'Nothing is the same' Windrush victim finally allowed to return to UK after 28 years

Windrush victim finally allowed to return to UK after 28 years

- Amelia Gentleman

When George Lee was last in the UK, Tony Blair was the new prime minister; Diana, Princess of Wales, had recently died; and Elton John's Candle in the Wind was being played on repeat. A pint of bitter cost £1.63 and a packet of 20 cigarettes sold for about £2.94.

After 28 years of exile in Poland, Lee, an English teacher, flew back to Britain a fortnight ago, his ticket paid for by the Home Office, where staff had belatedly acknowledged he was a victim of the Windrush scandal and allowed him to return.

He first contacted MPs and Home Office workers to request assistance in summer 2018 as the Windrush scandal unfolded. He says consular officials in Poland and Home Office staff in the UK failed to help him return despite the government's repeated claims everything was being done to assist those affected.

Currently accommodated in a hotel room in Birmingham, Lee travelled to London last week, stepping off the train at Euston into a city so transformed he was overwhelmed by culture shock.

"Nothing is the same - the taxis are different, the buses are different," he said, as he made his way into the underground, puzzled by the Oyster card system. "What do I do with this? Tap and go through?"

He has spent the last two weeks attempting to reacclimatise to the country he moved to from Jamaica in 1961 as an eight-year-old, assessing why he does not yet feel at home, despite the 37 years he lived here before being locked out.

He is relieved to be back, but startled by the intense sense of dislocation after so long away.

"So much has changed. The homelessness is horrible - much worse than in Poland," he said. "People here look so stressed, there's a tiredness etched on their faces... It's clear that the quality of life is better in Poland than here, which feels very sad."