HBOS at The Mound in Edinburgh is temporarily out of action, as multimillion pounds refurbishment works continue to the ‘home-base’ of the merged, Halifax, Bank of Scotland (HBOS), Head Quarters.

However, in identifying the HBOS temporary address for service, as Morrison Street Edinburgh, Mr. Shalom presented a direct appeal for help to HBOS, via Bank of Scotland Group Functions, Group Communications Associate Director, Mr. Ross Keany. The appeal was respectfully received.

The appeal, presented AT the HBOS Morrison Street address in Edinburgh, which is self explanatory, was addressed and directed to the following individuals, as listed with Companies House:- It Reads as follows:-

28th October 2005

Delivered By Hand

The Directors
HBOS PLC
THE MOUND
EDINBURGH
EH1 1YZ

James Crosby, Charles Dunstone, Sir Ronald Garrick, Anthony Hobson BA MBA FCA, Philip Hodkinson, Andrew Hornby, Brian Ivory, Colin Matthew, Coline McConville, George Mitchell, Kathleen Nealon, David Shearer, Henry Stevenson, CBE, Lord Stevenson of Coddenham.


Open Letter of Appeal from The Shalom Family

First Published to The World Wide Internet at  http://www.mvpicton.co.uk/

21st October 2005


Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

With reference to the above and in view of your noted association, either directly or indirectly, we humbly implore you to take notice and help us in our Family Campaign for Social Justice, from property developer and house builder, Crest Nicholson Plc based at Crest House, Thames Street, Weybridge, Surrey, England.

On October 28th 2005 both of us and our five daughters will commemorate the second anniversary of being evicted from our own Home of 14 years, our Houseboat, which was our property.

We were evicted from ‘MV Picton’ by Crest Nicholson Marinas Limited, an erstwhile subsidiary company of Crest Plc. We have been made Homeless.

We have also lost everything that we owned in our Home, personal belongings, effects, Home contents, etc. Even our children’s 7 pet goldfish were seized. Everything about our Home is still presently lost. We believe we have done nothing wrong.

We kindly invite you to see the full file and account of all our dealings with Crest Plc and/or their former subsidiary company, Crest Nicholson Marinas Limited.

Legal issues aside, we believe that the full documented accounts will show that Crest Nicholson Plc is morally responsible for causing everything which has happened to us, including our present ‘Homeless’ state. Upon your own diligent enquiry we respectfully hope that you will accept our invitation, to urge Crest Nicholson Plc to reconsider this case on moral grounds.

We kindly draw to your attention a few brief facts, undisputed by Crest Nicholson.

Crest freely invited us, (and we accepted) to live with our young Family, in our own houseboat Home M V Picton, in Penarth Marina, Cardiff Bay, Wales, UK, in January 1997. This was after our meticulous enquiry of many years, (our first enquiry was in 1989), as to the suitability of Penarth Marina providing a berth for our “houseboat”.

On April 2nd 2000 Crest Nicholson Marinas Limited caused a terrifying night time accident to our Home whilst our children were asleep in bed. Marie Louise was also eight months pregnant. Our Houseboat was permitted to become grounded on the marina floor and toppled into the marina pontoons in an uncontrolled manner. It weighed between 33-40 tonnes and it took a heavy, side and bottom impact. Our Home subsequently developed a leak.

We acted with all due diligence to mitigate the loss of that accident and made every effort possible to repair the leak.

Crest Nicholson willfully obstructed us in the sense that they failed to grant permissions, subsequent to that accident, for us to perform what we considered our moral duty; to get our Home repaired - to lift out the boat, fix the leak, and to obtain minimum insurance cover, a minimum condition of all marina contracts.

Crest Nicholson deliberately failed to grant us permission, for us to send down survey-divers, subsequent to the accident they caused.

Crest Nicholson deliberately failed to grant us permission, subsequent to that accident, to haul the vessel at site onto a purpose built Emergency Lift-Out Pad, a lifting area on land adjacent to the marina, which was already established as ‘safe and suitable’, for the type and weight of the vessel. This emergency lift-out pad had been earlier employed by the Royal National Lifeboat Institute (RNLI), for the ‘lifting-out’, of the Barry Dock Lifeboat. This was at a time when Mr Peter Nicholson, Vice Chair of the RNLI was a serving director with Crest Nicholson Plc.

Crest Nicholson knew our Home was leaking, taking on water and yet still ignored our requests.

After we had been invited to set up Home, with our firm career choices and commitments clearly declared, and after the accident which Crest Nicholson caused to our Home, Crest Nicholson decidedly changed policy, regarding houseboats in their national marina operations.

John Callcutt Chief Executive Officer of Crest Nicholson, solely responsible for enforcing health & safety in the Crest Group at the time of the accident, wrote to us expressing that his company was “wrong” to have let our Family and our Home into the marina. He admits that his organisation made a mistake.

Crest Nicholson happily accepted all our mooring fees, which were always paid promptly, until such time as they wanted us to leave, returning fees which we had paid, on no less than three occasions.

Crest Nicholson failed, at the highest level, to accept our repeated invitations to enter into any Alternative Dispute Resolution talks.

We believe the matter has been dealt with in a most brutal and heavy handed manner and by our clear losses to date, we believe we have already suffered most undeservedly. To lose our own Family Home and our beautiful way of life is difficult enough to bear but to lose our personal private possessions, in the way that we have, really is quite unbearable.

By association we believe this matter may reflect poorly upon your good selves or upon your respective institutions and we very much regret these events. In the circumstances, we are moved to act in all due regard to our moral conscience. We believe that with our five daughters, we have been shown very little, in terms of ‘respect’ for Family, Home, and Way of Life.

Accordingly, we would be very grateful if you would respond to this appeal with good purpose. Please encourage Crest Nicholson to review this case. If you should have any questions or comments, please contact us immediately.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards,


Yours sincerely,



Vincent & Marie Louise Shalom

Letter Ends
--------------------

Crest Nicholson issued the following press release dated October 2005.

“Insight Investment, the asset manager of HBOS Plc, in partnership with the WWF and its Government-supported ‘One Million Homes Campaign’ have awarded Crest Nicholson Plc the joint first place in their second report into the performance and reporting on sustainability within the house building industry.”

The press release continues…

“The report, Investing in Sustainability: Progress and performance amongst the UK’s listed house-builders revisited, updates an earlier report published in January 2004 by the two organisations that have teamed up to assess the extent to which UK house-builders are demonstrating their commitment to sustainable development. Crest Nicholson achieved a score in the report of 84 per cent based on engagement. The average for 2005 was just 68 per cent. Stephen Stone, who is currently Chief Operating Officer at Crest Nicholson Plc, but who will take over as Chief Executive from 1st November 2005, is delighted with the endorsement of the Company’s commitment to sustainability: “The latest report clearly defines Crest Nicholson as a market leader in sustainable development, having moved up from 5th position in 2003, and confirms that that the Company stands out due to an increasingly comprehensive, strategic and systematic approach in responding to the challenges set by Government to deliver sustainable homes and communities.”

It states further….

“Some of the ways in which Crest Nicholson is achieving sustainable development include water and space heating energy conservation, transport impact reduction planning, the selection of low environmental impact building materials and a commitment to occupier health and well being.”
_____________

Crest Nicholson already believe that they caused the accident to the Family Home, that they were “wrong” to have accepted their Houseboat into Penarth Marina, and that as a commercial operator, could not consider their marina operations, “safe or suitable” for a Family with young children. In the way in which the company have dealt with their ‘mistake’, the Family call into question the moral obligations of Crest Nicholson, a corporate enterprise. The Family accuse Crest Nicholson of a comprehensive failure to implement, Responsible Business Practice and Corporate Social Responsibility.

The Shalom Family and their five daughters, with their Home, possessions lost, hopes and dreams gone, and lives effectively ‘on hold’, find this present situation and the relationship between HBOS and Crest Nicholson very difficult to understand or accept. On the face of it, it appears to be, a ‘self-congratulatory, back-slapping’ exercise, in the face of the Family’s ‘forgotten’ misery.

However, Mr Shalom was warmly greeted by all HBOS and Bank of Scotland employees he encountered, whilst he made similar appeals for help at Bank of Scotland Corporate Head Quarters, also in Edinburgh, Scotland.

The Husband and Father of five seeks HBOS help in achieving the only stated ‘aim’ of the Shalom Family Campaign for Social Justice, a ‘Fair and Just Solution’ from property developer and house builder Crest Nicholson Plc. The Family believe that HBOS Insight Investment may perhaps be able to provide some insight into how this may be best achieved.

All presentations by Mr Shalom were peaceful and he returned to Wales via England’s Lake District, but not before making yet another appeal, with his wife and children, to Crest Nicholson’s Chairman Mr. John Matthews and Crest Directors, on 31st October 2005, at Crest Nicholson’s head office in Surrey.

The Scotsman was invited to make record of this Family appeal to HBOS via The Edinburgh Evening News.


Contacts:

The Shalom Family Campaign for Justice via website
www.mvpicton.co.uk


The Directors
HBOS PLC
THE MOUND
EDINBURGH
EH1 1YZ

Crest Nicholson Plc
Crest House
Thames Street
Weybridge
Surrey
England

Tel 01932 847272
Fax 01932 840150
------------------
Simon Haigh and Andrew Yates at Quays Marinas
Quay Marinas Ltd
Avon House
Newbrick Road
Stoke Gifford
Bristol
BS34 8RA

Tel 01179 236466
Fax 01179 236508

Email  shaigh@quaymarinas.com,  prye@quaymarinas.com or  ayates@quaymarinas.com
--------------------

Other indy media news links articles:-

Lloyds TSB Group Plc Drop Shares In Crest Nicholson Plc
 https://www3.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/11/327097.html

Crest Nicholson Plc Evicted Houseboat Family Open Letter of Appeal
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/london/2005/10/326210.html

Halifax (Bank of Scotland) and Lloyds TSB Bank Targeted at Guildford
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/10/325211.html

Protest at Centre Parcs Director John Matthews/ Chairman of both Crest Plc, Regus Plc, and director at Diploma plc, SDL plc and Rotork plc.
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/westcountry/2005/08/320790.html

Family Petition HRH Prince Charles Business In The Community
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/07/318335.html

Schroders London Boat Show Protest
 https://www1.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/01/304204.html

Claridge’s Protest London
 https://www1.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/04/308474.html

Crest Nicholson AGM Protest at the Runnymede Hotel and Spa Surrey
 https://www4.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/04/309486.html

HBOS Protest National Boat Caravan and Out Show NEC Birmingham
 https://www1.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/world/2005/03/307747.html

Various Photo Story Board links:- Broadband advised for slide shows.
 http://aol.photobox.co.uk/public/customer.html?customer=191568

END.