First meal for hunger striker Peter Glasson after deal signed with Southern Response

Monday, 23 April 2018

Strike-breaker: Hunger striker Peter Glasson enjoys his first meal in eight days.

Success tastes like chop suey.

Christchurch homeowner Peter Glasson has called off his eight-day hunger strike after reaching a deal with insurance claims manager Southern Response.

Glasson had been protesting at the lack of progress with Southern Response over the 2011 earthquake claim settlement for his home

'I am going to start eating right now,' he told Stuff on Tuesday night, 'Probably Bluff oysters, I think, and a bottle of beer'.

He ended up having to settle for the Chinese takeaway. His wife didn't think seafood and alcohol was the wisest way to break a fast.

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Glasson and his wife Anne have been protesting at their lack of progress with Southern Response over the 2011 earthquake claim settlement for their home. They have had 17 home visits for assessments and two engineering reports.

'I have just found out that Southern Response has signed an agreement with us,' Glasson said on Tuesday night. 'This takes us right out of the court process.'

Glasson said their claim had not been settled, but they had received Southern Response's agreement to hold facilitated talks.

Glasson went on his hunger strike at midnight on April 17, and has living partly in a caravan parked outside Southern Response's offices. In that time he lost at least 6 kilograms, surviving on green tea, multivitamin tablets and electrolytes.

The couple signed the paperwork to begin the facilitation process late last week, at the request of Earthquake Commission Minister Megan Woods, and had been waiting for an agreement from Southern Response.

Since launching legal proceedings two years ago, Glasson has been spied on by the agency, sign-written an anti-insurance car in protest and has countless documents detailing his battle.

Glasson said as soon as his hunger strike became public, he had received 'huge' public support, included notes, emails and phone calls. People had left messages and water bottles, he said.

Rallies including a candlelight vigil and a protest from masked activism group Anonymous had also been planned for this week by supporters.

Southern Response chief executive Anthony Honeybone was pleased an agreement setting out the way forward has been reached, and that Glasson had decided to end his hunger strike.

'The Residential Advisory Service (RAS) did a fantastic job facilitating the negotiations. RAS was established for this exact situation, to assist and support earthquake claimants through the claims process and any disputes that might arise,' he said.