LOL I am the OP. But thanks for clarifying - I appreciate it.

Well... "Electoral Purposes" doesn't seem to be adequately defined in that statutory instrument anywhere; therefore it must be defined elsewhere. BUT - that SI does state that it can be supplied to Returning Officers, Elected Representatives and local constituency parties "for electoral purposes". I'm just not sure whether canvassing and campaigning is "electoral purposes" - all the other "bits" seem to point to registration and checking off of voters as they vote and stuff like that, rather than sending irritatingly manipulative leaflets to PROSPECTIVE voters.

Is it a campaign leaflet for a local election or a regular council news update? Canvassing leaflet for the local Lib Dem Councillor. Is the local politician the elected member for your area? No he's a Councillor who wants to up his party's game. Have you ever sought advice from this member in the past? No. Are you of the same political persuasion as the politician and a member of that party? Broadly speaking and no. Did you forget to opt out of the register last year? No. Not EVER. Ever pay toward a charity where you may have filled out your details? No. Ever signed any form that may be of political interest? No. NEXT!

Good letter Tinks - just subbing. By the way - for the info of anyone reading, and I realise that this is not the case in this instance - it is a criminal offence to impersonate a solicitor. If any DCA writes to you and either appears to or actually states that they are a Law firm or Solicitors, check out the name of the company either via the Law Society or (a new one on me) the SRA. It is a serious offence.

My Wife and I are (obviously - DUH) registered to vote, and we ALWAYS tick to remove our details from the edited register - so that we mitigate the amount of junk mail we receive. This week, we received local political campaign leaflets addressed to us both by name in a way that would suggest that our details had been obtained from the Electoral Roll. Is this a valid use of the Full Register, or is it (as I believe it to be) an abuse of privilege by the local politician concerned?

If one uses a solicitor in a Magistrate's Court and one is Acquitted, can one ask for one's costs?

Well, that's the one which immediately springs to mind. Also, what governs the responsibilities of buyer and seller as regards conduct before, during and after bidding? Is the buyer obliged in Law to buy if they are the winning bidder, or is it down to local auction rules? This is not an issue I'm experiencing, but a general request for knowledge... thanks for what you have given so far! Oh - and please translate CPUTR? Thanks.

Hi guys I was wondering if anyone with Legal Experience (please note the use of caps LOL) knows whether there are Statutes regarding the conduct of Auctions? I'm not talking about the rights of buyers or sellers, but rather the actual conduct of the Auction itself. For instance; I believe that the right of the Seller to refuse to treat if a Lot does not meet its reserve price is enshrined in Law... is this Case Law or is it Statute? If it's Statute, which Act is it? Thanks

If a penalty fare is a civil matter and not covered by Transport Law, then I assume it's covered by the same Contract Law which covers bank charges; i.e. it is a penalty for breach of contract and cannot be legally enforced in any way. This being the case, they could chase me as much as they liked; I still wouldn't pay it! Does anyone know if any other Law covers this and provides for a lawful penalty? Or is it simply a contractural penalty which they're "winging" to see how much they can get?

Excellent!! Well done. It's incredible how much difference a few words of advice and support on a forum can make and I'm glad you stuck it out.

Sparkie's right - if there is no credit agreement then there is NO DEBT. Not only should you not offer them any money, THEY SHOULD PAY YOU BACK ANYTHING YOU HAVE PAID.

Yes there are; tell your Daughter that reputable modelling agencies NEVER charge their models a fee - a model is an EMPLOYEE of a modelling agency and therefore gets PAID for her work. I don't know what modelling agencies are out there, but look for one that doesn't charge a fee and also look around the net for recommendations. You could do worse than look at what agencies the supermodels are using.

It seems at first inspection of the facts we have that that the "Senior Barrister at Law" they hired has given their solicitors a real roasting about what you can and what you can't get away with in a Court... and that the solicitors have returned to their client with their tail between their legs and advised their client APPROPRIATELY. Interesting turn of events, this... we should ask the Mod team to link any threads which refer to Optima/Barclays/etc which are closed in this way here on this thread to get an idea of an actual trend... will someone who can safely enable their Private Messaging service please ask the question???

(a) County Court does not have the authority to set precedents... and (b) No precedent is required; the Law already states in black and white that Agreements must be legible. By the way - had there BEEN a Judgement in Court, it could still have been referred to in other County Court cases; however it has no weight - i.e. a Judge will consider it as useful information, nothing more. A precedent set by the High Court is legally binding on lesser Courts and can only be overturned by a Court of Appeal or the House of Lords.

Just to say - I am unable to give EITHER of you reputation - it says I've given you too much recently! I did try, honest!

Are the terms of the order and their reasons for discontinuance confidential Paul? Or are we simply waiting for Viano to report back? Either way, many congratulations to Viano, well done and thanks to Paul for all your help and massively good advice, and all in all HOORAH! for happy news :)

Is that so?! I thought that any "reasonable" (Adjudged by the Court, naturally) amount of costs in litigation could be claimed... is that £9.25 actually written in CPR?

*getting excited now* Best of Luck Viano - and please do let us know how this goes - there are some important points being raised in your case which will prove, one way or another, that the advice given here at CAG is right. All the little documentary stuff they've been walking all over could be shown to invalidate the stance of lots of DCAs and Creditors; and while it won't set a precedent, people will be able to refer to your case in their documentation. Very best of luck and suffer no excrement from these fools!

I would - with bookmarks in the relevant pages. Just in case.

No - they've received the Defence - it's the later Witness Statement they haven't seen.

Were you supposed to send the solicitors your witness statement at the same time as the Court? Usually you send it to the Court and the other parties at the same time. They are entitled to see it; so I guess I would send it to them as a "True Copy" (i.e. a photocopy as opposed to printing it again) with dates, and a covering letter that confirms it was originally sent on . If you omitted to send it to them first time, no worries; they don't need to know that. That's my take on it, anyway; wait until PT or one of the other Gurus answer as well, though, just to make sure. (See my signature). Cheers!

FFS - trying to get you to back off just because you got help from people on the web - it beggars belief that they feel they have to go this far to avoid Court!! (After all, if they're that worried they could always just drop it!! If they're not confident of winning, they should not be trying to force it to Court!!)

Seanamarts - I'm very very impressed with the strength you've displayed and with the result you got. Power to you!

That truly is wonderful news; and a testament to the fact that arbitration services are not always the toothless tigers they are made out to be. I'm very happy for you as regards this outcome, and I'm glad that you are now able to start moving on from your Mum's death. It's just such a shame they could not accept responsibility for their actions (bearing in mind the sensitivity of the situation) without you having to fight for it.

I'm still here to help out, too