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In the Arabic version of the story the British Embassy had offered him AED 100 and stated that they cannot help him!
The question is: Is that guy eligible for unemployment aid or that's only if he's inside the UK? And how will that guy find a job or get his life back if he has his passport confiscated?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-10637116

It was six o'clock in the morning when I met Nicholas Warner down by the Dubai Creek and already the temperature was 35C. We both knew that in a few hours it would climb to nearer 50C.

He eagerly showed me to a bench shaded by a palm tree that faced the waterfront so we could talk without getting burnt.

"Is this where you're sleeping at the moment?" I asked.

"Oh no," he replied. "It's not like England. You can't lie down on a bench and just sleep. You have to prop yourself upright and nod off or you'll attract unwanted attention or get moved on. I sleep on the ground behind that hedge, when I'm here."

And when he's not there?

"I started off in my car - but it's too hot for that now - you'd bake. Obviously, I can't afford petrol to keep the air con running.

"Then I was under a bridge. There's been a few days in a car park at a hotel. The manager there kindly took my clothes off me sometimes and washed them. He also let me use the shower after a guest checked out of a room."
But that all stopped when the hotel manager lost his job.

"So now I'll be back to washing in the public toilets."
'Debt skipper'

Nicholas Warner is British and sleeping on the street in Dubai. He got into a dispute with his bank, Emirates NBD, initially over whether his credit card repayments had been made.
He went on holiday at Christmas and the bank says that by leaving the country without its permission while they were in a dispute, he got reclassified as a so-called "debt skipper" - one of the many expats who left Dubai in a hurry with large debts, never to return.

Of course, Nicholas did return. When he arrived back at Dubai airport, he was arrested. His passport was seized by police on the authority of the bank.

Although he was released and tried to negotiate with the bank he got into further difficulties.

Brushes with the authorities are frowned upon in Dubai.

He had been working as a strategy adviser for an alternative medicine company, but his employer decided it was safer to let him go while he sorted everything out.

Now he had no job, no way to pay the debt the bank was demanding and no passport - leaving him with no way home.
'Without my wife'

The complex ins and outs of what happened next would fill a book. Emirates NBD - the largest bank in the Middle East by assets - says it tried to negotiate a settlement with him that he reneged on.

Nicholas says what was orally agreed was not what the bank wrote down on paper.

Either way, Emirates NBD is refusing to let his passport be released until the debts are paid. Nicholas has no way of paying them without a job. And he cannot get a job without being able to show he's in the country legally. For that, he needs his passport.

"I've said to them, I've not got that sort of money that I just do that," he says, clicking his fingers.

"Because if I did, I would. There is no way I would not want to be with my wife for four months and be living rough, hoping that someone gives me their sofa and that the bank or the embassy come up with something.

"If I had that money, I would pay it."

Emirates NBD was unwilling to discuss the specifics of the case with the BBC.

In a statement it said: "All actions by the bank in this matter have been in accordance with prevailing UAE laws, and in line with the contractual agreement signed by the customer who was unable to meet his commitments and approach the bank for appropriate settlement of his dues."

There are a couple of old Indian dudes sleeping rough on the park benches next to Diyafah Street. I drop them a few dirhams every morning when I am walking the dogs. They don't speak English so I can't find out what their case is. Maybe this guy should team up with them?



Knight

Dubai Knight wrote:There are a couple of old Indian dudes sleeping rough on the park benches next to Diyafah Street. I drop them a few dirhams every morning when I am walking the dogs. They don't speak English so I can't find out what their case is. Maybe this guy should team up with them?



Knight

Which park benches are you talking about exactly?
Sounds like the perfect place to crash within staggering distance of Aussie Legends.

This guy is a real chancer, and now people are rushing to help him, unbelievable!!!

Is anyone allowed to confiscate a passport from a citizen of another country?

Why doesnt her majesty object?

benwj wrote:

Dubai Knight wrote:There are a couple of old Indian dudes sleeping rough on the park benches next to Diyafah Street. I drop them a few dirhams every morning when I am walking the dogs. They don't speak English so I can't find out what their case is. Maybe this guy should team up with them?



Knight

Which park benches are you talking about exactly?
Sounds like the perfect place to crash within staggering distance of Aussie Legends.

The ones after the park and basketball court before you get to the parade of shops.
They are there early mornings, wrapped up in blankets even in 40 degrees!

Many is the night I have staggered back from Aussie Legends as its my closest watering hole!



Knight

Sage, this could happen to ANYONE here! It's very frightening, you just don't know what's going to happen. The banks are completely unsympathetic to peoples circumstances, I know several people who've had changes of circumstances and they've gone to renegotiate payment terms, but the lenders don't want to know, yet they were so happy to dish out the cash, loans and cars and ram them down peoples throats.

The guys wants to pay the money back, but how can he get a job when his passport is being held? His friends had the money to lend him, would the bank accept it? NO! WTF is that!

Now after all the bad press NBD have had, they've agreed to negotiate payment terms and asked him to sign a statement retracting all his statements - a sure sign that the bank know they're in the wrong.

Chocoholic wrote:Sage, this could happen to ANYONE here! It's very frightening, you just don't know what's going to happen. The banks are completely unsympathetic to peoples circumstances, I know several people who've had changes of circumstances and they've gone to renegotiate payment terms, but the lenders don't want to know, yet they were so happy to dish out the cash, loans and cars and ram them down peoples throats.

The guys wants to pay the money back, but how can he get a job when his passport is being held? His friends had the money to lend him, would the bank accept it? NO! WTF is that!

Now after all the bad press NBD have had, they've agreed to negotiate payment terms and asked him to sign a statement retracting all his statements - a sure sign that the bank know they're in the wrong.

I agree that anyone can get into trouble here with the way the system is, however this particular guy is supposed to be some kind of Financial Expert and doesn't check his own credit card balance / bills for months and then is surprised when he gets into trouble, does that sound real to you?.
He has so much financial woes but is able to afford a holiday in Spain????
Smells like a scam in the making to me.

That seems kinda weird to me In the middle of a shitstorm dude decides to go on vacation/ As for the other I can vouch that just because your in the field or even an expert means your any good with your own money or succumb to the same as others.

Someone close to me also in the finacial sector, manages other peoples millions and dam good at it, yet personal finaces down the shitter !

sage & onion wrote:

Chocoholic wrote:Sage, this could happen to ANYONE here! It's very frightening, you just don't know what's going to happen. The banks are completely unsympathetic to peoples circumstances, I know several people who've had changes of circumstances and they've gone to renegotiate payment terms, but the lenders don't want to know, yet they were so happy to dish out the cash, loans and cars and ram them down peoples throats.

The guys wants to pay the money back, but how can he get a job when his passport is being held? His friends had the money to lend him, would the bank accept it? NO! WTF is that!

Now after all the bad press NBD have had, they've agreed to negotiate payment terms and asked him to sign a statement retracting all his statements - a sure sign that the bank know they're in the wrong.

I agree that anyone can get into trouble here with the way the system is, however this particular guy is supposed to be some kind of Financial Expert and doesn't check his own credit card balance / bills for months and then is surprised when he gets into trouble, does that sound real to you?.
He has so much financial woes but is able to afford a holiday in Spain????
Smells like a scam in the making to me.

There is something that we are not being told.
The banks don't just arrest someone overnight.
There had to be a build up to this, and I'm guessing that the guy pushed them to the limit.
He certainly can't plea ignorance.

-- Thu Jul 22, 2010 11:07 pm --

Dubai Knight wrote:Many is the night I have staggered back from Aussie Legends as its my closest watering hole!



Knight

You are making me jealous.