Je suis Tom

Tom Crawford is a loving family man from Nottingham with a wife and children. He bought his house over twenty-seven years ago in good faith. He's a hard-working, law-abiding citizen who has recently suffered from cancer. While lying in his sickbed his alleged creditors, The Bradford and Bingley Finance Group plc, tried to repossess his home because of an act of fraud on their part. Due to a pathetic technicality he lost his court case and bailiffs have since harassed him, trying to kick him and his wife out of their home. In July last year the local bailiffs tried to evict Tom and his family, but a huge crowd of well-wishers gathered outside to forcibly prevent the bailiffs from entering. Among them was my friend and fellow radio show host Lisa Sunkmanitu Wakan, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbl5VjvltQ0. The cowardly little bullies that make up the bailiffs company were sent packing. However they're coming back. Tomorrow, January the 23rd, there will be another attempt to evict Tom and his wife from their home. If you can get there, please go and defend him again. I can't go myself, sorry. I wish I could, but no matter. I can spread the word to those who are able to go. The address is 3 Fearn Chase, Carlton, Nottingham, NG4 1DN. The action will begin some time about 10 AM. This is extremely important. Tom's daughter Amanda Pike has made a statement about her parents' predicament:

Morning, everyone! May I first start by saying "thank you!" so very much for the support we are getting its absolutely amazing and just all round lovely!... But, as much as we appreciate each and every one of you, we need more. Secondly, this may be a little long, but please bear with me. I'm just a girl trying my best to help my mum and dad when they need me most. I'm speaking from the heart because I need you to see how much we need you. On the eviction day last time, some reporters attended and were just so so lovely and for that we couldn't be more appreciative. It was reported in so many of the newspapers, and made it onto the television; it really did give us hope and for that we are eternally grateful. We have been told a few may attend next Friday which is totally amazing, and of course we are massively grateful again; so if you are a reporter reading this, please do feel free to contact myself if you needed more information. Okay so the thing is, I need help with ideas and who to contact, whether that be on Facebook or Twitter (Ah the demon in my personal, not remotely tech-savvy head... I'm just rubbish with it, ha ha!). So if anyone can help with that side of it; I'm not even sure who to Tweet or what pages to post on but, any is better then none. I'm not just talking the press, but maybe famous personalities, or parties or businesses. I don't know, I'm probably rambling, but we have six days including today until Friday, so it isn't very long at all. This isn't any old plight, my parents will be made homeless; I mean properly they'll loose everything they have paid for, if Bradford and Bingley succeed. All we need is for people to help us and the powers-that-be to listen and look at our evidence, and stop this! Bradford and Bingley, now Asset management resolution, do this numerous times a day. This is second nature to them, in fact their CEO Richard Banks (who is aware of our situation because Dad has written to him personally) says he does it for peoples' own sake. Well in our case it certainly is not helping us. (I'm actually at a loss to think of anyone eviction would help!) We have paid in full, its not our fault they cocked up and don't want to admit it, and fess up to making a mistake... but it is never to late! I'd guess that some people involved in the decision-making of our case, even down to bailiffs and the police, may see us as a pain. How dare we try to stop this! Others involved may tell themselves that the bank has to be right and see us as a challenge to win, and make a point to the world. But ask to see my dad, he will gladly sit down and show you our proof. We might be seen as trouble makers, we should toe the line and do as we are told, but... why should we when we have paid in full? In fact Bradford and Bingley actually owe us money. All we are doing is trying to keep a roof over heads and keep safe. We lawfully own a teeny tiny spot in this world of ours that comes in the shape of 3 Fearn Chase and we cant let that go. We have too many memories here and have had to many laughs and tears to just let people take it from us, when we have done nothing wrong. Not to mention the fact we are one and a half years over the end of our twenty-five year mortgage! You may be thinking, you know people came last time, they don't need me; honestly, hand on heart, that couldn't be further from the truth. Of course we need you. If this was your mum and dad, your nan or granddad or your neighbour would you sit back and let this happen? I know you wouldn't, because having seen for myself I know ninety-nine percent of people out there are good. You don't want to see innocent people out on the street, in the cold left with nothing; who have already been through so much. All Bradford and Bingley had to do was admit they made a mistake and leave us be, I just don't understand. I will never understand. The more people that find out about this the better. I have watched my mum and dad return home from work every day exhausted. Over the years I watched my mum and dad upset and stressed trying to make ends meet, which they always managed, but often going without to make sure we had a meal, I have also seen what this has done to both of them. My father, as you know, hasn't been well of late and in the thick of all this nearly died numerous times, which they knew about but didn't care. He is improved, but he is most defiantly still recovering and my mother has had to bare the brunt of all this and it has taken its toll on her. It's heart-wrenching for me and my brother and sister to see. We got seven days notice, seven days to pack up a home of twenty-seven years. Why were we given so little time?... At a guess, so that we couldn't get help, but how wrong they were huh? What they don't realise is that we have you.

Our new friends and family... we have people who know right from wrong and we have determination. We won't be terrorised, we won't be bullied and we will get justice. If we give up what kind of people would we be? Many people have been driven to giving up, they can be forgiven for that, we understand but not us, never!... We are not just doing this for us we are doing this for others... someone has to, because this cannot go on any longer. Please, I will beg if I have to, help us get the word out, Tweet people, post on Facebook pages and groups, tell your friends and family. We will get this to court one way or another and you are alllll welcome to join us that day, because it is coming. Good has to beat these crooks. We only have you and each other to help us. Legislations and laws are being totally ignored and disregarded in our case and we don't know why, we can prove one hundred percent that what is happening is unlawful. We are not a big corporation, nor are we rich, but what we are rich in is heart and guts and love, and with these things we will fight this until our last breath, because it's wrong. They have taken enough of my parents' lives, so for them and others going through this, this has to stop. As Dad says, come and stand with us in solidarity, and I'll say, we'd be ever so grateful x. Join us at 10am on Jan the 23rd 2015 for peaceful support at 3 Fearn Chase, Carlton, Nottingham. NG4 1DN

See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_np7fv2xxs.

What is it that makes a man become a bailiff? It's insane and obscene when you think about it. The poet Heathcote Williams used the term "blind dwarves" to refer to whalers, but it could equally well apply to bailiffs. To think that somebody would deliberately join a profession which involves robbing their own people? It may be a cliche, but it is literally like a turkey investing in the Christmas industry. They're no better than the Kapos, the guards in Nazi Germany employed to protect the Auschwitz camp and the Jewish ghettoes, even though they themselves were often Jews. The irony is that bailiffs themselves need a place to live; they have fraudulent mortgages too. If they default then their own colleagues will turn up at their door to kick them out into the street. Does it really have to go that far before these mindless goons develop a conscience and intellect? So much oppression and injustice goes on because it's committed by people who are "just doing my job, mate!"

Lisa has done a special show about this case on her station Cry Freedom Radio, see: http://www.mixcloud.com/lisashunkahawanagi/the-cry-freedom-show-live-wed-21st-january-2015-eviction-special-tom-crawford/.