My husband had a business which ceased trading as a result of this my husband had a loan, which he had to pay back to the bank, to pay all the debts, which the bank called in the (overdraft) he had been given. He was a sole trader, . He was supposed to be paying £200PCM via direct debit he would transfer money to this account or pay in cheques to cover the payments. The cheques that went into the account were made payable to ***** He was apparently four months behind on payments but was unaware of this. He works for his father’s business now, and is a signatory on the account. His father is the director and this is a limited company. Both accounts for both companys are held with Barclays, obviously separate accounts and account numbers, with no connection between the two companys. In October he went to the bank in order to pay cheques x 3 into his fathers business which is the limited company, the cheques were made out to this company. Somehow my husband who had a paying in book for his old company in his drawer, managed to complete the wrong paying in book and presented the cashier without him knowing three separate cheques which were made out to his fathers business. The cashier did not pick up on this error and they got accepted and paid into his sole trader business account via the banking system. This account is in a completely different name so there could be no confusion. These cheques have cleared. My father noticed that there had not been a deposit into the company bank account and queried this with me, I checked the paying in books and realised I had made an error and rang the bank. I was told that they couldn’t deal with the issue at the branch and I had to contact the Head Office Complaints Department and generate a complaint. I did this and was given a reference number and was told this could take 10 – 12 days. I rang again a week later and was told because I am a signatory on both accounts they can keep the money because my account was in arrears! Its like a cheque being paid out to fred blogs but its paid into a completely different persons account but the bank says well sorry we have taken it now. I understand the right to offset but this isn’t the right to offset rules. the way I see it as my fathers business is a substantial amount of money down which is affecting his business, c ausing bank charges and interest being lost. I should be able to claim all of these costs back. Can someone advice me what to do quickly, I think put it in writing but to who? And to speak to FOS but I also think put in a civil claim now. Advise urgently pls people greatly appreciated.

Hi there, I'm not sure if my problem is relevant to this site but I don't know who else to contact, so here's hoping someone can help. This week I got questioned by the police about shoplifting in Superdrug last week. I was very confused as I didn't really get what the police officer was saying at first. I thought he was asking me if I had seen someone shoplifting. It turns out he was asking me if Ihad shoplifted. I was astounded and asked him why he thought I had done it. He then produced still images of me in Superdrug and asked me if I recognised the person in the photo. It was a little grainy and at first I was in doubt but then certain things became familiar. Apparently, because I had been at the make-up section for 40 minutes I was the most likely person to steal over £300 worth of make-up items. It wasn't just 1 of this and 1 of that, it was up to 8 of a single item! There was approximately 50 items taken. I told the officer that I had been looking for a certain lipstick and had been testing shades close to the one I wanted. He asked me if I had purchased anything and I said yes...I even made him come and look at the make-up I had purchased (purchased on my credit card and used the Superdrug loyalty card with all my details on). He then asked me if I would come to the station the following day for an interview and to watch the CCTV footage of me in Superdrug, that was within the 24 hours that the items were meant to be taken, which I agreed to do. That night I hardly slept. I was in shock and as confused as hell. How can they accuse me of shoplifting if they have me on CCTV? The thoughts of that day went through my head time and again in a confused jumble keeping me from any kind of useful rest. The following day I turned up at the station early because I couldn't sit around and wait any more. The PC met me at the door and told me he had the CCTV footage but unfortunately in was in VHS format. Not thinking about the whole of what he said, just the fact that he had the footage, I heaved a sigh of relief and said 'Thank god! I can go then!' He looked at me for a second then said 'I think you had better come and see for yourself'. I was lead to an interview room and the recorder was set up. While he was loading the DVDs, the PC told me that the interview room was used in major crimes (no pressure there!). Once the machine was recording the officer read me my rights and informed me I wasn't under arrest and could leave at any time and asked me if I wanted a solicitor, which I declined as I figured I hadn't done anything wrong so wasn't necessary. He then turned on the VCR combi TV and I flashed onto screen just walking into Superdrug with my handbag over my shoulder and a basket in my hand. He stopped the footage and asked me if I recognised the person on the footage. I confirmed it was me and he then pressed play. The footage isn't the best but it is clear enough to make out it was me. It shows me in the make-up aisle appearing to take things off the shelf fiddling with them (the images don't show features or hand details as it is of less than excellent quality) and then appearing to put them back. The CCTV camera is over the entrance pointing straight up the make-up aisle which is the first aisle in the store. Directly underneath the camera, at the very beginning of the row of make-up stands, is a member of staff stocking a new make-up display. She is within 1-4m of me. My handbag is not meant to be a shoulder bag but for convenience sake I usually use it that way. That means that when I have the bag over my shoulder the opening is under my armpit and hard to access without slipping one handle off my shoulder. While watching the footage I asked details about the crime. According to Superdrug it happened sometime between opening time on the Monday morning and sometime Tuesday morning. I had arrived at the store at 11.06am on the Monday. What an awful lot of footage to sit through...not just my boring 40 minutes but approximately 12 hours of footage. As I was moving up and down the aisle, apparently, reaching for items and putting them back the PC was asking me what each item was. In some cases I could answer that it was a lipstick tester, but considering I also bought mascara I wasn't always that sure. I told him what I remember of my time there, but I was a bit vague in places. What I remember specifically from that day is that I didn't have anything to do so had time to just browse and take as much time as I wanted. I also remember the alarm going off in the store and a lady had turned round and looked at the member of staff who was under the camera stacking the display. The member of staff told the lady to 'just ignore it, it does it all the time'. The PC couldn't understand how anyone could spend the best part of 40 minutes looking for a lipstick (had the PC been a female the question wouldn't have arisen) and all I could say was it was a good job that I wasn't in a book shop...where 40 minutes could turn into hours! After watching 20 out of the 40 minutes of the footage the officer asked me if I wanted to watch the rest of the footage as he had seen it twice and the next 20 minutes were much the same. Saying to him that I had been there and experienced it first hand I didn't need to watch the rest. He then switched off the footage, asked me if I had anything to add and informed me that he was going to talk to his superiors and Superdrug to see if they were going to proceed with a prosecution. I was stunned, there was nothing on that footage that showed me putting things in my handbag, in fact, there is no way I could fit approx 50 items in my handbag. If I did have the items in my bag then how the heck did manage to get my rather large (but mostly empty) purse out at the checkout when I went to pay for the items in the basket. I put these questions to the PC but he really didn't seem bothered. He had told me that he was meant to be neutral but that isn't the impression I got. He seemed impatient for me to not waste his precious time and to stop asking pointless (in his mind) questions. I felt judged and got a really bad feeling when he said that he was in doubt it would go further due to the bad quality of the footage. At the door of the station I asked if anyone else was being questioned and he said no, just me. I asked if he had seen the whole of the footage from the Monday opening until staff realised items were missing on the Tuesday morning. He said no and he wasn't about to. The PC said that Superdrug security had watched the footage and had just sent the footage of me as I had been in there the longest. I asked for the whole footage and he said that it was down to Superdrug and they wouldn't release the footage. I asked if they would allow an independent person to view the footage and he said no and to not even bother with asking. By this time I was in tears. I asked him to tell Superdrug to look at the whole footage again...not just my bit but the WHOLE of it, because somewhere on that footage is the person/people that did it. He didn't even bother to answer. As he went back in the station he told me he would inform me in a couple of days as to whether they would be proceeding with a case or not. I now wish I had seen the rest of the footage. I wish that I had asked if there was footage of me at the checkout. Unfortunately, my rather slow and numb thought processes didn't kick in fully until I had left. I had been asked if I had a receipt of my purchases in Superdrug and normally I refuse receipts as they clutter up my handbag. The following day I was thinking about it and thought to have a look in the recycling...just in case. Success! There it was. I obviously had a record of the transaction on my credit card statement but I needed to have an itemised account of what I had bought. I called the PC and left a message informing him of my find. A couple of hours later he returned my call and acknowledged the receipt find. He then went on to inform me that because there wasn't enough evidence the police were not going to prosecute. I think I was meant to feel relief at this but immediately the though occurred that even though they were dropping it, it didn't mean they thought I was innocent. I relayed this to the officer and he said that Superdrug weren't happy. By this stage I had popped like a pressure cooker. I was angry, humiliated and felt victimised. Why were they so quick to try and damn me but point blank refuse to give me a chance to show them that I didn't do it? I have lived in my town the best part of 45 years. I know an awful lot of people (quite a few through the charity shop that I volunteered in for 2 years). I have friends, neighbours and acquaintances in most of the shops. This is probably one of the most demeaning things to ever happen to me and I want the chance to vindicate myself. So after all of that, does anyone know who I should contact to mediate between Superdrug and myself with a view for someone to take my bag and fill it up with the items taken, while in full view of the camera and staff member, then to go to the checkout with the items I purchased in a basket and retrieve my purse from under all the stolen goods? It is a simple solution and the only way I can think to prove my innocence. I just don't know who or how to go about it. I obviously can't go into Superdrug now because if they decided to refuse to talk to me and ban me from their stores, the humiliation would probably give me a heart attack. I can't seem to find a phone number to their HQ in Croyden, just a postal address. I am a bit hesitant to send a letter as it may pass through several hands before being bought to the attention of the right person (I don't even know who that would be). I just need clear guidance as my mind is a jumble and am having difficulty getting back on track (though you can probably tell that from my rambling diatribe). I really hope someone can advise me. Thank you S

On Wednesday a month ago at midday I was visiting my local shop - a part of major shop chain in UK as I regularly was shopping (I live just 2 minutes from it). I had not made a purchase as I decided to come back and make my selection later, as I was due for an appointment. Upon leaving the store I was approached by the store security guard on the street who asked me to follow him into the office. I was slightly confused but I agreed to come back into the store and into the office. I was marched across the store and escorted to the Managers office where other employees were present. Security was then joined by another store manager .I presume (she hasn’t introduced herself to me so I can only assume so). The Gentleman then explained that he was told by his manager to serve me with Notice of Trespass- ban me from the shop. The reason for this notice being the fact that on a few (i was never told on how many - which leads me to believe that they never did checked that) occasions I have been seen selecting the product and putting it back on the shelf which according to the Store manager constituted as a “attempted theft”. I was then forced to give up my Name and address threatened with police for the purpose of taking my identification details. At that point I was so confused, shocked and threatened that I obeyed the shop staff instructions. I was explained that the notice involves any chain stores across the country. May I add that at all times there was store staff present in the office which greatly contributed to making me feel humiliated and threatened. After about half an hour of this ordeal i was told that the security must take a photo of me. At that point i felt I am being bullied and assaulted by the shop staff in the manner I have never been treated in my entire life. I asked for the police to be called. The security then “changed his story” and said that the police will not come as there is no offence committed. I was given the copy of the Notice of the trespass and escorted from the shop. Since then i have been in contact with the shop's executives who lifted the ban and offered a small compensation. I am pretty sure that 1. The actions of the shop on the day in were based on the "suspicion" and not on the basis of genuine belief - they did not study any CCTV or if they did - they missed 3 years of my regular shopping in this store (i live in the area for more than 4 years) 2. they had no right to accuse me (which is basically what they did) of theft infront of store staff. 3. They certainly did not had the right to take a picture of me (which was admitted by the store general Manager) The Chain is trying to hush my complain by giving me now 100 pounds in vouchers but asks me to comeback to the shop to pick them up - and since i was humiliated there I would rather not do that and I am not sure when will i be able to ever go back to the shop. I am a Manager myself - a regular member of the public - never committed any crime. Can anyone please advise me on the course of action i should take as I am deeply offended still and the 100 pounds of apology for humiliating me in such way doesn't appeal to me.

I was at a staff party where it had an open bar and so drinks were flowing. I was rather intoxicated towards the end of the night and was sent home in a taxi. I woke up the next day not knowing how I got home or what had happened in the last few hours of that night. I also woke up with someones handbag on the floor next to my bed. I went through it and found that it belonged to my colleague. I took the bag back into work that morning and gave it back to her. Apologising as I did not know how i become in possession of the bag. She informs me that the some of her possessions were not in the bag. (phone, ipod and bank card). We spoke about where it could be and came to the conclusion it was stolen, but not sure when. I also said that i will help pay for a new one as the possessions could have been lost whilst the i had the bag. That day i was suspended from work with out reason. I had a meeting 4 days later and was told that the police were involved and that the matter is now out of their(the companies) hands. At this point I was under the conclusion that I was going to speak to the police to help the investigation. However yesterday, the police came to my house, search my house and obviously found nothing as i didnt have the alleged possessions. The police told me that i was arrested for thief. I was questioned and then kept in a cell for hours before letting me go. They said i should pay for the phone or it will not look good on me and she could press charges. What i want to know is, what can they charge me with? I had the bag but am not sure how i became in possession of the bag. The stolen possessions could have been stolen before the bag was on my person. They basically have no proof of me stealing these possessions. So on what grounds do they have to charge me with anything? If someone could shed some light onto the situation that would be great. The phone is a iPhone 4s so a new one would be 500 pounds, the phone was also uninsured. Any help would be grateful!

Afternoon All I have a default that was put on my account with Lloyds TSB, which I was never informed of and have recently wrote with the removing of this, and still getting no joy. Who else can I write to and tell that the default was put on wrongly and how do i get it removed. Thanks for advice in advanced Daz

Hi, I'm really distressed and in need of help. On my birthday I travelled from Worthing to London on a advance ticket purchased online. The ticket was only valid with a railcard. When I got on at Worthing station I had my railcard. Somewhere between getting on tot the platform and getting on to the train I misplaced my railcard. (Later it was retrieved by a guard at Worthing and given back to me).... On te train up I didn't realise my railcard was gone... Only at Victoria did I notice my absnet railcard. My ticket was ripped up by the guard at Victoria and I had to purchase a new one.. I was also given a £55 fine which I appealed but this appeal was unsuccessful even after I produced my railcard and explained my extenuating circumstances. They are now refusing to reply to furhter correspondence.. What should I do? I refuse to pay a fine I feel is totally unjust.