Tycoon in hunger strike over ‘mis-sold’ £10m bank loans
A PROPERTY entrepreneur who has been made bankrupt and faces eviction from his family home of 30 years is planning to go on hunger strike as he pleads with a bank boss to save him and his wife from ruin.
John Guidi, 63, says he will camp around the corner from the Glasgow head office of CYBG – the owner of his former bank, Clydesdale – until its chief executive, David Duffy, the Government or financial authorities step in to help.
He is planning to sleep out on George Square in the city centre, yards from the bank HQ on St Vincent Place, from next Sunday.
Mr Guidi, who lives in Bothwell, Lanarkshire, with wife Ingrid, 49, says he will take only a tent and a sleeping bag and will eat nothing until action is taken. Mr Guidi blames Clydesdale Bank for the collapse of his residential property business, which at its peak had annual revenues of £800,000 and owned 150 properties.
He claims bankers mis-sold him £10 million worth of loans, which came with crippling interest rate payments. Mr Guidi says that despite never missing a repayment, he was cut off from credit by the bank and chased for the balance when his loan term ended.
Unable to find another lender to take on the debt, his company was put into liquidation in 2015 and, due to a personal guarantee, he now faces losing his home. ‘I am desperate,’ said Mr Guidi. ‘I’m in the last quarter of my life. I’ve been stripped of everything I worked for.
‘And the Government, the financial authorities, and Clydesdale Bank are saying, “That’s OK”.’
Mr Guidi, who is one of hundreds of entrepreneurs who feel they were mis-sold loans that led to the ruin of their businesses, has been fighting a series of legal battles since being made bankrupt in 2017.
He is not able to sue CYBG because he has been made insolvent, but he is awaiting the outcome of a legal challenge to the terms of a contract he signed with Clydesdale in a last-ditch attempt to save his home and his few remaining personal assets.
At the time of the alleged wrongdoing, Clydesdale Bank was owned by the National Australia Bank. In 2016, along with Yorkshire Bank, it was separated from the company into a new firm, called CYBG, which is now listed on the London Stock Exchange.
A spokesman for CYBG said: ‘Mr Guidi’s case is subject to ongoing court proceedings and we are unable to comment further without his permission.
‘While Mr Guidi’s case is a complex one, we are confident that we have investigated it thoroughly.’
‘I’ve been stripped of everything I worked for’