Bank refuses account to unfair public fines action group

Added: (Fri Mar 09 2007)

Pressbox (Press Release) - HSBC bank in Hayes, Middlesex, has refused to open a bank account for unfair public fines action group, UPFA.

UPFA has just been created as a non-profit limited company by guarantee, with an initial web page at www.upfa.org.uk, by Victor Lilley of Hayes End and an ex-neighbour. Lilley was trying to set up a bank account with HSBC, Hayes Town branch, to accept donations.

Before he went to visit the Bank, Lilley was told that the account would need to be approved by regional office, despite him already being a customer with his independent consultancy and training company Lilley Information Systems. The local branch couldn’t tell him in advance what regional office’s selection criteria were, in order to avoid him wasting time going to the meeting.

At the meeting, on Monday, 5 March 2007 at 14:30, Lilley explained that the action group has been formed initially, to support him financially in terms of salary for his time, court costs etc., in his claim against Transport For London (TFL) and the Parking and Traffic Adjudication Service (PTAS), regarding his claim: that the London Congestion Penalty Charge process and amount are unfair and illegal; and that PTAS is not independent. The idea being, that if he wins, others can avoid unfair penalties on the same grounds.

Subsequently the Group will expand into a more general unfair public fines action group, operating both locally and nationally, helping citizens resist and fight unfair public fines, in particular, entrapment of unaware citizens for congestion, speeding and parking fines.

The local bank official said that he thought regional office would approve. However, Lilley got a telephone call from the Bank at midday of Wednesday 7 March 2007. The women said, the Bank had refused his application for an account, because they wanted to be seen as politically neutral.

‘I can’t understand it,’ said Lilley. ’If HSBC were politically neutral, wouldn’t they be accepting bank accounts from organisations of any political persuasion?‘

Anyway, UPFA is not aligned to any political party and is neither against, nor for, the London Congestion Charge, as a policy. What it is against, is the unfair way it is administered. In other words, not policy, but how the policy is implemented, according to Lilley.

‘Unfair public fines is about justice, so it more akin to the Law rather than politics,’ said Lilley.

Someone from another action group emailed Lilley and asked: are HSBC saying that they do not manage money for any politically based organisations? Maybe they don’t want to see an end to unfair public fines? Has it got something to do with the banks taking a bashing over their own penalty charges?

‘One of my neighbours referred to it as discrimination,’ said Lilley.

‘It is bad enough having to deal with the aggravation from TFL, PTAS, and the local County Court, let alone the banks as well. It makes you wonder if there is some sort of conspiracy going on between the banks and government?’

He thinks it may mean, that he will have to go abroad to get a bank.

In the meantime, while UPFA cannot take credit card donations because it doesn’t have a bank account, it can still accept cheques that can be banked later, when it does get an account. So anyone who would like to donate by cheque should make it payable to UPFA Limited and send it to Victor Lilley, UPFA Limited, 16 Kingsway, Hayes, Middlesex, UB3 2TY.


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