a car park near the school where she used to work as a lollipop lady.
Maryse said she cannot afford to rent privately by herself and has been denied housing by Exeter City Council because they claim she is not a ”priority case”.
She said: ”I don’t know what to do. The council seems to think I made myself homeless deliberately and cannot re-home me.
”I don’t have enough to rent privately. I have a small pension. I have nowhere to cook so all the time I have to go and buy food and drink.
”I have nowhere to go other than my car. I park in a car park but the nights are getting very cold. I really don’t know what to do. I’m not mad – I’m homeless.”
Maryse was evicted from her home three months ago after it emerged that her partner was still married to another woman.
She added: ”I was just about to marry my partner when it became clear he was still married and living in another property.
”The mortgage was transferred but everything went wrong and I am now in a dispute with the mortgage lenders.
”I was able to stay with family and friends for a while but that could not go on. It is not their problem to solve.”
A spokesman for Exeter City Council said Maryse was not a priority case as defined by the Housing Act 19996.
He said: ”Because Ms Mills has no physical or mental health problem and we have found no evidence of any health difficulties, she is not considered to be a priority.
”Therefore we do not consider that we have a duty to offer her emergency accommodation.
”Unfortunately, not everyone is eligible for emergency re-housing and we will not be in a position to offer accommodation to everyone who approaches us if we consider them to be self sufficient.”
if her family has anything about them they will take her in and look after her, that’s what families do for each other or is that just Welsh/irish families!