No quick fix from the Financial Ombudsman again this year. We're still waiting to be made public this Ombudsman's decision about the non-payment by standing order of Declan's salary last year. Laptop interference continues unabated
Almost all the images posted in this blog post have had to be transferred to an alternative host website for rectification. In MediaFire, a lot of the images in this Church and State blog have still not been restored to their true size. We had before MediaFire images deleted and exchanged but the extent of this amplification is new to us. I will be writing to them about this in due course.
DAY 308 IN A WEEKLY PERIODIC TENANCY
SUBJECT TO A 'NO FAULT' SECTION 21 NOTICE
MAYOR OF LONDON RSI PROPERTY
14/04/20
With the background as provided above, the Heaveys now are facing an eviction notice from their landlord, Peabody Trust housing association. The tenancy is a flat, which falls under the Mayor of London's Rough Sleepers Initiative. Pardoning my intrusion into English law, but in fairness there does not appear to be any reason for the eviction, relying apparently entirely on the discretion of the landlord.
Joseph R. Carvalko, Esq., American lawyer (full letter here)
Our Church and State website has no less than 61 Nobel Laureates on it despite the never-ending assault on our email; see paragraph 2 under "Church and State" on this blog's sidebar (updated today).
Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms formulates what is the core of free speech. "Everyone has the right to freedom of expression." In an important interpretation of this article, the European Court of Human Rights in Handyside v. UK (1976) indicated that this "freedom of expression" should be construed as follows. It "is applicable not only to 'information' or 'ideas' that are favourably received, or regarded as inoffensive, or as a matter of indifference, but also to those that offend, shock or disturb the State or any sector of the population". Such are the demands of that pluralism, tolerance and broadmindedness without which there is no "democratic society" (see Cliteur, 2010).
There's still nothing on the Financial Ombudsman Service's (FOS) website concerning the Ombudsman's final decision not to uphold Declan's complaint about NatWest's non-payment of his salary by standing order in February 2020 (see the first block below under the title "The Financial Ombudsman's final decision to be published on their website this month?"). This was the first of three complaints Declan submitted last year to the FOS for resolution; he then chose to pay his salary manually for an entire year. Yesterday he heard back from the FOS about the second time, on 7 October 2020, we discovered that NatWest had made an error with the spelling of his surname. Bad as that online error was, it didn't come close to a cashier at NatWest Stratford Broadway branch last July manually changing his surname from Heavey to Henry before transferring £1,850 to St Mungo's by court order. This was another complaint not upheld by the FOS, notwithstanding that Declan received £30 compensation with a final decision letter before the error was resolved with St Mungo's.
The FOS's third investigation into the second name change kicked off yesterday in a manner we didn't expect. Since NatWest referred Declan to the FOS this third time, they've shifted the goalposts in respect of the complaint. They now say in a final decision letter that I need to raise the complaint with the bank, even though the change to the payee name in question relates to Declan's account. It's still not altogether clear which way the investigator comes out on this (FOS ref: PNX-3922737-R0H9):
On Fri, 19 Mar 2021 at 18:18, Declan Heavey wrote:
Dear Ms Brennan,
Thank you for your email. Please find attached the payment information that was input on my wife's account when she tried to make the payment to me. She did not progress past Stage 1 because she first spotted the error in the spelling of my surname. Her account number is *****144 and the sort code is ***208.
To reiterate, I need NatWest to acknowledge the bank's error that prevented my wife from transferring money to my account on 7 October 2020 because the payee name wouldn't verify with the account details. I would again make clear that this problem was subsequently resolved by the bank over the telephone, but I have received no written acknowledgement of the error made by the bank that could have put things right for me.
As previously stated, there can be no resolution of this complaint without an acknowledgement of this error by the bank because of the increased concern generated by the absence of it. Again, I do not believe that NatWest's final response (wherein they state that my wife needs to raise the complaint with them) is fair or appropriate. My wife was just the person that discovered the name change when she attempted to send me a payment.
Yours sincerely,
Declan Heavey
The Financial Ombudsman's final decision to be published on their website this month?
Declan has been dealing with the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) about the RBS's NatWest since February 2020 following the non-payment of his salary by standing order. The Financial Ombudsman has effectively found in a final decision in this case that the Executive Case Manager at RBS wouldn't have been reasonably aware when she paid Declan compensation on 17 February 2020 - in recognition of issues he had experienced in setting up two replacement standing orders on the Network for Church Monitoring account - that there had been some error previously made by NatWest in setting up the replacement standing order for the payment of his salary. Declan's complaint about the subsequent cancellation of the standing order without his knowledge or consent that resulted in the non-payment of his salary on 24 February 2020 was passed by the investigator to an ombudsman, who is the former Team Manager at FOS and has held roles at Alliance and Leicester (now Santander). Below is a link to Declan's response to the ombudsman's decision not to uphold his complaint. FOS has told him that he can expect the decision to be published on their website this month.
26 January: NatWest Bank: Declan responds to the Financial Ombudsman's final decision for their website. Pixsy continues to chase payment for the past non-commercial use of one image on the Church and State website
The Royal Bank of Scotland Group Headquarters in Gogarburn. The RBS owns National Westminster Plc (NatWest).
Declan has been dealing with the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) about the RBS's NatWest since February 2020 following the non-payment of his salary by standing order. The Financial Ombudsman has effectively found in a final decision in this case that the Executive Case Manager at RBS wouldn't have been reasonably aware when she paid Declan compensation on 17 February 2020 - in recognition of issues he had experienced in setting up two replacement standing orders on the Network for Church Monitoring account - that there had been some error previously made by NatWest in setting up the replacement standing order for the payment of his salary. Declan's complaint about the subsequent cancellation of the standing order without his knowledge or consent that resulted in the non-payment of his salary on 24 February 2020 was passed by the investigator to an ombudsman, who is the former Team Manager at FOS and has held roles at Alliance and Leicester (now Santander). Below is a link to Declan's response to the ombudsman's decision not to uphold his complaint. FOS has told him that he can expect the decision to be published on their website this month.
FOS investigator: "NatWest have said although the cancellation was processed on the 12th February 2020, it wasn't uploaded for processing until later – so it didn't actually cancel until the 19 February 2020."
26 January: NatWest Bank: Declan responds to the Financial Ombudsman's final decision for their website. Pixsy continues to chase payment for the past non-commercial use of one image on the Church and State website
With reference to the non-payment of Declan's salary by standing order in February 2020, the Financial Ombudsman investigator (not the ombudsman) wrote that "when the executive team wrote to you, they wouldn't have been reasonably aware a cancellation was in the system and would've seen two standing orders set up - one for your [sic] and one for your wife". This is that email from RBS Executive Case Manager Mandy Durkin:
On Mon, 17 Feb 2020 at 17:02, Durkin, Mandy (Executive Response Team)
Our Ref: PHO-0264121920
17 February 2020
Dear Mr Heavey
Re: Network for Church Monitoring Ltd.
Thank you for your recent emails addressed to Alison Rose, our Chief Executive. Alison has passed your correspondence to me and asked that I contact you on her behalf.
Please accept my apologies for the recent issues and poor service you have described in connection with setting up replacement standing orders. You have outlined that the instructions were taken incorrectly by Tom McKeon on your initial visit to NatWest Stratford Broadway Branch on 11 February 2020 and that you have had need to duplicate the request and visited another branch as a result.
I have discussed your concerns with Tom, who conveyed his apologies and confirmed that he had set up the instruction incorrectly and not verified the payment frequency. Regrettably, this failure has initiated your subsequent follow up contacts to the bank in order to seek correcting actions. I am sorry for the administration errors and lack of support you've described receiving. From my review of bank records I can confirm that the correcting actions are now completed in full.
All previous lapsed and incorrect standing orders have been cancelled. There are now two remaining active standing orders that have been set up as you requested, one payable to yourself and one payable to Mrs Heavey, for the amount of £140 fortnightly. The instructions are set up with an initial payment date of 24 February 2020 and a final payment date of 8 February 2021, against the reference *****400.
I am genuinely sorry for the trouble and frustration we have caused you. While there is no substitute for getting things right first time, I have credited £100 compensation to account number ending *400 in recognition of your time, travel costs and inconvenience in this case.
Once again, thank you for taking the time to bring this matter to our attention and allowing me the opportunity to address your concerns. I trust that these actions have resolved matters for you. Please don't hesitate to contact me should you have any further questions or queries in this regard.
Although I hope it won't be necessary, I am obliged to advise you that you have the right to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service, free of charge – but you must do so within six months of the date of this email. If you do not refer your complaint in time, the Ombudsman will not have our permission to consider your complaint and so will only be able to do so in very limited circumstances (for example, if the Ombudsman believes that the delay was as a result of exceptional circumstances). Further information about the service is available in their leaflet http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/consumer-leaflet.htm and on their website www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk
Yours sincerely
Mandy
Mandy Durkin | Executive Case Manager| Customer Service & Operations | Commercial Banking
DJ Ruth Fine orders Declan to pay £1,850 in costs
The Central London County Court is based at the Royal Courts of Justice.
Heavey v St Mungo's (2020)
The following is the full content of paragraph 4 under "Church and State" on this blog's sidebar that has been updated today.
4. This eviction matter came before District Judge Fine at the Central London County Court on 30 June 2020, when both counsel for St Mungo's (the charity in effective control of our tenancy) and Declan presented their positions. Declan lost the case and was ordered to pay £1,850 in costs. A publishing colleague in America cleared these costs within 24 hours of my blog post about this hearing for strike out on a related issue that was the essence of the claim, i.e., that St Mungo's would take a phone call to confirm that we are clients of the Mayor of London's RSI programme. Within a week of the hearing, St Mungo's had agreed to take this phone call for us both, the Court having ruled that they were not obliged to do so despite our circumstances. This time we escaped bankruptcy (counsel for St Mungo's asked for £3,407.50 in costs), but consider that to seek pro se access to justice in the courts has become far too dangerous for us.
30 June 2020: District Judge Ruth Fine orders Declan to pay £1,850 in costs. St Mungo's are under no obligation to even vouch over the phone that we are clients of the Mayor of London-commissioned St Mungo's TST programme (WITH UPDATE 20/03/21)[1]
__________________________
[1] Part of the Mayor of London's RSI programme in our case is access to the Mayor's Tenancy Sustainment Team (TST) at St Mungo's.
The Central London County Court is based at the Royal Courts of Justice.
Heavey v St Mungo's (2020)
The following is the full content of paragraph 4 under "Church and State" on this blog's sidebar that has been updated today.
4. This eviction matter came before District Judge Fine at the Central London County Court on 30 June 2020, when both counsel for St Mungo's (the charity in effective control of our tenancy) and Declan presented their positions. Declan lost the case and was ordered to pay £1,850 in costs. A publishing colleague in America cleared these costs within 24 hours of my blog post about this hearing for strike out on a related issue that was the essence of the claim, i.e., that St Mungo's would take a phone call to confirm that we are clients of the Mayor of London's RSI programme. Within a week of the hearing, St Mungo's had agreed to take this phone call for us both, the Court having ruled that they were not obliged to do so despite our circumstances. This time we escaped bankruptcy (counsel for St Mungo's asked for £3,407.50 in costs), but consider that to seek pro se access to justice in the courts has become far too dangerous for us.
30 June 2020: District Judge Ruth Fine orders Declan to pay £1,850 in costs. St Mungo's are under no obligation to even vouch over the phone that we are clients of the Mayor of London-commissioned St Mungo's TST programme (WITH UPDATE 20/03/21)[1]
__________________________
[1] Part of the Mayor of London's RSI programme in our case is access to the Mayor's Tenancy Sustainment Team (TST) at St Mungo's.
I am truly appalled by the unlawful violation of the Heavey's basic right to send and receive email without interference. I would be most grateful for anything you may be able to do by way of taking measures to correct this gross abuse.
An American professor to then Home Office Minister Lynne Featherstone in 2010
The group targeted above was US National Medal of Technology and Innovation laureates. These national medals are presented by the President of the United States on behalf of the American people, and are among the highest honours in the nation for professional achievement.
At the end of last month, for the first time in weeks, we were able to get an email directly to a close colleague in Washington, DC. But emails from us to this colleague continue to be blocked on an on-off basis. Among Declan's blocked emails last month was his reply to the 19th Nobel Prize laureate to accept his invitation to be listed as one of our Honorary Associates. Declan writes: "[W]e are engaged in a life and death struggle for survival (my wife's blog post about this is here)." The link is to my earlier post about the Equality and Human Rights Commission's refusal to accept a referral of discrimination from Lyn Brown MP. We continue to battle through the never-ending assault on our email, which is worse this year than it has ever been. We have never gone weeks on end without being able to communicate directly with one person by email.
Laptop interference: These past seven weeks it's been cuts to the targeted laptop from the internet and Download speed as low as 0.11 Mbps (0.14 Mbps 25.02.21)
The targeting of one or more of our four operational laptops kicked off again in December 2020. It's either cut the targeted laptop(s) from the internet or slow down speeds to anything from 74 Mbps to a fraction of 1 Mbps. For three weeks it's been an average 2-5 Mbps on Declan's primary laptop (1-2 Mbps today). With his secondary laptop, it's been an average 15-20 Mbps for two weeks (16-18 Mbps today). Seldom are two laptops treated the same way at any one time, unless we have been cut off the internet altogether for anything up to 7 days to date. This is a record-equalling fourth consecutive month for this sustained targeting of one or more of our laptops.
7 February 2019: The targeting of our two primary laptops runs into a record-breaking third month. My primary laptop has been targeted for over three months (WITH UPDATE 23/12/20)
The targeting of one or more of our four operational laptops kicked off again in December 2020. It's either cut the targeted laptop(s) from the internet or slow down speeds to anything from 74 Mbps to a fraction of 1 Mbps. For three weeks it's been an average 2-5 Mbps on Declan's primary laptop (1-2 Mbps today). With his secondary laptop, it's been an average 15-20 Mbps for two weeks (16-18 Mbps today). Seldom are two laptops treated the same way at any one time, unless we have been cut off the internet altogether for anything up to 7 days to date. This is a record-equalling fourth consecutive month for this sustained targeting of one or more of our laptops.
7 February 2019: The targeting of our two primary laptops runs into a record-breaking third month. My primary laptop has been targeted for over three months (WITH UPDATE 23/12/20)
12 March: Pixsy (day 122): I have found Declan's Motion to Dismiss to fight their threatened court action in an article titled "Defense Against the Dark Arts of Copyright Trolling". No sooner had we heard from them than they were named and shamed by Computer Weekly and it's a truly sickening read
From My Picks:
12 March: The Equality and Human Rights Commission have advised Lyn Brown MP that they will not accept a referral from her. Why must the Commission's helpline (EASS) distort Declan's claim of discrimination against the landlord?
Our list of 297 Honorary Associates includes 19 Nobel Prize laureates, 13 US National Medal of Science laureates, 4 US National Medal of Technology and Innovation laureates and 12 knighted professors notwithstanding the excessive targeting of these categories of emails in particular. (Last week we had the honour of listing a US National Medal of Science laureate as an associate.)
http://churchandstate.org.uk/honorary-associates/
"Let me recommend an important web site churchandstate.org.uk. Operating out of London this well-designed and exciting web site covers church-state, population, climate change and other issues. Check it out." Edd Doerr (1930-2020), (then) President, Americans for Religious Liberty
