Killed By My Debt – a sad true story turned into a compelling family tragedy

If you haven’t yet seen this dramatisation lifting the lid on the reality of zero-hours contracts and payday loans, you should – but it’s not an easy watch

I got a traffic fine the other day. I went in the bus lane because I thought you could at weekends (you can’t); £130, or £65 if I paid immediately, which I did, because I could. OK, there were two; I got another just a few days later. This time for driving into a road where a signpost clearly said I wasn’t allowed to. Another £65 for quick payment, which again I paid. This time, my girlfriend said I was a dick. It was hard to argue: £130 – ouch! It hurt, but I could pay, because I have a job that gives me a regular income. It’s not going to carry on hurting.

When Jerome Rogers got two traffic fines, he couldn’t pay them quickly. Or at all. He wasn’t earning enough as a self-employed courier, delivering blood to hospitals on his motorbike. His income was irregular, often pitiful, once just £18 a week take home, after everything – petrol, insurance, £24 a week to rent the equipment he needed to do the job from the courier company – was deducted.

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2uwOUZs