Desperate pensioners too proud to plea for help
Thou shalt not steal ... unless you are desperate.
Well, there are plenty who may feel they have dispensation to shoplift with God's blessing, given Church of England priest Tim Jones's recent Christmas pronouncement to pilfer if you are poor.
They would be wrong. And that goes for all the pensioners in Sunderland and East Durham who have been nabbed for shoplifting in the last two years.
Nearly 80 have been arrested – that's almost a quarter of the hundreds of pensioners nicked on various charges.
Father Tim's tempering the eighth commandment brought down by Moses from Mount Sinai, that you only rob the rich retail companies and not family businesses, was unholy tampering.
And there is no way you can say it's OK to shoplift. Thieving is wrong – no wonder the 42-year-old vicar from York was hit by a bucket of 30 tins of spaghetti and ravioli last Sunday by an angry parishioner who lay in wait after morning service.
Martin Stott, 48, was incensed by the man of the cloth's words: "My advice as a Christian priest is to shoplift. I do not offer such advice because I think that stealing is a good thing, or because I think it is harmless, for it is neither."
And the former prison chaplain qualified this with the hope that his words would not be "misrepresented as a simplistic call for people to shoplift".
He said some people have little option but to turn to crime.
There is no equating right with wrong, whatever the circumstances. And
that brings me back to our impovershed pensioners.
How desperate they must have been, driven to thieve? No doubt they would come into the same category as those Father Tim was having a heart for – vulnerable people who don't know which way to turn if their benefits are not forthcoming.
Throughout our city there are pensioners in penury. They haunt the Bridges to keep warm and for so many the reality is whether they have heat or eat.
"The basic state pension of 92 a week is too low for people to live on. Basic foodstuffs, utility bills, transport and other daily costs have risen with no proper increase in bnefits for those who need them most." says Age Concern spokesman Les Young.
"We are starting to see older people shoplifting to get by."
While plenty of pensioners are cossetted by work and war pensions, there are those who are not – those whose partners have died, are old and alone, struggling to make ends meet on half the income but with the same bills to pay.
And their plight is accentuated when they come from a generation where moralistically it is anathema for them to admit they are impoversished.
Pensioners have a pride and dignity. So much so that they are loath even to claim the benefits they are entitled to.
Thousands are missing out all over Wearside. Last year Age Concern Sunderland recouped 1.5million in unclaimed benefits.
While many do not even realise they are missing out, many more are not aware that Age Concern is there to help them claim what is rightfully theirs.
It's not charity but what they have worked for from the age of15, paid into National Insurance for.
Now, in the twilight of their lives, people are literally sitting in the dark and, in this weather, freezing because they are too proud to ask for help.
And it's easy to see why the red tape of filling in forms defeats younger souls, never mind those in their 70s, 80s and 90s.
That's where Age Concern can help, offering a confidential listening ear as well as a lifeline to those who are missing out big-time.
They will review what you are receiving and do all the nescessary form filling.
What is staggeringly worrying is that those who are desperately impoverished have been losing out for years in benefits.
Incredibly one woman pensioner was without heat or hot water for five months because of a problem with a hot water tank.
Imagine if that was now in this bleakest of winters – snowed in and frozen literally stiff. That's the reality and one Age Concern is critically aware of that lives are at risk.
And needlessly so when there is financial help available for those who qualify for installing central heating or who have run into problems with their bills.
As Maureen Fildes, warm front co-ordinator at Sunderland Age Concern says of the woman who had no heating for five months up till December: "That was the worst case I have come across and there are more people who have been without heating and hot water for a length of time.
"Even a couple of days is too long."
With no let-up in the weather, every day more of our elderly are at risk, as much from themselves and their sense of pride, as the elements.
"We would encourage anybody who is concerned about their financial affairs at the moment to get in touch and we will happily assist them," says Age Concern project manager Victoria Brown.
What never changes is it is always the most needy and the vulnerable who do not seek help.
If you know someone old, alone and desperately in need, reach out and help set the wheels in motion.
Remember, it could be the difference between life and death.
You can contact Age Concern's confidential helpline on 0191 5141131.
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Weather for Sunderland
Saturday 04 February 2012
Today
Light sleet showers
Temperature: -1 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 1 C to 6 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: West
