The family too fat to work

This story is about a family in the UK, I hope Blue or other folks from the UK have more info about it:

They have a combined weight of 83 stone and claim £22,000 in taxpayer-funded benefits on the basis that they are ‘too fat to work.' Yet, incredibly, X Factor flop Emma Chawner's family from Blackburn are demanding more money because they still can't afford their calorie-laden lifestyle. Asked why they don't simply go on a diet, the jobless Chawner family, who are so obese their neighbours call them ‘the telly tubbies,' insist: "We don't have the time."

Both Philip Chawner, 53, and his 57-year-old wife Audrey weigh 24st. Their youngest daughter, Emma, is 5ft 3in and weighs 17st, while her older sister Samantha, 21, is 5ft 9in and weighs 18st. They haven't worked in 11 years, claiming their weight is due to a hereditary condition. Instead, the family spends their days in front of a television borrowed from a friend.

The family claim to spend £50 a week on food, including chocolate, chips and pies, and consume 3,000 calories each a day.



Source: link

For those of us who don't use the "stone" system, a stone is equal to 14 pounds.   (I had to go look it up  lol )

Too fat to work?  They don't look that fat to me!

Too fat or just too lazy!!

Don't get me started on this subject.  This kind of story makes me angry and we hear about them all the time.  If they stopped giving them so much money, they would have to get off their fat butts and get a job.  It's a vicious circle imho....but paying them money because they are too fat to work is bs.  Send in Steve Miller! 

In case you don't know who Steve Miller is - he does a tv show called "fat families".  He goes in and helps fat families lose weight and helps them "want" to get off their butts and do something about it.  He would sort them out as he is a "no-nonsense" kind of guy!

blue

these LAZY ASSSS &%!@#%%^^&  ****%$#@@!% are just milking the system becasue they are LAZY.......cut them off welfare and see how long it takes them to get a job and lose weight...this is a major problem in the states....anything to get something free,....go get a job losers!!!  any state purchased chocolate, chips and pie should be illegal in that household

They are too fat to get a job?! Well, isn't that conveniant...  >:( They're abusing the sistem but the system allows it.

Serbia's bad for many things, but a great thing about it is that it never puts up with bull$%^& like this. Too fat to work?! Well, excuse me, but if you worked in the first place, you wouldn't have time to eat enough to be so fat. Too bad, so sad. And if it's a hereditary thing, pay them a gastric by-pass or a health clinic, but don't give them money to continue eating chips and candies and milking us honest taxpayers.

Well i am sorry but i have to throw a monkey wrench in this whole story! Forgive me but people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. What has become of our society that we can ridicule people by their size? Then we wonder why there are self image problems, anorexia and bulimia.

We can shoot down overweight people but use special care when it comes to race, disabilities and addictions. Do you know how many people in this world are overweight not to mention how many members here at LCB alone are!

A couple years ago we had a very active member here who was a "large women" as she put it and left to never return after a not so nice post about "fat" people.

If there is to be any blame about this story it is the producers of the show who milk it for all its worth poisoning the minds of people who say fat=lazy all the while their bank accounts are getting fat. This show has repeatedly told this family they were not going to feature them anymore cuz the failed to lose weight, yeah right. This is about moolah and 6 months later they are still around!

I wouldn't doubt that the reason they don't work is not out of laziness but rather the sneers and jeers they get from a ignorant audience and employers who may not hire them leaving them feeling worthless and a butt of everyone's jokes.

My mom died fat and happy and worked her whole life and never had a lazy bone in her body may God rest her soul.

If you got the thin gene or a fast metabolism God bless you. For those who don't may God bless you even more.

Lips

I agree that it would surely be difficult for them to get jobs due to the prejudices that Lips has mentioned. Yes, those still exist, unfortunately.

However, there are ways to work from home nowadays, quite a few people do that for various reasons. I don't think that this story is about being fat or being skinny, it's about something else, at least for me.

I know a person that was left without both legs following a horrific accident. He doesn't take money from the state anymore as he found a way to work from home and earn enough to make a living.

I don't think its actually about their size - I think it just seems like an excuse.  My sister is huge and I love her to bits for who she is.  She gets ridiculed a lot by people on the streets because of her size.  She went to university late in life, got her degree despite being dyslexic and I'm so proud of her.  She works extremely hard for very long hours and is a huge asset to the place she works at.  There definitely are prejudices against larger people I totally agree with you Lips and I've been with my sis when people say horrible things to her and it hurts me as much as it hurts her.

But these people claiming benefit because they are "too fat to work" seems like an excuse.  My sis is a helluva lot bigger than any of them and she works...very hard and very long hours.

blue

these people should all have jobs.  there is absolutely no excuse for them to think that they "DESERVE" to be supported by the system because they have made up their own reason to "DESERVE" it.  To me, this has nothing to do with fat or skinny,  it has to do with LAZY and NOT LAZY.  These people are not too fat to work,  if you can move, you can work.

I think the problem here is the media attention.  I'm sure there is more to the story.

And dang it, if the government guidelines let them get that money, why should they not take it?  It's like telling us not to take the free chips that are offered.  Or that we use too many, or that we should be cut off because we take advantage of what is given us.  Are we happy to be banned as bonus abusers??

Change the rules if you don't like them.  And good luck trying to do that!

I think this families problem IS that they are lazy not that are too big to find a job.There are people of all sizes that abuse the system.I know and have worked with large people and they worked are hard as anyone.
This family is more than likely laughing at the rest of us,large people included!!

i am afraid i would want to see the DR's note for all four of them....there are bigger people who work all day long...and we would have to only hope chilly, that even if the government offered them benefits...inner pride would hopefully kick in and if there was anything they could do to improve their situation,,,they would...to try to work hard and not be able to is one thing....but not to try is unacceptable.....and to say you dont have time to go on a diet...but do have time to sit and eat chips and watch TV????  really???

you are right dabigdog, one can hope they would do something.  and the story about not enough time, well, there's got to be something taken out of context there.  Maybe they are lazy.  Maybe they are conning everyone.  I don't know about in the uk but here, getting foodstamps takes a LOT of documentation.  I am assuming other kinds of assistance are being given this family since the monetary amount is so high.

Remember though that it's the media's info we are getting, we aren't exactly hearing all the scoop from the family so shouldn't be so quick to judge or postulate on their behavior.  Doesn't seem right, and I'm sure there are thousands more out there that also don't seem right as well.

I don't mind big people, I've never teased them or thought ill of them - I'm a plus-sized person myself. But that's exactly why I cannot justify what these four are doing. Yes, they are heavy, and yes, they'll probably find it hard to get a job; however, using the money they get from the government to fund their unhealthy eating habits is beyond any justification! Why don't they use it to lose weight, feel better about themselves and find a job? Nope, they obviously seek to get even fatter, in order to keep getting the help - that's how I see it from here, although I still have a ray of hope that there's more to this story than appears right now.

This thread should be about this family and people who abuse the system  claiming that they are too fat to work. My grandmother is overweight but she was working for 35 years; I read some similar stories here. This is not about media pressure, abs or looks but about people who are obviously able to work, but... let's give them the benefit of the doubt, maybe some additional info will come up.

I found this article from this June on thisislancashire.co.uk. From what I have read about them, it looks like they are just trying to make more money off the media attention they got from that first article, imo.

"X FACTOR reject Emma Chawner, her sister and father have been labelled ‘bullies’ after ‘terrorising a vulnerable and elderly widow' as she pruned her roses.
Anny Duxbury was left speechless after being subjected to foul-mouthed abuse by the Chawners, who are originally from Ramsbottom, after they returned home from a shopping trip, Preston magistrates heard.
The Chawners, who moved to Great Harwood after they were evicted from their Ramsbottom home four years ago, claimed their neighbours 'hated' them because of their TV exposure.
Emma said: "Ever since my family has been on the TV all my neighbours have been getting at us, and picking on us, and getting us done for things we haven't done."
Prosecutor Stephen Burns said Mrs Duxbury was chatting with her friend Angela Whittle, at her garden gate, when the Chawners pulled up in their car.
The pair began laughing and could hear 'mocking' laughter from the car, said Mr Burns. He alleged that the trio waited until Mrs Whittle had left so they could launch their tirade without any witnesses.
Giving evidence, Mrs Duxbury said: "I was very upset. I thought what have I done to deserve this? I have never said anything to them - I never talked to them."
The Chawners were initially given £80 fixed penalty notices, for their behaviour, but decided to contest the matter before magistrates.
The court heard that dad Philip Chawner, 57, said: "Look it's that f****** b****", as they unloaded groceries from the car in Russell Place, Great Harwood.
And his daughter Emma, 22, made a similar comment as she was walking to her home, opposite Mrs Duxbury's smart terrace.
Her sister Samantha, 24, trailing behind, also said: "You are nothing but a f****** old witch".
The Chawners were each convicted of using threatening behaviour after a three-hour trial in Preston and conditionally discharged for 12 months.
Each must pay £90 compensation to Mrs Duxbury, for the mental trauma she endured, and £80 court costs apiece.
Passing sentence, magistrates chairman Colin Davidson said: “You have terrorised a vulnerable and elderly lady. You are all younger than her and you should know better.
“Bullying is detestable and you didn’t need to do it.”
Magistrates also made a 12-month restraining order, banning the Chawners from having any contact with their victim.
The court heard Philip is currently on income support and Emma does not work and is reliant on her father for money. Samantha is currently in work but is off sick.
The Chawners first rose to fame after Emma was rejected by the X Factor in 2007, with judge Simon Cowell telling her she had the 'voice of a baby' at an audition.
Later either Emma or the family together filmed a variety of reality TV shows from The Chawners' Last Chance to Big Brother's Bit On The Side.
Currently they are appearing with their mother Audrey on repeats of Lorraine Kelly's Big Fat Challenge on the Biography Channel.
Tonight's episode sees Emma and Sam packed off to a 'fat camp'."

So, at least one of them *does* work, but is on sick leave.  And isn't appearing on TV shows "work"?  Don't they get paid? 

And it would seem the "big fat challenge" would maybe be some sort of weight loss show.  There is probably pay involved as well as an effort to lose weight.

Bad behavior aside, seems like these folks are not the lazy asses the first article portrayed, but are rather trying to capitalize on their 15 seconds of fame and make some money with the crazy reality tv.  Isn't that making money and why is it *wrong*?  Idiotic, maybe, but if that's their dream, why should they not go for it for all they can?

My Mom was also a big woman but worked until she was 80 and at a very physical job.She made no excuses and she gave as good as she got and always was proud of the woman she was..as was I.

The media is of course a lot to the blame for even airing programs like these but they also could have walked away and just said no.What I also don't get is how they could ridicule their elderly neighbor when they must know how hurtful it is
.People can be cruel no matter what their size,color,religion or looks.An unforunate part of human nature for sure!!

I doubt they are getting all that much money, but you are right, they are getting a heck of a lot of support!  And their income from all sources should be considered the next time they come up for recertification.  We don't know all sources of the supplemented income or even if the stated amount is valid.

In general, people should contribute through work or volunteering or whatever means whenever and however they can.  A lot of people don't.  A lot of people are out peddling drugs and doing other criminal activity instead of having a job.  I hope at least this family is on the right side of the law.