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Sylvia Hardy:

Wolfie

Is a lunp
nicked from elsewhere


She has paid taxes throughout her life, has never claimed benefits and has never been in trouble with the law.
But retired social worker Sylvia Hardy, 73, became the first woman pensioner to be jailed for refusing to pay council tax arrears today when she was sentenced to seven days in prison at Exeter magistrates court.

She said she was "terrified" by the thought of prison but vowed to carry out her protest because it was "the only way to get our voices heard". She had been told the prison beds were "very hard" and was worried sleeping on them with her bad back would be painful.



Ms Hardy, 73, from Exeter, Devon, failed to pay her arrears of ?53.71 in council tax from last year - plus ?10 costs - and was in breach of a 56-day suspended committal order.

Jailing her for seven days at Exeter Magistrates' Court chairman Louis Crowden said: "If everyone paid their debts on the basis of what they thought appropriate this country would descend into anarchy.

"You have been given every chance to pay and have wilfully refused to do so." The chairman said they had no choice but to commit Ms Hardy to prison for seven days, telling her: "You may think you are a martyr but you are not."

Strong support

As Ms Hardy, from Barrack Road, Exeter, was led away the chairman of Devon Pensioners' Action Forum, Albert Venison, shouted at the bench: "You are on a completely different planet you people." There were other shouts of "pompous ass" and "shame" from other supporters of Ms Hardy who were packed into the small courtroom.

Ms Hardy marched to the court from her home accompanied by banner-waving supporters, and was greeted by a huge crowd of other backers before she went in to face the magistrates.

She was told that a telephone offer of payment for her outstanding arrears had been made, but she politely refused it. In court the clerk, Paul Vincent, asked her whether she intended to pay the outstanding amount today or at any time, and Ms Hardy replied: "No."

Prosecutor Kevin Hughes told the magistrates: "She has made it clear to the council she has no intention of paying the ?63.71. We are here to ask you to consider whether she should go to prison for seven days."

Ms Hardy, who refused an offer to speak to the court's duty solicitor, told the court: "I made a decision to withhold part of the council tax demanded by Devon County Council because the increases during the past 10 years have risen by 50 per cent.

"In one year alone the increase was 18.5 per cent and in another 10 per cent. My occupational pension increases by only 1.7 per cent a year and the inflation rate by between one per cent and three per cent. On top of this tax, we are required to pay the highest water rate in the country, plus ever-increasing payments for gas, electricity, telephone, etc, well above the inflation rate."

She said incomes for the majority in the South West fell far behind these demands, and people were losing the ability to have any kind of quality of life. "Undoubtedly this is totally unfair and has got to stop," said Ms Hardy.

She told the court: "Letters and lobbying to MPs and councillors have fallen on deaf ears and all that is left is to take direct action, whatever the consequences.

"Throughout history, people have fought to change laws which are unjust, and often the only way to do this is to break the law or ignore it and to accept the punishment. That is why I am appearing here today to accept my punishment for desperately trying to salvage my ever-reducing quality of life.

Daylight robbery

"We are trying to bring home to central government and local government that if something is not done very soon to put right the many injustices the people of this country have to suffer year on year, the normally docile English people will say enough is enough and will all gather together in mass civil disobedience." Ms Hardy said she had sensed for some time the anger which was in evidence in the community, adding: "I feel that an uprising is not far away."

She went on: "If the sacrifice of my liberty for seven days does anything to force politicians to begin to serve those who elected them to office, it will be worthwhile." Ms Hardy said those with incomes just above the cut-off point for means-tested handouts were being subjected to discrimination and this was "totally, totally unfair".

She continued: "Even now there are several pensioners in other parts of the country who are already in prison or about to be committed because of the obscene council tax demands. Many people believe that this tax is daylight robbery, so why are we victims rather than the perpetrators being sent to prison?"

She called on all councils throughout the UK to "grasp the nettle and tell the Government that you will stop providing the expensive services, such as education, unless sufficient sums are made available, and stop leaving it to the oppressed taxpayers to do your jobs for you". Ms Hardy's supporters were planning to travel in a convoy of cars to the prison in which she will serve her sentence to demonstrate outside in a show of support.

Tomorrow morning a band of Ms Hardy's supporters will hold a vigil outside Exeter Cathedral, and will do so every day until she is released from prison. Ms Hardy left behind a comfortable two-bedroomed top-floor flat with distant views to the sea and across the city.

Before she went into court today, she said she believed the stance of the tax rebels had played a part in the Government's decision to shelve the re-evaluation of the council tax system. A few days ago she visited retired vicar Alfred Ridley, 71, from Towcester, Northants, after he became the first council tax rebel to be jailed for refusing to pay arrears.

Adrian Thomas, spokesman for Help the Aged, said: "Help the Aged cannot condone the breaking of the law. We do, however, recognise the fundamental unfairness of council tax and the massive impact relentless rises have had on pensioners' quality of life.

"Pensioner poverty is a reality for two million people in this country. They desperately need, and deserve, a system that takes into account ability to pay.

"We are calling for decisive action from the Government to reform local taxation. Any indication from this week's Labour Party conference that this is on the cards would be warmly welcomed."

Mr Thomas added: "We are concerned at reports that Mrs Hardy suffers from food allergies and as such is not expecting to be eating much during her stay in prison. We would hope that any similar cases would be dealt with by magistrates passing non-custodial sentences."




What say you, was she right or wrong???
 
T

TRUNCH

Guest
Good for her..................

at least the old girl made a stand.

Should never have gone to prison...a disgrace!!! I my opinion!!:xm
 

derek kelly

The Deli lama
Club Sponsor
The Government are constantly looking at ways of swelling the ever bulging coffers, and pleading poverty at the same time, however they can afford to write off several billions in third world debts.
They can afford to grant themselves massive pay rises way above the rate of inflation, yet public sector workers get well below the rate of inflation despite the reccommendations of independant pay review bodies,
They are constantly changing the goalposts to suit themselves.
Why in this day and age should a 75 year old pensioner have to pay rates? isn't it time we gave something back to people who have contributed so much already.
 

Fat Bert

Registered User
Good on her

If EVERYONE in the country refused to pay Council Tax, the system couldn't cope.

There would be huge delays in court cases, far too many people for prisons etc etc

Then Georgie Porgie Brown would wallop 10p /? on income tax to keep the local councils in funding.

So either way, HM Gov't [bless all who sail in her] are gonna get their wonga one way or another
 
T

TRUNCH

Guest
Hear hear..............

to Bert and Derek!!!!!!!!!!!!:bow:
 

Punchy

Registered User
Fat Bert said:
If EVERYONE in the country refused to pay Council Tax, the system couldn't cope.
There would be huge delays in court cases, far too many people for prisons etc etc
Then Georgie Porgie Brown would wallop 10p /? on income tax to keep the local councils in funding.
So either way, HM Gov't [bless all who sail in her] are gonna get their wonga one way or another

Yes but then it would be based on the ability to pay i.e. the more you earn the more you pay. My council tax has risen from ?547 in 2000-01 to ?772 this year now that is a bloody big % increase especially when you consider that my wages/fees have not increased in that time

And as for jailing this lady.. well I'm feckin speechless what a way to treat someone who has worked all her life and contributed to society. The judiciary and government should be hanging their heads in shame.
 
F

frenchuk

Guest
That is called civil desobedience - anyone really interested should read David Henri Thoreau. Raising council tax by 20% every IS criminal - not refusing to pay. Those increases only fund the inconpetent people who are populating the council organisations (partly those employed based on positive discrimination, this insidious form of racism), and the dishonest ones too (plenty plenty of examples here) - and no one in the media pick up on it because it sells less paper than goin on and on about Kate Moss snorting coke.

Now, beside the point of this elderly lady being right or wrong, sending her to jail for a debt of ?65 while some criminals are actually convicted and never sent to jail because it's not an 'economically viable' option, and some other criminals are never jailed because the Crown Prosecution Service doesn't prosecute if there's no material evidence except for major cases for the same economical reasons...

Come on, tell me this country hasn't become a greedy money-swallowing fascist asshole... Makes me :puke::puke::puke:
 
S

Smoothandquick

Guest
was discussing this earlier....

it speaks volumes about our legal system and the cronies that control it, that this woman is sent down. An utter disgrace but not surprising.

Why should she lower her standard of living just to fund the government and local authorities inefficiencies....:t

Someone should be held to account for this and made a bl**dy example of.....how can this be allowed to happen ?:dunno:
 

Wolfie

Is a lunp
how can this be allowed to happen ?


because we let it happen.






heard on the radio that on the next protest an old boy was planning, they had a sure fire way of getting noticed.





















the whole of the protesting group were gonna get naked :eek: :eek: :eek: thankfully i will not be there, but what a way to get your message across, peaceful, in good humour, fair play to them i say. He was also going on about how the students union are supporting them etc. United we stand devided we fall?????
 
S

Smoothandquick

Guest
Wolfie said:
because we let it happen.

Can't disagree with that Wolfster.......chuffing disgrace...she's always paid her taxes, owes nothing to society and there are scum buckets out there getting away with all sorts.....grrrrrrrrrrrr :mad:
 

Duck n Dive

Rebel without a clue ...
Club Sponsor
It's a disgrace - prison should be for those who pose a danger to society it's disugusting that we go back to "debtors prisons".

Government (local or national) should be compelled to keep expenditure increases within the RPI - if they want to exceed RPI then they should only be able to do it by getting support via election/referendum. i.e. it should not be an easy process but one which requires them to explain why and put themselves on the line.

They have the ability to collect and spend what they want with only the briefest of cursory checks. It means that unlike the real world (peeps or businesses) they have no real links between income/expediture.

Don't know if they still do it but Ireland used to have no rates/council tax or TV licence payments required for pensioners.
 
S

Smoothandquick

Guest
ain't that just so DnD....

couldn't have phrased it better myself.....

My wife works in a government funded advisory group - if you knew half of what was spent you would cry - they have team away days......fully paid 2 days at a very expensive hotel, food and rinks paid for as a team building exercise....:eek:

Their chief exec did drive an XKR Jag soft top...now drives a 645 Ci Beemer - I'll give you a clue - they are into recycling, green travel etc !!!!!!! Laughable....:eek:

I could go on and on but I'm sure you can guess the rest.......:mad:
 

Punchy

Registered User
Wolfie said:
because we let it happen.
heard on the radio that on the next protest an old boy was planning, they had a sure fire way of getting noticed. the whole of the protesting group were gonna get naked :eek: :eek: :eek: thankfully i will not be there, but what a way to get your message across, peaceful, in good humour, fair play to them i say. He was also going on about how the students union are supporting them etc. United we stand devided we fall?????

Just for you Wolfie
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4283928.stm



man8um
 

IanR

Registered User
Did I hear.......

On the news this evening that this lady has been released after serving half her sentence. Obviously time off for good behaviour.
Should never have been there in the first place!
 

Wolfie

Is a lunp
released due to the fact that somebody paid her debt over the phone, which she had refused before she went to court, but as she was in jail, the offer was accepted this time on her behalf, if i was her i would be feckin pissed off with somebody doing that to me.
 

IanR

Registered User
Wolfie
Yes I tend to agree, but at her age, prison will not be a nice place to be. She has made her point and brought it to notice in the national press, and I am sure that she will be pleased to be home, even after a couple of days.
 

Wolfie

Is a lunp
she was prepared to serve the time for her point so i say let her serve the time, she didn't need a dogooder to get her out. By paying for her no point has been made the gov have their money.
 
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