Partner Article

Rock shareholders demand compensation

Disgruntled Northern Rock shareholders staged a series of demonstrations to demand a “fair deal” under the Government’s compensation scheme.

The protests were mounted by small shareholders ahead of a High Court judicial review into the level of compensation which starts tomorrow.

Investors claim they will receive little or no money back for their shares.

They argue the terms of the Government-commissioned valuation of shares is in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Demonstrators, mostly from the north-east, formed queues outside central London branches of the bank in a reminder of the long lines of people who queued to withdraw their money from the troubled bank in September 2007.

A bus load of angry investors, representing tens of thousands of private shareholders, travelled to three branches in central London, waving placards which read: “Don’t Let The Government Rig The Valuation!”, “A Fair Deal For Shareholders” and “We Deserve A Real And Independent Valuation”.

Dennis Grainger, 62, from Cramlington in Northumberland, is the lead claimant for the small shareholders and leader of the North East Action Group.

He said the “small people” were being “sacrificed” by the Government.

“They are not speculators and they are not playing the markets, but they are older people who are using their dividend income to supplement their meagre pensions.

“In some cases the shares were a nest egg for sons and daughters, families and grandchildren, and when you take that away from them, the sad thing is they are now worried they are going to be a burden on their children.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .