Hi Rebel11 I will let you guys know as soon as everything has been sorted out. I just need advice first. Many thanks Diego

Hi there, I was parked on a yellow line on FARRIER STREET NW1 while I was getting a hair cut. I specifically asked my barber to cut my hair so that I could see my car at all times. When I saw the officer approach my car I immediately ran up to him and said please stop don't give me a ticket and he responded saying he had already processed it, as his motorbike was parked across the street and he was writing everything down. I didn't see him from the barber shop so I didn't know that was happening. But then he said he felt bad as I was just there watching the car too, so then what he said was that there was nothing he could do for me as he had already printed out the ticket and put it in the yellow slip and handed it to me. So he said I should appeal this ticket by saying I was carrying boxes from the building and into my car (Loading) and that he would also right in a note in the system that he witnessed me carrying the boxes and I was indeed loading. So I watched him as he wrote the note down and he showed me it too. Then he went up to the car again and wrote something else down which im guessing was the road tax number and then he took two pictures one of the front of the car and another from the back. Can he print out the ticket without the road tax number? Because like i mentioned before he printed out the ticket, handed it to me and then went back to my car to note down the road tax number. When he took the pictures it didn't have the ticket on the window, is there any way I can use that to my advantage? Also what do you think about appealing with the story that he told me to say. Is it good enough to stop the penalty charge or could they possibly come out with something like, Loading is not an excuse for parking on the yellow line. Any advice or information about previous tickets would be so helpful. Many thanks Diego

Slick that is great news!! In previous letters they say they will make credit claims do you think they have gone through with that? Is there a way I can check if my credit has been affected? Diego

Hi Slick After looking around I matched my contract to the following: Contract 8 http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/consumer-enforcement/ams/contract8.pdf I did send the letter off that you done in post #16 but they just ignored it and did not reply back to me. The last letter they sent was last week sometime Thanks Diego

Hi Slick I managed to get my parents to send me a copy of my contract and it is a 12 month contract. Where do I stand with this contract slick? Many thanks Diego

Hi there Slick Sorry I have not been in touch with you guys. I am actually in North Texas as I go University over here. My parents still live in London and they tell me they are still receiving letters weekly asking for money and I did not receive a response from them to the letter I sent out to them. My question right now is what can I do as they do not respond and dont want to communicate with me, they just send weekly letters demanding the money. Many thanks Diego

Hi Slick the last letter worked a treat. They actually got back to me! This is what they said; Dear Mr Prado As previously advised, we handle the monthly payments for the above reference. In response to your letter we refer to the terms and conditions of the agreement you are party to. We are able to cease the agreement but we do require proof that you attended university from September 2010 and therefore no longer reside in the area (so far as 15 miles). To prove this, we would require you send us a copy of your UCAS acceptance letter dated around august 2010 showing that you accepted the place and a cancellation fee of £90 to cover the july, August and september 2010 payments. Should you have any problems.....bla bla bla bla bla So that was the response letter I got back. I had received a similar letter a while back asking to send UCAS papers and I did but failed to get another response back from them. As for the payments they are asking for. I was paying £25 a month. They are asking me to pay for July, August and September that would be £75 although I did not leave in September, I left at the beginning of August. My question to you is after all this hassle with them do you think there is something I can say or point out so that they just cease my contract without no cancellation fee? Also they did not mention anything about my credit. Is there anyway to find out if my credit has been damaged by these guys already? Thank you so much for your help Diego

Hi It has been nearly 3 months since I sent of the letters to Ashbourne Management and the Solicitors. I have not received anything back from the solicitors but Ashbourne Management are still sending me texts saying I owe them money and on the 06/07/2011 I received a letter by post which ignored the letter I previously wrote to them, which was the letter that included everything you pointed out I should add. I am now wondering what can I do in this position as I do remember Ashbourne lost the case in court how could I use this to my advantage to get out of this. Ashbourne does not communicate well with me and by the looks of it they wont stop getting back at me. They also mentioned on messing up my credit. Please help Diego

Ok great, thanks so much I have started the thread and got quick response many thanks!

Hi Rebel thanks so much for the advice I will be sending out the email soon. Diego

Hi all, I was studying Business at the University of South Bank in Elephant & Castle London in the year of 2008/09. I ended up finishing the year of but did not want to carry on because i did not enjoy the course. I was playing for the university basketball team at the time as well. In 2009/10 I went out to America just before September trying to get a scholarship for a university out there but it didn't end up happening so I ended up coming back to London but it was too late to enrol onto any course here in London so I started working. Couple of months go by and I get a message from the University demanding half a year of tuition fee. I called up and asked why this was and they said I had enrolled myself onto the same course as the year of 2008/09. I told them I didn't re enrol onto the any course let alone the course I didn't enjoy in my first year and all they said was they would get someone to call me back. No one called me back until recently I receive another letter from the University demanding the money or they would pass me on to a credit agency/solicitors. I don't understand how they got the information that I enrolled myself on to the same course for that year. I went to speak to them two days ago and they said I must of sent a letter back or went on-line and re enrolled. I know for a fact that I did not re enrol and I did not attend any lectures or seminars at the University. When I told them that and also asked them to check for attendance they did and realised I didn't attend any lectures or seminars but said I had swiped my card 6 times to get into the University so they assume I was still there. The reason it was swiped 6 times was because I would get invited back to train with the basketball team and I would go into the sports arena and train with them whenever I didn't have to go into work. I did not once attend any lessons/lectures/seminars. I kept telling the person at the finance department that I had not been at University that year at all to study and I did not re enrol. The person ended up giving me an email address to email and write my appeal for the £1680 the university is asking for. Any advice on this matter would be great. Many thanks

Slick thank you so much! I will be sending this of later on today! This is an of the subject question, I have another debt problem that is with a University I attended to. They want to charge me for a 2nd year I did not attend the university. Where can I start a thread for this type of problem? Many thanks

Oh ok. Bellow is the letter I will be sending out to Ashbourne Management. Dear sir or madam, I refer to your letter of 22/03/2011 and do not appreciate you passing details of me onto a credit reference agency and other solicitors. You should now consider this matter to be in clear dispute for various reasons including, but not limited to:- 1. Owner (Ulysses JR) of the gym said that I could cancel easily and without penalty. 2. I told the 'owner' I will be moving away for university around august times but was again assured I could cancel easily. 3. Ashbourne is considered by the OFT to be behaving unfairly with regard to UTCCR 1999; CCA1974 and CPUT 2008. 4. Ashbourne is the defendant in High Court proceedings brought by the OFT, due to be heard in March 2011. I consider that Ashbourne have failed to treat me fairly and dispute that I owe you any further money. Until the High Court case against you is resolved, I will not communicate with you further. If you make any further demands of me, I will refer the matter to the fos for clear breach of the OFT debt collection Guidelines. If you make, or cause to be made, any adverse credit markers with any credit reference agency, I will take action against you for damage to my reputation. I trust I have made my position clear. Diego How can I change this so its clear what I mean??? 4. Ashbourne is the defendant in High Court proceedings brought by the OFT, due to be heard in March 2011. I consider that Ashbourne have failed to treat me fairly and dispute that I owe you any further money. Until the High Court case against you is resolved, I will not communicate with you further.

Hi Slick Just a quick question. Is the high court case still going on with Ashbourne? When do you hear what's happened with them in court? Diego

Thank you very much. I will let you know how i get on with Ashbourne and the Solicitors. I will be sending out these letters later on today and will post back once I get a reply from either of them. Many thanks

Thank you for the reply. I have read the other Ashbourne thread but now my only worry is that it's not just Ashbourne Management sending me letters it's also the solicitors. They have given me certain days to get back to them with the demands and if not they will take me to court. I am not sure a to what to say to the solicitors. Diego

Hi all On February 4th 2010 I joined a Gym called “Club U Fitness” near Kentish Town West overground station (North West London). This gym is ran by Ashbourne Membership Management. I first heard about this Gym from a friend who said it was around £15 a month. I thought this was really cheap for a gym so I decided to head down and sign up myself. I got there and there was an American Guy running the gym who apparantly is the Owner and the “Celebrity” Gym Trainer. Anyway he spoke to me and I told him about a friend that comes here and shes paying £15 and is not tied into no long term agreements, I also let him know that was exactly what I was looking for. He said they were not doing that deal no more so he mentioned I could join for £35 a month and not be tied in or £25 a month and be tied into a 12 month contract. As soon as he mentioned 12 month contract this is when I mentioned that I was moving away from the area in August so there was no point in signing up for a long term agreement. I also told him I didn’t want to pay £35 a month because I went there expecting it to be £15 a month. This is when he said the cheapest way around it is if I join the gym on a 12 month contract costing £25 a month and then because I am moving away to University and I wont be able to access the gym I would be able to cancel it with no problem. I believed him and went to sign the contract and started training. So I paid £25 each and every month till my last payment made on July 5th 2010. I received my first letter from Ashbourne saying I needed to pay my original £35 a month and a fee on top of this, this was already wrong as I didn’t pay £35 a month I paid £25 a month. Anyway I sent of a letter explaining to Ashbourne that I was moving away and that I already spoke to the “Owner” of the gym and he said it was fine. They did not reply to me for ages, not one word! Then another letter come through saying I had to pay more this time so they completely ignored my first letter. At the time I was already living up in Sunderland (North East England) so it was hard communicating with them as they kept sending of letters to my parents address in London. After finding out they were demanding more money I sent of another letter explaining my situation. They finally got back to me saying ok we need you to prove this with two types of postal letters to your new address. I proved this straight away with a letter from my university that said I was moving into halls and a statement from the bank. This was sent just before I went on holiday in December. I came back from my holiday in January 2011 to find a letter which says I still have to pay of the amount they were asking for even though I had proved everything. I don’t see why it was needed for me to prove anything for them to just carry on demanding money. Ever since then my parents carry on receiving letters demanding money and I have wrote back to them with the same response about proving I am living away from home and I cant get to the gym. But they insist in me paying back £290. I then received a letter from Johns & Saggar Solicitors who are now chasing me down for a total of £340. They sent the letter on the 30th March 2011 and say I have 28 days from this day to settle my account to prevent further court acction. I have not replied back to Ashbourne since my last letter which they clearly ignore and I have not contacted Johns & Saggar Solicitors at all. Im not sure what to do. Any support and advice will be great. Many thanks