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Mutiny on the Bibby: Migrants go on hunger strike and protests erupt on ‘hell barge’ Bibby Stockholm
17 July 2024, 00:00 | Updated: 17 July 2024, 17:18
The number of asylum seekers on board the floating Bibby Stockholm barge is almost at its capacity limit - with protests erupting and migrants going on ‘hunger strike’ over conditions on board, sources have told LBC.
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The Bibby Stockholm, which arrived in Portland a year ago, is now almost 'full' with 410 people on board, but the Home Office has insisted the official capacity of the Bibby Stockholm is 500.
Although officially, the Home Office say the barge can house 500 at capacity, it is understood that a 'realistic' limit of 425 was set last year following an internal fire risk assessment by the department's barge contractor in August.
The figure is a six-fold increase since November - with several men now sharing the small cabins on board that were initially designed for just one person.
A source close to the Home Office, who visited the Bibby Stockholm on numerous occasions, told LBC they believe the ‘safe capacity’ of the Bibby Stockholm to be 300 - despite the Home Office saying the capacity was 500.
Reacting to LBC's findings, Labour's Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden said: "I couldn't say to be honest because like everything else we have to start with what we've inherited and we inherited a situation where there's great pressure on housing people in hotels around the country which I know causes a lot of local anxiety.
"This is another problem we're going to have to address over time. We want to have a system where hotels can go back to being hotels in their local communities, I can't tell you how quickly that will be done but this has been built up over a number of recent years."
A source told LBC they personally believe the ‘safe capacity’ of the Bibby Stockholm is 300, which the Home Office refute.
The Fire Brigade Union planned to bring a legal challenge to the Home Office last year over fire safety on board the barge.
In their letter to the Home Office, lawyers for the FBU cited media reports which said the Bibby Stockholm had only 222 single-occupancy rooms, but that additional beds had been placed in each in order to increase the capacity to 506. But the FBU's threat of court action was later discontinued.
The barge is at its highest rate of occupancy since 2022 - with it previously being used as accommodation for 220 oil workers.
The impact of overcrowding is being felt by the asylum seekers on board.
Lynn Hubbard from Stand Up to Racism Dorset works with the men on the barge and feels their mental health is at an ‘all-time low’.
She told LBC: “Over 400 people on board and the space on board is very very tight - many men describe it as the ‘hell barge’.
“There are long queues for the food - you can’t take food onto the Bibby Stockholm so you are completely reliant on queuing up for the food.
“People are in such close proximity to each other - they aren’t in perfect health with the diet they’re getting - one person has just existed on bread for weeks - any infection will spread.”
She has also described how asylum seekers can’t get off the barge as frequently because of increased capacity.
“You can only leave the Bibby Stockholm to get to the mainland by bus and the bus contains 50 people - which means to get 400 people off the Bibby Stockholm - with one bus an hour - will take 8 hours to get everyone off.
“You can then imagine the reality of actually being able to get off is increasingly difficult.”
The Home Office refutes the claim that food cannot be taken on board the barge.
On Monday around 100 men took part in a protest on board - standing in the rain from midnight through to 2pm skipping meals - now LBC have been told men are choosing to go on hunger strike for two days because of ‘crammed conditions’ and the uncertainty of not knowing when they’ll be leaving.
“The reason the men have taken action - a two day hunger strike - is because this is a cry of utter desperation.”
41-year old Erfan from Iran was housed on the Bibby Stockholm in October 2023 - when asylum seekers were sent back on the barge after it sat empty for three months following an outbreak of legionella.
Only around 70 men were living on it then. Erfan told LBC: “The fact we had to move from one place where we were free to one small room was difficult.
“When people come here they already have a lot of pain that they’ve suffered and going to the boat - somewhere that is very small makes it more traumatising to a level that some people want to end their life.”
Last month Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, being interviewed on Nick Ferrari at Breakfast, told LBC: “The barges are incredibly expensive - we need to end these extortionate barges, bases and hotels as fast as possible.”
Since gaining power Labour have not addressed their plan for the Bibby Stockholm - with 18-month contract for the barge expiring soon.
But a Home Office spokesman said: “We take the health and wellbeing of asylum seekers seriously and at every stage in the process will seek to ensure that all needs and vulnerabilities are identified and considered, including those related to mental health and trauma.
“The asylum seekers being accommodated on the Bibby Stockholm are provided with a range of support, including welfare, medical and faith support.”
