Hunger strike ends with resolution in sight
Success tastes like chop suey: Christchurch homeowner Peter Glasson has called off his eight-day hunger strike after reaching a deal with insurance claims manager Southern Response.
‘‘I am going to start eating right now,’’ he told on Tuesday night. ‘‘Probably Bluff oysters, I think, and a bottle of beer’’.
He ended up having to settle for the Chinese takeaway. His wife didn’t think seafood and alcohol was the wisest way to break a fast.
Glasson and his wife Anne have been protesting at their lack of
They have had 17 home visits for assessments and two engineering reports.
‘‘I have just found out that Southern Response has signed an agreement with us,’’ Glasson said on Tuesday night.
‘‘This takes us right out of the court process.’’
Glasson said their claim had not been settled but they had received Southern Response’s agreement to hold facilitated talks.
Glasson went on his hunger strike at midnight on April 17, and was living partly in a caravan parked outside Southern Response’s offices. In that time he lost at least 6 kilograms, surviving on green tea, multivitamin tablets and electrolytes.
The couple signed the paperwork to begin the facilitation process late last week, at the request of Earthquake Commission Minister Megan Woods, and had been waiting for an agreement from Southern Response.
Since launching legal proceedings two years ago, Glasson has been spied on by the agency; has sign-written an antiinsurance car in protest; and has countless documents detailing his battle.
Glasson said as soon as his hunger strike became public, he had received ‘‘huge’’ public support, including notes, emails and phone calls. People had left messages and water bottles, he said.
Southern Response chief executive Anthony Honeybone was pleased an agreement setting out the way forward had been reached, and that Glasson had decided to end his hunger strike.
‘‘The Residential Advisory Service did a fantastic job facilitating the negotiations.
‘‘The Residential Advisory Service was established for this exact situation, to assist and support earthquake claimants through the claims process and any disputes that might arise,’’ he said.