大象传媒

On 13 September 2007 the 大象传媒 revealed that Newcastle-based bank Northern Rock had asked for and been granted emergency support from the Bank of England.

Despite assurances that the bank was not in danger of going bust, the next day there were queues outside many branches of the bank with worried savers seeking to withdraw their money.

Mike Parr interviews Ron Sandler

The bank was nationalised and in August 2008 Northern Rock said it had made 1,300 staff redundant.

As the first anniversary of the crisis comes round, the 大象传媒 has been looking at how people in the north-east of England have been affected.

Your experiences

大象传媒 Radio Newcastle's Mike Parr spoke to Northern Rock executive chairman Ron Sandler. Listen to the full interview here:

大象传媒 business editor Robert Peston broke the story about the troubles at Northern Rock.

Some people have blamed the 大象传媒 and other media, saying their reporting of the situation made things worse and he answered those allegations.

Listen to the interview here:

Dennis Grainger worked for Northern Rock

Dennis Grainger, from Northumberland, is a former Northern Rock employee and is head of the Northern Rock Action Group.

As a former employee he had shares in the bank and at one point his investment in Northern Rock was worth 拢114,000. That was something he was keeping for his retirement but it has all gone now.

Dennis said he had resigned himself to the loss of the money but his main concern was the stories of those who had been hit hard by what had happened.

Listen to Dennis Grainger speaking to 大象传媒 Radio Newcastle's Mike Parr.

Christian Balmer, from Ryton, got in touch with the 大象传媒 to tell his story. This is what he wrote:

"We stupidly purchased a small amount of Northern Rock shares (2232 shares) in early September 07, using money we had saved to use to pay for our wedding in June 08.

Christian bought Northern Rock shares

"We did this as we did not believe it possible for an institution the size of the Rock to go under. When our shares were confiscated, we were left with no obvious means of paying for the event.

"We did manage to marry in June of 2008 however we were forced to take out a loan from Nat West and rely on the kind and generous support of family. The Northern Rock fiasco wrecked our wedding and we will be paying for it for several years to come."

Gavin Warrender was made redundant from Northern Rock after working there on and off for nine years.

Listen to his interview with Mike Parr here:

Here are some of the text messages sent to 大象传媒 Radio Newcastle on Friday 12 September during Mike Parr's show:

All this moanin about money, if you gamble your money and lose it its tough luck. True happiness is never found in money. Andy in pelaw

Ref an old saying mike, never put your eggs in one basket. i have 3 pension scheems but with 3 different investment insurance firms. thomas germany.

How long are we going to keep going on About northern rock? What s next a memorial day perhaps. Get over it. If you lend money to people you know cannot pay it back what do you expect. Graeme in Sunderland.

Mike, in your trailer that lady says she had shares worth 拢100,000 we all know share prices go up as well as down ,millions of people lose every day but do you have sympathy for them? No! She gambled & lost, gamblers choose when to take the money, but she wanted more & lost, HER FAULT. JOHN.

The media crucified the the rock and radio newcastle and bbc northeast played a major roll of panicing the investers [to] make a run on the rock lal

Gavin Warrender was made redundant

Mike there are thousands out there coming 2 the end of 2yr fixd mortgages with various lenders inc myself and were all in same boat. U just remortgage like evry1 else. kev

Mike. Pensions in tatters. We all then had our houses as investments to rely on. Where does everyone go now ? Mark

What is this perochial northern ideal of the northern rock, i m hearing about? A bank is a bank, don t try and justify bad choices with regional identity. Craig Jarrow

I think a lot of negativity re sympathy 2wards the shareholders is jealousy. Plain and simple. They 4get shareholders supported the company. Aileen

"No more boom & bust," sed Gordon Brown, the so-called iron chancellor . No financial expert seems able 2 EXPLAIN wots hapnd. Tony, High Spen

Will shareholders get the shares back or be given any kind of preference when it floats again? The people didnt listen to the government who said their savings were safe. They queued and made things worse. Graeme in Sunderland.

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