How did it happen to him ??? A close friends Story Hes one of the governments scroungers. He had his own business once thank you, he was a hard worker. he was part of the first delegation to visit Japan in the 80s to show at the first British manufactures Japanese, Motor show, they were selling British engineering to the Japanese. He started his own small business it was very hard but worth it. He didn’t earn a fortune he lived a good life.. holidays abroad living life to the full.. He lived in a 4 bedroom house in Dodworth so he had done ok..Unfortunately his business partner ripped him off he stole £50k and left the country to live in Spain.. lovely man. He tried to fight back but couldn’t understand why he didn’t have the energy.. he was then diagnosed with type2 diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and a fatty liver and sleep apnoea.(basically he stops breathing up to 72 seconds at a time while asleep)... still nothing he couldn’t beat... In January of this year on his son’s wedding day, he had a stroke..and was left with a blood clot on his brain..he missed one of the most important days of his life..spending it in hospital.. Depression hit him.. he couldn’t get out of bed.. he cried for days into weeks.. His wife of 37 years decide that she couldn’t cope, and that she didn’t want the responsibility of caring for him... so she filed for divorce and he was given 48 hours to leave his home this he couldn’t cope with..he felt he had nothing to live for.. She took what little money he had, his car, his life basically.. he had had enough.. he drank a litre and a half of whisky and took a cocktail of tablets..I found him in a pool of vomit and took him to the hospital.. where the nurses and psychiatrist did a great job of saving his life.. His children have decided that they want no part of his life and haven’t spoken to him for almost a year now.. he became a first time grandfather in April, but has been refused access to his grandson.. but he fights on.. He sees a councillor at Mind who is helping him to rebuild his life but until he recovers he exists on £52 per week benefits…I can assure you this is not the life he expected to be living at 60 yrs young… yet he sees himself as one of the fortunate ones, the investment in his house was his pension.. and once the house is sold he will be solvent again… but hes experienced life on benefits… those of you that think it’s a bed of roses, should hope you never have to try it.. This experience shows me it can happen to anyone.. Sorry about the length of this post.. but surely we are better than attacking the weakest and most vulnerable in out society..
Re: Please let me indulge myself with my first post..re my friend the benefit scroung His ex wife and his kids want stoning to death
Re: Please let me indulge myself with my first post..re my friend the benefit scroung Great contribution. There's too much vilification of benefit claimants flying around, it's disgusting. I work with claimants and by far the majority are claiming out of genuine need rather than choice. Your friend has had a very sh*t time of it and I am afraid it's all too common a story. But that doesn't stop TV production companies, The Daily Mail, and every Tory politician from painting the dark side of benefits.
Re: Please let me indulge myself with my first post..re my friend the benefit scroung It's also worth noting that you're a good friend to your mate, sticking with him through some exceptionally dreadful times.
Re: Please let me indulge myself with my first post..re my friend the benefit scroung Has he had an accident in the last two years that wasn't his fault? I'm only joking. I hope he rebuilds his life & earns a place in our football team at right back.
Re: Please let me indulge myself with my first post..re my friend the benefit scroung its also worth noting that your good friend is nothing like the scroungers in the programme the other day and I very much doubt that the producers were tarring him with the same brush.
Re: Please let me indulge myself with my first post..re my friend the benefit scroung What a riveting and tear jerking post! I have friends on benefits too and I hate the stigma that some people attach to them. I didn't get involved in the post the other night because I didn't like the language and tone used and I've got better things to do than waste my time observing people trading obscene insults on here. I started a business in 1983 in Barnsley and it's still going, so I've been lucky. I willingly pay tax to contribute to people like your mate. I wish a TV company would make a programme about him. All the best to him.
Re: Please let me indulge myself with my first post..re my friend the benefit scroung What Stahlrost said !
Re: Please let me indulge myself with my first post..re my friend the benefit scroung I think you are wrong dekparker..and even if the producers werent tarring him with the same brush .. there are lots of people who do class all people on benefits the same .... The damage that these programs do is immence there are people out there less intellegent than you..and they dont see a difference
Re: Please let me indulge myself with my first post..re my friend the benefit scroung But people ARE getting tarred with the same brush. That's why the like of this bloke, jax & jedi one are suffering, though no fault of their own, by having their benefits slashed.
Re: Please let me indulge myself with my first post..re my friend the benefit scroung Let's have a whip roundtrip this guy
Re: Please let me indulge myself with my first post..re my friend the benefit scroung you cant not make programmes because people see thing differently,we obviously don't see eye to eye on this and never will for that matter.So long as you understand I don't tar them all with the same brush then that's where i'll leave the conversation.
Re: Please let me indulge myself with my first post..re my friend the benefit scroung i think thats what i said
Re: Please let me indulge myself with my first post..re my friend the benefit scroung Let's have a whip roundtrip this guy
Re: Please let me indulge myself with my first post..re my friend the benefit scroung Let's have a whip round for this guy
Re: Please let me indulge myself with my first post..re my friend the benefit scroung Personally, I thought the "whip roundtrip" sounded miles better. Glad you eventually spat it out. Twas like watching Educating Yorkshire. Have you tried posting whilst listening to music?
Re: Please let me indulge myself with my first post..re my friend the benefit scroung You'll be in bother now
Re: Please let me indulge myself with my first post..re my friend the benefit scroung Well said old chap! I agree with that
Re: Please let me indulge myself with my first post..re my friend the benefit scroung What a terribly sad story. Please speak to someone at Welfare Rights or DIAL as that does not sound like much to live on. Maybe he's entitled to DLA/PIP which is a non means tested benefit for both physical and mental health illness.