Fire outbreaks are becoming increasingly common in Gypsy and Traveller sites across the UK with at least seven reported in the last year alone – and it’s leaving residents displaced in hotels for months on end.

On 12 July, a fire destroyed the homes of more than 20 families in Ver Meadows in Hertfordshire. Nearly three months later, five families still remain in hotels – with no idea where they will be housed.

One former resident of Ver Meadows, who wishes not to be named, said: “Now they’ve stuck us in hotels. Families in one room, nowhere to cook, nowhere for the kids to play.

“We’re broken. The kids are having nightmares. I still hear the explosions at night in my head.”

Ver Meadows after the fire. Image: Sherrie Smith

Gypsy and Traveller charity Drive2Survive call it a “nation

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