'Its free money' Shameless mother funds globetrotting holiday with benefits
A JOBLESS mother has admitted funding her lavish round-the-world trip with "free money" from the British taxpayer.
Shameless Kay Bird confessed to spending her benefit payments travelling across the globe with her 10-month-old daughter earlier this year.
The unemployed 28-year-old receives benefits – despite living with her parents.
I don’t need the money as such and I didn't need to go travelling either but I wanted to so I did
Mother Jill, 54, and 61-year-old stepfather Bob of Gainsborough, Lincolnshire cover all of Ms Bird's expense, including rent and bills.
The mother booked 13 flights, travel visas, accommodation and local spending money with four-months worth of her government handouts.
"If someone’s offering you free money and telling you to take it, you’d have to be a fool not to," she explained.
"I don’t need the money as such and I didn't need to go travelling either but I wanted to so I did."
Ms Bird's benefits continued to be paid into her account while she was away.
She returned to the UK just before the five-week travel window was imposed on people claiming Jobseekers' Allowance.
Ms Bird has admitted she could work, but chooses not to – preferring to spend the time with her daughter Chloe.
Talking about her costly international trip, the mother-of-one said: "I don’t feel guilty and I don’t regret it.
"Once it’s in my bank account it’s up to me how I use it and I decided to spend it on taking the trip of a lifetime.
"It started off just as a holiday to Athens, then things started to fall into place.
"Each time some more money landed in my account, I booked something.
"I started booking flights and accommodation in Europe in October and was booking something with every payment until a few days before I went."
Ms Bird and daughter Chloe jetted-off on their travels last month, when the pair flew to Sydney via London on January 10.
The mother-and-daughter visited Athens, Istanbul, Dubai, Colombo in Sri Lanka, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Bali and Darwin before returning home via Amsterdam.
"I went to the job centre and told them I wanted to go travelling and they told me there was a five-week limit. I came home just within those five weeks so my benefits didn't get cut off," she added.
Ms Bird was living in Rome and studying psychology at La Sapienza university when she fell pregnant.
She flew home to live with her parents as soon as she found out she was expecting a baby.
The mother-of-one said she has not asked her daughter's father, a professional rugby player she met in Rome but who has since moved to Australia, to pay maintenance for their child – because she says she doesn't need it.
She explained: "I’m not your regular single mum on benefits who spends it all in McDonald’s and never leaves the town they were born in. I’m changing the image of what it is to be a benefits mum and proving that if you do it the right way, you can have anything you want.
"They've chosen to eat takeaways and buy the latest gadgets. I chose a different route.
"OK, I don’t have any outgoings so I have been lucky to spend my benefits on this amazing experience but I think single mums get more than enough. Of course people are negative and many people get very jealous.
"But I had only been out of Europe once before I went on benefits and now I’ve had the chance to see some incredible things from tropical beaches to the skyscrapers of Dubai.
"I never would have been able to afford it without benefits."
Ms Bird is now planning her next international holiday to New Zealand.
