Nationalisation of Northern Rock In October 2008 the chairman Ron Sandler noted that there had been informal talks concerning the idea of the merger with the government, but there had been no subsequent discussion. Sandler did however add "It would not surprise me at some point if a closer look was taken at the method of managing loan books within government-owned banks". In March 2009 Alistair Darling said that he was keeping his options open during the "fast-moving" crisis in the banking industry, and thus not ruling out the possibility of a mortgage book merger between Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley. On 24
Nationalisation of Northern Rock shareholders lost their appeal, but some shareholders said that they would now try to take the case to the House of Lords. On 22 December it was reported that the shareholders had again lost their appeal, and now they will be going to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. On 8 December it was announced that the Northern Rock shareholders were to get no compensation, based on the findings of the valuer Andrew Caldwell. This then went to a tribunal, 'Northern Rock v. Andrew Caldwell and HM Treasury, Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber), NR/001/2010, where the shareholders'