Asylum seekers in the Black Country: Wolverhampton wasn't my choice says refugee
He looked around at the autumn leaves and spitting rain before taking a breath and announcing: "Wolverhampton was not my choice – but it's nice."
These are the words of Tobias, just one of a number of asylum seekers staying in two Wolverhampton three-star hotels.
Tobias is one of the 60 or so currently staying the city as G4S, the security firm with a multi-million pound deal to house asylum seekers, struggle to deal with the demand.
But his road to the Quality Hotel on Tettenhall Road was not the easiest.
Originating from Ethiopia, Tobias travelled through Sudan, Turkey, Serbia, Austria, Germany, Greece and France before finally arriving in the UK late last month.
He said he wanted to leave Ethiopia for a better quality of life and the authorities decided where to send him, he didn't get to choose himself.
"Wolverhampton was not my choice but it's nice," he said.
"I fill in the forms and they decide where to send me. I could've ended up anywhere in the UK, London, Birmingham. But I don't want to go to London, there is too many people.
"I have applied for asylum of course and if I get my papers then yes of course I will stay.
"I arrived here in the UK on October 22 on a cargo train from Calais.
"Then I was on another train and then a two-hour drive to get here."
Another asylum seeker staying at The Quality Hotel, who did not wish to be named, said he arrived in Wolverhampton on a train from Southampton after coming across from Calais. He travelled from Eritrea in Africa.
Tobias is an example of the latest influx of asylum seekers heading to the West Midlands.
The latest official figures from September show the number of asylum seekers in Sandwell was 695, in Wolverhampton it was 645, Walsall was 234, and Dudley was 226. In Birmingham there were 1,400 asylum seekers.
Meanwhile, there were none in South Staffordshire, Stafford, Lichfield, and Shropshire.
Roger Lawrence, the chairman of the West Midlands Strategic Migration Partnership, has claimed the West Midlands is taking one third of all asylum seekers in the UK. He said the region was 'shouldering an unfair burden' and that G4S, who manage the dispersals, have not responded to the partnership's request for a more equitable distribution plan and they are now considering their 'legal options'.
He said: "On behalf of the partnership, I'm seeking an early meeting with the minister to set out our concerns about getting the best possible outcome for these very vulnerable people and ensure a fairer solution for under the cosh local authorities in the West Midlands.
"We believe around one third of all claimants nationally are being accommodated in the West Midlands. I am asking the Home Office to look again at the number of local authorities asylum seekers are currently dispersed to. A small number are shouldering an unfair burden, including ourselves.
"We have repeatedly tried to persuade G4S, who manage dispersals on behalf of the Home Office, to put in place a more equitable distribution plan. Unfortunately, they haven't responded positively to our request and we are therefore considering our legal options."
But Nigel Fairbrass, a spokesman for G4S, said it was the Home Office's decision as to where asylum seekers are distributed, not the security firm's.
He said of the move: "It is the Home Office and not G4S which is responsible for the distribution of asylum seekers between the regions in the U.K."
Michael Baker, another spokesman for G4S, said: "In common with all the companies providing housing for asylum seekers to the Home Office, G4S occasionally has to make use of hotel accommodation to manage demand for the service while more permanent arrangements are made."
