Hi, I wonder if somebody could advise me on what to do. I have lived in England for the last 7 years, before which I lived in Scotland. A few years ago I received a demand, to my parents' address, for about £860 in outstanding Council Tax from Aberdeenshire Council, for an address I left in 2001. As far as I was aware at the time I left the property, all owing Council Tax was paid, so I was surprised to receive this. I then heard nothing until yesterday, when I got home to find a letter from Scott & Co, claiming that they have been instructed to execute a "Charge for Payment and Funds Arrestment", basically implying that funds will be seized from my bank account, and that I need to phone them to prevent this action against me. I'm not unable to pay, but I'm reluctant to do so seeing as, as far as I'm aware, I do not owe it. From reading a few posts on here, I understand that what happens next depends on whether or not they have obtained a Liability Order against me. If they have, then I guess I'll have to phone them and make an offer to pay, but if not the "debt" will be statute barred as it is well over 6 years old. Am I right in this assumption? How do I go about finding out if they have obtained a Liability Order or not - do I need to send a Subject Access Request? And if so, is there anything to stop them taking any action in the meantime, whilst I am waiting for their response? Any advice would be gratefully received!! Thanks!

Hi, On Friday we flew from London Stansted to Cork on Ryanair, which in hindsight was a stupid decision given the hassles we have had every single time we've flown with them, and are outraged at their check-in process. I am English and my partner is South African. As we were travelling together on the same booking, we were excluded from being able to check-in online, according to the following (taken from their website): "To qualify for Online Check-in each passenger must be an EU/EEA citizen (including Switzerland) and present either a valid passport or National Identity Card, issued by the government of an EU/ European Economic Area (EEA) country which matches the document details printed on their online boarding pass, at both airport security and the departure gate." Consequently we had to pay £10 each for the "privelege" of checking-in at the airport, under the assumption that our passports would be chedked at the check-in desk. However, on arrival at Stansted we found that there was actually no check-in desk open, and were instructed to use the self-service terminals whereby you just punch in your booking reference and it prints the boarding passes. No passport checks or anything. In other words, we have been charged £10 each for doing exactly what we could have done the night before at home. The only place our passports were requested was as we went through the security gate, not by Ryanair staff, and there was no difference between the way my EU passport was checked and the way my fiancee's SA passport was checked. This is clearly just another Ryanair [problem] and we will be pushing for a refund of the £20, more on principle than for the cost of it. Has anybody else encountered this?

Hi, I need some advice. I received a PCN back in December 2007 for parking adjacent to a dropped footway. Even though it was barely visible that it was a dropped footway, and it was not signed at all, my appeal was turned down and I decided not to take it to the independent adjudicator stage (which in hindsight I should have, but that's irrelevant now!). At the time i was out of work and wrote to Lambeth Council explaining that I simply could not afford to pay in one go and would they agree to an arrangement to let me pay over 2-3 months (I know these people have not an ounce of humanity in them but I figured it was worth a shot!). Anyway, I never received a reply and I assumed that they had decided to drop the PCN. that was until last week when I returned from holiday to find a letter replying to my letter (almost a year on!) saying that out of "understanding for my financial situation" they would let me pay at the reduced rate of £50, as long as it was paid by 4th February and by cheque. I only received the letter on 1st February when I returned home, so I went out the next day and bought a postal order for £50 (I do not have a chequebook). I went to send it by Special Delivery but was told by the Post Office that they could not guarantee special delivery as there had been no postal collection for days due to the snow and that they did not know when the next one would be, and advised me that I should post First Class and retain proof of postage. I got home from work yesterday (5th February) to find a letter stating that the matter had been lodged with Northampton County Court to pursue payment of £155 (the "full" penalty plus fees). I am not sure what to do. As far as I am concerned I did everything i could to pay the £50 on time, and the only thing that would have delayed it is the snow (which is hardly my fault!). Also, the letter was dated 30th January (5 days before the deadline of 4th February). Is this letter valid as it was dated before the deadline for payment they had given me? Can they still pursue me for the "outstanding" £105? Can the lack of a postal service in bad weather be used as a reason for payment not arriving on time (if, in fact, it did not arrive by the 4th - something I have not yet ascertained). If somebody could advise me on this I'd be most grateful! Thanks!

Regarding the debt for which I cannot remember if I contacted them or not during the 6-year period since last payment, would I be able to find out for sure by submitting a Subject Access Request? I'm guessing they would then be obliged to send me copies of any correspondence made during that period, so that I would then know for sure whether or not I could send a statute barred letter......Would that be correct? Also, would sending a Subject Access Request be considered as acknowledging the debt in any way? Thanks!

Thanks for your help 42man, I think I will try that. One thing I'm a little confused about though - under the Limitations Act a debtor has to acknowledge the debt in writing. Despite writing "I DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE...etc" at the top of the letter, would not the sentence starting "The last payment on this alleged debt was made over 6 years ago..." in itself count as acknowledgment of the debt, otherwise how would I know when the last payment was made? Maybe I'm just being over-cautious here!

Hi I'm wondering if somebody could advise me here.... I have two old debts - one of which was a personal loan from RBS taken out around 1999, and I defaulted around 2001/02 after I became too ill to work. Following a few years of illness and temporary work contracts, during which time I was unable to meet repayments, I'm now working full-time again and wanting to clean up my credit record. I have been looking at both my online credit reports (Equifax and Experian) and I see that the RBS debt is nowhere to be seen on either. I'm guessing (and hoping) that this means it has been removed after 6 years passed, and that it is now statute barred under Section 5 of the Limitations Act (1980). I remember that back in 2004/05 I wrote to a debt collection agency explaining that I was currently out of work and unable to make payments, and asking if they could be patient with me. The problem is, I honestly cannot remember if the debt concerned was the RBS one, or another debt I had at the time (which has since been settled). If I write to the agency chasing the RBS debt quoting the Limitations Act and they turn round and quote my letter of 2004, then the 6-year clock will be reset. On the other hand, if it was another debt I was writing about back then, I can get them off my back. Could anyone suggest the best thing to do here? Thanks!

That's kinda what I'm thinking.... The only creditor hassling me worryingly is for a small debt (only £174!), so if need be I'll pay them off to keep them quiet and see how things go.... there's only one year maximum until the 6 year cut-off (if indeed it is subject to the English law), so if I can go another year not acknowledging the debt and without them taking action then all will be good... if they get nasty in the meantime then I'll have to take action in the form of a DMP or IVA, but I guess it's worth waiting and seeing what develops! Dave

Hi No, just letters from Debt Collection Agencies, threatening the usual - eg if I don't reply within 7 days they'll take action etc etc, only to find it gets passed on to a different DCA every couple of months!

Thanks for the advice Matt I think the main issue I need to clarify before anything is whether this debt comes under the Scottish or the English law - from what I can tell (from googling the Act), it would be governed by the Scottish act as the creditor is based in Edinburgh. This means that the period of time before it can be considered as statute barred is 5 years and not 6 as in England and Wales. I'm pretty sure the last payment made (through the debt management plan) was around February/March 2003, in which case the debt is possibly statute barred, or at least fast approaching the deadline. I'll try contacting the company I set up the plan with back then and see if I can find out the exact date of the last payment (hopefully they're still going and can give me that info!!)

I am currently in a severe financial situation owing approx. £30,000 to a variety of creditors, and have got into this situation due to a combination of a series of redundancies and a long period of illness. I'm currently self-employed and am at the moment barely making enough to make ends meet, let alone pay my creditors. I am looking for a full-time job so hopefully things may improve slightly soon, but I still cannot meet the payments demanded of me. The vast bulk of my debt (approx. £23,000) is to one creditor (a high street bank), resulting from a combination of a loans and credit cards I used to fund myself when I was ill and unable to work back in 2001. I started a debt management plan at the end of 2002, but I was made redundant shortly afterwards and as a result only a couple of payments were made. I recently enquired into the possibility of an IVA, but was informed that I currently have an insufficient disposal monthly income. As I cannot afford the court fee to declare bankruptcy, this leaves me in an awkward situation. However, having done some online research this morning I've come across some points of potential interest. The first question I have is this.... As I currently reside in England but was living in Scotland when the loans/credit cards were taken out, and that the creditor is based in Scotland, would this debt be subject to the Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973, or the Limitation Act 1980 (England & Wales)? If subject to the former, then would I be correct in thinking that this debt COULD be statute barred, seeing as I have neither made payment nor made written admission of the debt within the last 5 years? If so, is there I way that I, or somebody on my behalf, could find out this information without it being deemed as written admission of liability? Also, would the Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973 be applicable to Career Development Loans, or are they exempt from the 5-year rule? If subject to the latter then obviously this is not an option and I will have to go ahead with a debt management plan for the full amount of my debts. Obviously if this debt were statute barred it would allow me to set up a far more manageable debt management plan! Any information anyone may be able to give me would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks!! Incubus