Are we supposed to feel sorry for this guy?

[davieG]

A man who ran up a £90,000 phone bill by calling models on an adult entertainment channel has been declared bankrupt.

Unemployed Kevin Waldrum built up the huge debt with Vodafone after repeatedly ringing women on Studio 66 TV to tell them of his sadness at splitting up with his girlfriend.

 

1. ​

   Bill: Kevin Waldrum, 46, has been declared bankrupt

The 46-year-old, of Gladstone Avenue, Loughborough, was declared bankrupt at Leicester County Court last week.

Besides the money owed to Vodafone, he owed £55,000 to other creditors.

Mr Waldrum told the Mercury he did not want to discuss the money owed to other creditors but said his bankruptcy meant his debt to Vodafone would be wiped clear.

The company had dropped the bill as a "gesture of goodwill" to £29,000, after accepting it could have alerted him sooner to the large debt he was building up by calling the £2-per-minute line between September and November.

He had been sent a £19,333 mobile phone bill but said he felt unable to stop calling the models. He then got another bill for £71,850.

Mr Waldrum said: "I didn't want to go bankrupt. I tried my hardest not to.

"I called Vodafone last week and told it I would pay it back £1 a month. They put the phone down on me.

"I don't want to walk down the street with people looking at me saying 'there goes that bankrupt'. It's not a very nice feeling, but I am relieved.

"I know I am partly at fault for all this but there's no way I should have been allowed to make so many calls.

"They should have cut me off."

Vodafone said it did bar Mr Waldrum's phone but he had sought another SIM card and continued with his calls.

A spokeswoman for firm said: "Mr Waldrum made calls more or less continuously over a period of two months until we suspended the services on October 21 when the total debt was £91,000.

"We had previously barred a phone used by Mr Waldrum on September 11 for high usage but he got round this by requesting a replacement SIM card from a store, saying he had lost the original.

"He was then able to continue to build up debt.

"As a gesture of goodwill, we waived a proportion of his outstanding charges, bringing the total amount to £29,000."

She said the firm was aware Mr Waldrum had been declared bankrupt.

"As this is a now a matter for an insolvency practitioner or official receiver, we are unable to comment further," she said.

Mr Waldrum said: "I hope what has happened to me will raise awareness about how much trouble you can get into with these call lines.

"I wouldn't want anyone to have to go through all the stress I have and end up bankrupt at the end of it."

 

I can't understand what the Merc is trying to achieve by publishing this in this way.

 

Is it just  a warning about chat lines.

And why is the guy more embarrassed about being bankrupt that he is about running up a £90k bill chatting to these women and having it paraded all over the local rag

[Kitchandro]

 

I might feel sorry for him (since he clearly has some mental issues) if he was willing to admit it was his fault.

[RobHawk]

I can't understand what the Merc is trying to achieve by publishing this in this way.

 

Is it just  a warning about chat lines.

And why is the guy more embarrassed about being bankrupt that he is about running up a £90k bill chatting to these women and having it paraded all over the local rag

 

Agree, very strange story! They haven't really gone with any sort of stance other than making the guy look like a tool! He's clearly got issues though and people getting themselves into this situation is sad. Yes, he brought it on to himself and he has had to pay the price but the point the Mercury are making i have no idea!

[Manwell Pablo]

"I called Vodafone last week and told it I would pay it back £1 a month. They put the phone down on me."

 

.....runs up a 90 grand phone bill and asks to pay it back £1 a month

 

Epic Vodafone Troll.

[Rincewind]

Probably should not have got to the bankrupt stage. The company must have thought something was wrong and put an end to it but it seems they were happy as long as they were making money out of him.

[Kitchandro]

Why is he posing for a picture in the paper and drawing all this attention to himself? He says he doesn't want people to know he's bankrupt and he's embarrassed but then he's willingly talking openly about it in the paper.

 

I have no idea why people would want to make problems like this public. I don't feel sorry for people like that.

[davieG]

I wonder if the choice of t-shirt was deliberate in order to generate some additional sympathy/empathy.

[Rincewind]

I would want to warn others but not give out my name or pose for pictures. And is the shirt he's  wearing supposed to get people to send donations to him?

 

Beat me to it Dave with the shirt comment.

[RobHawk]

Probably should not have got to the bankrupt stage. The company must have thought something was wrong and put an end to it but it seems they were happy as long as they were making money out of him.

 

Unfortunately that's business! Across the country companies take advantage of the vulnerable and phone lines are definitely one of them. It won't be long before Newcastle are sponsored by busty babeline or something stupid!

 

Having said that the guy clearly should have stopped and spoke to a real person who actually cares, but some people just don't have people they can speak with!

[Bert]

Even in the picture he looks as if he's trying not to grin.

[MooseBreath]

Pathetic. Should be jailed for a few months at least.

[Bettsj2]

'I know I am partly at fault for all this'

What a twat.

[Finnegan]

lol Brilliant.

[pSinatra]

Kind of reminds me of this guy..............

 

http://www.atlnightspots.com/boy-dies-after-masturbating-42-times/

 

He ran up the bill in the space of 2 months?  He could have had a £1000 a night 'companion' every night for two months & have been better off!!

[21st Century Fox]

He looks as if he's got some strong wrists from all those phone calls.

[Rincewind]

They did bar him and he got another sim card so how can he say they should not have let him run up the bill. Not a very good businessman if he can't work out £1 a hour over several days is going to cost him a tidy sum.

[separator]

This story has made the national rags too. For someone who doesn't want to be known as a bankrupt he's going the wrong way about it. Seems to be an Arsenal fan as well if things weren't bad enough.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2305358/Vodafone-Kevin-Waldrum-runs-91-184-phone-calling-daytime-chat-line-alleviate-loneliness.html

[Rincewind]

I don't know what business he had but if he had employees I feel more sorry for them.

[Jimothy]

The other £55k debt he has must be to Kleenex!

[Danizen]

Poor Vodafone. Just as well they had a £5bn pound tax bill written off otherwise the company could have gone under.

[Kitchandro]

 I love this bit

 

 

‘When I called up they used to say 'Loughborough Kev is on the phone'.

 

 

[Danizen]

I love this bit

 

 

Honourable mention to this bit:

‘The Vodafone need shutting down because they're ripping people off left, right and centre,’ he said.

Yeah, mate. Shut the whole company down because you're an idiot. That works. I

[Bellend Sebastian]

I think this is what they call a 'human interest story'.

 

The best story the Mercury has ever run was about 20 years ago and was about a bloke that started lactating in sympathy with his heavily pregnant wife.

 

He too was strangely relaxed about having his picture printed.

 

On second thoughts, that's probably the second best.  The best one ever was about the inquest into the death of a bloke who was killed when he slipped while opening the bathroom window and the broom handle he was precariously balancing on to carry out this task went up his arse

[Guest]

Perhaps he could take it off the corporation tax that Vodafone owes the UK.....

[SystonFox]

£91,000 phoning babestation. Could probably buy their whole studio and a couple of the babes themselves. Crack whores