DAY centre staff have told how they have to buy their visitors fish and chips because a lunch van fails to turn up.

Brighton and Hove City Council cut back on subsidised hot lunches at Tower House Day Centre in London Road because they were not value for money.

Instead it asked visitors to pay in full for sandwiches or a meal service which was delivered in a van each day or bring their own packed lunch.

Users protested against the change and signed a petition. Now some claim the alternative arrangement sometimes fails to turn up, forcing them to find lunch elsewhere.

Pearl Slade, 83, of Stanstead Crescent, Woodingdean, struggles to cook and relied on the day centre for company and hot meals.

She said: “We’re finding it very difficult. The van didn’t turn up so the staff went out and got us fish and chips. The new system is not working and people are very unhappy.”

Her daughter, Marina Holmes, 53, of Elm Grove, Brighton, said: “It’s appalling how they have been treated.

“They are paying more and only getting sandwiches. People will end up going without and become malnourished.”

Andrew Cole, 54, of Batemans Road, Woodingdean, has used Tower House Day Centre twice a week for four years after a stroke affected the whole left side of his body including his movement and speech.

He said: “Staff have to go outside to the van and get our lunch for us because we can’t walk out there. The sandwiches are OK now, in warm weather, but what happens in the winter? We have been fobbed off and ignored.”

Jean Higginson, 56, of Hove, who launched the petition, said complaints have been made to the council and the Local Government Ombudsman.

She is now investigating if the authority has breached the Care Act 2014 in the way it handled the cutback.

No one from the council responded by the time The Argus went to press but has since said: "People who have been assessed as needing hot lunches at Tower House are still getting them.

"The difference is that they are now delivered frozen and re-heated on the premises rather than being cooked from scratch.

"The Local Government Ombudsman has looked into the provision of hot meals at Tower House and found no fault in the council’s actions.

"Following our consultation with service users earlier this year many of them have now chosen to bring their own packed lunches.

"Local bakery Forfar’s have kindly agreed a daily sandwich delivery for those who did not wish to bring their own lunch. This is not a contracted service.

"Unfortunately one day Forfar’s were unable to deliver because of a road accident, so we sent out for fish and chips instead for the 10 or so people who had been looking forward to the delivery.

"Our director of adult services was due to visit this week but had to postpone due to an unavoidable diary clash. She is re-arranging to visit in the near future.

"The extractor fan in the Tower House kitchen was upgraded last year. The future use of the kitchen area is currently under consideration."

The Argus has so far been unable to contact Forfars. 

BACKGROUND

SCORES of day centre visitors signed a petition to bring back hot lunches at a day centre.

Users want the change, introduced in April at Tower House Day Centre, to be reversed.

Brighton and Hove City Council said the decision was made by officers and never put to committee for debate by councillors, so the petition had to be treated as a complaint.

Users also claimed they were not consulted about the change but the council said they were told in January and subsequent meetings were held.