Man with rare allergic condition living in tent
AMAN who has been diagnosed with a rare condition that causes him severe health problems and pain when he is exposed to electricity has had to take Cardiff council to court after the authority cut him off from all support.
Three years ago we revealed how Peter Lloyd can’t use mains electricity for heating or lighting and washes with water heated on a gas cooker.
He has no electric gadgets, cannot watch TV, listen to a CD, access the internet or use a telephone.
Visitors have to leave mobile phones and watches outside because they would cause a severe reaction. And he is unable to go out because of the likelihood of encountering someone with a mobile phone, a passing car or a wifi zone.
When he moved to his present home he had to travel by horse and cart at night. He suffers from a rare and cruel condition called electromagnetic hypersensitivity.
Recently his living conditions have become even worse after a ceiling in the rented house he lives in on the outskirts of Cardiff collapsed after a water leak.
The care company paid by the council to help Mr Lloyd said its workers could no longer go in the house after asbestos was exposed by the leak - and since December he has been living in a tent in the garden.
Cardiff council withdrew all care from Mr Lloyd and his solicitor, Christopher McFarland, had to make an application to court for it to be restored.
Mr McFarland said: “In my view the council has treated Mr Lloyd in a very callous way. They appear reluctant to accept the validity of his condition, which has been recognised by the World Health Organisation.
“He is living in appalling conditions which are wholly unacceptable and really quite scandalous.”
“That aside, he is a very vulnerable man with other serious health conditions.”
Currently the council’s care package
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for Mr Lloyd consists of three shopping visits a week.
He said: “The only hot food I get is a jacket potato from Sainsbury’s and the rest of my vegetarian diet is cold.
“It’s been cold sleeping outside in the winter. No work can be done to repair the ceiling and make the house habitable again because it would entail using electricity.”
Mr Lloyd’s landlord has issued an eviction notice against him, asking him to vacate the premises by late May.
He is extremely worried about what might lie in store for him then. “A medical report written several years ago said returning me to an electrified environment could prove fatal. I have asked the council to provide me a prefabricated wooden cabin in a wooded area on the outskirts of Cardiff. Instead they have made me wholly unsuitable offers of accommodation in an electrified environment.
“I believe they think I’m faking my condition and hate me.”
A Cardiff council spokeswoman said: “The council does not routinely comment on individual’s circumstances but has made and continues to make strenuous efforts to understand Mr Lloyd’s needs and, if appropriate, help him to meet them.”