Asylum seekers spent four days on barge after Legionella bacteria found on board

Traces of Legionella were found on the Bibby Stockholm on the same day asylum seekers arrived (Image: Getty) Asylum seekers spent four days on board the Bibby Stockholm barge after Legionella bacteria was found, Dorset Council has said. The discovery led to the removal on Friday (August 11) of the 39 people who had boarded the vessel docked in Portland on Monday. Dorset Council said it informed the “responsible organisations”, barge operators CTM and Landry & Kling, about the preliminary test results on Monday – the same day it received them. The local authority said the Home Office official was then told about the discovery, but Government sources said ministers did not know about the presence of the bacteria until Thursday. A council spokesperson said: “To be clear, it was not Dorset Council’s responsibility to inform the Home Office – that responsibility sat with CTM and Landry & King, the companies contracted by the Home Office to operate the barge.” Protesters against the Bibby Stockholm immigration barge target Portland Port (Image: Getty) It is believed staff from Dorset Council’s environmental health department took water samples from the Bibby Stockholm on July 25 and sent them to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) for testing. The tests take at least 10 days to complete. The test results were received by Dorset Council on August 7, the same day the first 15 asylum seekers board the Bibby Stockholm. Dorset Council said it told CTM and Landry & Kling – the companies contracted by the Home Office to operate the barge – that day. A spokesperson said it was not Dorset Council’s responsibility to tell the Home Office about the presence of Legionella. This fell to the contractors. Dorset Council’s environment health team met the barge’s contractors on August 8 to further discuss the results. The council said a Home Office official was “verbally informed of the test results”. The first asylum seekers arrive on board (Image: Getty) A Government source has told Sky News there was no record of that conversation. A small number of asylum seekers arrived on the barge the same day. Dorset Council officers visited the barge again on August 9 to take more samples and “concern about control measures” prompted it to alert the UKHSA. The UKHSA confirmed it was contacted by Dorset Council on Wednesday evening. Sky News has reported that the first written notification to the Home Office was also that evening. The UKHSA convened an “incident management meeting” on August 10 between Dorset Council, the Home Office and the contractors, as well as representatives from the NHS. The meeting agreed no more passengers should be allowed on board the vessel as a risk assessment was carried out. A second incident management meeting and risk assessment took place in the afternoon, according to Sky News. The Government said it had been advised by the UKHSA to remove the six people who boarded the barge that day. But a decision to remove all 39 individuals as a “further temporary precaution” was not taken until the next day. Asylum seekers were not evacuated from the barge until August 11 – four days after Dorset Council said it told the barge contractors about the Legionella test results. This is also three days after the local authority said it told a Home Office staff member. Dorset Council has said it followed “the appropriate technical guidance throughout on what to do when a positive Legionella sample is received”. Landry & Kling said it was “working closely with local authorities to ensure housing solutions are safe and appropriate for service users”. The contractor said it and its project partners “have followed all written recommendations made by Dorset Council Environmental Health”. A view of the Bibby Stockholm moored off the Isle of Portland (Image: Getty) It comes after 509 more people crossed the English Channel in 10 boats on Saturday, with one journey resulting in the deaths of six people when a vessel sank off the coast of France. At least six people died and at least 58 – many of them Afghans – were rescued after a boat got into difficulty off the coast of Sangatte on Saturday. According to survivors’ accounts, about 65 people had originally boarded the overloaded vessel before a passing ship saw it sinking and raised the alarm at around 4.20am. Wales Secretary David TC Davis admitted the crossings would “continue to be a problem”, but insisted some boats were being stopped. He told Sky News: “We have stopped a lot.” Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made tackling the crossings one of five key priorities for his leadership and has asked people to judge him on his management of the problem. The Government was accused of allowing its “small boats week” of linked announcements on immigration to descend into chaos after the Bibby Stockholm evacuation. Senior Tory MP David Davis said the “startling incompetence” of the Home Office had been laid bare, while former party chairman Sir Jake Berry described the removals as “farcical”. However, ministers are understood to be intending to push on with plans to hire more barges to house asylum seekers , as well as student halls and former office blocks. The people who had been on the Bibby Stockholm, which had been billed as a cheaper alternative to expensive hotels for those awaiting the outcome of their claims, are now back being housed in other accommodation. Mr Davies on Sunday defended the Government’s handling of the situation, saying it actually demonstrates how ministers are “putting the safety of people first”. Asked whether the incident points to a wider failure within the Home Office, he told Times Radio: “No, it doesn’t. It doesn’t at all. The checks were being made.” But Shadow Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said a “better, fairer system” is needed to tackle the backlog of asylum applications and cut the need for temporary accommodation. She told the same programme prosecutions of people smugglers are “falling” under this Government. The Home Office has said the health and welfare of asylum seekers “remains of the utmost priority” and the evacuation took place as a precautionary measure, with all protocols and advice followed.