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'Scrounger' Mum Hits Back After Crowdfund Campaign To Get Her Family To Disney

'Scrounger' Mum Hits Back After Crowdfund Campaign To Get Her Family To Disney

Bristol Mum wants to send her kids to Disney - but sets up Crowdfunding page to get them there.

Michael Minay

Michael Minay

When was the last time you asked someone for cash? Even better, asked a stranger for money? Maybe a quick 20p as you've fallen just short for the car park?

Well, a mum from Bristol has sparked outrage after taking it to the next level.

Nikki Smith set up a GoFundMe page in a bid to raise £5,000 to help send her family to Disneyland, Florida.

Her two daughters, aged 12 and 10, are Disney obsessed.


The initial page was taken by Nikki who just wants to give her girls a holiday to remember. Credit: SWNS

Nikki, who works as a part-time healthcare assistant, says that she isn't a scrounger and wants to do it to show how much "I appreciate and love" the children.

The mum-of-two works two nights a week at a local hospital but says she can't take on any more work for cash "because of childcare".

The page was initially set up last Monday, but was taken down by Nikki following some critical comments.

"PAY FOR YOUR OWN HOLIDAYS!" one man wrote, while a woman posed the question "why should the rest of us scrimp and save?"

The 33-year-old mum said that she had to stop going on social media as her friends began to share it (along with 19,000 others), comments came piling in, and she became concerned for her children's safety at school.

But, it was later put up again by Nikki and has already seen donations totalling £90 by six people.

"At the moment they're still so innocent and they believe in magic" - Nikki wants to take her daughters to Flordia. Credit: PA

"People were calling me a beggar and a scrounger, but I didn't put it on there for that reason.

"I work a zero hours contract... my parents both work... and the children are too young to be left alone.

"I have got bills and shopping and everything, and children. I have got a little bit of money, but not enough to be able to save up to take them away."

Nikki reckons that by the time she will have saved enough to get them across the pond, the kids will be 20.

It seems even her own dad wasn't too sure what to make of it.

"My dad said, 'What have you done now?!' But all my other family have been very supportive", she added.

So, was it a clever decision? Even Nikki is a little on the fence.

"I regret putting it up now - I wish I had never thought about it.

"Everyone is saying, 'You can't expect me to put my hard-earned savings into your holiday when I can't even take my children away,' but I wasn't asking them to do that.

"I'm not a bad person. I'm a good mum. The main thing on my mind was to just make my children happy and give them a treat."

There are currently huge pressures on the government to change the rules surrounding zero hour contracts.

Last week it was announced that record numbers (910,000 people) were on the contracts which give workers no set hours per week.

In 2005, there were just 100,000 people on such deals.

ZHC's have negative effects from three sides: the worker - with uncertainty over hours and pay; the employer - with possible headlines surrounding exploitation; and finally the government - with employees on zero hours likely to be more reliant on benefits.

Labour chief Jeremy Corbyn raised the issue in the recent budget report after the chancellor Philip Hammond skipped it.

It would seem for now though that Nikki will be working longer and harder with no support, seemingly, from the government or the man in the street.

Featured Image Credit: SWNS

Topics: Disneyland