Letters to the Editor - Kind readers step up to pay single mum’s fine

Published: 29 April, 2010

• SINCE Josie Hinton’s report (£1.50 tube fare turns into £200 nightmare”, April 16 and 25), we have received two donations from kind readers offering to pay Kate Walters’s outstanding fine. 
We greatly appreciate their generosity, not only on behalf of Kate, but of the volunteers at Crossroads Women’s Centre who rely on contributions to continue our work. A number of organisations at the centre are working with people with “Dickensian” experiences like Kate’s.  Bailiffs are often the last in a long line of assaults on those of us who have least. Asylum seekers were the first to be deprived of the means of survival; the Welfare Reform Act is now targeting single mothers and people with disabilities.
Unless we work together to defend our rights more of us will face destitution and criminalisation. With the help of Legal Action for Women and Zacchaeus 2000 Trust, we are determined to get Kate’s whole fine cancelled.
To help please visit: www.allwomencount.net or come and see us.
ANNA THORBURN,
Crossroads Women’s Centre,  Kentish Town Road, NW5