SADIQ KHAN branded the dismissive treatment of complaints by Grenfell Tower residents about fire safety a disgrace at the inquiry into the disaster today.

The inability of the block’s landlord to consider the “welfare of those living in the tower as a priority … left people feeling that they were looked down upon, disrespected and ignored,” Anne Studd QC, speaking on behalf of the Mayor of London, told the inquiry. 

Ms Studd said the Kensington & Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (TMO), which ran the west London residential block and oversaw its refurbishment, was “everything a TMO should not be.”

She said: “It was not community based, it was not co-operatively run, it was not representative and it was not responsive to residents’ needs or feedback.”

Ms Studd urged the inquiry to look at whether the treatment of the tower’s residents demonstrated “institutional indifference” towards them.

Her evidence follows opening statements on Monday by bereaved families and survivors about their treatment at the hands of TMO and the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea Council (RBKC). 

The inquiry heard how residents who raised concerns about fire safety during the refurbishment were bullied and their fears treated as “unwarranted.” 

Concerns raised before the blaze, including fire doors that would not close and a malfunctioning smoke ventilation system, both of which played a significant role in the disastrous 2017 fire, were dismissed. 

Concluding the mayor’s submission, Ms Studd said the inquiry “must provide the answers as to … why no-one took responsibility for this building being so dangerous in the event of a fire when the residents themselves, without any expertise, appear to have been able to recognise the risks.”

Martin Seaward QC, representing the Fire Brigades Union, also gave evidence today, focusing on the firefighters’ use of the tower’s lift. 

Mr Seaward said the lifts should have been designed so that firefighters could use a key to take control of its operation. When officers tried on the night, the mechanism did not work. 

Because of this, firefighters were not able to transport rescue equipment earlier in the blaze, he said.

The lawyer rejected views by one of the inquiry’s expert witnesses that the lift had not worked because firefighters used the wrong key. 

Instead he suggested the key did not work because dust from building works during the refurbishment had clogged up the mechanism. 

The inquiry into the disaster on June 14 2017, which killed 72 people, now breaks until April 19.