Newark mother fighting for new laws after the death of her toddler in Ingoldmells caravan fire
Louisiana-Brooke Dolan was just 2 years old when she died while on holiday in August 2021
Hoping for the backing of MPs, a Newark mother continues her fight for new laws after the loss of her child in a caravan fire while on holiday in Ingoldmells.
Natasha Broadley was enjoying a holiday with her four children in Ingoldmells, Skegness when suddenly, her life changed forever.
On the third night of their stay, Natasha had to get help to light the boiler, ready for a shower. It was around 10 o'clock at night when her, and her youngest daughter were in the shower:
"I just wanted to go in the shower... It was on the third day and I couldn't wait. It's 10:00 o'clock at night, and we've got in the shower - and you just don't think you're going to be saving your family when you've come out the shower.
"I still don't think I would have thought it was a fire, even when my daughter said she smelled smoke, because you just don't - your brain doesn't just click to, 'it's a fire' because you've never come across a fire.
"You just don't think, and when I came out the bathroom door, my gosh, the fire was there. All I had left was a little bit of the dining area, in the living room area."
She says she still can't wrap her head around what happened:
"Obviously when you book a holiday, you really think you are protected. You think you're safe. You go into the holiday mode, and so when we get to the caravan, you really think you are protected.
"But it's your job to make sure that people have got the gas and electric certificates and to make sure you take batteries for your own smoke alarm."
But Natasha is now fighting to change the laws around caravans and smoke alarms, she wants it to be law for every caravan to have a smoke alarm:
"Smoke comes before a fire. So it's just a - what if I smelled that smoke? what if an alarm went off? and so after what I've witnessed, and my baby girl's gone, I just want to make sure that for everybody that is in a caravan, that if anything happened, that there would be a smoke alarm to go off if anything happened."
She told us that she wonders what would have happened if their was one in theirs:
"I look at holiday sites very different now, very different. I would like to go back, because that's where my baby girl... that was our last forever day, and best day... but I'm not ready for that yet. I'm not ready at all. I'm not ready for the smells, the sounds...
"It's just the actual holiday. That's really where I was going, where I went, and I've come back with one less child. When you mention a holiday to me it you it's never gonna feel like holiday anymore, and it's like, what if, what if we had a smoke alarm?
"I'm always in this, 'what if' mode at the minute... so I'm just gonna fight for what's right, and that is smoke alarms in caravans."
Now, later this month Natasha will be speaking to Newark MP Robert Jenrick and hoping to get his backing for the campaign.