Grenfell tower survivor Antonio Roncolato spent five hours in the block as the blaze raged – but four years on is still waiting for justice.
Antonio, 61, lived on the 10th floor of the North Kensington building in West London and escaped at 6.05am – the second to last person to get out.
As people gathered to mark the anniversary of the fire that killed 72 people he said the ongoing inquiry shows “only very few” admitting wrongdoing.
“They are all doing ‘climb up on mirrors’, as we say in Italy, to escape evidence,” he said. “The facts they are black and white.”
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Residents attend the inquiry and support each other.
“We look at each other and you just shake your head,” he said.
“Sometimes I feel like expressing myself in a not very polite way.”
He was there to hear evidence from the man who carried out fire risk assessments on the tower and one of the ward councillors who raised residents’ concerns about the refurbishment.
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“We have so much coming out of the inquiry to a point that nothing surprises us anymore,” he said.
“I have found that only a very few admitted their wrongdoing.
"He feels some witnesses are “still trying to deny” their role in the disaster.
He said: “It’s upsetting. Your blood is boiling. I feel they are not ashamed.”
But he hopes after the inquiry the police will get the evidence “to nail them”.
“This is what keeps us going,” he said.
While trapped he had tried to get out of the blazing tower twice but was forced back by thick black smoke.
Antonio’s son Christopher watched helplessly outside and made a heartbreaking phone call to his father who was trapped inside for so many hours.
“He was impotent, knowing that I was inside hoping for the best,” said Antonio.
Now he hopes for justice for the survivors and the 72 people who died.
It is estimated that about 274,000 flats have been fitted with dangerous cladding across the UK.
This is affecting more than 650,000 people.
He wants the tower to be a “constant reminder” until the bereaved are ready for what happens next.
And he wants everyone to have a safe home - which he and his neighbours campaigned for over many years.
“It’s a big difference when you get home and you have a home that’s comfortable – it’s priceless,” he said.
'Fat cats made this mess but won't be at risk'
- Comment by Jon Wharnsby, Grenfell Community Liaison at the Fire Brigades Union
I was there that night as a firefighter – the memories of residents’ faces torn with grief and the exhausted faces of my colleagues will never diminish.
The inquiry has revealed the huge mistakes that created these failures.
Dangerous cost-cutting, cut and paste fire assessments, the refurbishment at Grenfell had actually made it more dangerous.
It’s ordinary people, and firefighters, who’ll be at risk if there is another Grenfell.
The fat cats who made this mess won’t be.
