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Online Exclusive: Mike's blog - "Gremlins"
Alas I have not had my hand on the blog tiller of late. Have you ever had a run of kamikaze work commitments where you feel like you’re digging a hole in a blizzard, while a cheeky wee gremlin fills it in as soon as your back is turned? Well I’ve given the gremlin his jotters, so here I am, unless he takes me to the employment tribunal.
One of the most ridiculous days I had was Wednesday 25th November. I may do a bit of ‘T.M.I.’ here, so brace yourself. I was in the shower getting ready to fly to London when the BBC rang to say could I do a live on-air radio interview on the Supreme Court’s judgment on bank charges, which Lord Phillips was due to deliver to a media scrum later that morning. Doing a Mystic Meg, as hindsight now tells me, is never wise. But no-one – not even the bankers - thought the banks would win!?!
As luck would have it I was on my way to power-central that morning, Canary Wharf, where shiny sky scrapers tower over the sky-line of London’s East End. I had a five hour FSA Consumer Panel meeting to attend. As I was about to board the plane, the BBC phoned to say we (the great British public) had lost the case and could I do a live piece to the midday news when I landed. Now that might be ample preparation time for our criminal law brothers and sisters, but for us civil law folk it’s a little tight.
I managed to do a précis of the judgment (without breaking aviation laws) and phoned the interview in from City airport. Besides the two second time echo down the mobile, it was difficult to concentrate as the airport security guards had apparently marked me out as a suspicious looking character. As which point I made my excuses and left the building.
The rest of the day was equally bonkers. In a taxi en route to the Wharf I called Martin Lewis MoneySavingExpert (MSE). Martin has enough energy to power a small island nation. Just speaking to him makes you feel like you’ve basked in the life rejuvenating flames from that 1960s movie, She. Martin was outside the Supreme Court with a scrum of bankers, campaigners and the media. We discussed tactics before I ended up being put onto his speakphone as we tried to take the bankers to task.
Before my meeting started at the FSA, I managed to have a consultation over the phone with senior counsel in London, and brief The Herald’s leader writer on what this meant for UK consumers. Heading back to Glasgow was more of the same, and securing the job of instructing a team of barristers who specialised in banking law to come up with the ways forward on behalf of MSE.
It was important to get the real story out to the media because there was more than a legal battle going on here. There was a publicity battle between the banks and campaigners who wanted a fair deal for consumers. There was also the small matter of a potential refund pot of £15bn for citizens.
The machinery of the banks had now swung into action with a vengeance – they had painted a powerful picture that their win before the Supreme Court brought an end to any argument that bank charges were unfair and refundable. Indeed this week, they have been writing to one million or so customers saying that their complaints must go into the bin. If only the Masters of the Universe had used that steely resolve to run their businesses as effectively?
Any hope of the OFT raising new test case proceedings was dashed when they threw in the towel late last month. The truth of the matter was Lord Phillips himself explained that the Supreme Court’s judgment did “not resolve the myriad cases that are currently stayed in which customers have challenged Relevant Charges” (para 61 of the court’s judgment). In particular, he made it clear that “it remained open to question whether bank charges were fair” in relation to regulation 5(1) of the UTCCR (para 80 of the Supreme Court’s judgment).
I went onto the Today programme with John Humphreys to explain how the fight was far from over – particularly as our legal team had also identified an additional powerful route of challenge under consumer credit legislation. I was tempted to say I felt like Bobby Ewing coming out of the shower in Dallas – after he had been killed off and written out the series – only to discover that the last two and half years hadn’t really happened. I decided that might be a bit cheeky for Radio 4. Remember we had got £1bn refunded to customers before the OFT stepped in!
The British Bankers Association’s CEO, Angela Knight dumped her Radio 4, and Radio Scotland, appearances with me that day – literally at the last minute. How do you defend the indefensible? That said, she did have the brass neck to tell the BBC’s MoneyBox that I hadn’t read the court’s judgment. Good grief, that gremlin’s back again. I must go as there’s shoveling to do … just enough time to say Govan Law Centre has posted new bank charge letters online at Govan Law Centre And MSE’s new guide should be out next week. The fight goes on, it has to.
Mike
Source: Features : Online Exclusive: Mike : THE FIRM : SCOTLAND'S INDEPENDENT LAW JOURNAL
Alas I have not had my hand on the blog tiller of late. Have you ever had a run of kamikaze work commitments where you feel like you’re digging a hole in a blizzard, while a cheeky wee gremlin fills it in as soon as your back is turned? Well I’ve given the gremlin his jotters, so here I am, unless he takes me to the employment tribunal.
One of the most ridiculous days I had was Wednesday 25th November. I may do a bit of ‘T.M.I.’ here, so brace yourself. I was in the shower getting ready to fly to London when the BBC rang to say could I do a live on-air radio interview on the Supreme Court’s judgment on bank charges, which Lord Phillips was due to deliver to a media scrum later that morning. Doing a Mystic Meg, as hindsight now tells me, is never wise. But no-one – not even the bankers - thought the banks would win!?!
As luck would have it I was on my way to power-central that morning, Canary Wharf, where shiny sky scrapers tower over the sky-line of London’s East End. I had a five hour FSA Consumer Panel meeting to attend. As I was about to board the plane, the BBC phoned to say we (the great British public) had lost the case and could I do a live piece to the midday news when I landed. Now that might be ample preparation time for our criminal law brothers and sisters, but for us civil law folk it’s a little tight.
I managed to do a précis of the judgment (without breaking aviation laws) and phoned the interview in from City airport. Besides the two second time echo down the mobile, it was difficult to concentrate as the airport security guards had apparently marked me out as a suspicious looking character. As which point I made my excuses and left the building.
The rest of the day was equally bonkers. In a taxi en route to the Wharf I called Martin Lewis MoneySavingExpert (MSE). Martin has enough energy to power a small island nation. Just speaking to him makes you feel like you’ve basked in the life rejuvenating flames from that 1960s movie, She. Martin was outside the Supreme Court with a scrum of bankers, campaigners and the media. We discussed tactics before I ended up being put onto his speakphone as we tried to take the bankers to task.
Before my meeting started at the FSA, I managed to have a consultation over the phone with senior counsel in London, and brief The Herald’s leader writer on what this meant for UK consumers. Heading back to Glasgow was more of the same, and securing the job of instructing a team of barristers who specialised in banking law to come up with the ways forward on behalf of MSE.
It was important to get the real story out to the media because there was more than a legal battle going on here. There was a publicity battle between the banks and campaigners who wanted a fair deal for consumers. There was also the small matter of a potential refund pot of £15bn for citizens.
The machinery of the banks had now swung into action with a vengeance – they had painted a powerful picture that their win before the Supreme Court brought an end to any argument that bank charges were unfair and refundable. Indeed this week, they have been writing to one million or so customers saying that their complaints must go into the bin. If only the Masters of the Universe had used that steely resolve to run their businesses as effectively?
Any hope of the OFT raising new test case proceedings was dashed when they threw in the towel late last month. The truth of the matter was Lord Phillips himself explained that the Supreme Court’s judgment did “not resolve the myriad cases that are currently stayed in which customers have challenged Relevant Charges” (para 61 of the court’s judgment). In particular, he made it clear that “it remained open to question whether bank charges were fair” in relation to regulation 5(1) of the UTCCR (para 80 of the Supreme Court’s judgment).
I went onto the Today programme with John Humphreys to explain how the fight was far from over – particularly as our legal team had also identified an additional powerful route of challenge under consumer credit legislation. I was tempted to say I felt like Bobby Ewing coming out of the shower in Dallas – after he had been killed off and written out the series – only to discover that the last two and half years hadn’t really happened. I decided that might be a bit cheeky for Radio 4. Remember we had got £1bn refunded to customers before the OFT stepped in!
The British Bankers Association’s CEO, Angela Knight dumped her Radio 4, and Radio Scotland, appearances with me that day – literally at the last minute. How do you defend the indefensible? That said, she did have the brass neck to tell the BBC’s MoneyBox that I hadn’t read the court’s judgment. Good grief, that gremlin’s back again. I must go as there’s shoveling to do … just enough time to say Govan Law Centre has posted new bank charge letters online at Govan Law Centre And MSE’s new guide should be out next week. The fight goes on, it has to.
Mike
Source: Features : Online Exclusive: Mike : THE FIRM : SCOTLAND'S INDEPENDENT LAW JOURNAL
