A Leeds man has turned down a £100,000 Windrush compensation offer from the Home Office, claiming that itcomes nowhere near to taking into account the difficulties he has suffered due to mistakes made around his citizenship.
He has been offered £100,000 pounds as compensation for "maximum for the impact on life', but denied any compensation for financial loss - despite the fact that Home Office errors led to him being denied a mortgage to buy his council house in 2005.
Lorenzo Hoyte, 64, permanently relocated from Barbados to Leeds in 1957 as part of the Windrush Generation - but was not granted a UK passport by the Home Office until September 2018.
He has now said that he feels that the error has left him "living as a third-class citizen [in Leeds] for 40 years."
Due to an inability to prove his citizenship, Mr. Hoyte has been prevented from attending two family funerals abroad, one of which was his mother's.
"When I tried to travel to see my mum for her funeral I was told if you leave the country you cannot get back in," Lorenzo said.
Lorenzo Hoyte moved from Barbados to Leeds when was just ten years old
"I would like to ask any politician in this country - would you accept £100,000 for living as a third-class citizen for 40 years?
"Would you accept £100,000 not to go to your family's funeral - your mother's your brother's your grandparents'?"
Not having a passport has also meant that Mr. Hoyte has repeatedly been told he is not classed as a British citizen and denied some basic rights.
He's struggled to travel abroad at all and missed out on an opportunity to see his Olympic star sister Joslyn Hoyte-Smith compete for Britain in the women’s 4x400m relay at the 1984 Los Angeles Games.
But his real gripe - and reason for turning down the £100,000 offer - is that In 2005, he was refused a mortgage to purchase the Wakefield District Housing-owned house he lives in under the right to buy scheme, simply because he didn't have a British passport.
According to Mr. Hoyte, his house is now worth up to £160,000 - but he claims he has already paid "more in rent than what they have offered me."
"They have offered me the maximum for the impact on life, bit nothing for financial loss.
"The main thing for me is my home. They took away my right to buy a house and have something for my family.
"I've been paying rent on this house since 2000. I tried to buy it in 2005 and the only reason I couldn't buy it was because I didn't have a passport to prove my citizenship."
Despite the error leading to him being refused a mortgage, his claim for 'financial loss' has still been refused by the Home Office.
A spokesperson for the Home Office said: “The Home Secretary has overhauled the Windrush Compensation Scheme, increasing the amount of compensation paid from £3m to almost £27m, with a further £7.1m offered to victims.
“If someone is unhappy with the award they have been offered they are able to ask for a review by a different decision maker and subsequently by the Adjudicator’s Office who are independent of the Home Office.”
News
Leeds Bradford Airport set for complete ‘shutdown’ as 130 workers go on strike
Leeds Bradford Airport is set for a standstill as almost 130 workers are set to take industrial action over pay.
If you're planning on catching a flight from Leeds Bradford Airport, then you may want to double check the date.
The Unite members planning on going on strike are a mixture of air traffic control workers, customer experience staff, security staff and cleaners.
The workers involved in the dispute have recently come out of a four-year pay deal, with some of the departments having fallen behind other airports in equivalent roles.
Pay talks have been happening since December 2025, with the airport's formal offer not going far enough to address the lack of pay parity.
Strikes will take place from 03:00 Friday 16 October to 06:00 Sunday 18 October for hourly paid staff and from 06:00 Friday 16 October to 06:00 Sunday 18 October for air traffic control workers.
Strike will mean the entire airport will shut down.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: "Leeds Bradford Airport is very profitable and can more than afford to come back to the table with an offer that doesn't fall short of our members' expectations.
"Our hardworking members should not be paid less than those doing the same jobs at other airports. Workers taking action at Leeds Bradford Airport have Unite's full support in their fight for fairer pay."
Unite regional officer Neil Whitaker said: "We know people who have flights planned to and from Leeds Bradford Airport will be concerned to hear of industrial action, however our members have no choice but to strike.
"The airport is profitable, passenger numbers are growing and our members are a major part of its success. They deserve a fair pay rise, and management must come back to the table to deliver this."
Leeds pizza shop hailed ‘exceptional’ and ‘best in the UK’ by major reviewer
Clementine Hall
A Leeds pizza takeaway has received a glowing review from popular review duo.
Edges Pizza opened up their first permanent spot in Leeds back in June this year, after making a name for themselves slinging out pizzas at multiple pop-ups across the city.
Owners Grace and Edge from Harrogate opened Edges Pizza two years ago, taking inspiration from trips to New York over the years.
Images: The Hoot Leeds
Their pizzas are a love letter to the class New York slice, think thin and crispy rather than chewy and floppy. But above all else, think absolutely delicious.
And now, they've caught the attention of a major review page, with Bite Twice Food Reviews (a page with almost 300k followers) paying Edges a visit.
The food review duo of Gerry del Guercio and Paul Delany popped up in Holbeck beneath the arches to get their hands on a pizza, and the outcome is brilliant.
In the video, Bite Twice said that the pizza is 'f**cking exceptional' and up there with 'one of the best pizzas in the UK'.
Before even taking a bite, they said: "On aesthetic, I don't think anywhere in the UK is doing pizza like this".
Images: The Hoot Leeds
Then after the first bite, they go on to say: "There are very few pizzas in the UK that create this, I’m a little bit blown away".
As Londoners themselves, they go on to say that Edges is 'easily hitting with the best that we’ve got down south'.
And if that's not high praise enough, they sign off the video saying: "Leeds has got an absolute gem. I give this a stamp so hard my foot went through the pizza. Edges. Don Level."
Georgina Pellant -
3rd August 2021 
