The threatened eviction of Ruth Lane, the widow of Don Lane, a gig economy courier who died after skipping medical appointments to keep working, has prompted an outpouring of support from Guardian readers including offers to clear her debts.
Lane has been served with eviction papers after falling into rent arrears following the loss of her husband’s income from the courier firm DPD.
He delivered parcels for the company for 19 years but was charged £150 in 2017 because he had missed work to attend a hospital appointment to treat his diabetes. Feeling under pressure to avoid another fine, he subsequently missed three appointments and died from a heart attack related to his chronic condition in January 2018.
In common with many of the UK’s gig workers the 53-year-old had no life insurance cover. Lane said DPD, which made £121m profit in 2017, had offered her no financial help. Despite working full-time for Marks and Spencer, she and her son Jordon are facing homelessness after falling a month – and – a – half behind on their rent.
After the Guardian revealed their plight on Monday evening, several readers offered donations. A housing lawyer offered her free advice and representation from a barrister to challenge the eviction from her Dorset home.
Emma Saunders, a reader from south London offering cash, said: “What happened to her husband was heartbreaking, and for Ruth and her son now to be facing eviction just compounds my belief that the current system is fundamentally failing people. We are the fifth-largest economy in the world. Something is badly wrong when we are left trying to plug the gap where government protections should be.”
Another reader said: “Is this what loyalty and hard work stands for in this country now? Mr Lane … was a hardworking, loyal, family man trying to do his best, which is what hurts so much. I would like to offer a financial donation simply to help Mrs Lane and her son get back on her feet. Hopefully 50 people each offering £100 could make a difference, and maybe also generate free legal support too.”
Another reader offered to pay a month’s rent. They said: “It seems terribly harsh that, after all she’s gone through, this caring and hard-working woman, and her son, should now be facing homelessness.”
Then a benefactor offering a £10,000 lump sum came forward. Deborah Frost, the chief executive of Personal Group, an employee benefits company, said it wanted to provide Lane with the equivalent of a life insurance policy payment, no strings attached.
She said: “The loss of her husband has left not only a grieving family, but now they are threatened with a second bereavement of losing their home and family life. She has been someone who has fallen through the gaps because although her husband worked for the courier for 19 years, he wasn’t a salaried worker and so had no rights to employee benefits.”
Lane said she would be pleased to accept the offer which would allow her to “breathe again”.
She said: “It has just been awful. I am trying so hard working all the hours. They shouldn’t have to do this. It should have been DPD. This is the kindness of strangers.”
She said she would look to leave her current home and find a new place to try to start afresh.
Lisa Haythorne, a solicitor at Derbyshire Law Centre who has offered Lane free legal advice, said the growth of zero-hours contracts and gig work had increased the number of housing cases her organisation had taken on.
She said: “If you have zero-hour contracts it’s hard to claim benefits. Then people start to accrue rent arrears and once they get to eight weeks, private landlords and some housing associations serve them with two weeks’ notice.”
She said solicitors were also withdrawing from carrying out housing work because of the cuts to legal aid payments.
Lane is taking DPD to an employment tribunal, arguing in a case with 76 other couriers that her husband should have been treated as a worker, which would have afforded him holiday pay and a guaranteed minimum wage. She is also claiming that DPD’s decision to charge him for missing work to attend hospital amounts to disability discrimination. DPD is contesting the case.
Asked previously about Lane’s situation, a DPD spokesperson said: “Don was self-employed, therefore it would be inappropriate for us to comment on Mrs Lane’s financial situation.”
