Stop Cashless Britain petition

It’s quite a recent strategy to reduce the price of goods if you use a loyalty card and Tesco have been brought up with some legal challenge about this.

Very droll…

Yet somehow there are tens of thousands of people living under the radar in the UK. Because that is exactly what they do - they use someone else’s identity when they need to access services. Usually someone they know who is able to exchange their identity / cards etc for some other benefit.

We don’t have a window cleaner, but every single service I have used wants to be paid in cash. Builders, electricians, gas engineers, cleaners etc. No cash = no service.

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Not to mention our hairdresser who comes to our house for me, my wife, and a friend. Then there is the dog groomer. She visits our dog and the guy across from us.

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Gosh!
That sounds like a lot of tax dodging going on there!
When I had my house renovated, I employed lots of different tradespeople and they all asked for bank payments.
Builder, plumber, electricians, roofer, hard landscaper - none of them got paid in cash and none of them asked me for cash.
I would not have been comfortable paying them in Cash - I would wonder if they were trying to avoid paying their fair share of taxes, which would make me wonder about their integrity and trustworthiness,

I used to pay my window cleaner with Cash until he asked me about 3 years ago if I would mind sending payments straight to his Bank account.

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I do have a card but I only ever use it to withdraw enough cash to see me through the month till next time.
Then it goes back in a drawer and I use the cash for everything.
If anyone won’t take cash I just go elsewhere.
We should not be bullied into using cards.

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After thinking about the reason why I don’t sign petitions it’s not so much about giving out my personal information, they probably have that anyway, it’s more about my inbox getting filled with adds and invitations to take part in survey’s. It’s like open season on Foxy’s email box, and it includes phone calls and mail through the letter box too…

The trouble with banks knowing all your details Boot, is the fact that if you have an opinion they don’t like, they freeze your account…It’s happening all the time but you only get to know when someone like Nigel Farage had his frozen because he can alert the public on his news programme. I was astounded when I found out how many people had been frozen out of their bank accounts.

Absolutely Boot, I thought about this some time ago when Mrs Fox and me were doing a walk up near Boroughbridge. We called in at the Tesco for some breakfast, and I filled up with diesel at the pumps, using my points card for both…I realised that Tesco knew where I had been, what I had eaten, and how much diesel I used since my last refuelling at my local Tesco…They also knew I had a cat from the cat food I purchased, and that I wasn’t a vegetarian from the breakfast I ate…They even knew what colour my underwear was, because I purchased a pack of three for a fiver the week before…

The Bank know all my details anyway because I worked for them for most of my working life and they are the dudes who pay my pension - too late for me to be shy about giving them my address and date of birth now, duckie!

Throughout my career, I have only known my bank employer to close a client’s account if they kept going overdrawn above their agreed limit and we kept having to bounce their cheques and payments, if they committed fraud, if they kept breaking the terms and conditions of their account or, on very rare occasions, if they were exceptionally rude and abusive to staff.

Compared to the huge numbers of accounts we held, those forced account closures were very few and far between.

You say you have found out how many people have been frozen out of their bank accounts - do you mean frozen or closed?
The two things are very different.
I understood Farage had received notice that his Bank would be closing his account - I don’t think they threatened to freeze his account so he couldn’t withdraw his money, did they?

You say it is “happening all the time” and you have discovered how many people it’s happened to.
Is it really “happening all the time” ? - if so I’d be interested in hearing just how many people in total have been affected - how many people have you counted so far?
And have all their stories been verified?

I’m sorry to say this but in my experience of business, people do not always tell the truth - sometimes they lie, sometimes they tell half-truths or exaggerate a story to make themselves appear to be the victim or pretend they are blameless.

I take all these tales about banks persecuting people because of their opinions with a large pinch of salt unless the story-tellers can provide more than anecdotal information.

Might be or might not. I guess that the benefit to the economy is that they are providing a valuable service. If they didn’t get paid in cash they might pull out of the market. So it’s really down to the interpretation of value and the benefits of consumer choice vs a total reduction in growth of the economy if all these businesses didn’t exist. Not everything is about tax receipts and many tax receipts are not redistributed wisely by the government anyway.

I do of course pay all my taxes and always have, just in case my post is misinterpreted! :slight_smile:

It appears to be different now Boot and people are having their accounts closed because of their political views and opinions. Obviously the Bank dealing with Farage gave no reason why they had closed his account and now have come up with a cock and bull story after they were investigated. The matter is so serious it is being discussed in parliament and they are considering a change to the law…

There was a list of people on GB News of people having their accounts closed, it was a very long list.

Time to get a handcart!

I don’t think this affects the average person in the street OGF. They don’t have an account at Coutts…

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Hang on, I thought you were clear that most media stories have an angle and an agenda. Don’t you think this one is much more than “victim Farage”? The bank, Coutts, are very clear - their customers need to have £3m in assets or £1m in cash sat in their accounts. I know that and I’ve never been close to have that sort of money. Farage knew the reason all along and just wanted the publicity. He is not a victim. He is a self promoting pretend man of the people.

As you have cautioned us so many times before, it’s best not to swallow everything that the media tell us without checking it out for accuracy.

I haven’t seen “the list” from GB News - to be honest, I find GB News to be quite a biased media source, which has certain agendas, and the info they proffer has often failed fact checks before, so I take their news reports or opinion pieces with a pinch of salt unless I find out more facts to corroborate their allegations.

According to your own link, Parliament are going to review the situation regarding PEPs in light of allegations from Farage and others, so we don’t know for sure if the allegations are true or how widespread it is.

Previous experience of Farage leads me to remember that he is adept at whipping up a storm in a teacup to garner publicity for himself, so I’ll keep an open mind and wait and see what transpires.

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Isn’t it always wiser to put out the fire when you see the smoke, and not after it’s burst into flames Boot?

If we’re talking about putting out fires, I am reminded of the poem about Matilda, who hoax-called the fire brigade!

You mean that you don’t agree with much of the news you see/hear on GB News Boot…
I don’t find it any more biased that material I hear/see on Main Stream Media programmes, especially the BBC.
So lets cut to the chase…You have made an accusation against GB News that it has failed ‘Fact Checks’…What facts? and who fact checked them? I ask this because if I state an opinion there will be several posters- including yourself - asking for verification…
Furthermore: If you would have watched GB News tonight you would have seen evidence of the large number of businesses and private accounts that have had their accounts closed. I believe that the banks are misusing their power.

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Did Matilda work for the BBC?

NO, I did not say that and I did not mean that! - I have noticed you have a habit of rewriting and misrepresenting my posts!
I have noticed a tendency of some posters to re-write or misinterpret other folk’s posts to suit themselves, so I tend to take care in the words and phrases I use to express my opinions - I do not need anyone else to re-write my posts! - however you choose to interpret my words, I meant exactly what I typed - whatever words you choose to put in my mouth, old lad!! :rofl:

You say you don’t find GB News any more biased than other MSM programmes - but are they any less biased? I don’t think so.
You have already told us you don’t believe other biased MSM outlets, so why would you believe this particular biased outlet and swallow their output, hook, line and sinker? … Confirmation bias, maybe??? :wink:

Anyway, this is my last post on this side issue, as the System is reminding me we keep replying to each other’s posts - and our exchange is veering the thread away from the topic of the “Stop Cashless Britain Petition”