Thanks for taking the time to respond and for your thoughts which are very much appreciated. It's given me a few things to think about.

I see what you're saying but the photos are pretty clear that the obstacle was obscured, and shouldn't have been there in the first place, having been left there negligently by the security company. If I thought I was entirely at fault, then I'd hold up my hands and take it on the chin.

Saturday morning I pulled into a public car park at a local retail park, when I heard an almighty crack and scrape. I parked up and saw that right down the passenger side of the car was a gouge about 18 inches from the ground. I looked back at the entrance to the car park and saw the following: I went back to where I'd turned in to take a picture from the drivers perspective..... I've found the details of the security company who place and remove the barriers as it looks like they've simply neglected to take this one away. I've spoken to my insurers and will have to put it through my own insurance obviously but will have to pay £200 excess. My questions is, how can I go about claiming this back from the security company and down what path. My first approach will be a letter with the photos requesting they pay the excess, but not sure where to take it if they refuse, as expected. Any advice would be most welcome.

Just had a call from Surrey Police Camera people to say that they've reviewed the photo and that the reg plate was read incorrectly. Feel like a t**t for the panic, but when you see the police letterhead, your mouth just goes dry. Biggest relief is that it's not been cloned. Thanks for all the advice.

Understood. Thanks again, and I'll keep the thread updated in case it's of any help to others.

Thanks for the advice. They didn't send a photo unfortunately. If it is a clone, do you know if I'd report this locally to North Yorkshire Police or to the Surrey lot?

I've received a notice of intended prosecution from Surrey Police for doing 71 in a 60 zone in Puttenham, Surrey at 11.32. The problem is, I was 240 miles away decorating my daughter's bedroom, in York, with my dad. The car registration on the paperwork is mine. The car make (Seat) is correct. I have evidence of where I was 2 hours later in the form of a debit card payment and receipt (we took our girls to The Chocolate Story in York - well worth a visit in case you're wondering). I'm assuming that the reg has been entered manually, and incorrectly, and "the allegation is supported by means of photographic/recorded video evidence" according to the notice. So I'm confident it'll show a different car. Not sure what to do though or how to go about dealing with this. Can anyone offer any advice please.

Not going through my own insurers as the other driver accepted liability.

7 weeks ago, my wife (whilst driving my car ) was reversed into by a company (Skanska) van. The driver admitted responsibility, details were swapped and I duly called their insurers (AIG) on the monday to make a claim. AIG said that they would send forms for Skanska to fill out to admit this liability in writing. Couple of weeks later, I had a call from the driver asking for details of the road name as he was from out of the area. He needed it for the form. I've spoken since to AIG a couple of times for updates on the claim and they say they haven't received the form back. So I'm just wondering where I stand legally. Am I in a position to get the small amount of repair work done and claim against Skanska directly by going down the Prelim, LBA and Moneyclaim route, or would you approach this differently? Thanks in advance

Well, today I've received a letter from DG Solicitors telling me that the claim for charges, interest etc were rejected. They would, however, make an ex gratia payment which, as luck would have it, just happens to be for the amount I'm claiming. Who'd have thought it!! The new telly's out the window for now though. Not in a drug crazed rock star kind of way. My wife gave birth to our 2nd daughter a week ago, so the £900 will soon be swallowed up. It's certainly come at the right time! Thanks to you all.

I would certainly send them the letters they requested, but remind them of your timetable which you are sticking to. I still haven't heard from them, well over a month since they asked for 4 weeks extra consideration. Seems you're right about the buying time thing. So I've raised a claim on Moneyclaim, which they've already acknowledged. I'll keep you updated as to any progress. Hope they get their skates on and pay up though. Fancy a new telly in the January sales!

Hi Natz Please accept my apology for the delay in responding. Been laid up ill for a while (not bank charge stress related I might add!!). You certainly seem to be being treated in the same way I am. I receved a letter (2 months after the prelim landed in their in-tray) saying they need 4 weeks. I was in no rush, as the interest went up. 4 weeks is up today, so I'm filing on Moneyclaim when I've finished this reply. I would think that the bank can ask for you to repay the overdraft, simply because your claim for that money back has yet, in their "legal" eyes, to be deemed unlawful. That's looking at it from a purely black and white aspect, and of course that's just my view. It's not necessarily correct. Someone may want to add something to that??? Would it be possible to say that the amount is in dispute? In the way charges from say a DC might be tackled? With regard your LBA, I'd simply mention that the amount has risen to £** due to further unlawful fees having been charged. I'd put copies of their letters in with it, possibly saying that the whole amount is in dispute and that you will go to court to reclaim them. In other words, stick to your guns and don't deviate from the route to your goal. Once you go to the court route, any further charges will need seperate claims as I see it, but they'd probably pay up with a phone call. Hope this helps, and let me know if you need any more support or help. Good luck!! Chris

Thanks for all the input. Decided to file for warrant today and send in the bailiffs.

That's given me a bit of hope to be honest. I'm about to issue a warrant as well. There'll be nothing left for the bailiffs to take at this rate!!

I decided to ask the court the above question, and as the judgement was entered on 29th September and sent to American Express the same day, I can ask for a warrant to be issued anytime I want. Part of me is thinking that I should give them another 3 days to respond, but then part of me thinks that they've had, from the start, about 60 days to pay back just £60 in charges (which now currently stands at £113, and will rise to £138 when I issue a warrant). Any opinions whether I should give them yet more time, or just press on. Don't forget they've had over a month from the moment I filed on Moneyclaim, until I had judgement entered.

I'm assuming you're pulled the buyers contact details from eBay's system and tried phoning him? I think when you pull their details it gives you the street name and postcode as well. Wouldn't take a genius using the BT or Royal Mail site to find their house number. Is it possible that the buyer inadvertantly used a card he had registered with Paypal that was maybe out of date? Just a thought.

Need a tiny bit of advice if anyone can help. Have today received a Notice Of Judgement Entered, from Northampton CC, and on MoneyClaim the Judgement is showing as "Issued 29/09". Having read the tutorial online, it seems to imply that I can issue a warrant as soon as judgement has been entered, so long as I'm requesting payment in full immediately. Well my question is, has judgement actually been entered, or just issued? Under the heading of Judgement on MoneyClaim, there is a Continue option, and understandably, I have a twitchy finger right now. Hope someone can advise.

Not heard a sniff from Amex, so have today requested judgement by default.

Yesterday received a letter explaining that as a gesture of goodwill and to avoid having to go to court, they're settling in full. What's in my wallet???? About an extra £340 thanks.

Hi natz I used the standard preliminary letter but changed the "What I Require" paragraph to read as follows (picked this out of another thread: I calculate that you have applied £***.** in levies and further, I also claim interest at a rate of 25.08% as set out in the attached list of charges. I believe this rate to be justified under the principle of mutuality and reciprocity, and is based on your Standard Debit Interest Rate that would be applied under the terms of the above mentioned account. Therefore the total amount owed as of today’s date is £***.**. With regard the schedule of charges which I attached, I picked that up from the template library and adjusted the interest rate accordingly. The spreadsheet then worked it all out for me. I pulled their interest rate from the HSBC website. Good luck with your claim, and keep me posted as to your progress.

Have finally received my statements from Ian Shepherd (I don't actually think he really exists. Just a name given out to all claiming charges so they can route the mail internally accordingly - discuss?). Spent a couple of hours seperating the "legitimate" business bank account charges from the unlawful penalties, and my preliminary approach will go out tomorrow (I'm also claiming contractual interest of 25.08%). Comes to about £900 in total.

When you received your statements from HSBC and saw the Total Charges for each month, did you break these down yourself to seperate the normal business banking charges (account maintenance, automated credits etc) from the unlawful penalties, or just claim whatever figure was against Total Charges?

Did you go for contractual interest with HSBC like you did with MBNA?

Cheers mate, and thanks for the moral support and advice. I know some people are a bit sceptical about phoning, but I was absolutely taken aback by how friendly they were, from the girl who answered the phone (who I could have talked to for hours, by the way), through to Paul, who although he sounded a bit hungover (but I didn't want to ask), was a credit to their company. Of course if he'd turned me down, I'd be calling him everything from a pig to a dog. But that's irrelevant now.

With the deadline for Money Claim being tomorrow, I took some good advice from gbzstro and gave Paul a call in their Advocate Office department. He was really helpful. I explained that I'd had no answer to my LBA and was about to start court procedings, but would prefer to settle today. He confirmed that another cheque for £140 was on the way, which left £160 outstanding from my original claim for £400. He sadi that he'd offer this as final settlement. I mentioned that I would want compound interest as well for me not to go to court. He went away to calculate this amount, rang me back and offered the outstanding £160, plus another £536 in interest. I nearly snapped his hand off!! Asked him to confirm in writing which he said he would and the outstanding cheques will be with me over the next 7 days.