George Ward evicted.

[Silent Flight]

https://www.wiltshiretimes.co.uk/news/23514268.boater-finally-evicted-canal-river-trust-legal-battle/

 

https://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/news/23514268.boater-finally-evicted-canal-river-trust-legal-battle/

 

This is an ongoing story that’s been highlighted to me by this forum.

The infamous overstayer, now reduced to a tent. Will you be joining his drum circle or donating on Justgiving? Or sound a hurrah as you say cheerio?
 

 

[Kudzucraft]

Been watching this and not being from the UK I have just been reading and not commenting. 

 

But the way I see it is he refused to help himself. He had what, 10 years to do something and he has done nothing.  Hard to feel sorry for someone that knew this was coming all this time and refused to do anything. 

 

Looks to me like he has no one to blame but himself. So while I hate he is homeless I don't feel sorry for him. He made the choice and now he has to pay for those choices.  No one forced him to make bad choices.

 

And I think there was no reason to let it go on for this long and the CRT should have moved much faster.

 

Edited May 11, 2023 by Kudzucraft

[David Mack]

"Speaking exclusively to us, George Ward said he was caught unawares in a surprise seizure by running security officers, leading to the loss of his boat."

 

Caught unawares???  How many times has he been told this was coming?

[dmr]

maybe this thread should be moved to the History and Heritage section ? 😀

[Athy]

3 minutes ago, David Mack said:

 

 

Caught unawares???  How many times has he been told this was coming?

Perhaps in the sense that he was, er, attending to his ablutions at the time of their arrival.

[Barneyp]

29 minutes ago, David Mack said:

"Speaking exclusively to us, George Ward said he was caught unawares in a surprise seizure by running security officers, leading to the loss of his boat."

 

Caught unawares???  How many times has he been told this was coming?

Presumably he was caught unawares because much like the boy who cried wolf, CRT have said they were going to  evict him and not actually done so too many times, so he didn't think it would really happen. 

[Jerra]

43 minutes ago, Athy said:

Perhaps in the sense that he was, er, attending to his ablutions at the time of their arrival.

He said he was lighting a fire on the towpath to boil his kettle.

[MtB]

13 minutes ago, Barneyp said:

Presumably he was caught unawares because much like the boy who cried wolf, CRT have said they were going to  evict him and not actually done so too many times, so he didn't think it would really happen. 

 

 

I think this is the root problem. CRT bend over backwards so many times in order to be seen to be being fair, that piss takers gain the impression they can get away with it forever.

 

And in Mr Ward's case, he almost did. This has been going on for 12 years at least judging by the back story. CRT should be ashmaed of themselves taking that long to bring this open-and-shut case to a final close.

 

Except they probably haven't. Mr Ward will no doubt be given a tent to live in on the towpath where he will surround himself with more tonnes of junk and emptying his toilet who knows where. Then someone will give him another boat. 

 

 

 

 

[DandV]

I am glad he was evicted LIVE.

 

 The alternative was worse, and the longer he remained there, increasingly more likely as the lifestyle was not conducive to a long and healty life. 

 

For CART undoubtedly a problem largely now solved. A pity, for all concerned that by taking so long the problem has grown in size.

 

For George, he has lost a problem, or two, but probably gained a very much more and bigger problems.

Notwithstanding that the original problems were much of his own making, I do wish him well.

Not everyone in our societies is blessed with the abilities to always look after themselves responsibly and adequately.

 

 The local social services , they have just added yet another "problem client", to their probably already huge portfolio of "problem clients" 

I do hope they do their best to look after George adequately. I suspect that will be a considerable challenge, but it is one that it is more appropriate that they deal with rather then CART. 

 

The concern here is are they anywhere near resourced enough to cope with an ever growing number of George's?

I doubt it. 

 

 

 

[Paul C]

It wasn't "LIVE", he was evicted at about 7:30am and the journalists seem to have got there about 9am.

[5239]

6 hours ago, MtB said:

 

 

I think this is the root problem. CRT bend over backwards so many times in order to be seen to be being fair, that piss takers gain the impression they can get away with it forever.

 

And in Mr Ward's case, he almost did. This has been going on for 12 years at least judging by the back story. CRT should be ashmaed of themselves taking that long to bring this open-and-shut case to a final close.

 

Except they probably haven't. Mr Ward will no doubt be given a tent to live in on the towpath where he will surround himself with more tonnes of junk and emptying his toilet who knows where. Then someone will give him another boat. 

 

 

 

 

you reckon you’re a philanthropic landlord,

rent him a room?

 

[MtB]

1 hour ago, DandV said:

I am glad he was evicted LIVE.

 

 

Point of Order...

 

He wasn't evicted. His boat was. 

 

He is still there.

 

 

[john.k]

I d laugh if someone gives him another derelict boat to live on.

[Barneyp]

2 hours ago, DandV said:

I am glad he was evicted LIVE.

 

 The alternative was worse, and the longer he remained there, increasingly more likely as the lifestyle was not conducive to a long and healty life. 

 

For CART undoubtedly a problem largely now solved. A pity, for all concerned that by taking so long the problem has grown in size.

 

For George, he has lost a problem, or two, but probably gained a very much more and bigger problems.

Notwithstanding that the original problems were much of his own making, I do wish him well.

Not everyone in our societies is blessed with the abilities to always look after themselves responsibly and adequately.

 

 The local social services , they have just added yet another "problem client", to their probably already huge portfolio of "problem clients" 

I do hope they do their best to look after George adequately. I suspect that will be a considerable challenge, but it is one that it is more appropriate that they deal with rather then CART. 

 

The concern here is are they anywhere near resourced enough to cope with an ever growing number of George's?

I doubt it. 

 

 

 

I'm not sure the problem is in anyway solved for CRT, some one has given him a tent and he is camping on the towpath.

 

As to social services, they will have been aware of him for sometime. Their failure to do anything for him will not be down to a lack of resources but his refusal to accept support, had he been willing I'm sure they would have found him somewhere to live years ago.

[MtB]

3 minutes ago, Barneyp said:

As to social services, they will have been aware of him for sometime. Their failure to do anything for him will not be down to a lack of resources but his refusal to accept support, had he been willing I'm sure they would have found him somewhere to live years ago.

 

Quite.

 

Forcing 'help' onto someone who doesn't want it isn't helping them at all, if one thinks about it properly.

 

 

 

 

[john.k]

Quite amazing how a broke government can only build a few hundred small social apartments ,while spending $2 billion here ,$3 billion there on football stadiums and Olympic venues ........in one case demolishing a venue built less than 20 years ago to spend more billions on new facilities ,that include demolishing adjoining houses and flats,and a heritage listed school..........I think a great many politicians have Hitler complexes .......huge monuments to their glory............and this is Labor governments ,I might add.

[Arthur Marshall]

4 hours ago, john.k said:

Quite amazing how a broke government can only build a few hundred small social apartments ,while spending $2 billion here ,$3 billion there on football stadiums and Olympic venues ........in one case demolishing a venue built less than 20 years ago to spend more billions on new facilities ,that include demolishing adjoining houses and flats,and a heritage listed school..........I think a great many politicians have Hitler complexes .......huge monuments to their glory............and this is Labor governments ,I might add.

One social housing provider has said they only build two or three bed apartments or houses because there's no demand for one bed places. You do wonder a little.

[Tony Brooks]

56 minutes ago, Arthur Marshall said:

One social housing provider has said they only build two or three bed apartments or houses because there's no demand for one bed places. You do wonder a little.

 

I got the impression that single men and single women get the foxtrot oscar from local councils if homeless. They need children to qualify for any sort of housing. That makes the decision understandable.

[john.k]

Yes ,singles are definitely so far down the list ,they will never get anything .

[Machpoint005]

1 hour ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

I got the impression that single men and single women get the foxtrot oscar from local councils if homeless. They need children to qualify for any sort of housing. That makes the decision understandable.

 

Given a direct choice, who would house a single middle aged person if it meant denying accommodation to a child and parent? 

 

 

 

 

[ditchcrawler]

10 hours ago, MtB said:

 

Point of Order...

 

He wasn't evicted. His boat was. 

 

He is still there.

 

 

Corrrect, as discussed last week they probably couldn't legally remove him from his boat unless the police arrested him for something

3 hours ago, Arthur Marshall said:

One social housing provider has said they only build two or three bed apartments or houses because there's no demand for one bed places. You do wonder a little.

That is a bit like the EA saying that when they rebuilt Brandon lock they didn't lengthen it to full length as they have never seen any longer boats above it.

[Athy]

50 minutes ago, Machpoint005 said:

 

Given a direct choice, who would house a single middle aged person if it meant denying accommodation to a child and parent? 

 

 

 

 

Quite so, but in an ideal world there would be no need to make that choice.

[magnetman]

Someone ought to give him a ferry ticket and a dinghy to come back on. 

 

 

Is CRT nicking your boat a bit like persecution ? 

 

Perhaps he can claim asylum. 

[Arthur Marshall]

3 hours ago, Machpoint005 said:

 

Given a direct choice, who would house a single middle aged person if it meant denying accommodation to a child and parent? 

 

 

 

 

The point is that benefits get reduced if you've an unused spare room, so single people, of whom there are a lot following divorce etc, can't find accommodation without being penalised. It's a bit catch 22, there's a huge demand for one bed flats but no supply. Possibly a post in the wrong forum bit.

As far as Ward goes (which appears to be not very), I suspect he'd be kicked out of any social housing for being antisocial so will wind up either living rough or squatting somewhere else.

Edited May 12, 2023 by Arthur Marshall

[IanD]

3 hours ago, Athy said:

Quite so, but in an ideal world there would be no need to make that choice.

Indeed, but that's not the world we live in... 😞