Demonstrate against unlawful penalty charges

The Consumer Action Group (www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk) and Penalty Charges (www.penaltycharges.co.uk) will be holding a peaceful protest against unfair and unlawful bank charges at 2.00pm on 1 December 2006 outside the Office of Fair Trading in London.

The Government and OFT have repeatedly been asked to take action against banks and credit card providers who are unlawfully penalising their customers. So far they have failed to do so.

For years the banks have been levying penalty charges at levels that, for many, create a vicious spiral of debt and poverty. These charges have the biggest impact on the poorest members of society some of whom see their benefit payments swallowed up by bank charges. Even worse, it is now apparent that these charges are set at levels that are clearly unlawful.

The Consumer Action Group and Penalty Charges campaign were set up to help people fight back and recover these unlawful charges from their banks. So far 84,000 people have registered with the two websites and thousands of them have recovered millions of pounds in charges.

The objective of both sites is to demand that the banks respect the rule of law and, if they fail to do so, for the Government and OFT to intervene to compel them. To help reach their objectives, they will be holding this rally to get the OFT to take action against the banks' unlawful activities.

In order to demonstrate to the Government how serious the situation is, the rally will have the theme of 'A Christmas Carol' and members are asked to attend dressed as beggars - Bob Cratchitt, Tiny Tim, and generally poor people in rags - down and out people, to ensure the Office of Fair Trading understand the somber message that their failure to deal with this issue is leaving hundreds of thousands of people in poverty at Christmas and throughout the year. Members are also asked to wear masks to symbolise the hidden nature of unlawful bank charges.