Killed By My Debt

[bobbie22]

Oh my god, how sad is this?

[Mamyalynne]

Heartbreaking and all too real and far too common.

[bobbie22]

Poor little love.

[weecalf]

Did watch this how sad .

[Jackdaw33]

Unfortunately debt is all too easy to get into and all too difficult to get out of. This is not helped by the advent of pay day lenders and their astronomical rates of interest. They are to be avoided at all costs.

[Mamyalynne]

What made me the angriest was the joke of a job, modern day slavery - he had no chance.

[Jackdaw33]

I didn't see the programme but I read about something similar a few weeks back. Was this a young man who had a job as a delivery driver but had to pay for the upkeep of his motorcycle? Some weeks his earnings did not cover his expenses.

[Mamyalynne]

Yes.

[Cloverjo]

I didn't watch it but it's a tragic case. The son of my parents' friends killed himself over debts. Awful.

[bobbie22]

Bless him, he tried so hard to be independent, but he just got in more debt.

[Gizmonster]

I also watched it.
I'm not usually easily moved emotionally, but oh my .... this certainly tugged on my heart strings .... absolutely devastating.
One thing that this programme highlighted - zero contract hours should be outlawed, or at the very least re-assessed, so as to protect anyone unlucky enough to have to suffer the consequences .....

[jennyjoan]

is there a link please

[Mamyalynne]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p067bmlh/killed-by-my-debt

[-SharonA-]

I will watch this on my return. It sounds devastating.

[hereIam]

Gizmonster - I have often thought that about zero contract hours, I think they are cruel in the extreme.

[Canary42]

The only place I would support zero hours contract is in the Houses of Parliament, based on attendance figures.

[BagPussAA]

I watched it and it was very sad but the baliff was very wrong in it. The bike that he seized was on a lease so it belonged to the leasing company so he would not have been able to take that away. (Ive seen enough episodes of BBCs Sheriffs to know that!).
The lad made the mistake that so many people do... he didnt deal with the debt when it was manageable.

[fiction-factory]

>Gizmonster - I have often thought that about zero contract hours, I think they are cruel in the extreme.

Well they can be. That sort of contract wasn't suitable for this person as the income was never likely to be enough consistently to cover the cost of the bike repayments, insurance, £24 uniform fee. But for some people zero hours contracts are great- eg for students and people like me who can register with different agencies/schools and pick and choose when to say yes or no and with sufficient savings behind me to be able to survive any quiet spells (for me just the summer hols). A courier job like this may also have suited someone who had retired, maybe early, and enjoyed riding/meeting people and 'ride out' (sorry) any quiet periods- in fact they might register with more than one firm.
His parents seemed very loving but i am surprised they did not seek more info about the terms of his job

[woofgang]

yes we used to use zero hours contract with our regular NHS staff who didn't want regular hours for various reasons. It meant that when they came back to work for us, they didn't have to do the standard induction stuff as a new staff member and they were already on the payroll so no delay in receiving pay.