Benefits Street: Meet the residents of Kingston Road, Stockton

Julie Young

Julie Young has lived on Kingston Road for more than 20 years. The matriarch of the street she is the go to person for residents with problems who respect her no nonsense approach when it comes to dishing out advice.

Single mother of six Julie, 53, used to work in the council as a Community Support Liaison but had to leave the role 15 years ago when her second youngest son Reagan suffered a stroke aged just nine months which left him severely brain damaged.

With the help of NHS nurses and carers Julie has dedicated her life to Reagan ever since, providing him with round the clock care and tending to his complex needs.

Despite life being tough on the street Julie says residents all pull together to look after each other: “Tilery Estate is just marooned in the middle of nowhere and you know what they’ve put the best people, the salt of the earth, here. People with morals and ethics.”

Sue Griffiths

Mum of five Sue has lived on Kingston Road for more than 30 years and says of life on the street: “Everybody is there for each other. If you said to me there’s a million pounds you wouldn’t move me.”

Life on the street often revolves around Sue’s front garden where everyone meets to drink tea, share problems, gossip and generally put the world to rights.

Sue, 50, used to do bar work at the local racecourse but had to give that up after suffering a breakdown last year that has left her suffering from depression, anxiety and mild agoraphobia.

But she feels there’s not shame in having to rely on welfare to make ends meet: “Just because you’re on benefits doesn’t make you a worse person. We all piss out the same hole, shit out the same hole and we come out the same hole!”

Dot Taylor

Dot lives at the end of Kingston Road with her partner Kev. They have five grown up children who have left the family home but not wandered too far away from mum.

She has a huge extended family consisting of her children, grandchildren, siblings and their children, all of who live on the estate. Every Sunday, without fail, Dot cooks a roast dinner for anyone who wants it.

Dot, 48, is mixed race, her mother is Scottish and her father Indian, so she was bemused by press reports dubbing her ‘Orange Dot’ and claiming she used her benefits to fund an addiction to fake tan and sun beds.

Reading a newspaper story about herself Dot says: “Have a look at my face, that’s natural. I think that’s shocking, my Dad’s Indian, it’s a bit unreal really isn’t it? Why would somebody who’s already a half-caste be wanting to put fake tan on?”

Lee and Chrissie Nutley

Lee relies on his next-door neighbour Julie and the other residents of Kingston Road more than ever. With every appliance in his home broken he can’t even cook himself a meal.

Lee has been claiming Job Seekers Allowance for the past year, living on £45 a week after being laid off by the construction company he worked for.

Now Lee, 42, finds himself in a constant battle with both ill health and the benefits system. He has been “sanctioned” for missing an appointment, a new government policy designed to encourage people off of benefits. He denies missing the appointment but his benefits have been cut anyway.

“I’ve worked half my life, I’ve haven’t just sat on my arse since leaving school, I’ve worked all over the country. I need to earn some dollars, it’s no good walking the streets and that, I like work.”

Meanwhile Lee’s mum Chrissie, who lives nearby, is the unofficial ‘Bard of Benefits Street’ writing and performing her own poems commenting on the various ups and downs of life on Kingston Road.

Maxwell

Maxwell, 35, has lived on the Tilery Estate for the past nine years. He has a string of convictions for fraud, resisting arrest, dealing drugs and shining laser pens at police helicopters.

A typical day for Maxwell is training to bulk himself up, visiting the local sunbed salon and smoking drugs.

Despite claiming that he’s taken “early retirement” from a life of crime his flat on the corner of the street is still raided by police looking for drugs and weapons.

He says of the police: “Who do they think I am? Pablo Escobar?!”

Known locally as ‘King of the Kids’ Maxwell is a role model to the young lads from the estate that hang around outside his flat. He has tried to impart some of his life experience onto them to help them toe the line, despite his own criminal past.