AFTER SELLING THE LAND AND PAYING OFF A FEW DEBTS I BOUGHT A ROUND-THE-WORLD  TICKET TO ESCAPE THE ENGLISH WINTER WHICH WAS MY HABIT AND LIKE A MIGRATING BIRD HEADED OFF TO WARMER CLIMES WHICH INCLUDED SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, HAWAII, NEW ZEALAND, AUSTRALIA & HONG KONG...DID YOU KNOW THAT THE MONARCH BUTTERFLY MIGRATES ALL THE WAY FROM ALASKA TO NEW ZEALAND TAKING QUITE A FEW GENERATIONS TO DO SO, STOPPING AT VARIOUS ISLANDS ON THE WAY WHERE THE NEXT GENERATION WOULD INSTINCTIVELY HEAD SOUTH TO N.Z. WHERE THEY WOULD CONFINE THEMSELVES TO QUITE A SMALL AREA  WHERE THE CONDITIONS SUITED THEIR VERY UNIQUE TASTE...ONE COULD ASK "WHY & HOW" BUT REGRETFULLY THERE WERE MORE PRESSING QUESTIONS TO CONFRONT...NAMELY: "THE GRAND RIP-OFF" BY THE POST OFFICE HERE IN THE U.K.

PRIOR TO EMBARKING ON MY ODYSSEY I DEPOSITED £35K FROM THE SALE OF THE LAND INTO THE POST OFFICE FOR SAFE KEEPING/ INVESTMENT AND DURING THE COURSE OF MY TRAVELS THERE STARTED A LITANY WOES BROUGHT ON BY  "THE PEOPLES BANK" i.e. THE POST OFFICE...I WAS AWAY FROM THE U.K. FOR NEARLY 6 MONTHS AND THE P.O. REFUSED TO PAY ME INTEREST ON MONEY THEY HELD ON MY ACCOUNT DURING THAT TIME AND PROTRACTED LETTER WRITING ENSUED THAT LED ME TO  FINALLY APPEAL TO THE FINANCIAL OMBUDSMAN IN A CLASSICAL CASE OF THE SMALL GUY AGAINST "THE BIG BANK" WITH THEIR CRONY FRIENDS IN "HIGH PLACES" THAT DOES NOT RECOGNIZE THAT IT CAN MAKE ANY MISTAKES...THIS WAS THE WINTER OF 07/08 WHEN THE BANKS STARTED THEIR "MELT-DOWN"...

THE FOLLOWING IS A CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS THAT I SENT TO THE OMBUDSMAN:

      The Grand Rip-Off by the Post Office

Chronology:
8th Oct 07:
I deposite a cheque for £35K into the post-office in Queensway, London to open a “Post Office Instant Saver” account that was offering 6% per Annam interest &  which was advertised extensively in the press. On completing a form and providing I.D. plus proof of my address my cheque was accepted.
19th Oct 07:
The Post Office send a letter to me requesting that I provide further info regarding my I.D. and address which I duly did. The letter also stated that I would receive “interest” starting after 3 working days from the deposit date…so far so good…nothing amiss so I thought…but that was not to be as it will all become very clear… “The saga of corporate ineptitude” follows where business ethics appears to be an  anathema.
8th Nov 07:
I depart from London for a round the world trip via L.A. California, N.Z., Australia and Hong Kong with a return date of 17/3/08.This and other trips abroad are a bit of a Cultural Mission where I am like a modern Troubadour spreading “the word and image” that were honed from the land of Albion. See my web-site entitled Visions from Albion at:   http://peterhugomcclure.com
On phoning my mother (Mrs. A. Dinic) early in my travels I learn of another letter from the post office sent to C/O her at her address (I gave her authority to read my letters during my travels) requesting further info regarding my I.D. & address. I actually received a copy of this letter in Auckland, N.Z. being the only place where I was staying long enough to receive a letter. I duly replied to the letter explaining my circumstances.
14th Dec 07:
The Post Office send yet another letter stating: “we are unable to process your application at this present time…” and enclose a cheque for £35K. They do not quantify the amount of money I deposited in any of the letters preceding or following this letter (as if it is a State Secret). I would phone my mother regularly and she would sum-up the contents of any mail sent to me…my mother who is now 88 yrs old was beginning to panic with all this mail from the post office…I told her I would resolve it all on my return to the U.K. which would be months away…so the cheque stays with her and the post office have the use of  “my money” for the interim.
6th Feb 08
Christmas & New Year have passed and the Post Office send a letter C/O my mother acknowledging receipt of my letter from N.Z. and that I was “unhappy”  that my “application” was declined because I gave a C/O address and not a “permanent address”.
N.B. The original form that I filled-in asked for my “address” not my “permanent address” and when you consider the fact that my C/O address was adequate for my driving license and all correspondence with Inland Revenue,
National Insurance  and for receipt of bank statements going back almost 10 yrs…one would think it should be sufficient for the P.O. The fact is that for about 10 yrs I travelled abroad for about 6 months of the year and as such my mothers was the nearest thing I had to a permanent address and as such should of sufficed…where are my “Human Rights”…it has been  very convenient for the post office to decline my “application”….especially if they never had any intention of paying me “interest” and what I would like to know is “how many other people have or are in a similar position?”…i am sure there are many and there is only one way to describe such action: “grand theft”.
In this letter “they” also state that they have up-to 8 wks to resolve my “complaint”…
8th Feb 08
Yet another letter in which “they” state: “…Before we can open an account for you,we need confirmation of I.D. & permanent address and that “no interest” will be paid on my deposit (and again no ref. to the amount).
N.B. I am still in the middle of my travels and unable to respond to all their letters.
21st Mar 08
I return to London and phone the so called “Customer Care Team”, Post Office Financial Services  expressing my displeasure in the way that I had been treated…I also bank the cheque for £35K on 22 Mar 08 exactly 23 weeks after my deposit to the “Peoples Bank” ie: The Post Office.
25rd Mar 08
Another letter from the P.O. received a few days later in which they state: “…We are anxious to reach a mutually acceptable resolution…” which was a bit of a change of tune and provided some hope…that was until I received a letter from the  Bank of Ireland, U.K. Financial Services that was dated:
10th Apr 08
The “buck” had finally been passed on to the Bank of Ireland …and this letter just reiterated what had been said many time before about I.D. & permanent address . If as they stated that they have to comply with government guidelines to avoid money laundering etc…why did they accept my money at the out-set
& the answer is easy: because they profit from the use of my (and other peoples money) interest free which is against all the Laws of Capitalism and if not technically criminal is very unethical & immoral.
So this £35K that “they” seemed to be too embarrassed to be able to quantify and if it is so difficult for them innumerate a simple number…well I do not think they are qualified to be in the Banking Business. Now this money represents my life’s savings and many years of hard honest toil…the sort of toil that generates true wealth and is the complete opposite of “dirty money” that has to be laundered  and the boffins of corporations who think they are immune to the Laws of Justice & Retribution are extremely naive...
It is another example of corporate bosses stealing from the poor just like MillIer/Maxwell/Calvi…money does not buy immortality! Is there any wonder that the financial institutions are in such a mess when they treat all there customers/employees/shareholders with such contempt.

Now for the simple arithmetic  that seems to be alluding boffins in the Post Office and the Bank of Ireland…I Peter Hugo Mcclure deposited in good faith £35k with the P.O. when they were offering 6% per Annam which they had the use of for 23 weeks…I do not wish to digress but this could be a test for children in kinder-garden: “calculate the interest due for this period”…and I am sure they could get the right answer quicker than the average banker can “count how many billions they owe”…
The answer is: £928-85p…and that is how much I am owed!
P.S... This is from 22nd Mar 08
With interest accruing until the debt is paid.
So this is simple arithmetic understood by kinder garden children but seems not to have been understood by many “qualified” (in what i don’t know) adults involved in this fiasco... they choose to turn a blind eye to such an indiscretion.
I do hope that the Post Office / Bank of Ireland will bow down to Reason...
I am your humble servant Peter Hugo McClure.
PS:
You may peruse my web-site and much in the Spirit of William Blake learn something about business ethics and how to treat one’s fellow-men/women...
http://peterhugomcclure.com
 

SO AFTER MONTHS OF NEGOCIATIONS WITH THE  P.O. THEY TELL ME THAT THEIR SAVERS MONEY WAS HELD IN THE "BANK OF IRELAND"...i.e. THE SAVINGS OF MANY ENGLISH PEOPLE AND FOREIGNORS ALIKE WAS DEPOSITED IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY AND WAS THEREFOR NOT AVAILABLE TO OTHER ENGLISH PEOPLE IN NEED OF LOANS AND PRESUMABLY THE P.O. BOFFINS WERE THINKING THAT THEY WOULD GET A BETTER RETURN ON THEIR DEPOSITS AS THE POUNDS WOULD BE CONVERTED TO EUROS AND WOULD RECEIVE HIGHER RATES OF INTEREST...THEY EVEN HAD A VESTED INTEREST FOR THE POUND TO DROP IN VALUE AGAINST THE EURO...AND NO DOUBT THEY WOULD ARGUE THAT IT WAS A VERY PATRIOTIC THING TO DO...IN RETROSPECT A LOT OF PEOPLE HAVE LOST A LOT OF MONEY BY PUTTING THEIR MONEY IN IRISH BANKS AND INVESTMENTS IN IRELAND HAVE ASSUMED "JUNK STATUS" AND IT WILL BE MANY YEARS BEFORE THIS "ASIAN TIGER" RECOVERS!

THERE IS A LITANY OF WOES FROM MANY PEOPLE OF THIS LAND WHO HAVE EXPERIENCED SIMILAR TREATMENT FROM THE BANKS...I AM NOT ALONE! HAVE THE BANKS LEARNED ANYTHING? IT WOULD APPEAR NOT THEY HAVE REVERTED BACK TO THEIR OLD HABITS...PYRAMID & SHORT SELLING IS RIFE! AND ANOTHER DISASTER IS AWAITING IN THE WINGS.

THE FOLLOWING IS A FURTHER LETTER WRITTEN TO THE OMBUDSMAN AND OTHER PARTIES:

 5/11/08 Addition to doc: The Grand Rip-Off

The Governor and Company of The Bank of Ireland continues with the mantra that started with the UK Post Office… “a care of address is not an address”…and there for the money I deposited (£35K) with the Post Office in Oct.07 could not go into a deposit acc. though “they” had my money for over 5 months…and that because of this I am not entitled to any interest on this capital…it’s pathetic that “they” have no vision of the grander picture…and are bereft of responsibility  with less scruples  than a Mafia Boss.
There are many businesses in this country and the world-over that are just fronts for criminal activities…they have very impressive premises and money flows around the world backwards and forwards and many banks are culpable and all this talk about the prevention of laundering dirty money is a sham and the only people that are being hit are ordinary honest citizens and the real criminals are laughing all the way to The Bank…and yet people (including the government) cow-tow to these edifices built on money acquired from crime…they are blinded by the trappings of wealth.
I am a simple person and naïve enough to believe that justice can be meted out in this country but I would rather be naïve than trusting nobody…though when I experience injustice knowing it is just the tip of the ice berg I get angry…very angry and will never rest till justice is done…in these trying times of schadenfreude  we need to examine whether criminal policies under the guise of expediency have been employed by corporations as the public is baying for heads to roll…justice has to be seen to be done and must…there’s no time for just token justice.
The Post Office of Great Britain (though the Great is some what tarnished)) that most citizens regard as The Peoples Bank would appear to of been negligent in the handling of there (or more accurately our money) by transferring it to a third party…The Bank of Ireland based in a foreign country whose funds are not underwritten by the British Government and lot of hard earned money from British citizens is potentially at risk…it is very convenient for the Post Office to deny responsibility for money that was left in “there safe keeping”…if the Post Office “bunged the money” into the Caymen Islands there would have been an out-cry in this country and yet they seem fit to bung it to an Irish Bank…so what’s the difference (legally) between a bank in the Caymen Islands and one in Ireland…
The Bank of Ireland/Post Office Cabal’s only defence to my accusations is that the care of address of my mother is not a proper address…which would seem to suggest that they are living in “cloud-cuckoo-land”…if there is any merit in Natural Justice/Spirit of The Law/The Convention of Human Rights/The Magna Carter etc then “they” have no leg to stand on.
We are going through times of  “radical change” which all honest citizens have long been pining for…to stem the avalanche of Corporate Greed (i.e. the bosses) and grand theft from ordinary people…there is little sympathy when these people loose there homes for failing to service their mortgage or accrue debts to corporate or government institutions…the penalties can be crippling…yet corporate bosses get rewarded for failure…is Great Britain going to become The Great Hardship Britain…I hope not!
Negligent corporate bosses need to be disciplined to restore hope and confidence in “the system”.
With regard to my financial losses as a result this debacle that even a child of five would comprehend i.e. as of Mar.08 when I finally “cashed” the cheque returned to me which includes the interest on the £35K up-to that date plus interest on that amount up to the day of settlement plus an ex gratia payment for damages suffered by me.
If reason had prevailed at the out set a lot of expended energy could have been directed to more constructive and sustainable enterprises.

PS: No doubt that had I died on my travels while spreading the gospel of “honest free enterprise” the £35K cheque that was sent to my “care of address” would never of been cashed and the Bank of Ireland would have been better off to the tune of £35K…and do you think “They” would have made any effort to pass on the money to my estranged estate…I doubt it!

So my little encounter referred to above is an example of  (and one could cite many) depraved corporate bosses enhancing their wealth from the sweat of honest toil…may peace be with you.

                 The money’s slushing
                 Around like water in a…
                 A fast sinking ship

See my  web-site at:    http://peterhugomcclure.com
                                           
5th Nov. 08
Peter Hugo Mcclure
Trewellard Rd, Pendeen
Penzance, Cornwall
TR19 7ST
U.K.
_________________________________________________ 

 

 DOES THIS CONTINUUM HAVE AN END?