The fact that you have been off with stress before and are now being treated for the same problem should make the inadequacy of his report obvious to anyone. Thankfully your back problems are not new to you and you have the benefit of past experience, but as you say someone else without that experience might just take what he says as 'law'. Don't forget about DDA, as you may be covered and as such have the right to ask for reasonable adjustments. It sounds like your employer has tried to help by getting someone to carry the notes you need but as you said, it is not working and needs looking at again. I'm glad you find Diazepam helpful, I couldn't take it as it made me feel very sick!

Apparently a symptom of stress can be back problems so hopefully your GP's treatment of the stress will help with your symptoms. Interestingly, I was prescribed Diazepam once for back problems, so I just looked it up on the web and it is used for anxiety and to treat muscle spasm! The physicians comments about your size were unhelpful and as I was trying to point out earlier, he would not be able to use the same excuse with everyone who has the same back problems. He would have to look deeper for a 'cause' and should have done the same with you. Put it another way, if you had been sent to him for being off too many times with colds he could decide you don't eat enough oranges (therefore blaming your lifestyle), instead of recognising that you are also suffering stress and advising you to seek treatment. I hope you are able to dismiss this man from you mind as his advice on working through the pain is seen as wrong by the people who have been treating you, so his assumptions about the cause of your problems should also be treated as rubbish. Your GP and Physio both sound great.

Can you get a letter from your Consultant confirming the previous diagnosis/treatment? If so you should send it to the head of OH or your manager (keep a copy), not the physician who examined you. You also need to find out if you are covered under DDA for your condition, so a long term prognosis from the Consultant may help establish that. I am shocked that he has used your size as an excuse for your recent problems. I have the same low back problems and have always been a 'correct' weight and exercise regularly, this has not prevented extreme spasmodic and sciatic episodes over the last 10 years often without warning. Those of us that live with this problem know what relieves it, listen to your body and advice off your (obviously trusted) Physiotherapist. Please don't let this physician undermine your confidence and make you feel you have to resign. Best wishes.

Have pm'd you tomterm8. They were sent another offer last week and havn't responded.........

Hahaha, I would love to know what your job is! I am currently trying my best to stop a County Court Judgement against me because: My 'creditor' is insisting on going to court despite my offer of more than I can afford. My solicitor and debt advisor tell me that this is becoming more common because the creditors have realised that if they get a CCJ and (life happens) you default they can get a charging order. I have been warned that this is becoming so common it is soon to be the 'norm'. Therefore, if it is the norm to attach unsecured debt to a property, it will become the norm to force a sale to reclaim the money. It is NOT a good idea to go down the route of charging orders. I asked my solicitor.....If I decide to live in my property for the next 50years, what happens to the debt? He (in short) said that they would probably apply for a forced sale long before that, and with the current progression it won't be long. fuzz33, I'm sorry that your thread has been hijacked by a discussion on charging orders, you have a child and there is little chance that a Judge would force you to sell and essentially put a child on the pavement. You are in a good position to stop them going for your assets, discuss it with CCCS AND National Debtline. Good luck to you.

Just a quick update....... Phoned the court this morning and had an er... interesting discussion with the clerk who seemed to think I had sent my paperwork to the wrong place. Several very confusing minutes later I established that the uni still hasn't sent their paperwork to the court..........It is now 3 weeks since they said they were proceeding. Havn't heard from my solicitor either, so I have now got images of the uni debt collection department trying to find the contract and going through the student attendance records of all the tutors on my course, it will take them forever, there are 12 tutors not including 'guest' tutors. I also asked the clerk if there was a timescale in which the claimant needs to file their claim after receiving an admitance, and he said no! I will ask my solicitor about this when I speak to him, I'm sure they can't get away with holding the paperwork for the next year (for example) and then filing. Will update when I know more.

OMG, if the dog has attacked a person that is known to them it is dangerous. Don't go down the route of 'allowing' it into your home to see if there is a microchip unless you are very confident around unpredictable dogs. If the Dog Warden is on your side (I'm sure they are) then I would ask them if they would contact the owner of the property on your behalf. The Landlord may not even be aware that there are dogs in their property and may have rules about pets, to be honest if I was in your position I would be doing everything possible to get the dogs removed from any area that my cat/child is at risk. The owner has forced you into a position where you need to contact the Landlord, so I wouldn't feel guilty about it. If I am reading correctly, the dogs owner isn't the tenant, so it still may not get you their name, but at least you may get a situation where your cat/child is able to use the garden without fear of being attacked. There is always the route of a Private Detective but I don't know anything about how expensive that would be.

Oh sorry, I thought that I read that they were living in council property. There is another way, I read somewhere that you can get the name of the owner of the property from the land registry for a small fee of (I think) £1/£2. Someone else may be able to point you in the right direction on that. Then you could write to the landlord about it. The problem is that the attack on a person is (at the moment) hearsay, so you would need to find out more and speak to the people involved before you can go to the police with your complaint. When you say the dog attacked the guys partner do you mean the owners partner? Good luck.

Go tiglet, go!

They didn't sack for no reason, but they did have a very strict method of issuing warnings that led to dismissal, they used to target employees that were not (in the employers opinion) up to scratch and try to gather as much info as they could to fire them before the 12 month period. It was also my job to collect the information and issue the warnings and I wasn't impressed about that to say the least as I felt it was very harsh and unfair. The union never challenged the trial period and I got sick of being hated by the employees and voted with my feet!

Thanks tomterm8, I really hope so 'cause I would sell my Nana for this job lol! Ok not quite, but I REALLY want this job. I could still stuff the interview up so I'm not going to get too confident about it being in the bag. I also need to get rid of the recently acquired nervous tick! Pugsley if your reading this I will be sneaking into the newly opened student bar occasionally if I can get passed security!

No, I had my finger poised over the dial button yesterday, but thought better of becoming 'that annoying woman who keeps phoning and bothering the clerks'! The uni have been sent a nominally increased offer along with our request for the contract....tick tock :-| I also need to prepare for my interview on Tuesday so am on a 'stress reduction' course of action.

Surely if it is a communal garden then it is a public place and the Dog Warden could remove the dog if is is off-lead and unsupervised. I would be very tempted to let the dog into the house next time it comes calling, lock it in the kitchen away from the cat/family and call the Dog Warden. When they come to pick it up they can scan the dog and if you are lucky there will be a microchip which gives the owners details. The address may be out of date as many people forget to update when they move, but at least you will have their name. Sometimes a dog is sold with a microchip that is registered to the breeder, if this is the case (which I doubt in this case) then the breeder can give the Dog Warden the owners details. However, legal ownership of the dog becomes a grey area as the 'owner' is considered to be the person to whom the microchip is registered, and it is then down to the 'owner' to prove that the dog was sold on. I know all this because I worked in this area, and issues with microchips are a bit frustrating to say the least. Doing this may aggrevate the neighbour considerably so I'm not sure it's a good move. Many councils are now banning certain breeds of dog from living in council accomodation, for obvious reasons. I would phone the council and make a complaint about the dog as they have to investigate a potential danger to the public if it is on their property. You have witnesses to an attack on a child who can back you up. Most councils are very strict with their tennants and their animals anti social behaviour. I think the first thing you need to do is find out about the child who was attacked and speak to her parents. Even if they didn't pursue the owner I'm sure they will support your claim that the dog is dangerous, which will put more weight behind your complaint to the council. The Dangerous Dog Act doesn't cover attacks on other animals, but if the dog has behaved in an aggressive way towards a person the police have to get involved. The dog will be assessed and at the very least the owner will be made to keep the dog on lead and muzzled in all areas where it could pose a danger, which would include a communal garden. They are obviously not responsible owners as they are still allowing the dogs to roam unsupervised after they have attacked your cat and possibly a child. I really hope you are able to find out about the child that was attacked, as it is not fair that your child is scared of dogs that are loose in an area where he should be able to play safely.

I used to work for another employer who set the trial period as 12 months, most employers set it at 3 months. This made it incredibly easy for them to sack individuals they considered to have been sick or late too often. It was my job to give new employees their contract and I felt really guilty asking them to sign as there were other T&C's in the contract that I considered were also unfair. I used to quietly suggest thay they joined the Union while they were signing. It is perfectly reasonable to ask potential employers for a copy of their contractual terms and conditions when at interview stage. I would like to see it made an obligation, then these underhand employers will have to change their terms as people will refuse to work for them.

I feel guilty for laughing because that statement in painfully true but so funny. The majority of students go to university straight from school so have no experience of managing finances and the cost of living. The credit providers literally throw money at sudents. I was out on a field trip with uni and heard a man in the factory we were visiting describe my fellow students as 'fresh meat'. I think that is how the credit providers regard students. I don't think either of you should feel discouraged from studying law just because of your financial history. You wouldn't believe how difficult it is to find a debt specialist solicitor who will work for legal aid. I was told by one solictor she could help me but it would cost £280 per hour, I politely told her that if I had £280 I would put it towards my mortgage! I live in hope that there are people like you who understand the debt nightmare and go and qualify to help people who are trapped in the debt loop, of which sadly, there are millions. Anyway I shouldn't be going off topic here, maybe we should set up a 'Student Bar' on this board to discuss all things student/debt related.