Amie
Fiona should be supported and put in a mum and baby unit or b&b, she has done nothing wrong and does not deserve this. There are a lot of people out there committing benefit fraud... how about we focus on them. As for Ricky... they should NOT help him. He is an adult and has led this poor young girl down the wrong path. make him get off his backside and work to find a home
jason
the comment from simon in wokingham just shows how people in this country end up in this situation. it is because of selfish "im alright jack" type people like him.
Natalie Cleaver
They should get rid of the baby because their lived seem really hard.
Robert
I feel sorry for the couple, as the woman is pregnant and only 16 but they are responsible for their own actions. If they knew that they weren't going to be able to pay for the baby or their home, then they shouldn't have kept the baby. It is unfair on the child and themselves.
chelsea bailey
yes obviously you shouldd help them god she is pregnant and shes livin on a concreate floor man !HLEP HERR !!!!!
Paul Bob
i think that they should get payed by the government because their lives seem really hard, and the 16 year old girl is pregnant
stacey
well i think it is rather heriffic leving ba mother and child sleeping on a steet alfall you should get youre act togther loveyooooou
emma keddie
yes they should help her as sumtimes it can't be helped and i am 15 an if i feel pregnant i would keep it coz if i got rid of it, it would feel like i was killing someone.xx
sue
No council is resposible for these two. The people responsible for them are the couple themselves. It is about these damn people took resposibility for themselves, stop wallowing in their own self pity. How the heck do they think the rest of us live. Oh please spare the thought that they have been scarred by family relationships etc. None of us go through life without troubles and trauma.We are all scarred these so called special cases are nothing special we all suffer in this world nobody is immune.As far as being pregnant that is no excuse there is plenty of info around these days and free contraception.
Amy
One if the councils should help them, they are living in a tent and the young girl is only 16 and pregnant they need to have some sense in them for pity sake please help them a give them a house to live in.
Snob the Builder
That tent looks much nicer than my cardboard box.
me
You people saying they should be housed are insane! They are the typical kind of scum that mean I have to pay tax out of my hard earned wages, WHY THE HELL SHOULD I? If I can work at 19, be a student at University and manage to have a relationship without getting pregnant before I can support a child, then so can anyone else.
leanne
i agree with the homeless couple they should be house and they should be housed soon for god sake people the poor woman is pregnant dont the government care about the next generation anymore i feel sorry for the child in all of this i mean living in a tent what is so wrong with the world today you know what i mean someone needs to help them out sorry i cant do anything im still trying myself. hope everything goes ok!!!
leona brigewood
i think its alfall because im a mum a i no how hard it is to bring up a child it cant be easy for any of them.They should have family and friends beside them at all times it doesnt matter what richard has done but the fact is that she loves him with all her heart and i think her mum should sportive in this and her boyfriend bease everyone makes mistakes
Polly
Fiona: You are probably an abused woman. I am sorry for you and wish you luck because you'll need it. Ricky has lots of other children in Scotland and Northern Ireland. He has been a useless Father to all of them. Ask to have a close look at his criminal record. Have you ever wondered how he treated his ex girlfriends?Ricky: You are 27, why are you still seducing schoolgirls?
Lorraine
You didn't go to the papers but you're in Closer magazine with Fiona baring her belly. You have no right to bring a baby into this world, you've messed up your own lives, what chance does this child have? Fiona's parents probably moved here to get her away from you and I don't blame them, you're 27, with a record for assault, she's 16 - that's sick. You are a man, how come you don't have a job? What have you been doing since you left school? Scrounging of the state? Not content with ruining your own life you are dragging Fiona down too and you call it love! You should be ashamed, grow up. Why should Fiona's parents give her money they've given her a decent life and this is how she repays them. Doesn't show her in a good light does it. Fiona says she went off the rails at 12 when she found out she was adopted, but her mother says she's known since she was 2. Who to believe? Not difficult.
sally
These young people should be housed, then i am sure the young man will take on his full responsibilties and find employment. The main concern must be with the young mother to be and her baby. For goodnesss sake people out there learn some compassion.
Richard
The MP for Reading East needs to look at his priorities, he should be representing the people of Reading and not spending his time for these spongers, send them back to where they came and stop wasting tax payer’s money!
ricky richmond
look you people out there sit and say all this but you do not no me and fiona so how can you sit here and say all them things about us people like you make me sick we moved down here to get away from violence u do not no the full story and by the way it was not us who what to the papers it was someone elas and by the way i what to work but you people do not no what i have be through and i what to say more but i am not goin to
Helen + Mike - Hexham
We are from Hexham and are good friends with Fiona's family. That means we know Fiona's parents well and they are two of the nicest people you will meet. Fiona's little sister turned out really well so all you people blaming her parents, don't bother. They have tried every method possible to try and help her. So please stop.
Mary Roselli
I think they should work like everyone else - they can do plenty of things-they want a free ride-...
Danny
Can anyone really see theese two contributing anything to life?If she is stupid enough to get pregnant at 16 by a 27 year old with no job/prospects imagine what a stupid freeloader the kid will be.Steralize them all.
Anon
Sick Benefits? Get a job in a few months ? This poor chap. How does he possibly find the energy to have sex !
Carol Fisher
I think it is Fion's mother who should not have left her daughter and it is her problem. The guy should go back to Hexham get a job and apply for housing there when Fiona can then join him.
Liz
Whilst it is a pity that it taking such as long time to resolve the issue. Firstly, it is their fault, at the age of 16 the girl is still legally the ward of her parents, therefore her parents responsiblity. I feel sorry for the child, I know of other couples (only together 3months) before getting pregnant just to increase accomodation size and quality - I have heard them boasting about this too! These problems have to snipped at the bud with proper education. I'm a student at Reading University who has managed to hold down a job since the age of 16, managed to achieve good grades and avoided getting pregnant or doing drugs even though I come from a place where these are commonplace.
Miss Green.
This is obviously pure manipulation from the young mans part. He needs psycological help and a kick up the back side, he has clearly brainwashed this young girl, has deliberatly created this situation from the beginning, and is now attempting to play on the heart strings of the public by emotional manipulation. This is supported by the fact that he has gone to the papers, hoping that some rich, sympathetic person will feel sorry for them and give them what most people work hard all their lives and struggle for. They made themselves homeless which means they are homeless intentionally. People are not stupid enough to believe their made up story.
I am sure the council would have helped if this were an honest and sincere situation.
Alexey Borlowkoski
There is a lot of anti-polish sentiment in this feedback. The difference is that the Polish are skilled and have work and pay their own way. Also they have not been thrown out of Poland for anti social behaviour.
Malcolm Tent
One thing's for sure. If they were Polish they would be put in accommodation so fast that their feet wouldn't touch.
Welcome to new England people, it's fantastic...unless you happen to be English :(
winnersh
there are to many girls getting pregnant to get a house put them all in one house with a person in charge then make them share bathroom, kitchen etc see if that brings the numbers down or teach them to use the pill
leigh
My eldest son who is 13 lives with his dad In a 1 bedroom flat has im overcrowded in my 3 bedroon house he has special needs & his father has been told that it could take a year before hes moved.My son by the way was born in Reading i wonder how long before the council house these 2 people.
Louise
Fiona ran away from a decent home with her mother and stepfather & she had a place at college, but instead she lied to them and ran away. If my 16year old daughter was having sex with a 27 year old loser on remand she'd have issues at home too. I pity the baby having those two as parents.
mark
why do you all u stuck up people out there just let this couple have a chance i think it is worry what every one is saying about them
Rob
The councils aren't responsible for the couple, the couple are!
Mr Gary Allen
I cannot BELIEVE that Reading Council are even contemplating Giving these ignorant selfish people a house,whats wrong with a Flatin Hexham,another case of a using a "Womb for a View" better still tell them to get off their backsides get a job and then rent a flat no wonder the Country is going to hell in a hand cart !!!!!
m elliman
the council are right not to rehouse them .thre are more deserving cases that need housing, send them back to hexham.
Natalie - Wokingham
i'm outraged, i really wanna go and knock their tent down - they are choosing to live like that like she chose to open her legs without using protection - they need to get off benefits and get a job. why should they get a house before anyone else that is on the waiting list!!! Send them packing back up north - on the news it said she didnt WANT to live wither parent's - fair enough her choice - but pay for it yourself and dont try to make us tax payers pay for it!!!!
Valerie
Although I sympathise with the younge couple they have by thier own admission put them selves in this predicament. The younge girl said she can't get on with her mum and with her family back in Hexham she also said that she gets in trouble back in Hexham. Well sorry but running away from your problems do not make them go away she and her younge man will get into just the same trouble here more so in fact as she has got no-one to guide her here what happens when the baby is born who's going to pay the rent and food for them all who going to help look after the little one when they work because thats what they will need to do down here.If she and her boyfriend really want to be grown up they will swallow thier pride and go back to thier family.Each and every one of us is responsible for ourselves niether of these younge couple are disabled and can't fend for themselves.What they are is two younge little kids who think they are all that and knew everything about getting something for nothing.What needs to be done is they both need social services to step in to get them back to thier respective families failing that the younge girl should get accommadated in a mother and child facility which teaches younge mums how to cope the younge man is old enough to to look after himself.Either way they should be sent back to Hexham.
w munden
these people that expect homes in return for getting pregnant should only get them if they are going to live with the father and he is in a position to pay for there keep. lets stop handouts for children that get pregnant on purpose to be re-housed. If not make them have an abortion, or be kept by there parents.
anon
We know that she had a college place and that it was actually her choice to run away from her parents to live with her boyfriend! And she wasn't pregnant at that point!
Heather
what brought them to Reading in the first place?! the streets are certainly not paved with gold!!!. At 16 the girl is not eligable for benifits anyway, at least that is my understanding and her partner says he is on the sick club!! What hope is there for local hard working youngsters who have to pay their way by finding a job and can't afford to move out of the family home. SEND THEM BACK TO HEXHAM AND MAKE HIM WORK!!!
Eugene
Cannot condone the stupidity and the irresoncibility of this couples actions. If you don't have the means to support yourselves, how can you do something so irresponcible as to bring someone new into the world? That said, now is not the time for finger pointing and sneering - as easy as it is to do; there is a new person on the way who deserves everything we would wish for any new child - a safe, warm enviroment with a loving family. As much as I cannot condone this couples actions, the unborn child should not become a victim of the stigma attached to its parents.
Lee Oliver
MP Wilson is obviously in the dark about the lack of housing there is in Reading. How very pc of him to say we need to help this poor couple. Has he no idea of the volume of people who want housing in this town and if we open the door to Fiona and Ricky there will be thousands behind them. Where are they all going to live MP Wilson?
A Hunter
I do not normally support Reading Borough Council very much but on this occasion I tend to agree with them, especially when there are probably lots people who live in this area who deserve to have their own place but haven't. This couple think they can manipulate the system by rendering themselves homeless and the girl getting herself pregnant. If she thought anything of the baby she has growing inside her she would go back home until she has had the baby but no she is using the situation to get her own way. I am all for helping people but when it comes to those who use the system I draw the line.
Rhea
What is wrong with people when they think that by getting pregnant they get housed ect .My husband and I saved for our house got married then had our kids when we could afford them and I still worked part time .Our three daughters all want children at some time but not till they have homes of their own and they can afford them , why should we therefore pay this couple to have an easy life .
Patricia
I think they should help themselves. Surely at least one of them could find a job and why is a homeless person so stupid as to get pregnant? They need to sort themselves out with the help of their families. Taxpayers should not be paying for them. On a humanitarian level, I think there are a lot more needy people that could be helped with the money saved from helping this couple. What a shame for the baby.
Alan B Baker
There is no excuse for any female getting pregnant. It is usually done in the hope of getting accommodation and this couple should be taught that it will not work. I agree with everything that Simon from Wokingham has said.
Nicholas Haslam
He is 27, he made her pregnant, he can take the responsibility for providing house and home. We don't want to have the dubious pleasure of looking after them as well as our own families. There are far more deserving causes.
Ian Caldwell
Here we have another example of an unmarried couple expecting the tax payer to 'cough up'.No one should contemplate having children if they are not financially able to bear the cost of bringing up a child for the first 18 years of its life. If neither of them are earning an income then in addition of them being on benefits why should we also pay their countil rent and council tax, among other things. This couple, among with thousands others, should be made to learn the hard way and not expect to be cossetted by the rest of us who have worked all our lives to pay our way in society.
frank
don't let them get a place. it will encourage other scroungers to do the same. do they have any shame at all going on TV. get a job like the rest of us
John
It's unfair to expect local councils to fund these stupid kids! If richard really wants to get off benefit, why don't he join the forces? They could then get married quarters!
W Richards
Seemingly Northumberland council have offered to house her. Many of our own youngsters need housing. She shouldn't be allowed to queue jump. Another pair of scroungers on the social expecting working people to fund their lifestyle.
Tina
Why should the spongers of this world get everything? I work hard and I'm struggling to save up for a house in this area, why should someone who's never contributed anything in taxation expect to be "taken care of" by the state. They created the predicament, why should hardworking taxpayers bail them out. They're nothing more than beggars! If they knocked on anyones door and asked for money I'm sure they'd be told to shove off so why give out our money via the local authority? Ricky should know better at 27. Why can't he get a job like the rest of is have to do. Grow up and work for your family!
Jill Dore
I totaly agree with Reading council. This couple have put them selves in this position and they should live with it. Getting pregnant is one of the oldest tricks in the book. What they are doing is just a big stunt. Give them the bus fare home.
Nick O'Brien
The welfare state was formed to help the genuinely needy and desperate. These two are just scroungers but the real tragedy is that they probably genuinely believe they are 'entitled'. So have we mis-educated a whole generation. It's time to get tough and Rob Wilson should be ashamed of himself in perpetuating this nonsense.
Jan
It's a complete joke, why should I, and my husband,work hard, pay our council tax just so a child and her boyfriend can live down here and sponge of th state, they have not paid one penny into this area, so they should go back where they have come from. enough is enough.
Diana
Why do young teenages just think that if they get pregnant,which in this day and age shouldnt happen,should hard working tax payers pay for them to be housed,shes only three months gone.She should have an abortion and get a job!
Heather MacKinnon
I don't live in Reading but I have no sympathy for these two already. Why should Reading have an obligation to them - have they not heard about contraception, and what is to stop this girl's boyfriend getting a job, and equally what is to stop her too. Why should honest hard working taxpayers like us have to pay for the likes of them? I live in Hampshire and have worked all my life - yet I am still at home with my parents, yes I had a failed relationship, but who doesn't these days? Moved back home because I have little hope of finding anywhere of my own unless I win the lottery! It just isn't fair that the government seems to help the weak, lame and lazy and not the honest genuine working folk of Britain!
Tony Dougherty
The local council should and must give the local people waiting on the housing list first consideration. This couple must return to their own local authority for assistance regarding accomadation. Family problems and other issues are not the concern of Reading Council, Reading council must look after their own local residents. We are living in a world where young people feel we the older generation owe them everything. They should stop and consider who has to pay for the demands they make on local councils and goverment benefit agency's.
Jennifer
Does it matter which council helps them its all tax payers money. If this couple are in need they should be helped. People that are not British citizens get helped every day. Maybe the council could help them find some private housing to get this pregant girl off the streets and out of the cold. Where is your heart?
nicole
I agree with simon , they should get jobs and stop making themselves charity cases, there are people out there with genuine problems not them.
Anonymous
It is a great pity that the council did not check their facts - I know of someone in the Essex area who, being pregnant, successfully drew the wool over the local Council - aided & abetted by her mother, I might add. The pregnant person concerned ended up with a flat (rent, council tax & water rates paid by Income Support (or whatever it is called now) a baby. So what is new??
Alan
What is the medical problem that stops this young man working. Did he have a job in Hexham he is 27 years of age a man ! not a kid.
chris
if she wont go home to her parents thats her choice. The reading council do not have a responsibility to house her and if her home town has said they will then thats where she should go. We all have to take responsibility for ourselves and work to put a roof over ur heads, why should this couple be any different.
howard h.
nothing against this particular girl, but the MP has shown a stupid and spineless reaction. If being pregnant was in itself a way to jump others on the housing queue, soon any woman from anywhere in the country would come to our town (Reading) if they were pregnant, safe in the knowledge that they could leap-frog over locals on the waiting list - which is simply ridiculous
S. Mat
I not sure but is this the couple who have been 'camping' outside Camberley Council Offices. They have been remove by police but are still in a vulnerable- they should get help from the M.P from this council.
LYNN RIDGERS
No, she should not be housed. She had the choice not to become pregnant - so why did she? - maybe to get a house! if she had not become pregnant, maybe she could have earned some money and found somewhere to live herself. And why has her 'boyfriend' not got a job??
Mr Wood
They should go back to northumberland where they have a place waiting for them. Get Real MP
Chas
Homeless in Hull? Bit depressing? Try Torbay instead, much nicer. Slough isn't everyones cup of tea - so down the road to Windsor you go. I'm sorry for this young lady but the rules are there for good reason and have to be applied. What is needed is some mechanism (an arbitrator?) to ensure that one or other council takes responsibility for her quickly.
bob
if the tory mp has a spare bedroom (which i'm sure he will have)why doesn't he take them in?
John Allen
I understand this girl has been living in the tent for 6 months and is 6 months pregnant, therefore she was presumably not pregnant when she arrived in Reading. She has obviously got pregnant because she thinks it will improve her chances of getting a council house. Reading council should provide both of them with bus tickets back to Hexham and help them clear away their tent.
Amanda
Get a job and pay your own way like the rest of us have to! A typical example of people expecting other people to pay their way for them because they can't be bothered. I am 23 and my husband is 27. We have both saved hard for our house however at least i have something to be proud of!! She is 16 and 6 months pregnant -why don't her parents take responsibilty
