Fraudulent banks, utility companies and corrupt courts

[Stilton Cheesewright]

Guy Taylor still battling on. Interview on UK Column. He is going to Hereford Crown Court on December 10th and 11th 2015. May see Stilton Cheesewright there batting for the opposition?

 

Guy did indeed appear at Hereford Crown Court this week. He was previously convicted of trespass at Bodenham Manor for which he was sentenced to:

 

• a 12 month community order:
• 150 hours of community work
• a £1000 fine
• a restraining order not to go near Bodenham Manor or it's owner.

Unfortunately I could not attend the hearing personally so I am not entirely sure whether he sought to appeal the conviction or the sentence. Similarly I don't know the grounds for his appeal although he has long maintained that the original warrant used to evict him from the property was fraudulent and thus he could not be guilty of trespass. As I have previously observed any warrant in any case in which Guy has even a passing interest is, according to him, fraudulent. 

 

I am told that his appeal was rejected and he was to pay £650 towards the costs of the Crown Prosecution Service. He will now be subject to the original sentence which was suspended pending the appeal.

 

He has talked for some time about mounting private prosecutions against the agency and or the individuals enforcing the warrant against him but this latest reverse plus the fact that since 2012 he has been an undischarged bankrupt makes such action unlikely.

 

I also understand that Bodenham Manor has been resold in two lot i.e. the building and the land and that as reported above planning permission has been sought to demolish the building.

[twowheelsgood]

Don't know how relevant this is now, but spotted on the planning applications yesterday that someone is after permission to demolish the manor and build 5 properties - won't link for some reason, but the application reference is P153090/F

 

It's 1 x 5 bedroomed property, not 5 properties! It's badly worded.

[megilleland]

Don't worry we will take your money - we need to look after ourself.

 

The Guardian - Patrick Collinson

Saturday 2 January 2016

 

How Halifax penalises its insurance customers for their loyalty

 

When an elderly woman found her building insurance premiums too steep to pay, Halifax simply reopened her former mortgage account

 

How much should the buildings insurance be on a £250,000 terrace house in Redcar, north-east England? It probably wouldn’t be difficult to find quotes for less than £200. Yet what the son of the elderly woman living alone in the house found after going through her papers following her death in 2010 brings shame on one of our biggest financial institutions, Halifax.

 

Mrs Laurie (I’ve changed her name) had always been good with managing her money. She dutifully paid the home insurance premium demanded by Halifax every year, even though it kept going up. But when it hit £450 she could no longer afford to pay it.

 

What was Halifax’s response? Did it review the premium and reduce it to reflect the prices that other people were paying in the market? Oh no. What Halifax appears to have done is reopen her former mortgage account with the bank, then charge the insurance premiums to that account. Halifax then continued jacking up the price every year, to a vastly inflated £800 at the time of her death – a figure her son says is around six times the going rate. The final insult was that Halifax charged interest on the unpaid premiums, making ever more profit out of its elderly, loyal and vulnerable customer.

 

Mrs Laurie’s son discovered the situation when going through his mother’s papers after her death. He knew his parents had paid off their mortgage with Halifax many years ago, so was, in his words, “startled†to find there was a balance owing on her mortgage account of nearly £3,000. This was the amount that Halifax had charged in inflated home insurance premiums, plus the interest compounded on top.

 

“My mother had been good at managing money, but as she got old she couldn’t face change so she persisted in dealing with the same companies. These organisations appear to be exploiting vulnerable people who are unable, for one reason or another, to deal with the hassle of constantly renegotiating terms,†says her son.

 

When I first wrote in early December that loyal, mostly elderly, customers of home insurance companies were being royally ripped off, I didn’t know quite how bad the situation had become. Since then I have been swamped with astonishing tales. When the elderly are conned into paying thousands of pounds for shoddy new front drives by rogue tarmacers, the perpetrators can end up in prison. Yet home insurance company bosses are more likely to be awarded a knighthood for services to the financial services industry.

 

I put Mrs Laurie’s case to Halifax. How could it possibly justify its actions? It said it gives customers the “facility†to pay their home insurance through their mortgage account, and that Mrs Laurie “would have received annual mortgage statements each year, which will have shown the debiting of the annual premium along with payments made and total interest charged for that yearâ€. It added that Mrs Laurie had made two claims for storm damage in 2005 and 2006, which her son does not dispute, though he believes their value was significantly less than the annual premiums.

 

Halifax admits it put up her premiums by 5% every year between 2001 and 2010. It does not say why. Burglaries were on a downward trend throughout that period. Its main defence is that it sent Mrs Laurie documents every year with the price shown and the option to cancel. But at least Halifax has, in this case, shown remorse. After re-examining the case it has agreed to repay £3,753.86, which is a generous settlement. However, the offer was accompanied by the usual statement that this is not an admission of liability.

 

I am determined to keep highlighting the miserable behaviour of home insurance companies when it comes to loyal customers. Keep your stories coming in – the file is getting thicker by the day, with, sadly, some real shockers arriving.

[megilleland]

Guy Taylor interview on UK Column concerning his arrest on Sunday with no warrant. Starts at 06:05 into programme. UK Column also highlighted treatment of bailiffs (starts at 22:20) who bullied woman to pay fine for dropping a cigarette butt in Wigan, but she doesn't smoke and has never been to Wigan. Story also covered here in Daily Mail.

[megilleland]

 

Guy Taylor has been off the radar recently, but has made a comeback in Aberystwyth Magistrates this week with interesting results. UK Column report here - starts at beginning of programme.

 

Note this report of same clerk of court (Michael Cray) who obviously enjoys taking matters into his own hands. Maybe trying to emulate another Welshman from history the infamous Judge Jeffries.

 

 

[megilleland]

News today that Guy Taylor has died from cancer illness. Always taking a stand against the establishment, I liked the chap and came across him as I delivered his post, usually from the authorities hounding him. Condolences to his family.

See Guy in action here:

[Roger]

The comments section on that video suggest he was a cult hero. Did he make a positive impact on Hereford? I think not. 

[megilleland]

That's the good position postmen are in when they get to know their customers. They get a more balanced view of people they deliver to and don't jump to conclusions. It's nice talking to people outside the clique and seeing their approach to life. It makes you a better person.