£50k luxury stretch Hummer used to ferry asylum seekers from London to Manchester

This is the £50,000 stretch Hummer used to ferry asylum seekers from London to Manchester at a reported cost of £3,000. Typically the preserve of hen and stag parties, this 16-seater luxury vehicle pulled up in the historic village of Longford.

The village, in the London Borough of Hillingdon, is currently home to dozens of migrants who are being put up by the Home Office in residential properties. The young African men had been staying at a hotel and were waiting to be taken to longer term accommodation. The car’s driver told villagers that the Home Office footed the bill. 

One of the Villagers Rana Saif, 55, who owns a pub in the village and took the photograph of the vehicle, said: ‘The limo was here about two months ago, it arrived about 11.30am.
‘It was there about half an hour, it took them from the hotel. There were seven migrants, all young African men. The driver told me he didn’t know who they were. He said he was going to take them to Manchester and he was being paid £3,000. He said he Home Office would pay him. It’s a big waste of money and taxpayers money at that. I thought it must be a stag do or something like that.’ 

The homes are owned by multi-millionaire businessman Surinder Arora, 57, who is thought to be earning tens of thousands a month from the deal.

But villagers are angered. Every day for the past 18 months, two or three coach loads of young men have been arriving. They are staying in a number of 1950s semis, which are linked to a hotel called Heathrow Lodge, also owned by Mr Arora.

Residents of Longford, in the London Borough of Hillingdon, say they spend their days wandering the streets or sitting on walls outside other people’s homes because they have nothing to do.

But while people living in the village say they are generally well behaved, the big groups of young men can be intimidating.

One resident, Ray, 85, who did not want to give his last name, has lived in the village since 1955. The houses either side of him are occupied by asylum seekers.

He said they often congregated outside his home and once even banged on his window looking for their friends. He says they throw cigarette butts into his garden and that he has found himself constantly looking out of his window to see what they are doing.

 ‘I’m told there are 17 houses with eight or 10 men in each. I have to be careful what I say, I don’t want people to think I am racist but it is a problem. They have got to be put somewhere but to have so many in such a small village, it is overwhelming for those who do live here. ‘They are all men. If it was a family with children from Syria, we would welcome them to the village, for them to be part of the community, they would be good neighbours. But I supposed it’s about money, it’s business. He’s got empty rooms and they are willing to pay for them. I have got them either side of me and they have conversations in my front garden. They may be nice people, but we don’t know who they are.’

Mr Saif, 55, who owns a pub in the village, said: ‘I have no problem with immigration, I moved here from Sweeden so my children can go to university but there are too many in a small village. They have nothing to do so just sit around all day.’

The Home Office said asylum seekers are staying in the houses in Longford for one or two days before being ‘dispersed into temporary accommodation’ elsewhere in the country.