A woman caught up in the Queens Hotel fire in Blaenau Ffestiniog says the only offer of help she has received from Gwynedd Council is a Tesco voucher.

Kirsty Pymm said she and her partner Greg Rawlinson had been housed at the hotel when their landlord sold the house they rented, making them homeless.

A fire broke out there on 5 July; Kirsty says she and Greg have been treated poorly by the council before and since the blaze.

Kirsty said: “We were in the Queens fire after months of being homeless. Our landlord decided to sell his house, and because letting agents are charging London prices for houses that just aren't worth it, we had to go down the council route.

“They put us in the Queens hotel. It was awful, smelled like human waste in the stairway and hallways, and someone was being arrested there almost daily.”

After the fire, Kirsty said: “We tried to speak to council about what we do for food and clothes as we came out of there with only the clothes on our backs.

“The council first of all advise they won't help, we are to claim off the Queens insurance - no information given on how to go about this - then offered a Tesco voucher which to this day we don't know how much for as they never bothered sending it to us.

“We were supposed to be put in a flat for temporary accommodation the day before the fire happened. We were told it was merely meter readings they were waiting on, we hear nothing.

“A week later, we are told the flat would be Monday [14 July]. Five minutes before checking out, they tell us they are postponing [to 17 July]. We have still heard nothing about moving in.

“My partner has not been the same since the fire. He's usually such a fun person, but it's a struggle to get words from him now, he has really bad PTSD from the fire and months of being dangled along by the council.

“It’s absolutely disgusting how we've been treated. If we were put in the flat the day it was promised, we wouldn't have lost so many belongings.

“We are so grateful to everyone who donated clothes the days after or we would have been wearing the same clothes for days [if] it was up to the council who offered nothing but a Tesco voucher, that we haven't even seen yet!”

A Gwynedd Council spokesperson said: “Since the devastating fire at the Queens Hotel, Blaenau Ffestiniog, the Homelessness and Support Service has been working tirelessly to offer support to several people affected by the incident, securing accommodation to all that were owed a statutory duty as a result of the fire. Whilst we cannot comment on individual cases, we can confirm that our staff have been in regular contact with those affected since the fire, offering accommodation, support and basic items, and are continuing to offer as much support as possible during this difficult time.”