'I'm just here existing': Pensioner with no family leaves will out every night in case he dies
9 June 2023, 15:22
A retired shipyard worker with no family has revealed how he leaves his will out every night in case he dies and puts a milk carton by the door to keep it cool to save on energy bills.
John Foster, 76, from Sunderland, who has turned off his empty fridge and sits in the dark at night to save electricity, has told of his isolation and hardship battle due to the cost of living crisis.
"I'm completely on my own. I haven't even got any relations anywhere, I'm just here, that's it. Existing,
"I started doing this when my sister died. I've got no family - they've all gone - so there's nobody to do things like this."
Heartbreaking Channel 4 footage shows pensioner laying out his will every night
Listen and subscribe to Unprecedented: Inside Downing Street on Global Player
He told Channel 4 Dispatches Britain's Forgotten Pensioners: "If anyone comes into the house this is the first thing they're going to see. They will phone the funeral directors, they'll come out and everything will be done."
Asked if he ever feels sad, Mr Foster said: "You should say 'do you ever feel happy?' Because I'm sad all the time."
Mr Foster's brother, whop worked as a miner, died four days before his 41st birthday, while his sister died five years ago. His mother and father died within 27 hours of each other.
He added: "I've got no family, never been married, no kids. Family, if you lose one or two it's bad enough, but if you lose all of them you're completely on your own and it's just a nightmare.
"I can't believe I'm the last one here. It takes getting your head around it, you just can't work it out."
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The documentary showed Karen Noble, from local charity Pallion Action Group, helping Mr Foster gain access to benefits so he could afford utility bills and proper meals.
In total this amounted to an extra £131.25 every week which the pensioner did not know he was entitled to so he can now afford to go shopping and no longer needs foodbanks.
Ms Noble added: "I know that there's lots of information online, but we all know older people who don't go online.
"I think it's shocking that we've got a 76-year-old man who could have been getting an additional benefit for 10 years and nobody picked it up."
You can watch Britain's Forgotten Pensioners: Dispatches now on 4oD.
