Good afternoon, This is only my second post on the forums. I was advised to post about a PCN which I have now done and I'm not sure if this is the correct place for another concern I have at the mo, but it seems to be the best fit. I hired a transit van recently from a local firm that are renowned for battered vehicles. This doesn't bother me too much as I feel less afraid of dinking them slightly. ALso they are the only local firm to hire with a tow bar. The last time I hired one was for an event in Northampton. About a 300 mile round trip for me. Plus other local driving at both ends I had done about 400 miles when I got to Cobham Services last Monday night to find the rear passenger side wheel was hanging off by the last few turns of the last wheel nut. I have written to the company asking for compensation and have so far only received one phone call that, despite my request, they still have not followed up in an email, suggesting that the only possible explanation was that the vehicle was tampered with and that therefore I am liable for all damage. We have photos of the state of the wheel and supporting documents for all our claims. We will get experts to look at the photos but does anyone have any further advice? Many thanks Will

What a complete rip-off they are and terrible service, Never met a company so bad, paid for van insurance, they asked for proof no-claims which i provided by return email as requested, no fewer than 5 times, they acknowledged receipt every time then cancelled insurance , i phoned customer service and they could never hear me. No emails or Online chat choices. Now have no insurance and say the are going to dab more charges on top, i have 15 years of no claims on two policies.

Dear members, please help, totally desperate! Yesterday Whyte and Co took my company van and want £1200 or they will sell at auction by 15th march. They say it is for 2 unpaid parking fines going back to July 2013. I was not aware of any of these, they must have been sending letters to my old address that the van is registered at! Me and my brother have set up a small ltd company and are electricians, the van was bought in the company's name and we can not do business without it. The registered van address is my ex family home. My relationship with partner of 8 years went horribly wrong and I was forced to leave and sleep on sofas of family and friends. I have two children and was hoping things with partner will change hence never got myself a permanent new address, and with everything that was going on I did not realise I had to change the log book address, just forgot. Unfortunately, I had to leave the UK in December and due to impending possible war here I couldn't get out of the country I am staying in, I will finally be travelling back in a couple of weeks! In the meantime, my partners alcoholism got worse and the kids are now under police protection! Not only did she ruin hers and kids life, it seems she has ruined my business too by withholding important mail and hacking in to my emails and social accounts! I should have known better! I left the van near my aunts place and asked her to keep an eye on it, she told me it was taken yesterday! Since I lost business and been out of the country I don't have the money to pay the bailiffs but need my van for when I am back as I have to work to support my kids who I will be solely responsible for! If I don't get the van, I can not work and will have to go on benefits which I really don't want to do! I offered the bailiffs to repay in installments but they refused! What can I do, how can I stop the van going in to auction? It is full of my tools and equipment! I need it! My life depends on it!

I bought a Mercedes Vito van the advert said it was it in excellent condition and even mentioned things that the van didn't have like electric wing mirrors i bought the van after traveling 6 hours on the train to see it and 52 miles into my journey home the van went into limp mode i rang him he said to switch the engine on and off and it may reset i tried it didn't so i rang him back he said as long as the van is driving and there are no warning stop lights on i should get home in it. I did eventually get home 6.5 hours later at 45 -50 miles an hour he had reassured me that i could take it to a VAT registered garage for repair and it wouldn't be a problem. I have done this to find out at a cost of £145.00 for the diagnostics that the turbo is seized and the 4 glow plugs are also knackered i have said to LCH its going to cost just short of £1200.00 to repair as a gesture of goodwill on my part as i would prefer a brand new turbo and not a reconditioned one that i will go halves on the repair bill i couldn't be much more reasonable i don't think, and still they are messing me around they even asked me to drive a non road worthy van back to Todmorden from Wales i just want people to be very sure when buying a motor vehicle from here that they have a very good mechanic with them as the three month warranty they give with there vehicles don't seem to be very good.

Bought a Van in November last year (2013) It was from a dealer (Van hire place that sells cars and vans from the front lot.) Paid £2400 for it, and while not expecting a pristine machine, as it had 122,000 miles on its diesel engine, I did expect a reasonable runner capable of doing what a van is supposed to do. Ran for a month, broke down. (Would drive ok when started, but once stopped overnight, or allowed to cool down, forget it.) Last usable day was 20th December 2013. Returned to the dealer, who said to take it to his preferred garage. I did this, and after two weeks, they charged me £160 for the privilege. Next day, van wouldn't start. The "preferred" garage said that they weren't interested. Tried the dealer, failing to return my calls now. I took it to another garage. The list of things they found wrong were... Glow plugs faulty, and the wiring to them had been cut. Fuel system incorrectly plumbed in, causing flowback(???) Generally dirty fuel system. Injector rail completely useless. Compression low on all cylinders (Although they put a camera down the bores, and say they look okay. I've paid over £1000 getting all this repaired, and still the same thing. And to put icing on the cake, I've found that the tax disc is from another car!!! What redress do I have? Thanks.

My employer charges me over £100 per month that they state is a contribution towards the cost of my van. Listed on my payslip as van hire. I am not permitted to use the van for any personal use. I have never given permission for the deduction but have been informed by them it is lawful even though there is nothing in my contract regarding this deduction. Can they do this? If so can I claim anything back from my tax?

My son bought a small VW van for £100 intending to work on it and get it back roadworthy. He parked it off road on his drive, behind locked gates because it wasn`t insured. Some vandals damaged the gates, smashed 2 windows in the van and pushed it a short distance away. This was about 9.30pm, my son was out but left house lights on etc. at about 11pm my son found out that the van was taken and The Police had already called the garage out to tow the van to a garage about 5 miles away. The van was taken a second time without the owners permission by the garage, now the garage want my son to pay £150 recovery charge plus a daily rate. My son, given a choice would have pushed the van back onto his drive. The bill is over £250 which my son doesn`t have , he`s trying to support his young family on an apprentice wage, the van is not worth much now it`s been damaged - so who`s liable for the garage bill? He didn`t ask the garage to come out, he didn`t want the garage to come out the Police called them.

Hello all, I'm looking for some advice concerning a van import from the Irish Republic into the UK. A few years back, while living in Ireland, I drove my van back to the UK on what I thought was a temporary visit. I notified the Insurance company and kept them informed as I was unsure of when I would return, and all was fine. When my insurance expired, I parked the van off road and when I decided to stay, I began enquiries into registering the van here. At this stage, the van was under ten years old and the process became extremely complex for reasons that I cannot now recall, but involved Type Approval. The van is now over ten years old and I am thinking about registering it here again, but I have just read that I should have registered it with the HMRC within 14 days and may suffer a £5 per day charge for not doing so! From my point of view, I did not (initially) bring the vehicle into the UK as an import and did not realise that I needed to register it with HMRC. Also, when I made enquiries with the DVLA Swansea and my local office, I was not informed of this requirement and nobody seemed to know the correct procedure. A few general points: The van is to be used for personal use. I think that the van was first registered in the North of Ireland, then exported to the Republic. I did contact the DVLNI before the van was 10 years old concerning UK registration and Type Approval, but they informed me that this did not exclude it from Type Approval. The van is now over 10 years old. I suppose my main question is what should I do about the HMRC? My second question would be how can I find out about the UK registration (I'm sure it was first registered in NI as new and then exported into the Republic) and use that information in my application to avoid the £55 first registration fee? Or is it just easier to go down the "vehicle over 10 years old route"? Any help would be greatly appreciated, Joxer

Let's keep it simple! Do not use Admiral Van Hire in Walsall. You have been warned!

Hi all Just looking for a little advice please Basically, a catering van we owned for 6 months we have just sold on ebay, the van was described exactly as it was how we knew it, listing any faults. We had a couple of people come and view before bidding but decided not to buy for various reasons, and eventually someone put in an offer or £2000, which we accepted. The people came to pick up the van and he claimed one of them was a mechanic, whiles testing and looking at the van is started to overheat, we we explained it did previously overheat but that issue was fixed by taking to a mechanic and having a thermostat replaced. He was given a receipt of this at the time along with an MOT cert from 1//10/13 So knowing it overheated that day and it wasn't mentioned on the ebay as we didnt know of any current overheating probems he bartered with us on price, after some negotiating we agreed due to the overheating he'd pay £1800 instead of asking price to allow him to get fixed and not be out of pocket He emailed us that same night, saying it overheated twice on the way home and didnt consider it fair he bought it and it wasn't fit for use for a business straight away So, my points are: 1.The ad was listed on ebay and as the ad was put up before the van was overheating - it was as described 2. when the buyer and his friend identified a problem at the time and sale they negotiated on price and a new price was set 3. He paid cash in hand and drove the vehicle away He is threatening to contact police and come to our house ect, but as far as i am aware it is, Caveat Emptor? am I wrong? Im not convinced he's not trying it on to be honest. Thanks all!

Basically i used comparethemarket.com to get a quote. I put the reg of the vehicle in the search box and it came back as a totally different vehicle. So i manually put the vans details in and even then there was no match for my exact vehicle. I have told Swinton this and they told me to contact the DVLA. To which i did, they told me the system they use was correct and my vehicle matched there records so that leaves me thinking that comparethemarket.com system is wrong. Now this is the juicy bit. I have had to make a claim as a stolen vehicle has hit my vehicle. It will be written off no doubt. Will my insurance be invalid if there is a difference in the wording of my vehicle body description? I have a 1997 ford transit td swb transit (minibus) it is insured as a 1997 ford transit 100 76hp semi hi roof (nearest accurate description i could find.) Im stuck in the middle to what to do. DVLA are happy and there system is fine, Swinton are saying DVLA are wrong and i think whatever system Comparethemarket use is wrong. Please help and advise and thank you all for reading and helping. Michael

Hi all, I hired a van from a local company a few weeks ago. We both inspected the vehicle, but just a 30second walk around. The guy didn’t evenhave a pen and marked out the form (with the cc) with a key! When the van was returned (out of hours), Ipopped the keys through the letterbox as per their instructions. The next day I went away to visit mygirlfriends grandparents who live in very rural Romania. There is no phone reception or internetconnection. The nearest town is a good30 – 45 minute drive away. Anyhow, mostpeople know I am away and just leave messages on my phone knowing I will pickthem up upon my return. I have just returned home to find a number of messages fromthe hire company telling me there was damage to the drivers side sill and it will cost £500to repair. I have no knowledge ofdamaging the van or hitting anything to cause this damage. And to be honest, neither I nor the chap whoI walked around the van with really checked the sills. There were the usual dents, scratches andscuff marks which is typical for most of the vans from this company (I haveused them many times before). I have no written correspondence from the hire company, justtelephone messages. They state they havealerted the police to the circumstances as I have not retuned any messages forthe past 3 weeks (reasons stated above). Now, do I have a leg to stand on with regards to disputingthe damage? When I paid for the van, Ipaid cash and they didn’t take any card details. However, they have been through their recordsand have taken two lots of £50 from my account over the last 2 weeks using card details I have used with thempreviously. Do they have the right to dothis? And if so, do they have the rightto keep taking money after they have taken one payment. It turns out they took £100 from a client ofmine last week who I hired a van for some time ago where he paid directly viahis card, but they have refunded this to him. Any suggestions for my next move? Many thanks

My husband bought a van on Friday from a trade place. Within 5 miles the van broke down, he got the engine started and drove another couple of miles then broke down again. At this point he called the company he bought it from but was told it was 6 o'clock and they were closing for the day he would need to call again in the morning. 4 hours later he got home towed by the RAC. They diagnosed the head gasket had gone. Saturday we drove to the garage in our car thinking a face to face conversation would be better than over the phone. When the manager got there we was told that they weren't going to do anything and that all vehicles are sold as seen, there is a piece of paper on each vehicle that states they are sold as seen and that they do not test the vehicles are road safe. My husband advised them that there was nothing in the van that mentioned this and at no point did the salesman tell him this. However, after he bought the van the salesman asked him to sign for the purchase, sign to say he was part exchanging his van and then sign another piece of paper. He just signed them all without even looking at them but one of the items he signed stated that the vehicle was sold as seen and that it had not been tested by the garage to check if it was roadworthy. Does this now mean that he has no rights at all and we need to repair the van ourselves? The garage have said that the sale of goods act does not apply to their company. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I have had a car on HP in my business name for 27months. The HP agreement is for 60 months. I have never received a statement from them but know they charge £50 a month for late payments. I have been managing to pay but usually a month in arrears. Last month it slipped into 2 months in arrears and I know it says in the agreement they can take the car back if it goes into 2 months. They have sent me a default notice and I have until 4th December to pay £600 So far I have managed £200 and by the 4th it should be £400. What I would like to find out is if I have pay a 3rd off can I terminate the agreement. If they say I havent paid a third because of all the added charges is that correct? I dont think I will have paid half off yet. I need to know if I have to pay the £600 on the DN or if I pay £400 would I be able to keep the car and clear up the balance (the other £200 on the DN) over a few weeks. Not sure what my rights would be on HP. Thank you for any help you can give me. I am desperate to keep my car as I cannot run my business without it.

Hi All I was stopped at a routine checkpoint about 2 months ago with the work van which had failed its psv 2 days previous and was awaiting retest. The police man at the time said it was just a £60. fine and that would be the end of it, he gave me no fix penalty at the road side but he removed my psv disc and said I would receive the fine in the post . I couldn't believe my eyes today when the post man brought a court summons for the offence. Is there anything I can do? Thanks

Hi everyone, I hope I'm posting this in the correct place as I wasn't sure if it should go here or on the Motoring Group forum. I woke up this morning to find my van had been clamped for non payment of a council parking charge. I'm not too worried about the parking charge as I am in dispute with the council and am currently going through their formal complaints procedure - I realise now I should have just paid the fine and tried to claim everything back afterwards - you live and learn! However, I am concerned with how I was forced to make a payment to the bailiffs in order to get my van back. Whilst my van is personally owned its signed up with the company name, logo and contact details and I use it for deliveries. When I explained to the bailiff I use it for my sole use in my business doing deliveries and am unable to carry out any deliveries without it I believed it was covered under Section 89, 1 of The County Courts Act as the vehicle was essential for my business and I needed it this afternoon for my deliveries. The bailiff said the Act doesn't count and he should know as he's been doing this job long enough - Is this correct ? Also, when I asked why hadn't I need notified he said a letter was sent out 10 days ago giving me 7 days to pay or the would take this action - I didn't receive the letter but have no proof and similarly they cant prove it was sent but said the fact their computer says the letter was issued that's good enough for the courts. In order to get my can back so I could do my deliveries I paid the following: Original fine and fees - £93.20 Bailiffs attendance costs - £61.94 Attendance to remove/removal - £175.00 VAT - £49.63 Total - £379.77 plus £1.00 debit card fee Is there any way I can find out if they are allowed to charge these amounts ? Plus, and this just gets better, I've just realised I've paid too much VAT as 20% of £236.94 (£61.94 + £175) is actually £47.39 - is this fraud or a HMRC matter ? (would love to start a VAT investigation!) Is there anything I can do about the over charge ? When I made the payment I explained I paying under duress as I had no alternative and was looking to mitigate my losses, in that they were phoning to a tow truck to remove the vehicle. I have since faxed a copy of this statement to Marstons as the bailiff refused to sign my statement to confirm I had made him aware. (I also wrote this on the receipt just in case) I've tried speaking to Marstons and requested their complaints procedure only to be told there isn't one, you simply fax or email a complaint and they will deal with it when they get round to it - I though anyone working on behalf of a local council had to have a written complaints procedure ? I've also telephoned my local council's corporate compliance complaints team and they have taken details and said they will look into the matter but it's normally something I would have to take up with the bailiffs firm first. Any advice anyone could give me would be appreciated - I don't mind dragging these guys through the courts or causing as much fuss as possible as I'm happy the original fine will be cancelled by the council once they have dealt with my original appeal. Many thanks in advance

Can a car insurance company just wipe out a no claims bonus for accidentally 'withholding information' about an additional driver. Is this legal?

OK where I live we have limited parking free public parking, but it is just about enough for all of us (south Warrington area) now all of a sudden 3 to 4 vans (transits and pick-ups) all from the exact same company have started parking over night in the spaces. meaning some of us have been forced to park in the next street, and getting the evil eye from the people who's houses we have been forced to park in front of. the companies address is in Runcorn I find it highly unlikely that 4 people from the same company have all just moved into our street complete with their works vans in the same week. suggestions?

H]ello, advice please. I am a courier and was parked on double yellow lines whilst doing a delivery, the local traffic wardens have always said have approx. five mins to get the delivery done. When getting back into my van which is a large transit jumbo so I have to pull myself in and with the hazards on and wearing a high viz some idiot still managed to hit my open door and put a large crease in it. He did get my details and I got his but then started to try and blame me as I should have been looking over my shoulder whilst getting into my vehicle so as to not hit him. This was a busy main road and at least twenty cars had passed me whilst I walked from one end of my van to the drivers door and at least three in the time it takes to throw scanner in seat and get in so I walked away rather then be goaded into an assault charge. What has concerned me is despite the high viz and the fact he could have killed me when I reported the matter to the police as I did not want him to say did not see me as not wearing the correct clothing so wanted them to note what I was wearing they stated as we had exchanged details they did not get involved. I would have thought he would have faced a driving with out due care charge but they did not want to know. Is it true stationary vehicle did not even have keys in ignition the other party is to blame

Hi, i have a question because i am a little bit confused as to what happened when i was driving past a mobile speed camera van today. I have seen this van before in the local area and it always parks with the rear facing camera operating out of the back window which opens up and has a lense sticking out. Only, as i was approaching the van, i could see the white windows on the back were closed, as if they had already packed up and ready to go (it was almost 6pm). Then as i was about to go past, one of the officers rapidly jumped out the van and took a photo of my car with a digital camera. There is a chance i may have been doing more than 35mph upon inital approach to the van but i did slow down. I'm just wondering why he did this, is it because the machine couldnt take a photo due to the latch being closed, so he had to take one with his camera instead? Are they going to try and match his digital camera photo to some data on the machine? There was a car right behind me so how do they know it was the car behind which triggered it? I don't understand what happened to be honest or how that could stand up in court? Maybe i'm wrong, but some advice would be nice, thanks.

basicaly what happened is in july 2012 i was driving a company van (i work as a mobile tyre fitter) to a job short version of events i was called to a job that was roadside in some road works so i approached roadworks put on my flashing beacon and hazards then signaled to enter into the coned of area of the roadworks and continued to do so. as i was pulling into the road works an elderly gent tried to follow me into the coned off area and when i braked to a stop he ran into the rear of my van no heres where it gets messy when the accident happened there where 2 witnesses that where happy to vouch for my and the accident not being my fault as they had been standing only a few feet away. so i did the usual and exchanged details with the guy that hit me and the forwarded them to my employer after this i was sent a claim for from the company insurance a filled it in accordingly. yesterday i had the MD of my company on the phone saying that the guy who yhit me had went to a small claims court and told them that i had reversed into him an my company hadnt bothered to fight the accusation or reply to any correspondence from the courts and they had awarded the guy 890 quid in compo/repairs now the my employer has told me i have to pay the above amount and has started to deduct an set amount from my wages every week without my permission even after me expressing i was not at fault and i would not pay for there mistake also there is nothing in my contract of employment to say that i pay for any excess or damages to a vehicle even if i am the one at fault never mind if im not at fault please help with some advice as i dont know where to turn with this problem

Hi all I bought a second hand van back in september 2012 and was given a 3 month warrenty There were a few things that the salesman said he would put wright (BALD SPARE TYRE/SIDE LOADING DOOR DENTED and not closing correctly ect) before i collected it in a week as they needed this time to run it through the workshop On collection the only thing that had been done was the spare tyre replaced I agreed to take the van and bring it back at a later date as i needed it for work as i had traded my old van in for this one In december the van battery went flat and i had to call out the breakdown to get me going I called the garage and they told me to take it bake and they would repair it and do all the other things that were meant to be done before collection So i did this and got a phone call that it was ready for collection On collection all they had done was fit a new battery A few days later again the van refused to start and call out breakdown again and was told it was a bad earth to the engine I rang the garage and again they said they would find a slot to book it in I explained that the warranty was getting close to expireing but they said that was ok they would still do it I wated til the jan and had,nt heard nothing so rang and asked what was happeng as ive not been able to use the van since december and that they would now have to collect the van as i can no longer get it started i also asked for my money back but was told this was not an option as they do not give refunds Im still waiting for their phone call and just wonered where i stand I just want my money back now so i can buy something more reliable as im loosing work daily The van cost me £5000 plus £400 for my old van Could i take this to a small claims court? Thanks in advance

Can anyone give me any information or advice on the following: I'm trying to get insurance for a left-hand drive van with Spanish number plates in the UK. To register the van in the UK I need a British MOT, insurance and tax disc. I've had no luck trying to get insured with some of the big insurers (Direct Line, Tesco, amongst others) and ended up getting a quote from Bewiser Insurance for £753. So far, so good, it's expensive but what the hell. However, reading some of the customer reviews about insuring a vehicle with this company has left me frankly worried about having anything to do with them. Has anyone had any experience insuring a foreign-registered vehicle in the UK? I'd appreciate any help or advice with this matter.

Do newlyns vans prefix start with nu ?

http://sunderlandnow.co.uk/news/10-local-news/2114-investigation-into-police-van-parked-illegally-outside-of-greggs-bakery.html#