Money pours in for Brit and Thai wife and child down on their luck in Buriram

[gunderhill]

He  doesn't  appear to be wasting away  due to lack of  food, call me insensitive if  it makes u  happy, too many folk now begging, I'd  rather just die than do that, however from a  young age I have saved whenever  I can, I know the good  times don't  last forever  "tomorrow" isn't all sweetness and light.

[Baerboxer]

2 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

He's a Brit been out of Britain 30 years. He can't just arrive on a plane and say help me.

 

He'd be very lucky to be allowed to fly in his current condition. And medical flights are very expensive if a doctor agrees he's fit to fly.

 

The UK would not refuse emergency treatment to anyone. However, depending on what his actual conditions are and the treatments then he might be looking at an expensive NHS bill.

 

If he left the UK at 35 his NI contributions won't get him a full pension, no where near, which he won't get until he's 67/8 or whatever. 

 

Going back to the UK at the moment would be a very expensive option.

[thaibeachlovers]

1 minute ago, gunderhill said:

He  doesn't  appear to be wasting away  due to lack of  food, call me insensitive if  it makes u  happy, too many folk now begging, I'd  rather just die than do that, however from a  young age I have saved whenever  I can, I know the good  times don't  last forever  "tomorrow" isn't all sweetness and light.

I wish people would stop saying because someone has a big belly they are "fat". Bloating from bowel problems can cause a big belly, even for someone a normal weight. It's not uncommon either.

[colinneil]

My wife has seen some Thai news about this man.

Apparently he worked for a company in Pattaya.

He fell in the bathroom at home, unable to get up, unable to go to work, so the company did not pay him.

They lived in a rented house, unable to continue to pay the rent, his wife took him to her mothers house in Lahansai, so Nick that is why he is unknown in Lahansai.

I say again the problems he has are of his own making, living for today, and making no provision for the future.

I have in the past helped people who are in dire straights, but will not help anybody who brings problems on themselves.

[gunderhill]

16 minutes ago, mommysboy said:

 

 

Get on with what? ....die in abject misery.

 

It's not a crime to be poor.  He has been providing for his wife and family.  Most people find it difficult to make ends meet these days.

 

 

Rather most people seem unable to put in the hard  graft in order   to build up an emergency fund, as  a  youngster (18-40 yrs  old) I would often work 7 am to 10pm at night in a manual job EVERY DAY with no stopping for lunch ( self  employed construction industry) I wouldn't even take holidays for fear of losing a  customer so that  I could relax sit  back and  enjoy later  life, now 54 and still working hard on the land that my Wife owns doing  landscaping as the "locals" are  too idle to do it, I'm sure they would  be happy  to hold their hands out also.

The absolute basket cases "real"  poor  are  few and far between, substitute poor  for idle in many cases.

 

 

[stropper]

why is it always BRITS, begging, at least the germans grow a leg to display, must be a terrible place  ,that pommie land, we in aus are sick of the 10 pound bludgers, must be the culture

[gunderhill]

Just now, colinneil said:

My wife has seen some Thai news about this man.

Apparently he worked for a company in Pattaya.

He fell in the bathroom at home, unable to get up, unable to go to work, so the company did not pay him.

They lived in a rented house, unable to continue to pay the rent, his wife took him to her mothers house in Lahansai, so Nick that is why he is unknown in Lahansai.

I say again the problems he has are of his own making, living for today, and making no provision for the future.

I have in the past helped people who are in dire straights, but will not help anybody who brings problems on themselves.

Spot on  Colin!! unfortunately its probably not PC to speak such things these  days.

[Letseng]

44 minutes ago, evadgib said:

Let's hope someone in that loop notifies the Embassy and kick-starts the established welfare/repat system, however limited it may be.

And what do you expect this great embassy to do? They are not quite like BoJo described them. 

[Denim]

4 minutes ago, stropper said:

why is it always BRITS, begging, at least the germans grow a leg to display, must be a terrible place  ,that pommie land, we in aus are sick of the 10 pound bludgers, must be the culture

 

Who is begging in this case ?

 

It is the Thai villagers who have expressed concern and asked for help.

[gunderhill]

8 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I wish people would stop saying because someone has a big belly they are "fat". Bloating from bowel problems can cause a big belly, even for someone a normal weight. It's not uncommon either.

Its NOT  just his  belly, and if  he had problems "again" by saving money he could have undergone surgery to correct or  try to help it, are you telling me he isn't fat and he has stomach problems or just "in general".

Id happily  employ his  Wife if  she can work in the fields  but it seems certainly  round by me  no one wants to do this, Id  happily employ anyone mildly disabled to help, being blind  in one eye would certainly be ok. Last person I had  had a  few  fingers  missing.

[johndudorn]

3 hours ago, Orton Rd said:

Maybe you should study the UK system- he would get some pension if he only had 10 years NI contributions, it's very likely he has 20 years and is entitled to receive it every 4 weeks already at his age. As he has not bothered to claim apparently it seems to be another indication of his own irresponsibility and lack of awareness, not really a case for 'compassion' IMO.

Same as in the US, you need 40 quarters over your working career to qualify for Social Security. It appears you would get about $700 a month..

[shackleton]

There will be people on here  reading this article and hopefully learn think about tomorrow not today

I can imagine there are quite a few people on or near his  position who did not plan for the future what ever their circumstances 

there must be someone friend ex working colleague  who over his 30 years here Pattaya ect   know him 

Can  provide help financial wise  or what ever for  him and his families future

Hope  they get a positive reaction 

[MrPatrickThai]

8 minutes ago, gunderhill said:

Rather most people seem unable to put in the hard  graft in order   to build up an emergency fund, as  a  youngster (18-40 yrs  old) I would often work 7 am to 10pm at night in a manual job EVERY DAY with no stopping for lunch ( self  employed construction industry) I wouldn't even take holidays for fear of losing a  customer so that  I could relax sit  back and  enjoy later  life, now 54 and still working hard on the land that my Wife owns doing  landscaping as the "locals" are  too idle to do it, I'm sure they would  be happy  to hold their hands out also.

The absolute basket cases "real"  poor  are  few and far between, substitute poor  for idle in many cases.

 

 

Why would the locals want to do your landscaping?  By the way, you're my hero. 

I know a guy who can't speak to the locals, despite being there 5 years! Of course, they resent this and refuse to do any work for him. 

[SunsetT]

17 hours ago, kickstart said:

Like a lot of storys like this one I would say  they is more to it than meets the eye .

He worked for various Thai company over the past 30 years ,if they were all legit firms , and he had a work permit and paid Thai tax , and Thai Socal security I would have thought he could get help from them.

If for all thet time he worked he had no work permit ,well ,he has done well not to be caught,how has he got on with 90  day report. 

If he is on a retirement visa, where is that money, should be enough to get him back to the UK.

He is 65, you do not get a UK pension now untill you are 66.

I was 65 in October and started to receive my UK state pension. This is the final year, up to March I think, that it can be claimed at 65yrs old. So, by age, he is entitled to it, but he must apply for it. He can do this online.

[toofarnorth]

19 hours ago, smedly said:

surely he has a UK state pension of some sort and no harm to him but his health issues look like he has stuffed himself over the years into a slug state, does he smoke drink ?

 

Pretty sad state of affairs that only he has responsibility for

UK state pension . Not if he has been living here for 30 years.

[SunsetT]

11 hours ago, chickenslegs said:

To be fair Colin, your missus has a very good job and seems to have unlimited energy to take care of you. Not everyone is so lucky.

 

I will be making a small donation - and I hope I don't find out that he's using it to buy a new top-of-the-range motorbike.

..........top of the range electric wheelchair maybe.

[gunderhill]

5 minutes ago, MrPatrickThai said:

Why would the locals want to do your landscaping?  By the way, you're my hero. 

I know a guy who can't speak to the locals, despite being there 5 years! Of course, they resent this and refuse to do any work for him. 

Many don't have jobs but wont work on the land, rather do nothing than get paid  to help me to do the landscaping..

Funny attitude those locals  have by you then , if  i was  looking for work the last thing to "put  me off" working for someone would be his/her inability to speak to me, the money  would be the over  riding factor for my future security.

[metisdead]

Offensive posts and replies have been removed.  

 

Off topic trolling posts were removed as well. 

[steven100]

5 minutes ago, SunsetT said:

I was 65 in October and started to receive my UK state pension. This is the final year, up to March I think, that it can be claimed at 65yrs old. So, by age, he is entitled to it, but he must apply for it. He can do this online.

so he needs to get off his ass and get online and apply for the pension. This will get him some help.

[Benmart]

I am greateful for my health at 66 years. I point no fingers, blame no one nor do I levy judgement. I keep my side of the street clean and leave others to help or not. It's their business and not mine.

[WHYWHY]

Must have something he's not skinny 

[spoon1967]

17 hours ago, sammieuk1 said:

Another raft of negative comments for a bloke and family in trouble anyone would think they were being asked personally to cough up. And add their pointless venom to drive home some moral justification of where and what he should have done retrospectively to avoid his current situation.  

Lucky for them there is still human compassion even here aside most TV posters.   

I think the points people are making have substance: he's worked in LOS for 30 years (no savings?), looking at the house (he's not used that 30 years salary to better his families lifestyle), he's obese (if not through a medical problem, then he's just lazy and has been for many years). We have the Brit bar owner in Pattaya begging for cash for his medical bills, the Brit guy in Chiang Mai (now sorted) doing the same, this is becoming all too common - these people waste their cash and then expect free handouts.  I 100% believe in helping someone down on their luck - but if it's down to their own miss-management of funds / no heath insurance ect, well tough. Save your charity for the genuine cases (those who have had no opportunity to save or pay for insurance ect)

[evadgib]

37 minutes ago, colinneil said:

My wife has seen some Thai news about this man.

Apparently he worked for a company in Pattaya.

He fell in the bathroom at home, unable to get up, unable to go to work, so the company did not pay him.

They lived in a rented house, unable to continue to pay the rent, his wife took him to her mothers house in Lahansai, so Nick that is why he is unknown in Lahansai.

I say again the problems he has are of his own making, living for today, and making no provision for the future.

I have in the past helped people who are in dire straights, but will not help anybody who brings problems on themselves.

Who helped you when you fell off a motorbike and whose fault was it you were on one in the first place; and how did your helmet (if indeed you wore one) fit over such a wondrous accoutrement....?

 

[SunsetT]

2 hours ago, Runamile said:

Here we go again. The get back to UK merchants, with their pie-in-the sky notions of that all-giving UK Welfare State:

 

1. He will have no entitlement to free NHS use at this juncture, beyond initial diagnostics.

2. He will have no entitlement to income or housing benefits - not habitually resident.

3. If he has a pension entitlement it is equally as payable in Thailand as UK, but it's very unlikely he ever made sufficient contributions in UK to have a state pension entitlement. If that is wrong by a few years, it would be unlikely to yield a pension of significance. You need the full thirty years to receive anything of significance, currently circa £163 a week.

On retiring recently at 65, I was amazed to read that 10yrs NI contributions is the minimum now required for pension entitlement. But I did not look into how much that would entitle one to.

[evadgib]

36 minutes ago, Letseng said:

And what do you expect this great embassy to do? They are not quite like BoJo described them. 

"Nuffink" if no one tells 'em!

[draks]

You guys are so judgemental, this guy has made mistakes, and is now paying for it. All of you are so perfect you have never made a mistake in your life? You live your perfect little lives and look down on people, not as perfect as you.

I have always said to live in Asia you should have an outside income. Many men come to southeast Asia and end up on the streets begging, usually bad planning, but also, being scammed out of everything. But for the grace of God go I. It's extremely easy to lose everything in Asia

[mick220675]

There must be thousands of farangs in the same position. I don't know this man despite living close to Lahan sai but in the last few years I have helped a few who have found them self in a bad way.

 

I know personally 2 Germans, 1 Australian , 1 New Zealander and 2 UK citizens within south buriram area who have needed the support of other farangs to get them back to there home country following medical problems. 

 

It is common practice for people to just have enough money to just get by. There are plenty of people I know from many different country paying for a dodgy visa extension, its OK until something bad happens then they are reliant on others to help. It won't be popular but maybe its time for immigration to enforce the rules and stop taking the hush money. Refuse people visa extension. 800,000 baht is a lot of money and could get this man back to the UK then he could live with a relative and register with a GP so he can get treatment.

[Odysseus123]

11 minutes ago, draks said:

You guys are so judgemental, this guy has made mistakes, and is now paying for it. All of you are so perfect you have never made a mistake in your life? You live your perfect little lives and look down on people, not as perfect as you.

I have always said to live in Asia you should have an outside income. Many men come to southeast Asia and end up on the streets begging, usually bad planning, but also, being scammed out of everything. But for the grace of God go I. It's extremely easy to lose everything in Asia

Yes,you are right it is the chronic judgementalism that depresses me.

 

Once the Puritans climbed on board the Mayflower t'was all over-red rover.

 

I guess that if the Thai want to give they will give-whilst a shrill,inebriated crowd of discombobulated "Holier than thou" Westerners howl abuse outside.

 

 

[Letseng]

9 minutes ago, evadgib said:

"Nuffink" if no one tells 'em!

And "nuffink" even if someone tells them. 

[Gecko123]

There are more than just a few foreign guys squirreled away in rural Thailand suffering from deteriorating health. Being housebound, morbidly obese, having untreated diabetes, alcoholism, and heavy smoking can be found anywhere, but doubly dangerous in rural Thailand due to limited local medical facilities and sometimes no one with the resources or inclination to help out, and sadly that includes other expats and even the spouse in some instances.