Long-rumbling dispute nears resolution

For many years I have had a saving account with Skipton Building Society. A building society is a mutual (i.e. not commercial) form of bank. They were mainly created in the 19th Century to assist ordinary people in saving for and in borrowing for the building or purchase of a house. Thus the name. Sadly, in the last dozen years most of these estimable societies were privatised with disastrous consequences. Most of them have now completely disappeared.

In essence, the problem I had with the Skipton was that they didn't offer me information in "accessible formats". After huffing and puffing for some time I decided that a bit of "direct action" was called for. I went up to Skipton which is in North Yorkshire - in the Pennines. I staged a two day protest outside their offices.

The outcome was that we achieved a successful resolution of the dispute by which they paid me the interest I had lost through their actions and, perhaps more importantly, they agreed to pull up their socks in the future for all VI customers. I shall be asking the RNIB to monitor this.

My clever reader, David, even exhibited further areas of expertise in creating a placard for the occasion. You can see two photos of me taken in my sitting room during a dry run and photos of local newspaper coverage of the event on my Flickr gallery:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hova/sets/72157630775137368

We hope to have more photos from the newspaper's photographer soon. The articles are also available online at the website of the Craven Herald & Pioneer:

http://www.cravenherald.co.uk/news/ocalnews/news_skipton/9839470.Blind_investor_holds_protest_outside_Skipton_Building_Society

http://www.cravenherald.co.uk/leisure/archive/2012/07/26/Bradford+News+%28bradford_news%29/9837735.Investor___s_300_mile_protest_journey