Thank you

It was a 30 zone, now a 40 zone.

Hi Both myself and my wife ended up being criminals by getting caught speeding on the Grimsby Parkway by some stealth cameras both vat different times, both doing 36mph in a 40mph area. There has been loads of complaints about the speed limit as it is on an area of road surrounded by high walls and no pedestrian access - some would call it a cash cow. Even the Chief Constable got caught ! 6 weeks after receiving the NIP the speed limit has been raised to 40mph ! My query is whether or not there are any precedents in challenging the case based on it clearly having been an unreasonable decision to set it at 40 mph in the first place? Just thought I'd ask as it clearly has nothing at all to do with road safety and it is 30 years since I got done for speeding and my wife never has. We're somewhat miffed by the whole thing. Thanks in advance. Bugsley

I understand that Caro. They were both in residential care. On the death of FIL, he bequeathed his estate to his daughter which left half the account still available for MIL. MIL never worked. None of MIL funds have been removed, other than a few incidentals that are costs for presents and clothes for her etc. Why should they have any call whatsoever on the proceeds of a will? As it happens, after making enquiries at the weekend it turns out there is no "contract" with the bank that they signed. Bugsley

Thanks Freaky. That was my interpretation too, but it just does not appear right to me. We'll be requesting the contract from Lloyds Bank on Saturday. Regards Bugsley

Regrettably both in-laws ended up in a residential home together and Father-in-law died last year. In his will, he left half his estate to his daughter, my wife. The other half is still being used to fund Mother-in-law. However, today we received a letter from the local council who are part funding her care that says the following : "When opening a joint bank account an agreement will be signed with the bank which will address the terms of the account and the rule of survivorship. In order to determine if the capital moved from Mrs xxx joint account with her late husband can be disregarded, we require evidence of the terms of agreement with the bank." Surely a will overides any prior agreement? What exactly are they getting at here? Can anyone shed any light on this please. Thanks in advance Bugsley

Presumably you can claim the cost back if you win or is it another stealth tax ?

No, I wasn't aware they charged. What are the costs involved to instigate a tribunal claim now ?

Thanks Andy. As it happens, things have moved on somewhat. She will be submitting her resignation is a day or two as events have moved on and there is little question that she has been treat very poorly and her position systematically undermined. She just cannot bear the thought of even seeing some of the directors now due to their actions. The view is that she has a strong case for Wrongful Dismissal and regarding a Constructive Dismissal, we'll just have to fight the corner and see what the outcome is. It'll be a nasty and dirty challenge considering how her employer has treat her, but so be it. Thanks for your support. Not sure if this is the right place to ask so I might post somewhere else too, but do you know how to go about finding out if a particular individual is in prison or not or whether or not there might be a court case pending against them and where to find out about it. Reason for asking is that another ex employee who could provide some very useful information may have got into some criminal trouble with the employer, but certain information that he may have, and could come out in any court case, could be useful to her case so we are trying to track him down.

The potential outcome is over £5k total because it's racking up month by month due to it being a breach of contract and the claimant being entitled to payments that she was entitled to be paid in accordance with her contract but were not paid and were unilaterally withdrawn. However, it's a massive step to have to cough up over £1000 to pursue such a claim FST plus the delay of 20 to 30 weeks before it is heard and the potential for weasel legal arguments that its harder to defend without having to cough up £100's more for legal assistance. It just puts up a barrier that says it's not worth the risk for the reward, rather than getting the principle properly addressed. I understand thesmall claims limit is being considered being raised to £15k but no idea how long that will take to go through. I am wondering if it is feasible to submit to a court a "principle" but not attach a financial sum to it. What I mean by this is to present to the court all the facts regarding the breach of contract and just let them decide if there has been one or not. the reason for thinking this way is because the breach of contract is that the employer changed her contract terms without her approval or agreement. Now to correct this, either she would have to agree to the new terms, which she won't, or they have to terminate her existing contract giving appropriate notice and issue another contract. This requires 3 months notice. Therefore, if the court found in her favour, in principle, it does not have to make a financuial award as contractually the value of that is already determined by her contract of employment.So all the court needs to do is to determine if there has been a breach of contract or not. Hope I am making sense here. BUT, if they then issued a new contract, but failed to pay her in accordance with the old one, that would be subject to a new submission to the court, even though it is a related matter to the earlier claim? On the issue of payment of the outstanding overtime, this is a financial sum which is due and they are refusing to pay. Therefore it would be pursued as an outstanding debt and the court would award as it decided. Does this clarify it any further ? Regards Bugsley. P.S. They have now issued a letter saying that the overtime was deemed to be required as part of her management responsibilities. This is totally incorrect because, 1. They have paid it previously so precedent is set 2. They issued a seperate letter saying they would pay it if had "supporting procedural and authorisation documentation" which it does and 3. Is it a reasonable condition of employment to expect a manager to be "on call" for a 100 hours a week, 6.30am to 10.30pm and weekends to "fill in" free of charge if other employees do not turn up for whatever reason.

I am asking the following question on behalf of a third party who would prefer to remain anonymous. I am trying to resolve two matters with my employer, a limited company : 1. A Breach of Contract including an unlawful deduction from wages. 2. Failure to pay overtime I have submitted when they have agreed to pay, in writing, but haven't. If the two issues are added together their combined value would be over the £5000 limit but seperately, neither is at the limit. Would I be entitled and allowed to put in two independent claims to the small claims court for each of the issues? The claims need not necessarily be submitted at the same time. I am currently trying to get my employer to address the matter through independent arbitration but they are just digging their heels in. It seems daft that the matter cannot be addressed by an Employment Tribunal but it appears it cannot unless I choose to terminate my employment and go for Constructive Dismissal, so looking for the most cost effective remedy without having to spend £'000's. Thanks in advance. Bugsley.

Thanks for the opinions folks. Actually proving that some of their allegations were false and made up is not difficult as there are minutes of directors meetings where they agreed matters and then denied they had agreed them. They made allegations and then changed them to something else even more cras that a 6 year old could see it was fabricated. Trust me, there is little difficulty in proving that they have acted as absolute numpties in many aspects of this escapade. One reason we are considering action is because the directors are doctors and the situation has been handled so badly that my wife ended up hospitalised with stress induced heart attack. Believe it or not, in their first allegation, they did not even know what position and responsibilities my wife had. Anyhow, we will be taking more legal advice and have no plans on taking any action until both the appeal and a greivance submission are out of the way and that will be a couple of months away because she has to rest and recouperate from her heart attack. Again thanks for the comments.

I am currently in a situation where my wifes pharmacy company has brought a series of false, exaggerated and downright incorrect allegations against her, suspended her on full pay, held a disciplinary hearing and now, apparently although it has not happened yet, will be not be dismissing her but giving her a final warning for gross misconduct. It has been what can best be described as a witch hunt where the directors have made false allegations, lied, fabricated evidence and made it very hard to provide an defence. We intend to submit for an appeal hearing and also to submit a grievance. I think it is fair to say that they have acted in an "arbitrary and capricious manner" towards her but the question is, can they act in this way and hide behind the Employment Legislation by just saying they had "reasonable suspicion" and get away with it? We are seriously considering her resigning and bringing a constructive dismissal case and are researching the possibilities as it will be very hard for her to return to her position after this escapade. All and any thoughts welcomed.