Hi, Thanks for the reply. I'm thinking the best way out is to get a loan & repay the HP. We went to the garage today where we brought it, and asked what they could suggest, but they said it had to much negative equity on it. They said the deals not really designed to hand back the car after 1 year. We can't even swap it for a cheaper car. We either pay the additional £7,656 in one go and hand the car back, which is pointless, as we might as well continue paying £400 monthly and continue to use the car, until we've paid the £13,256, then hand the car back. This means we loose £13,256 in 2 years, and have nothing to show for it. Or, we take out a loan for £17,000 which is the outstanding balance, and pay off the HP, added to the £5,600 we've paid so far, we end up paying £22,600 but own a car at the end of it. This then gives us the option of keeping the car, and repaying the loan monthly, which would still be cheaper than the HP, or selling the car, and paying off the loan! Even if we continue with the HP till the end of the term, we'd end up paying £19,200 then still have to pay £6,600 in a final baloon payment, if we don't, we've spend £19,200 and have nothing to show for it. If we do, we've spent £26,380 in total. Should I get a personal loan from a bank (alliance & leicester or Nationwide seem best), which seem to be around 8 - 8.9% APR, or see if we can add it to our existing mortgage - currently with Nationwide @ 2.5%, I think any additional lending is done at their new base rate of 3.5%?

Hi, Last year, in July I was given a £400 per month car allowance from the company I worked for. At the time the company seemed to be doing well, so I went out and got a car for £400 per month on Hire Purchase. The deal was we pay £400pm for 48 months, then at the end we can either pay a £7,000 final valuation fee, or walk away. At the time it seemed like an OK deal, as I said the company I worked for was doing well. However in August this year the company went into administration, then liquidation. I've tried to continue paying the £400pm car allowance, however my new job isn't paying as much as my previous one, and I can't afford to continue paying. Does anyone know how best to terminate the agreement? Is it even possible? I've read throught the credit agreement, but is worded so complexly its difficult to understand. There is one section called 'Termination: Your rights' which reads: 'You have the right to end this agreement. TO do so, you should write to the person you make your payment to. They will then be entitled to the return of the goods and to half the total amount payable under this agreement, that is £13,256. If you have already paid at least this amount plus any overdue installments and have taken reasonable care of the goods, you will not have to pay any more.' Does this mean we have to have paid £13,256 before we can terminate the agreement? As we've only had the car for 14 months we've only paid £5,600. So does this mean we have to find another £7,656 to get out of the contract? If so, this seems rather unfair, they would end up with a car still worth £17,00 + £13,256. Any advice would be really appreciated! In hindsight I'm wishing we'd banked the £400 car allowance, and just got an old run around! But we just didn't forsee the current circumstances! Thanks Ben

Hi, My father in law has been asked if he wants to sign out of the 48hr week regulations. However, he's unsure as to what his working week is because he does shift work, and how this will affect him. He works as a shop fitter, installing refrigeration units, so the hours can be random, and long depending on when the shop closes, if it ever does. Apparently sometimes he can start work at 8am Monday, and already have done 48hrs by Wednesday evening. Reading the document he's been given to sign, it says if he's already done 48hrs in a week, he can be told to take a day off, however, does this means that the following day, his working week is reset to 0 hours? He worked out, that if this was the case, he could potentially work 10 48hr weeks in a month, i.e. do 48hrs over 4 days, get 1 day off, do another 48 hours, get 1 day off, etc. The trouble he has, is due to the shift work, there is no fixed working week, nothing in his contract says 8am - 5pm Monday to Friday. It's as and when he's required to work. Ideally they need to define what a working day is, and what a working week is, and make sure he get's the legal 11 hours rest between shifts, + 1 day off every 6 days worked. But, if he does 48hrs in 3 days, then gets 1 day off, can this be counted as the 1 day off per week he's entitled to? Also, they have told him that if he books holidays, he now has to book week ends off as well. So if he wanted 2 weeks holiday, rather than booking Mon - Fri both weeks, which would count as 10 days, he now has to book the Saturdays & Sundays inclusive, which would mean taking 16 days to cover the 2 weeks. Surely this isn't right, they can't count some of those days, as they would be his legal rest days? Any help or advice would be much appreciated! Ben

Hi, Could anyone give me some advice on writing a letter to an employer stating why you won't sign a new contract/terms of employment? My father in law (who I posted another thread about a while back because his employer was starting a disciplinary against him for no reason), has been given a new terms of employment contract, which has the following errors/unfair terms: 1. Stats that his hours are 'Monday to Sunday' no times or hours stated. As he does shift work (shop fitter), I said it needs to state either 8am - 5pm, or 8.5 hours a day, with 11 hours between shifts, and at least 1 day off every week, or 2 days off every fortnight. This is the most important point as far as he's concerned as yesterday he worked 5pm - 3am, then had to be back at work for 9am this morning, so he didn't receive his 11 hours break. As he drives the company van/trailer, it puts him and others at risk of falling asleep at the wheel. 2. States that annual holiday is 20 days a year including bank holidays. My understanding is that its 28 days including bank holiday’s minimum. 3. It states that you may need to pay expenses out of your own pocket, but doesn't state when or how you'll be reimbursed. 4. States that you'll only be paid for working a public holiday if you work the day before and the day after. As far as I'm concerned if you work a day, you get paid for it! 5. Says you get 15 minutes break for every 6 hours worked, my understanding is that its 15 minutes for every 4 1/2 hours. 6. Says that he may need to work outside of the UK, but doesn't say what requirements are in place to support this. If anyone has any examples of how to word a letter stating why you wouldn't sign a TofE it would be much appreciated! Thanks Ben

Hi, Coming into work this morning, I slide around a corner on a patch of black ice, only doing about 10/15mph, but this was enough to slide into the curb, with a large bump, with the front driver-side wheel taking most of the force. I'm not sure yet (haven't driven it again), but I may have knackared the axel/tracking or something. If I need to put in an insurance claim, should I tell my insurance company that I did this in a private car park? Would they still pay out, or reject the claim? Should I just tell them that this happened on a public road? Many thanks Ben

Hi orfoster, Thanks for the reply. I have the letters with me, so I've uploaded the main text, which does say: 'You are entitled, if you wish to be accompanied by another work colleague during this interview' However, he was only given the letter 15 minutes before the disciplinary, which I don't think gave him enough time to prepare. The initial letter is below, followed by the decision letter, (which was given to him during the disciplinary and as you can see from the dates, written the previous day, before the interview) Disciplinary outcome letter: As I said, this is all due to not adding a stainless steal trim to a display case him and a colleague were fitting. They had actually finished installing the case, and noticed it had been poorly manufactured, and the existing trim looked a bit rough, my father-in-law & his colleague thought they should fit a new trim. My father-in-law was then asked to move his work van, which he did, while he was doing this his work colleague asked the site foreman if he wanted the new trim added, the site foreman said 'no its ok leave it' and signed off the job sheet. Its only after the store manager has complained that this all started. Additionally my father-in-law's work colleague has had no action taken against him, even though he was on site too, and was the one who asked the site foreman if he wanted the new trim. As far as I can tell, the responsibility for this lies with the site foreman, who signed off the job sheet, he shouldn't have signed it, if he wasn't happy with the work. Thanks again for the advice Ben

Hi Leon, Thanks for the reply. I have advised my father-in-law to call ACAS, and he's also giving copies of the letters to his union tomorrow. bazak1, Thanks for the reply also. From reading your post and having read through their employee handbook, which contains the disciplinary procedure, the company definitely didn't follow their own procedures. The alleged alligation doesn't come under gross misconduct. There was no written statement setting out why they have decided to take disciplinary action, just a general 'Poor workmanship while on site' nothing specific. They only informed him of the diciplinary 15 minutes before the interview, they gave his the disciplinary descision at the start of the interview, and it was dated the day before - to me this makes the interview kind of pointless. There was no informal warning, just straight to a final warning. Thanks Ben

Hi, I need some advice on company disciplinaries. My father-in-law was given a letter at 10:15am today telling him he had to attend a company disciplinary at 10:30am. Is this legal? Don't you have to give 24 hours notice? Apparently the disciplinary was due to 'Poor workmanship while on site' but no specific information as to what the poor workmanship was, was given. Just after the disciplinary STARTED he was given a letter, dated the day before (14th Oct) informing him of the decision of the disciplinary. So they had already made up their mind without even hearing his side of the story. Only after receiving this was he told what the 'poor workmanship on site' related to, and it was only very minor - not adding a veneer strip to a case, which one of his colleagues has asked the site manager if he wanted added, and the site manager said no, and signed off the worksheet. The decision of the disciplinary is that he be given 1st written warning under the 3rd stage of the disciplinary procedure, but he hasn't received the 1st or 2nd stage, no verbal warning or anything - surely this is illegal and should follow the company disciplinary procedure. They are also going to deduct £500 from his salary per month for the next 6 months - can they do this? It seems very harsh for a minor performance issue. No where in the disciplinary procedure in the company handbook does it say they will deduct any money from his salary - can they do this by law even if it did? Only after he has proved himself after 6 months will his salary be re-instated, this still means they loose £3000. He has been told that is this happens again he will be dismissed - but again, according to the procedure, this is only first written warning, not final written. And this isn't being classed as gross misconduct. I would really appreciate any information or advice, on disciplinary proceeding/employment law, anyone here can provide! Many thanks Ben