Thread: OFT London protest rally 1st December

Written over another thread.

************************
Posted:- 19th Deecember 2006

Well the protest rally went ahead. Turnout was slightly disappointing and I suppose that there was up to about 80 people. Considering that we have a registered user base of approaching 100,000 -- and the other groups involved in the region of about 15,000 it was probably rather poor.
Still it was quite a lot of fun. Everybody was very good-natured and it was great to meet people and to put some faces to the names.
After gathering for about 45 minutes we decided that we would approach the OFT and see if we could get anyone to come and speak to us. We told the police in advance that we were going to go up to the door because we didn't want anybody to start thinking that we were invading the building.
As we approach the building these security men on duty close the door and locked it. They spoke to was briefly through the glass and made it clear that we were not welcome and that there was nobody there to speak to us.
I have to say that these security men at the OFT look extremely heavy and burly. They seem to act quite aggressively and it seemed to me that they looked quite out of character for what is an ordinary government building. I had a real sense that maybe they had been brought in for the day precisely because of our protest meeting. If this is true then they have seriously misjudged The Consumer Action Group. It seems that they still do not realise that we are a moderate group, that we occupy the moral high ground -- in particular with respect to our dealings with the Office of Fair Trading and that our approach is merely to inform people of their rights and to encourage them to use available procedures to enforce those rights.
I can only say that it seems that the Office of Fair Trading must be living on a different planet. Also for a public body whose responsibility is to businesses and consumers to refuse to speak to a group such as ours which could be said to represent 100,000 people and has at its core the interests of millions of others seems to be an extraordinary insolence.
If there is another protest rally next year, it is likely that we will have a user base of a quarter of a million people. Will the OFT still refuse to speak to us then?
Eventually we came away from the porch of the building. A policeman came to me and said that he had a message from the OFT press office and that they would be prepared to speak with me alone. I asked the policeman to say to them that if they would be prepared to let us know in advance what it was they would be prepared to discuss then I would be happy to go into the meeting.
The message came back that they were not prepared to give any advance indication of subjects for discussion and that the invitation to speak was now withdrawn.
I still take this as a refusal.
You may like to know that a few weeks ago there had been a contact with the OFT. A meeting had been discussed and they seemed very keen. However we then replied to them asking questions as to what was going to be discussed, would notes be taken and if so would we be allowed to receive a copy of the minutes of the meeting.
The result of this request was that a message was received from them saying that they thought that there was no basis for a meeting


========================= ========================= ===========


On an amusing side note you may be interested to know that the London Square in which the OFT building is situated also contains the London headquarters of KPMG.
Apparently someone came out on the KPMG building and thanked us are helping him to get back his bank charges. He had to go back to the building very quickly because he said that the management had sent an e-mail to all employees warning them that anyone who got involved with our protest rally would face disciplinary action!
Nice to know that we are making an impact

Similar Threads:

• CAG Rally
• Protest Against Unfair Bank Charges- 1 December 2006- Central London

Hope it is going well,
I just checked the BBC News site,its the big news in the money section! Lets hope there is some good coverage later!

Hope you all had a stirling time xxx

BBC NEWS | Business | Protests grow over overdraft fees

Elsinore

No, but here's some good stuff on channel 5

Five News: features story

Elsinore

I've just come back from the protest. It went fairly well, there was a lot of press there and many people did interviews. The OFT refused to let us in. There were lots of police too but they were low key and generally friendly.

And it didn't start to rain until I'd left the others in the Princess Louise. ;-)

Good to meet everyone there and put names to faces.

Thanks for the update Nursie. Sounds like it was a good showing.

As soon as admin goes away the site goes doolally!!

Elsinore

Muwuhahahaha, I'm not under the influence of anything, honest like

Cracking day out, but I doubt my head will agree tomorrow!!

Cheers (hic)

Michael

O.K. Michael, we'll let you off tonight, but tomorrow you must give us a blow by blow account of the proceedings.

There must be many, like me, who would have loved to have been there. So the best we can hope for is some anecdotes.

Here's to ya! (Lindemans Cawarra Shiraz Cabernet)

Elsinore

Originally Posted by elsinore

O.K. Michael, we'll let you off tonight, but tomorrow you must give us a blow by blow account of the proceedings.

There must be many, like me, who would have loved to have been there. So the best we can hope for is some anecdotes.

Here's to ya! (Lindemans Cawarra Shiraz Cabernet)

Elsinore

Can you not let me off tomorrow too, given that I'm not very sober at all?

Cheers

Michael

Rough summary (not entirely serious - make up your own minds):

1400: People arrive. Police have a pronounced presence, with a van in the Square itself, and some horses around the corner.

1430: Around 50 have turned up, including a bunch of CAGers, a delegation from PC, and three folk from iva.co.uk, who cleverly spotted the bandwagon, and lengthened the list of organisations supporting the rally by 50% (from 2 to 3), thus making it look even more impressive.

1445: BF approaches the entrance, announces his presence, is answered by a member of security. All notice that rather conveniently the rotating doors are "out of order". Upon enquiring whether or not someone from the OFT will be attending, the door is locked in his face.

1500: The invitation is repeated. Apparently the OFT now does want to send someone down. The door remains locked, rather humorously causing couriers and OFT staff to be denied access to the building.

1530: Nobody has emerged from the door. Decision is made to disperse. Someone mentions the word "public" in a sentence, and is immediately greeted by "Pub? What a splendid idea!". The police are thanked for their work, and issued with CAG business cards. Most of party decamps to the Princess Louise to start the party early.

1600: Approximately two dozen protestors arrive at the PL, and are told that the upstairs lounge bar will be open from 6pm.

1730: Five News airs. Nobody is watching it, due to lack of TV in the pub.

1745: Commotion as people start to move upstairs.

1755: Queue builds up as the door to the lounge is locked. The Pink and Green Brigade decide to swap shirts. In the absence of any opposition, they resolve to merely swap shirts with each other instead, causing much confusion later in the evening.

1757: Signs of unrest as the lounge is still not open.

1800: Someone opens the upstairs door. Cries of "about time too!" abound.

1900: Many revellers not from the protest arrive. Signs of inebriation apparent in some of the early birds.

1930: More random people entirely unconnected with CAG start to turn up. Repositioning now becomes necessary.

1939: Germany invade Poland. War is declared.

1945: War over, we win 2-0. Hurrah.

1945.30: Detonation of atomic bomb above Holborn destroys any remaining poor-taste war references with extreme prejudice.

2000: BF sets up a bar tab for CAG members. And there was much rejoicing.

2030: Signs of inebriation apparent in a larger number of CAGers. Possible link to bar tab conjectured.

2100: Bookie points out that size does matter, and that she prefers a large one. I point out that a small one is generally easier to handle and less intrusive, and often produces pictures that are just as good. The situation continues downhill from here, however, a good time is evidently had by all.

Doubtless someone will do a more serious write-up later, while we take the damage report. So far, I see a page on the BBC, though its tense agreement leaves a little to be desired. Written at 1240, a good hour before the protest begins, it states it has already taken place. Five News - complete with video clip (I assume - they're using some crazy-a*s plugin that breaks in my browser). MoneyExpert previews it. Even the LSE has its take on it. Namechecks on MoneyNews.

Any word on the total of TV appearances? That is where we can judge our real exposure for now - anything that turns up in the papers tomorrow is a bonus.

I think I've been well beaten to the summary by Nursie, Joa & meagain. "The first half of the day was dignified, serious and intelectual affair.....the latter part of the day was ....NOT" - yup, think that sort of covers it (meagain - hilarious mate!)

First time I've ever been involved in a protest thingy, and I'm definitely up for doing more. It was brilliant to meet everyone and put faces to names of folks that I've been chatting on here with for the last 9 months

I'm just amazed that I didn't manage to lose my brolly!

Cheers

Michael

for my part i enjoyed meeting those that i ahve spoken to and argued with on here since joining, i was disappointed to have to leave early, esepically after hearing about the bar tab!!

Glad you got home ok michael, really surpised the brolly did too though.

Sorry i didnt get more time to chat to others, its the 1st time ive been on a rall organised by a forum and i can honestly say that it was so good to put faces to the screen names.


Glenn