Waste campaigners target debt collection company

by Joe B Thu Oct 23, 2003 16:49

You're really scraping the bottom of the barrel now.

What next? A picket of the company that makes the actual bin tags? Followed by a mass coordinated picket on all the manufacturers of black bin-bags and wheelie-bins in Ireland...

by random input Thu Oct 23, 2003 16:56

a mate of mine worked for a DCA (not the one mentioned above) and some of the stories he told me were horrible.

pyshical intimidation and illegal entry were commonplace.

Of course, the council passing on these debts also 'absolves' them from responsiblity.

by pat c Thu Oct 23, 2003 17:15

a picket of the tag manufacturers is a good idea.

and you really are dumb if you dont see the importance of letting debt collectors know that if they start calling on bin tax protectors then they are going to get a lot of attention from us.

by doobie doo Thu Oct 23, 2003 17:46

The problem with debt collectors is that if you don't pay your credit rating is f**ked.

If you never need credit fair enough, but if you do need credit in a few years time, Ouch!

by pat c Thu Oct 23, 2003 17:50

your credit rating can only be affected if the council takes a specific case against you AND then goes on to have that debt registered. it would cost the councils tens of millions of euros to pursue each non-payer individually.

by Joe D Thu Oct 23, 2003 17:55

Please, please, please picket the tag manufacturers. It'll make for some hilarious news reports and will eliminate whatever little support you have left in Dublin.

by pat c Thu Oct 23, 2003 18:37

the very fact that you appear on indy under a thousand guises shows how successful the campaign is.

the anti water charges campaign put manners on a firm of debt collrctors a few years ago. if a return visit to this junior mafia crowd is necessary then it will be paid.

as for the tag manufacturers, i'm sure they wont want a lot of attention.

by Lone Gunman Thu Oct 23, 2003 22:15

Screw you up big time!Refuse to pay or deal with them the first things that will go are ;your credit,via a court judgement.[lasts seven years],if the judgement isnt honoured or attempted to be honoured the next crowd that will show up on your door is the Sherriff and balifs. They DO have the law behind them to seize goods or property to pay the debt.
After that you can be arrested for non payment of debt[Only country left in europe where this can happen].
The corporation would block sell the debts to the debt collection company.So it is worthehile to them to persue it. Thats the legal way.
The dodgey and cheaper way is as per usual in Ireland.Hire a bunch of thugs,criminals or ex freedom fighters AKA IRA,INLA,etc to threaten and intimidate you out of your money or property.The indo had a good article on this last Sunday.
So the way to piss them off is to offer a Euro a week/month in payment for the debt.All you have to do is make an effort within your means to pay it off.By the time your fine is payed it will have cost more in admin,etc to collect than it was worth.

by Big John Thu Oct 23, 2003 23:14

If it comes to that, I may offer 10c per quarter, but they will have to provide me with a post-prepaid envelope.

by Pablo Montana Fri Oct 24, 2003 10:21

Occupy the Fckers! Put the blood sucking fcks out of business!

by pat c Fri Oct 24, 2003 11:17

it would cost the council millions to pursue everyone through the courts and secure judgements.

you will also find that a lot of people here dont believe everything printed in the sindo. i think you will find that republicans of every variety from PSF to RSF to IRSP to WP are involved in the anti bin tax campaign. so that nonsense wont get you anywhere.

the campaign is made up of SP, WCA, WSM, SWP, ISN,WP, SF etc but most of all it is made up of ordinary people who are not going to be intimidated. debt collectors cars can easily be surrounded. unlike the binmen, debt collectors will be clearly seen as enemies.

any thugs who attack the anti bin tax campaign will recieve a salutory lesson.

by dooby Fri Oct 24, 2003 11:36

People that work as debt collectors are absolute scum. A peaceful protest or surrounding their is too good for these fuckers.

In my book, those that put red tags on bins to intintify non payers, those serving injunctions and debt collectors are just filth. THe worst elements of the working class. These people need to be reminded that they live alongside us, we know where they live

by Canteen Kevin Fri Oct 24, 2003 12:50

There was a bit on the news last night about the protest, and was broadcast directly from the picket. The chants could be heard, the crowd was put at 30. The managing director of this parasitical company is based in London and had "no comment" to make when rang up by the hacks.

The unbelievable stupidity and grasping ruthlessness of the council could not be better exposed by it introducing the spectre of the absentee english landlord fleecing the poor and hiving off profits to London.

by pace Fri Oct 24, 2003 13:56

whats with the "These people need to be reminded that they live alongside us, we know where they live" bullshit. this anti bin-tax circus has gone from bad to worse - its fast turning into a bad joke

by Dave D Fri Oct 24, 2003 13:57

The truth is they can affect your credit rating, and this doesn't have to involve a court order, or a legal process. I used to work for a bank, and had some dealings with it.if you default on a payment to power city for your hi-fi or you gas bill etc etc. they can register the default or delay and other credit institutions have access to this info. you are also entitled to know what info is kept on file on yourself. But it is wrong to tell people that they should not fear for their credit rating.

by pat c Fri Oct 24, 2003 14:05

there is no way that the councils will be able to pursue thousands of people throuhj the courts - this is a fact. it would clog up the courts for years to come and cost the councils millions which they would be unlikely to recoup.

it would also be an administrative nightmare for the councils to prepare the paperwork for these thousands of cases. they would have to take on extra staff. another expense!

as for comments about debt collectors: if they hassle people then they and their company will get hassle in return.

by lets see how brave they really are Fri Oct 24, 2003 16:11

If anybody knows the names and addresses of the debt collectors. Could they post them up here. These people are scum and deserve to be named and shamed.

Photos would also be useful.

Their details should also be distributed in leaflets around Dublin, particularly in the areas in which they live.

by Chekov Fri Oct 24, 2003 16:17

If people were to post up personal details of debt-collectors here, it would give our many enemies valuable ammunition to accuse us of intimidation. They have already been banging this drum a lot in the papers, based on the crime of a socialist party person calling into one of his neighbours! I'd be pretty sure that such publication would do little for us, but would be very useful to the council in their attempts to demonise us. You never know who these suggestions come from....

by pat c Fri Oct 24, 2003 16:45

no need of personal details here. we can visit the debt collectors at their offices or have a chat with them when they are doing their rounds. however, imho, its perfectly in order to let debt collectors know that THEY will not get away with intimidation.

if THEY use heavy tactics on the doorstep then it MIGHT be necessary to visit THEM at home. whether or this is appropriate will be decided by groups at a local level. there is no "democratic centralism" in this campaign.

by conor (wsm personal capacity) Fri Oct 24, 2003 16:50

In a move of monumental stupidity or a calculated design to inflame a pretty bad situation (or even both !) South Dublin are taking back wheelie bins in two areas of Tallaght

The truck is now being blockaded according to News Talk

Methinks they have definetely started

in the wrong area

...at the wrong time!

Conor

by ce Fri Oct 24, 2003 16:53

.

by Joe Fri Oct 24, 2003 16:54

Gombeen O'Whore works for a Sunday Paper, lets call it the Sindo. His editor says the papers owner is demanding another 12 inches of shite about the bin tax campaign and he has to research and write it.

However Gombeen O'Whore is a chronic alcoholic who is lazy to boot. He doesn't fancy doing the leg work on this. But the deadlines approaching

So he thinks, I'll send a post to the "bin tax protesters web site"* pretending to be a campaigner suggesting we physically go after debt collecters. I'll wait for a positive response and there I go.

Sure enough on Sunday the Sindo headlines "Bin tax protesters in new intimadation shock". "Our intrepid reporter Gombeen O'Whore inflitrates the campaign to expose horrifying new tactics. Campaigners call council workers** "filth" and "scum" and issue grim warning "we know where they live".

The British papers have pulled exactly this stunt with the anarchist movement there on several occasions. Which is not to say that this particular thread has been set up in this manner, just that it could have been and even if it is not Mr Gombeen O'Whore facing a deadline is not beyond using it in this manner.

* - sections of the media have called indymedia the "bin tax protesters web site". As its previous been the "reclaim the streets" website etc, etc. Socialist Worker eat your heart out.

** - presuming whoever tags the bins works for the council

by agree Fri Oct 24, 2003 17:07

I agree with the last few posts. It would be counter productive to physically intimidate those red tagging bins, debt collectors, bin confiscators etc.

We have to remember that although some of these people are obviously black leg scum (unlike the bin men), that some are also relativly decent people trying to earn a few quid. They are also under massive pressure from their managment also. When discussing with these people we should be patient and courteous.

by Lone gunman Sat Oct 25, 2003 02:04

Dont make me fuckin laugh.PSF,RSF and Co ARE working as debt collectors,bouncers ,and general thugs.You know where they live,They know where you live.You going to stand up to a bunch of thugs who hop out on your little blockade and wear into you lot with baseball bats?Thats what is going to happen next,to you anti bin protestors.If we were all so brave and stood up to crime we would not have any.but it is just easy to target the leaders of a cause here,threaten their wives and kids and the great irish causes fall away.

by pat c Sat Oct 25, 2003 17:56

the campaign is not going to be intimidated by any sort of thugs. you can believe as much fantasy from the sindo as you wish.

as i have pointed out, EVERY republican organisation from the irsp to rsf to the wp to sf support the anti bin tax campaign.

if any thugs hassle rhe campaign & pretend to be republicans, then i am sure that there are people who would want to have a quite word with them.

in anycase the campaign will not be intimidated, now off you go and have a pint with your handler.

by P. O'Neill Sat Oct 25, 2003 18:38

Lone Gunman is not paid in cash by the branch, he does get free cooking sherry and copies of the Sindo.

by avalonian Sat Oct 25, 2003 22:03

"EVERY republican organisation from the irsp to rsf to the wp to sf support the anti bin tax campaign."

Maybe in words but not in actions. Where are SF/RSF/IRSP/WP on the ground? Actually the IRSP and RSF are not active at all in the bin tax movement.

Where there are republicans on the ground they are usually the ones trying to hold things back, opposing blockades etc.

by wheelie barrow Mon Oct 27, 2003 20:29

has any of you ever considered how the bins must feel. there they are,settled with plenty of friends and then whisked off on the back of a truck. sounds like something from schindler's list.
the green party must act.
bring home our bins.
we should all wear black rubber ribbons in solidarity with our stolen bins.

by Janus Tue Oct 28, 2003 11:45

Would the SF people holding back the campaign include the six Sinn Fein members and supporters who spent time in prison?

by NotaProvie Tue Oct 28, 2003 18:51

Ah now Janus, let's be a bit clearer about this. 1 Sinn Fein member went to prison and fair play to her.

Others may be SF voters, but their decision to go to jail has nothing to do with SF.