Pensioner vows to stop hoarding after chip pan fire destroys his cluttered home

16 December 2023 , 13:51

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Barry stands in what was his front room (Image: Lee McLean / SWNS)

A pensioner has promised to stop hoarding after a chip pan fire destroyed his home - and was made worse by his clutter.

Barry Tordoff, 76, began collecting car parts including engines, doors and electrical tools, but did not realise the extent of his obsession until he lost everything in a fire at his £250,000 one-bedroom bungalow. The man, from York, is now living in a caravan and has pledged to change his ways.

He said: "I've definitely stopped hoarding - the fire has brought home what I was actually doing. It creeps up on you - so you don't realise what's actually happening. You get to a stage where you look round your house and think 'oh my God, where do I start?'

The house was ravaged by a fire (Karen McKinley / SWNS)

The fire was made worse by his hoarding disorder (Karen McKinley / SWNS)

"You don't know where to start, so you just don't start and try and forget it and hope it will all go away. That's being stupid though because it won't go away. The fire has really brought it home." After the fire, Barry moved into a caravan without water or electricity on his drive.

Now, he is staying at a nearby caravan site and despite spending Christmas there, he's grateful to be alive. Barry said: "I'm just happy to be alive. The smoke alarm woke me up and if I hadn't woke me up, then I would have been dead. I'm very happy to be still here.

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"But thanks to my two lasses, my house is getting renovated brilliantly. I know I won't be home for Christmas but it will be right and it will be get done - it might be next year but I don't care."

Barry sits in what was his front room (Lee McLean / SWNS)

Barry has reconnected with his daughters, Jane, 54, and Karen, 51, over the past two years. They first discovered their retired engineer dad's hoarding problem when they visited his home and were left "shocked", reports the Manchester Evening News.

Karen said: "We had only seen him a couple of times before the fire. "When we first saw him at his home, we were made aware regarding the serious issue of hoarding and we just thought oh dear. It was quite a shock. We went into to his house to see him and we were walking down the corridor but it was like an alleyway, you couldn't get into the bathroom.

"The room was absolutely full of stuff but he had cleared up for us because he was a little bit embarrassed and nervous. But it was horrendous." She added: "He wasn't very house proud to begin with but we realised he was unable to clean the house as he didn't know where to start. He wouldn't have been able to start cleaning the bathroom as there wasn't any room with everything he had accumulated over the years."

Barry's garage is full of items (Lee McLean / SWNS)

The 76-year-old never realised how bad his hoarding obsession had become - until the fire destroyed his home (Lee McLean / SWNS)

Karen, from Bradford, West Yorks, revealed that almost everything in his home has been destroyed and now they are fundraising for it to be renovated. The admin assistant said: "We found out it was going to cost £80,000 and we were like a deer in the highlights.

"We have decided to tackle it little by little but it's going to take years. Things are slowly improving and my dad can see a bit of light at the end of the tunnel now. Throughout it all, he's said that if he didn't lose everything then he wouldn't have ever got on top of his hoarding."

Barry's daughters Karen McKinley (left) and Jane Yates (Lee McLean / SWNS)

Karen said: "I think it's such a taboo subject, there's some embarrassment with it. I've even felt embarrassed that people think we've let it get to this stage. My dad feels embarrassed and said he would never let anyone in because they would see it wasn't nice how he was living.

"It's such a taboo subject because people don't want to talk about it as they might think you're dirty or just need to clean up and get rid of the stuff. It's not like this - the things that people hoard are their security blankets but it's so sad."

* An AI tool was used to add an extra layer to the editing process for this story. You can report any errors to [email protected]

Chiara Fiorillo