A BUSINESSMAN who went on hunger strike to protest the handling of his business loan repayments said he was disappointed ministers would not meet him to discuss his case.
John Guidi, pictured, has been camping outside the Clydesdale Bank headquarters in Glasgow since mid-March to campaign against the lender and Cerberus Capital Management.
The 63-year-old, who built a portfolio of around 150 properties in Scotland, blames the bank for changing the structure of his loans and selling his debt to American firm Cerberus, which is said to have put his company into receivership.
He told the Press Association it was a “great disappointment” not to be invited along to a meeting between Angela Crawley, his MP, and Treasury Minister John Glen.
Crawley said her constituent has been made personally bankrupt, and risks losing his family home, which he has lived in for the last 30 years, within weeks.
To resolve his dispute fairly, she has urged the UK Government to enable an independent financial tribunal.
“It would have been good to hear the minister’s thinking first-hand about the situation,” said Guidi.
“I am asking if the minister is going to be honest with me. Will he do something about Cerberus which operates with no accountability, with no banking licence, but uses the full weight of the law and due process to divest people of their hard-earned wealth.
“Will he support me and my request that this is brought to a stop and will he support the dispute resolution service where people like myself are given a process where they are able to look to redress.”
He suspended his hunger strike last month ahead of meeting with Clydesdale Bank chief executive David Duffy, but vowed to go on campaigning, having received messages of support from as far away as Vietnam.
Speaking following the meeting with the Treasury Minister, a spokesman for Crawley said talks were “productive” and the minister was “sympathetic”.
He added: “Angela has been campaigning on behalf of John’s case and we had a productive meeting with the minister where we discussed a number of ways that John’s case could reach a resolution.
“One of those being a complaints resolution mechanism or disputes resolution mechanism.
“We impressed upon the minister that the framework should be as wide as possible.
“There is still a lot of work to do to save John’s home but we are going to continue to campaign and impress upon the Government, CYBG and Cerberus that John’s home should be saved from repossession.”
Glen has previously said he was taking the case “very seriously” and told MPs that he understood enforcement action against Guidi is on hold and that both Clydesdale and Cerberus have offered to meet him.
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