Ashton Under lyne, baby, ESA, eugenics, feminism, government, Housing, hunger, Jobcentre, Northern resisters, poverty, sanctions, trade union movement, Uncategorized, Universal credit, womens rights, Workfare

Man douses himself in petrol inside Ashton Under Lyne Jobcentre. 

Yesterday I received three telephone calls and today I also received a text message informing me that a man had doused himself in petrol inside the Jobcentre. When we arrived at our regular Thursday demo today we were stopped by two claimants who also confirmed it. Each person that conveyed their stories gave the same account and after checking that there was an incident at the Jobcentre yesterday I can say that this is true.

The man walked into the Jobcentre with a petrol container.. He looked desperate by all accounts. We cannot say for definite what his exact reasoning behind this was but what we can say is that this man was in mental anguish. Along with thousands of claimants everyday he was most likely pushed to the edge. He couldn’t take anymore. Death it seems was the only option to him, and he wanted to show the DWP staff who work at the Jobcentre and who have most likely treated him without compassion just how desperate he had become.  He opened the petrol container over himself and stood there.

Now did the Jobcentre staff try and approach him in a sympathetic manner? No they didn’t. Whilst this was happening not one member of staff by all accounts actually spoke to him like a human being. Maybe talking to him with sympathy in the first place could have prevented this. They phoned the police and immediately they phoned for an ambulance. He was handcuffed and taken away in an ambulance. We hope that he is making a recovery. The anguish he must have been going through must have been immense. The threat of having everything to taken away from you does that. 

It was noted by ALL accounts that the Jobcentre workers inside the building did not show compassion, one thought that it was fitting to smile. One Jobcentre worker walked outside and was smiling. This angered members of the public who were sat across the road. From all accounts she was very lucky not to have been attacked by members of the public. Not because of her job title, but because she was half smiling and one account said sneering. I just don’t understand the mindset that justifies this at all. I would be shocked and I would try to help. It goes without saying doesn’t it. It’s not a laughing manner.

Please note; I do have the greatest sympathy with the Jobcentre workers who are sympathetic and compassionate. If they have been affected by this then I hope that they get help. 

Another incident occurred today and it’s not dissimular to yesterday’s incident. 

Whilst handing out leaflets we appproached a man who was about to enter the Jobcentre. He was obviously very stressed and anxious, and had been drinking. He just kept saying that the staff in “that building” were horrible. He wouldn’t say why. We can only guess that the system has worn him down. 

Not long afterwards he was marched out with a number of police officers. A claimant who had been inside the Jobcentre said that he just stood in the middle of the room shouting. No one had spoken to him, but he wanted to go to the police cells for the night where he would get some food. 

The police were very sympathetic even though he shouted at them too for no apparent reason. They didn’t take him to the cells, they took him home amd hopefully he is resting now. 

Both incidents highlight the massive issue that people who are not well and are quite possibly suffering from mental health issues are being forced off their sickness claims and into JSA with no support at all. They don’t understand the system and cannot cope with it, and this is an issue that will only get worse. 

They system clearly isn’t working, it’s failing just about everyone who has to use a Jobcentre. Poeople who have mental health issues and illnesses are being ignored, and as I found when I was signing on, if you’re not stressed when first attending a Jobcentre you will be after attending for a few months. The system grinds you down and you become compliant to just about anything. 

That poor man could well become another statistic that Ian Duncan Smith refuses to release. Just a number to him, one that he won’t release. We haven’t forgotten the bodged statistics and we demand the real ones. Of course he won’t release them, because if he does people will see the real genocide of the poorest and most vulnerable in society. Strong worlds but it’s a reality in my eyes. 

Remember that person you see homeless on the street, or drunk could well be a victim of the cruel system invented  by this Tory government and imposed and forced on the vulnerable by the DWP. 

Wasn’t the doorway but you get the idea. Many thanks for the photo. 

    
  

 

The poor man being bundled into the back of a police van today. 

Makes you wonder. How desperate do people have to become before anyone takes any notice? I can be sure that the local press will not be interested in this story so please share as much as possible. 

Comments like saying things like “he should have burnt himself down.” “I have no sympathy with him he’s a nutter and should be locked up” will be defeated. Comments like that do not help and it just shows the lack of compassion that is held by some people. People who are suffering like this need help. 

63 thoughts on “Man douses himself in petrol inside Ashton Under Lyne Jobcentre. ”

  1. Pingback: Cameron: A Sociopath? | Rantings From a Virtual Soapbox

  2. Those who look down on others should remember what goes around comes around. They are only a couple of words away from losing their jobs and even their lives.
    I remember some famous bloke from history who belittled people who said certain types of people were scum and not worth letting live. His words were listened to and over 6 million people paid for his views that person was Hitler, now then the Tories have gone totally over board in trying to make the sick lame and poor look worthless and the frightening part of it is people are beginning to believe it. How far down that road do you want to travel because when you go to far down there is no turning back.

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  3. John Brown says:
    September 10, 2015 at 8:57 pm

    At least he actually did something. All most people do against this government is whinge in facebook groups where everybody agrees anyway, while the rest of the population repeat Tory propaganda in the media…
    I am one of those people John Brown, who spout on various subjects on Facebook. unlike you i am too disabled ,too old, and little energy to go out doing what obviously you must be fit to do.neither do i have the money to go here, there and everywhere to rally’s and demo’s. i find it difficulty to even find the taxi fare to go to my daughters, 4 miles down the road these days, just to get out of my own 4 walls. and i know there are hundreds like me. possibly thousands. but please do not put down what we do,. we are raising awareness of what is happening in this country,to our people. of the atrocities being done against our fellow men,women and children.signing petitions.whatever we can do to try and change the attitudes of those who lean towards or are tory’s.in an effort to make them see what this government is doing to us all who do not have massive bank accounts. (and i deliberately put a small t for tory as i do not believe they deserve a capital t, which would make them more important.)

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  4. This is a shocking story and is part of a wider picture of suicide and loss of life including the ex soldier Brian Clapson who basically starved to death, while many other are in penury and misery as a consequence of these brutal welfare reforms. However, apart from blogs and a number of protests by Unite Community and DPAC, most progressive people don’t seem to be mobilising on the issue. What will it take for the resurgent Left and civil society to wake up and act?, they acted with urgency this weekend on the refugee crisis, lets see the same with the savage welfare changes. The Labour Party, the People’s Assemblies, sick and disabled action groups, Disability Charities and other allies must call a national demonstration calling for an end to the most brutal welfare regime since the 19th C.

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  5. What I wish for is this Tory Government have to go through what this poor man and all who are discriminated against, maybe then they might have some compassion but I doubt it all they care about is getting all of their Perks and to hell with everyone else. they need to be taken down, God help us all to rid this Country of those evil bastards. and the sooner the better . I believe in Karma they will one get their come uppings one day would love to see them have to beg for food and a roof over their heads and be treated they way they treat the people of this Country.

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  6. All am going say on this matter just now is every 2 weeks they get there money in that time they prob’s been spoke down too on sign on day and even as far as mislead so they get there money stopped….. so jsa is what £145 every 2 weeks ….so say 4 out of every 10 people can’t hack the crap they get and hoops they need to jump through say screw it ….am going do this to get lifted by the police in which waste more police time and paper work to say the least……. but those 4 in 10 people now are lifted in to court system which cost money and say out of those 4……… 2 get the jail for a year which now they get 3 meals a day and a roof over there head for basic living ….but here is the cost to us tax payers too keep them there mounts up to £31 grand a year too keep each and every single person in jail…..so some thing is broking here …….. jsa for a year is going be a lot less than locking people up when there is so called no money to spend….. so you would expect government stripping every benefit to the bare bone is going force more people down the road of jail or the poor man way out and hang him self is what is going on just now ……. surely that can’t be the only way too live….. which wouldn’t be long clogging up the system and budget for hmps as more and more people struggle if they don’t take the easy way out and go to jail for what ever it may be still going to cost £31 grand a year for each and every one prisoner to be kept which would out way any cuts made to benefits so over flow the prisons ..

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    1. They’ve got the solution… Build super jails and make prisoners work for nothing in them… Now that’s total slave labour.. It’s in the pipeline and private contractors are already contracting work out to prisons. I believe pound land might be one of the companies that use prison inmates to package their goods. I’d like some concrete confirmation of this though.
      Many thanks for your comment. You are right in what you are saying. I’ve spoken to many people who have said that they commit crime because it is less stressful “than going I’m that building” and at least in prison they will “get an bed and some food” society is broken and we need to stop this.

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  7. Pingback: Railwayana and Evolution | aspiblog

  9. Having been a worker in the old DHSS local office in the poorest part of London in the mid 70’s to 1990 I can tell you the enormous pressure was piled onto the staff. Most of the staff were sympathetic to claimants, some were not.
    the problem today is that most of the work is done in big centres where there is little or no contact with the public.
    The problem with job centres is not mainly the people working there but the pressure for results piled onto them by an uncaring govt and in my view downright disgust the govt has on the poor, aged, unemployed and sick.
    Until this govt is got rid of we will see these events over and over again.

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  12. Pingback: chutzpah | Gabriel Vents

  13. Reblogged this on Sasson Hann and commented:
    Just another day at the job centre; you could multiply this across the UK. I heard the other day that someone drove a car through the windows of a different job centre.

    Give it a little more time, and someone will get seriously hurt. The man in this article – luckily for the smirking staff in the job centre – didn’t light the petrol. I hope that all staff will take note of this, and realise how close they came to disaster, how them not uniting against the DWP policies is a factor in all of this.

    I hope that this poor man, and the other distressed man, and the millions of other distressed and stressed out claimants, fit or sick, will get some kind of relief soon.

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  14. he knows David but just does not care one tiny bit about other people,the mans a thieve anyway and a dole cheat, £40 pound breakfasts and £100 wet wipes? bullshit £5 pound breakfast and £1.99 wet wipes the rest of the money is in his pocket

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  17. And yet when Mohamed Bouazizi Tunisian street vendor who set himself on fire on 17 December 2010, in protest of the confiscation of his wares and the harassment and humiliation that he reported was inflicted on him by a municipal official and her aides. His act became a catalyst for the Tunisian Revolution and the wider Arab Spring, inciting demonstrations and riots throughout Tunisia in protest of social and political issues in the country

    In 2011, Bouazizi was posthumously awarded the Sakharov Prize jointly along with four others for his and their contributions to “historic changes in the Arab world”The newTunisian government honored him with a postage stamp.The Times of the United Kingdom named Bouazizi as “Person of 2011”

    odd that this man contributes historic changes in the Arab world and gets headline news across the world and this poor desperate man like Mohamed Bouazizi gets nothing

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  19. I feel so sorry for this man. My partner has mental health problems n he also has eplispy. N his gp n this doctor at hospital have said he not ready for work. N once again the dwp have said he is so they kept him on esa work related. My partner tryed to kill him self . His eplispy is still out of control. The dwp need to look at what they are doing. Because they r not doing it right.

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  21. At least he actually did something. All most people do against this government is whinge in facebook groups where everybody agrees anyway, while the rest of the population repeat Tory propaganda in the media.

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  22. If you’re going to write an article, shouldn’t you know the difference between their and there? It says this — show the DWP staff who work their and who have most likely treated him without compassion just how desperate he had become.

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    1. So sorry for the spelling mistake!!!! You see I often write when I’m out and about and the odd spelling mistake can get past me! Thank you for pointing it out. I stand corrected and it has been corrected.

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  23. When the CSA pushed me too far – late w/end calls etc. – a friend pointed out that you can nominate anyone as your Legal Representative. CSA obliged to respond to letters and Qs so switch to ‘soft targets’ (their very words) – no chance of honesty or clarity. This may work elsewhere. I think it saved my life 10 years ago. All take care.

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  24. Pingback: Man douses himself in petrol inside Ashton Under Lyne Jobcentre.  | lawrencerowntree

  26. Trouble is there is no mental health places left now, all the places are taken up. this guy will be released and probably fined for what he did while the job centre just push more towards doing the same thing, Disgusting people who just say Im only doing my Job, well everyone has a choice and if you dont agree you could make a stand.

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  27. The DWP don’t care about people on the dole or sick, all they care about is there wage every month but they should remember that if no body was on the dole or sick they would not have a pay pack each month, maybe that’s why they don’t want to help cos it could be them on the other side. If they did care and helped the people that need it. #scum bags #hartless #Ashton jobcentre

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  28. Reblogged this on Brightonredhot’s Weblog and commented:
    This sick twisted anti British government need to be taken down, they are not fit to run a Childs tea party let alone run a country, these Tory scum must be kicked out of power and especially this vile little Hitler, Smith who runs the job centres and the corrupt DWP. Disabled people need and deserve to be treated with care and compassion, the vile bitch at the job centre should be named and shamed for laughing at this poor mans desperate acts which only goes to show just how heartless these sick barstewards are in these job centres where they are told they must reach their targets for benefit sanctions. I hope the UN will start to investigate these sick barstewards as soon as possible and take down scum like Smith, Patel and the sick corrupt job centres and the DWP as well as tho filthy sick Tory government once and for all.

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    1. Much as one might wish Unpretti Patel and Iain Drunken Shit to be “taken down” by the UN, there is really very little – if anything – that the UN can do. Even if they find that the UK has violated the rights of people with disabilities, the most the UN can do would be to publish a report stating as much, which Cameron’s kleptocratic kakistocracy would simply ignore.

      It might be technically possible for the Commonwealth to vote to suspend the membership of the UK but, as Good Queen Brenda is nominally the UK Head of State as well the head of the Commonwealth, that would cause a lot of constitutional problems so it won’t happen.

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  30. he went to the wrong place should have gone to house of commons handcuffed himself to IDS then poured the liquid over the two of them that would have wiped the smile off his face. It is a disgrace in this day and age that a human being who is in such a state has to go to this length just to put a point across.

    But I totally sympathies with him where the DWP think that it is funny to wind up desperate lonely penniless people, I think that the Job centres that treat people like this should be named and shamed I just don’t understand for the life of me what pleasure they get out of treating people the way that they do it is nothing new they have treated people like that for years.

    It is about time this department was re-trained but I am so annoyed the that they just stood back and laughed at the man that was so distressed pity the smirked outside didn’t get her comeuppance she was a very lucky scum bag indeed..

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    2. The only way of stopping this is getting the Tories out other than that we are stuck with them for the next 5 years. There is no opposition in parliament that can fight them & I doubt very much that ids & co will enter into a training scheme that will teach the staff how to talk to people with respect…..

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  33. Pingback: Man douses himself in petrol inside Ashton Under Lyne Jobcentre.  | disabledsingleparent

  35. On the occasions that I have been sanctioned I was glad that my children were not relying on me to provide as they had grown up,I was sanctioned for going away for the weekend to a caravan in portpatrick with my daughter who was suffering from manic depression,any way when I went to my next signing day they told me that they had sent me a letter which was apparently sent out on the Sat,after I ex plained that I’d been away for weekend and with who,they already knew is in a bad place,they still sanctioned me and made me fill in a holiday form,which was only for people going away for more than 2weeks,nothing for 4weeks,the next time I went I had superglue in pocket ready to make a point as desperation was starting to set in,but he told me my sanction that I appealed against had been overturned and the money should be in my account,I asked why wasn’t I giving an emergency loan or discretionary payment,they said I didn’t ask,I agree it’s he’ll as what seems to be enough for one person in social it’s not the same for the other,I didn’t use my glue,asked by I hadn’t received a letter telling me a payment had been made,there had according to them,it’s degrading,

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  38. Pingback: Man douses himself in petrol inside Ashton Under Lyne Jobcentre.  | Benefit tales
  39. Pingback: Man douses himself in petrol inside Ashton Under Lyne Jobcentre.  | nearlydead

  40. it is sickening that this government treats the poor and vulnerable the same way it treats vetrins and that is with hatred and disdain. the government is more interested in lining the pockets of there rich cronies instead of helping the poor. because of the benefit system they have introduced i have lost my home. i got no help from the government even though i asked and when i did i got spoken to like a peice of s**t

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  42. What a sad world we live in when this man was driven to shouting at people so he would be taken to jail so he could get a meal. I hope when the police took him home they gave him some food..

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  45. I would of thought a secure mental health institute would of been more appropriate! But then what justice can the poor and destitute expect nowadays!

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      1. I think some of the comments on here are horrible, people suffer from mental health issues my x husband did but I showed him compassion not just for his sake but for his son and the fact that he is also a fellow human being seems to have escaped your small minds. I do hope that you never suffer any mental illness in your old age. In fact I hope you do then you will remember nothing your family and your sad life will escape you. I do hope this man gets help. Also please note the police are now having training on the issues of mental health so it just shows you the Police do have
        compassion. I trust you have a good weekend counting your blessings its not your relative being
        carted off in a police van covered in petrol to be sectioned. Have a good one!!

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  46. Pingback: Man douses himself in petrol inside Ashton Under Lyne Jobcentre.  | The poor side of life | sdbast

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