West Peckham, Kent

In the February issue of Mereworth & West Peckham Record, the editor Mark Siggers wrote:

On Monday 7th March 2011 West Peckham parish council passed a unanimous motion expressing their disappointment at the standard of some of the editorial comments in the magazine. They did not contact Mark Siggers over the matter, and he learned of it only when sub-editing their minutes for the April issue of the village magazine.

After establishing that their "disappointment" related to his reference to gazundering, he resigned from the editorship.

"We live in a nasty, cynical age. I have learned of three instances of 'gazundering' that took place last year, all for significant sums of money - two in Mereworth and one in West Peckham. Gazundering means coming up short on the agreed price of a house, and it usually takes place on the scheduled day of contract exchange when there is little the victims can do. One of the perpetrators is a convicted swindler. I am sorry if this makes readers wary of recent newcomers to the area..."