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
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/.
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