Paul Cardin – proprietor, Wirral In It Together – age 60

In 2003 and 2009 we were bullied out of our career by two different councils.

But what had we done to deserve it? Nothing.

We blew the whistle on a financial scam at Wirral Council  and;

We lodged a complaint at Cheshire West & Chester Council.

Both times the bosses announced, ‘Paul is out of step with the rest of the team’. They thought they were telling the truth when they said that.

And they were.

We certainly were out of step with the rest of these teams, both closely-corralled groups, who spent every day in a kind of subdued half-life, looking furtively over their shoulders, scared witless of what might happen if they either failed to fit in or stepped out of line.

“Fear of the consequences” – let’s face it – is the biggest open prison…