In February we told of Bernard McCartin, the former mayor of Horwich, who received a trivial punishment for benefit fraud of £18,000. Read his shame
here.
Now he's got himself back in the news. The local news
reports that "a poppy-selling veteran was thrown out of a supermarket after customers complained because they recognised him as a convicted benefits cheat". And indeed it is Mr McCartin.
On Tuesday, he set up his stall in Asda, Middlebrook, to sell poppies for the Royal British Legion’s annual remembrance appeal, as he has done for the past four years. He and his wife had been sitting at the table for about two hours when a member of staff, accompanied by a security guard, approached him.
The shameless Mr McCartin clearly thinks they were in the wrong: “One of the managers said ‘We’ve had a few complaints about your past and we’re going to have to ask you to leave’.
“I didn’t argue with them. I just packed up and left. I couldn’t get out quick enough because I nearly lost my rag. I was absolutely gobsmacked.”
Asda said the store received six complaints about Mr McCartin in the first 40 minutes he was there.
Asked about those who complained, he said: “I think they’re petty-minded.”
He says of his benefit cheat conviction: “It’s all over with. It’s finished. Done. Forgotten.”
When a politician says it's time to move on, be sure it is not.He may have a background collecting for the Legion, but people are entitled to protest when they invited to give money to a convicted thief - and an apparently unrepentant one at that.
Mr McCartin had arranged to collect at Asda every day this week, and he was there all day Monday without any problems. He has already filled about 30 tins this year, all of which are sealed. He said: “I’ve got paperwork for all the tins. Every penny is accounted for.”
Asda were diplomatic. A spokesman said: “Because of Mr McCartin’s conviction earlier in the year, a number of customers expressed concerns about him when they saw him collecting in store. We asked him to leave while we investigated.”
The RBL is arranging for another collector at Asda.
htp Dave