From Paul Clarke

Thursday, 17 May 2012

Even on this photo Cllr Cllr Mayor Fekri JP manages to look pompous.

The only shock was he wasn't there in the chains, red gown and daft frilly shirt that he loves so much.

The big question why he wasn't arrested as I suspect most people would have been.

I'm also disgusted people doing their jobs properly are described as jobsworths by this self styled community leader. It might shock Cllr Cllr Mayor Fekri JP but not everyone knows or cares who he is.

From Rev Tony Buglass

Thursday, 17 May 2012

Let's be honest - none of us were there, none of us knows how the machine ate the wrong things in the wrong way. Given the circumstances - very early start on on official overseas trip, money and card swallowed by a machine, and bank staff seemingly refusing to do what they were authorised to do - how would any of the rest of us react? I thought Nader was trying to be very reasonable, under the circumstances. I hope I would be as patient.

According to this morning's Bridge Times, he was eventually given his card. Why did it take so long? The bank say they acted according to their procedures - they were able to give him his paying-in slip but not his card, because it wasn't policy as he isn't a NatWest customer. But they also allegedly had discretion - why did it take so long to exercise it?

There are a number of cashpoints in Hebden Bridge. It is inevitable that people will end up using machines provided by other banks or outlets. Retaining the card simply because he wasn't an account holder does seem unnecessarily harsh. And a good way to lose custom.

From Dave M

Thursday, 17 May 2012

The staff asked the police to ensure they got to their cars safely. What did Nader do to frighten them? Unusal for bank staff, who no doubt get to deal with angry customers regularly, to be frightened of someone who was not acting aggresively. Would be interesting to see what the mayor or the bank staff have to say.

From Patsy F

Tuesday, 22 May 2012

I'm told he repeated his boring story in the Sunday Times yesterday. Murdoch and Fekri? Lord help us!!

From George Murphy

Thursday, 24 May 2012

For goodness sake, the mayor made a cack handed mistake - which is something we can all do! The bank officials were authorised to return the card and they chose not to do the commonsense thing. I think most of us in the same situation would have been exasperated by their attitude. Although I don't support his party, I think he did the right thing by standing firm.

There's a certain Kafkaesque quality to this tale as members of the public (and the police) seemed able to vouch for his identity but bank staff made him wait for hours to have his property returned. I'm a bit wary of posting this as this public forum seems to be attracting people who want to make abusive personal comments.

From Patsy S

Friday, 25 May 2012

My bank card was eaten by this same machine the previous week. No message appeared on the screen and I had to go into the bank wondering if it would return the card while I was gone. No problem there, as the bank clerk easily retrieved the card and showed it to me, while refusing to return it, as this was "against bank policy - only doing my job, etc., etc".

I was flabbergasted, and pointed out that anywhere else, I would call the police as no-one has the right to keep my bank card. I had no other means of obtaining cash. Tough luck, they said and I eventually left the bank absolutely furious. I'm pleased that Councillor Fekri made a stand, the banks seem to think they can operate in some parellel universe where they have all the power, right down to counter level.