This topic was closed on 11 March 2019. If you have a problem which is similar to the issues raised in this topic, then please start a new thread and you will get help and support there. If you would like to post up some information which is relevant to this particular topic then please flag the issue up to the site team and the thread will be reopened. - Consumer Action Group

This topic was closed on 11 March 2019. If you have a problem which is similar to the issues raised in this topic, then please start a new thread and you will get help and support there. If you would like to post up some information which is relevant to this particular topic then please flag the issue up to the site team and the thread will be reopened. - Consumer Action Group

This topic was closed on 10 March 2019. If you have a problem which is similar to the issues raised in this topic, then please start a new thread and you will get help and support there. If you would like to post up some information which is relevant to this particular topic then please flag the issue up to the site team and the thread will be reopened. - Consumer Action Group

This topic was closed on 10 March 2019. If you have a problem which is similar to the issues raised in this topic, then please start a new thread and you will get help and support there. If you would like to post up some information which is relevant to this particular topic then please flag the issue up to the site team and the thread will be reopened. - Consumer Action Group

This topic was closed on 09 March 2019. If you have a problem which is similar to the issues raised in this topic, then please start a new thread and you will get help and support there. If you would like to post up some information which is relevant to this particular topic then please flag the issue up to the site team and the thread will be reopened. - Consumer Action Group

You are quite correct. This light IS a pelican crossing - as I said lights only to to just amber after red if it is a pelican crossing and it is flashing amber, there is no solid amber after red Even the police seem to be confused by this fact - most likely because the junction is 20m after the crossing - unusual for them to be so close, yet it is still a crossing only, not a set of lights at the junction.

I've just had a court summons through for failing to comply with a red light. The police have pursued this as it preceded an accident between myself (a cyclist) and a car turning right after the crossing, without visibility of the lane I was in. Unlike many cyclists i see in London I wait at red lights, I consider it much safer to do so and know from experience I will almost always catch up with those that do run lights on the next stretch of road, so it does not gain any time regardless. I am 100% certain and have maintained at all times that the light changed to flashing amber just before I crossed the line, had it not changed when it did I would have braked hard but have stopped before the line - I had stopped peddling and was free wheeling towards the lights with hands on brakes ready to stop if need be. While the lights were near a junction, they were not part of the junction, they were a pedestrian crossing 20m away. The driver travelling the opposite direction, turned right through heavy traffic, could not have had visibility of me or the lights as there was a bus in the way and cut across the lane, at which point I smashed into the side of the car, dislocating a shoulder and needing 14 stitches. Her statement claims I crossed the light on red, however I do not believe she could possible have seen the lights at the moment I crossed since her statement also claims I "came out of nowhere". The only other witness statement is a very short statement from a cyclist that was stationary at the lights who claims I "jumped the red light" but otherwise is very brief in his statement. I do not dispute that the light was red 1 second before I crossed it, however just before I crossed it it had changed to amber (and in uk traffic lights going to amber only after red must be flashing amber), I had good visibility and could see the pedestrian crossing was empty so I proceeded across completely legally. This was also a road I was familiar with and cycled regularly so I was aware that this crossing had flashing amber in its sequence. I do not believe that having seen an accident in front of you within 2 seconds (20 meters at 15mph) would mean that the cyclist was concentrating on the exact state of the light when I crossed the line, especially as waiting effectively under the light he would have to look steeply upwards to see it. As I feel this summons literally adds insult to severe injury I will be fighting it in court. My defence obviously rests on the fact I crossed it on amber and that with this being a split second timing issue neither witness can be relied upon to be accurate, especially the driver who already showed poor observation and driving skills in pulling across a bus/cycle lane without looking. I intend to ask the prosecution to produce both witnesses so I can get them to elaborate on exactly what they saw since their written statements do not give an timing context - which as I said I think is critical in this case. Is there anyone that can offer advice on handling this in the court as I have no experience of it myself. I cannot afford the expense of legal representation however I think the legalities of this are relatively simple (as English law goes) my main concern is the do's and don'ts for presenting my case at the hearing or anything else I should consider. Thanks Simon

I recently moved into a house share, my house mate has been there for 6 years and the gas is in her name. Unfortunately she never bothered to read the meter herself, relying on her house mates to do it. The meter is currently reading 3000 cubic feet above what the estimates of the gas company place it at. (there records indicate it should be about 7000, it has just wrapped to 0000) The meter is inside the kitchen and given it has always been professionals living in the house I do not believe that in those 6 years a gas company employee has read the meter at all. The last meter read that have was 18 months ago and was at 2000 (customer submitted) - which was discarded as it was out of tolerance for what they had on file. The meter itself is in a hard position to read so I'm not surprised if duff readings have been provided in the past. The person sharing previously to me also has aspergers. I've been speaking with EDF about this and have had very mixed success depending which agent I was dealing with. Some were extremely helpful indicating it would go to a dispute process and likely be written off, others have just said we would be expected to pay the whole amount. The apartment is a fairly small 3rd floor apartment, and in truth we get most of our heating provided by the snooker club downstairs - our heating has actually been off for the last month, my house mate does not cope well with warm temperatures. I've done daily readings on the meter and we are using about 20% lower than estimates - these are going back for 2 months and include the period of heavy snow. My aim - as a compromise - is to get them to write off the difference estimates and just continue the account from now. My fall back position if they push it is to measure our ongoing usage and back date that as a projection, which I think would result in a hefty refund. My assertion is that there have been no reliable meter reads from that meter and that we cannot be expected to pay the difference (I estimate about £3000 at current rates) I could probably afford to if need be, though my house mate could not, but then I haven't lived there more than a few months and I'd rather fight it than pay up. Does anyone have any advise/experience on the procedures I will have to go through? My current plan of action is as follows: Get one of their people out to do an official meter read (done) Contact them once this meter read is in the system, restate my case, provide the sample readings I have already given - this puts the ball in their court. As I understand it worst case is that they will try to spread the payments over a period of time - however I do not plan to go along with that as I do not believe the meter readings are valid. If this happens I intend to demand a copy of all meter readings, the date, and whether they were estimates, official reads or customer going back to when the meter was installed. As soon as I hit any resistance doing this by phone I will be putting my complaint in writing, any resistance with the written discussion and I will request a letter with the "Final Response" and take it up with ofgen. If they threaten to put a pre pay meter in the property we plan to cancel the gas and electric from my house mates name and open a new account with them in my name, from a difference supplier - I understand that doing this would put us in a slightly worse situation for being forced to pay the outstanding amount but since I am not officially on the existing account I do not beleive they can refuse to do so. Have I missed any likely occurances? Is there anything I should plan for? Has anyone else been down this path or can point me at any information/resources that I can use in my argument or to cast doubt on the validity of the meter readings that have in their database? Many thanks Simon

I haven't come across it on any of the posts in this forum. I hope you reported A&L to the OFT for closing your account like that? There are threads around covering the matter

How long does it normally take for your settlement to arrive? Its been well over a week since the signed acceptance of the settlement was mailed back but haven't heard anything from them....

Sent the letter yesterday saying we wanted £342 back, however it looks like their latest response crossed in the post and they are offering us £300 with no conditions for us to drop the matter For the £42 its not worth the extra time it would take to persue this to the end so we are taking the £300 very happily Just want to read over the paper work before my wife signs it but I think we can call this a result Thankyou again all - now time for me to help some friends of mine do the same!!

Does anyone know if there is a legal maximum a legit bank/lender can set as the interest rate on a loan? I ask as a friend of mine is stuck with a small loan at 60% interest!!! I'd read somewhere that 44% was a maxmum under something called ursary - but thats only heresay and I was wondering if anyone knew for certain what the rules were? Thanks

I must have missed something.... why are they closing the account? Or did you ask them to?

Can a solicitor tell you that all communication has to go through them.... I know I can tell someone that all future communication has to go through my solicitor.... but not sure if the solicitor can initiate it. The second question on that is can a bank supposedly supplying a service insist all communication goes through their solicitors.... I suspet they could if the clarififed it as "all communication on this matter" but in the general case while you have an account open with them..... might be a breach the responsibilities that banks are required to follow.... (even though DG are part of HSBC... I wonder if that depeartment has increased head count recently)

So heard anything back re your invoice?

Not a problem I'm pretty sure my fetchmail should handle it.... just no idea why it is crashing instead of handling the error.... may have to rebuild from source...

The from address in the emails sent by these forums seems to be wrong - its actually causing my fetchmail deamon to crash SMTP error: 501 : malformed address: @consumeractiongroup.co.uk> may not follow I'd be grateful if you could fix it as otherwise I'm going to have to unsubscribe from notifications from this site....

Thanks!! Willlet you know how it all goes!!!

Cheers - I do believe that deadline will be tomorrow however the new charges come out on friday so I will write then - I will also write it at a sensible time in the evening not nearly midnight Would you suggest that I make no reference to the typo in the next letter? Am I right that you are suggesting the next letter to be: That they did not respond to my conditional acceptance of their settlement offer within the time I offered. (I was going to accept the £250 against the £292 as long as they also cancelled the pending £50 fees - should I mention this?) That they charged another £50 of unlawful fees That I am no going to persue them for the £292 plus £50 a total of £342 and that they have a further 7 days in which to offer a full refund before I take the matter up with the courts. Sound about right? (Mods: hmmm seems to have gotten right back onto my claim thread - might want to merge it?)

It was pointed out in my thread that the letter I sent to the bank conditionally accepting their settlement offer (which they seem to have ignored) had a rather glaring typo: "Thank you for your letter dated 02 June 2006 offering £250 in full and final settlement against my claim of £250." Obviously that though have been £250 out of £292 (Full letter http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=59123 ) I'm not sure what to do with the typo.... Fix it and resend the letter... Write a letter noting the mistake... Ignore it and just carry on with the claim... Any advice from anyone with legal experience would be greatly appreciated (I hope making a separate threat won't be a problem but I though the issue of typos more generic than just my claim) Thanks Simon

Bugger, never noticed that typo Yes was supposed to be the claim for £292 as mentioned in the rest of the letter. And to thistlegorm - late night typos nonwithstanding I was quite aware what I was getting into when I started this and am perfectly prepared to meet them in court on whatever argument basis they pick to defend on. I would have been willing to settle for £300 out of the £342 (ie 250 plus the next fee cancelled) but not for £250 out of the total. Well once they take the £50 I'll start the money claim then either wait for them to settle or see them in court

Well haven't heard anything back since I sent the above letter. Guess I'll be filing with the courts

Very true - it was pointing this out to them that made them refund all 3 charges in my case not just the 1 they were offering to!!!

I'm not claiming against abbey myself as I have only had fees from them once which I immediatly disputed (£90 for £7 over my OD in 3 small transactions) They took all £90 off for me after 30 minutes arguing in branch withthe manager (they were only offering to take off 1 of them) Apparantly their standard procedure is to allow the removal of 1 fee in any 12 month period if it is quiried - not sure if that will help anyone but thought I'd mention it

Best place I know of for opening an account when you have bad credit is nationwide