I am or was a Northern Rock Shareholder, I had everything that I have in Northern Rock and more. Yes, perhaps to some extent I was speculating in my investment but investments usually go up, as well as down but this company was snatched from shareholders. I do believe if this company had been given a fair chance, it would have recovered in the private sector in a short time. People talk of 24 billion of debts but they neglect the fact that the last time Rock posted profits these were of the order of 500 million, in these terms the debts really are not that great. It has no or little of a sub prime mortgage market and they are are the countries biggest mortgage provider.
I personally live on a housing association estate with massive social problems and I took the risk with this share because I wished to get out of here and it presented a way of moving forward it seems. Im hardly some rich speculator that the media and people portray us as, I have lost all the money I have in the world

sean, leeds, Yorks

"Shareholders said that without the government guarantee on accounts or the estimated £25 billion emergency loan from the Bank of England, Rock is effectively bust, rendering their investments valueless"...

...thus very convincingly stating the argument for the other side!

Tom, Bristol,

You invest, you win, you lose, they lost!

Terry, Newcastle, UK

NR shareholders can't say they haven't had months to consider selling their shares.

There has been a risk of Nationalising the bank since last summer.

Why do these people expect the tax payer to underwrite their investments?

Maybe these shareholders should stick to savings accounts in future.

J Adams, London, England

If the Rock is worthless, let me have it.

No?

Then the company / shares are worth something then.


ps - I would never vote Labour now - Northern Rock? Northern Monkeys more like.

Tim Kodogo, Cambridge,

Shares in Northern Rock are valueless due to poor management of the bank - not because of nationalisation. Shareholders need to remember that it was not the Government that caused their investments to fail.

John, Brighton,

This is Railtrack all over again !!!

Shan Lloyd-Packer, Stroud, UK

If the Government had not supported Northern Rock it would have been bankrupt and the shareholders would have received nothing. They should not be entitled to tax payer's money simply because NR is being nationalised rather than going out of business. As shareholders they should have made sure that the management of NR was acting responsibly. They didn't, and are now facing the consequences of their own failure.

Richard, Manchester,

Does this mean the Hedge funds will start to pay an honest rate of tax ?

andy, petersfield,

Agreed Government should have never got involved - by doing so they kept the company afloat when it shouldn't have been, a decision should have been made in August when this blew up. Unfortunately through the Governments mismanagement RAB and SRM and other shareholders who have purchased under false pretencies do have a claim. Government should never have become involved. Or else should have followed other central banks and released funds to the market earlier. What a mess and how poorly handled by the Governement. The good thing is that Northern Rock is actually worth something, so taxpayers will not lose out in the long run.

Gavin, Auckland, New Zealand

Shareholders in a company limited by its shares?!

They must have agreed to its demutualisation and gained thereby.

They failed to ensure that the company was properly managed

Government should never have become involved in Northern Rock. The 55Billion of our money could have been better spent on the army, buying Airbus, building some high speed railways and nuclear power stations

peter, singapore,

I don't understand the shareholders' complaint. If the government had simply let Northern Rock go into receivership, the shareholders would have received £0.00 per share. In other words, they would have lost 100% of their investment and wouldn't have the least little grounds for complaint.

But now that the government is using our tax money to not only prop up the bank but also to *continue* it and to even pay shareholders a non-zero price for their share, they are all foaming at the mouth and booing. I don't think that's a very honest position for them to take. By rights they have lost their investment. Any residual payout is a bonus.

I really hope that the government will be prohibited from continuing the bank as a state-controlled state-subsidised enterprise by EU regulations and be forced to simply wind down the bank and recoup our money as the mortgage takers pay off their mortgages over the years.

How about that?

Golodh, London, UK

Oh dear. I think Rock Shareholders have been drinking too much of the Kool Aid. The bank was bust ages ago (even before the problems became apparent) and should have been left to fail. Unfortunately there are many more banks right behind NR - the tide just hasn't gone out far enough yet. Nationalisation is the worst possible step as it prevents the system from clearing and preserves unhealthy structures. The real lesson here is to remove the ability of the banking system to create credits (money) via fractional reserve lending and thus stop the counterfeiting that led to this situation in the first place. If the authorities do not take these steps the market will do it for them despite their best efforts - eventually and very painfully.

Bernard Harper, Sydney, Australia

The shares worth worthless on September 13th.Only the funding from the BOE has kept the NR alive.You could have sold them for £12 last year.You wouldn't have been moaning then.Buying shares is always a gamble.

stephen hulton, eure, france

Oh please ... the value of shares may go down as well as up. I suggest the government immediately give the investors a full return on their risk - zero. Voila - done and dusted.

Richard Stevenson, Geneva, Switzerland

yes it has taken far too long but at least the decision means that the first hit will be on those who chose to invest in a company whose management chose the high risk route . While every taxpayer in the UK is a probable loser it would be outragious if any Northern Rock shareholder received one penny.

david rogers, Sydney, Australia

Shareholders? Their shares were worthless before. Time they got real.

Paul, Sydney, Australia

Oh dear, the wheels really have fallen off the NuLab jalopy this time. Get a seat for the Derby match between Westminster and the City, should be better than the Olympics! At £2000 each, tickets are rather expensive though.....

Pfffill, Shanghai, China

The shareholders are "entitled" to what the bank is worth. I don't see any bidders putting a positive value on the bank and there is o way in which the bank could continue operating without government funding. The conclusion therefore is that Northern Rock is bankrupt and share capital is meant to take the first hit in bankruptcy. I would guess that many of those complaining previously held forth about the evils of state subsidies.

Ian, Frederick, USA/MD

Oh dear, the wheels really have fallen off the NuLab jalopy this time. Get a seat for the Derby match between Westminster and the City, should be better than the Olympics! Compulsory tickets at £2000 each are rather expensive though.....

Pfffill, Shanghai, China

So the shareholders are furious are they? Their fury is as nothing compared to the rest of the country, who had no say in the matter of mis-use of taxpayers' money, in order to save face for the incompetent and unelected Brown, whose disastrous financial 'policies' sowed the seeds to bring it all about in the first place.

The Northern Rock albatross should have been allowed to fail, like any other mis-managed company, and the shareholders would do well to remember that "the value of shares may go up or down".

I note the Treasury is being coy about job losses. Is it too much to hope that Brown and his little Darling will be the first?

Maurice Ferrara, Slip End, Bedfordshire, England

They gambled. They lost. End of.

James Roberton, Leeds,

Why are the shareholders complaining? If the government and BoE hadn't bailed out Northern Rock in the first place, it would have gone bust. Then their shares would have been worth nothing, they should be thanking the government. They have to remember investing in shares is a gamble, it carries a risk. As for the greedy hedge funds they deseve absolutely nothing. They were stupid enough to invest in a sinking ship. You win some you lose some.

ricky, coventry, uk