Hi I sent a CAR to Vanquis bank with a £1 postal order. As per the lady at the post office recommendation, she left the postal order blank so it could be cashed by anyone. It printed 3 asterixes on it ***. Anyway Vanquis have returned my request and postal order with generic letter saying to apply for a CAR I need to include a cheque/postal order made out to Vanquis bank. Is this correct or are they just stalling? Thanks

hubby received a letter telling him that they will stop paying contribution based JSA on 16 March does he have to make a new claim what does he claim Income support ?

It's time again for the annual 'Stella Awards'! For those unfamiliar with these awards, they are named after 81-year-old Stella Liebeck who spilled hot coffee on herself and successfully sued the McDonald's in New Mexico , where she purchased coffee. You remember, she took the lid off the coffee and put it between her knees while she was driving. Who would ever think one could get burned doing that, right? That' s right; these are awards for the most outlandish lawsuits and verdicts in the U.S. You know, the kinds of cases that make you scratch your head. So keep your head scratcher handy. Here are the Stellas for the past year: * SEVENTH PLACE * Kathleen Robertson of Austin, Texas was awarded $80,000 by a jury of her peers after breaking her ankle tripping over a toddler who was running inside a furniture store. The store owners were understandably surprised by the verdict, considering the running toddler was her own son. Start scratching! * SIXTH PLACE * Carl Truman, 19, of Los Angeles, California won $74,000 plus medical expenses when his neighbor ran over his hand with aHonda Accord. Truman apparently didn't notice there was someone at the wheel of the car when he was trying to steal his neighbor's hubcaps. Scratch some more... * FIFTH PLACE * Terrence Dickson, of Bristol, Pennsylvania was leaving a house he had just burglarized by way of the garage. Unfortunately for Dickson, the automatic garage door opener malfunctioned and he could not get the garage door to open. Worse, he couldn't re-enter the house because the door connecting the garage to the house locked when Dickson pulled it shut. Forced to sit for eight, count 'em, EIGHT days and survive on a case of Pepsi and a large bag of dry dog food, he sued the homeowner's insurance company claiming undue mental Anguish. Amazingly, the jury said the insurance company must pay Dickson $500,000 for his anguish. We should all have this kind of anguish. Keep scratching. There are more.... Double hand scratching after this one.. * FOURTH PLACE * Jerry Williams, of Little Rock, Arkansas, garnered 4th Place in the Stella's when he was awarded $14,500 plus medical expenses after being bitten on the butt by his next door neighbor's beagle - even though the beagle was on a chain in its owner's fenced yard. Williams did not get as much as he asked for because the jury believed the beagle might have been provoked at the time of the butt bite because Williams had climbed over the fence into the yard and repeatedly shot the dog with a pellet gun. Pick a new spot to scratch, you're getting a bald spot.. * THIRD PLACE * Amber Carson of Lancaster, Pennsylvania because a jury ordered a Philadelphia restaurant to pay her $113,500 after she slipped on a spilled soft drink and broke her tailbone. The reason the soft drink was on the floor: Ms. Carson had thrown it at her boyfriend 30 seconds earlier during an argument. Whatever happened to people being responsible for their own actions? Only two more so ease up on the scratching.... * SECOND PLACE * Kara Walton, of Claymont, Delaware sued the owner of a night club in a nearby city because she fell from the bathroom window to the floor, knocking out her two front teeth. Even though Ms. Walton was trying to sneak through the ladies room window to avoid paying the $3.50 cover charge, the jury said the night club had to pay her $12,000.....oh, yeah, plus dental expenses. Go figure. Ok. Here we go!! * FIRST PLACE * This year's runaway First Place Stella Award winner was: Mrs. Merv Grazinski, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, who purchased a new 32-foot Winnebago motor home. On her first trip home, from an OU football game, having driven on to the freeway, she set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left the driver's seat to go to the back of the Winnebago to make herself a sandwich. Not surprisingly, the motor home left the freeway, crashed and overturned. Also not surprisingly, Mrs. Grazinski sued Winnebago for not putting in the owner's manual that she couldn't actually leave the driver's seat while the cruise control was set. The Oklahoma jury awarded her, are you sitting down? $1,750,000 PLUS a new motor home. Winnebago actually changed their manuals as a result of this suit, just in case Mrs. Grazinski has any relatives who might also buy a motor home. Are we, as a society, getting more stupid....

Doing this for my son't partner. She is a new mother, birth was in November. She was working full time prior to the maternity leave. She knows she will be unable to do a full working week after maternity leave but can manage a 3 day week with babysitting undertaken by myself of other person. She wrote to her employer and asked about them allowing her to drop to a 3 day week and after around 22 days they responded and said no. They made no other alternative arrangement or suggested anything that would be suitable to her. All they said that they could maybe do something if she (she mind you) found someone to job share with her. Now, other staff in the same situation have received favourable treatment and been allowed to come back on a part time basis. One has been allowed to drop a grade and do this and others have been allowed back in their previous position, which happens to be the one my son's partner enjoyed, ie supervisor. I need to be able to build up a case for her as best as I can. I don't really want to sink her boat by being aggressive but want to gently persuade them to keep her on in the capacity she wants. If she starts to wave the law in front of them they may well get their back up, allow her back and then go for her dismissal asap on trumped up charges. So, what I need to do is to first understand what her legal rights are anyway, then try and build a bridge from that knowledge. The law seems to favour pregnant women and has rights on maternity leave etc but as being a mother isn't a disability I don't know if the Equalities Act applies in this scenario. I believe that time scales apply too on maternity leave, time to respond to letters etc. I also believe that the time to respond to her initial written request was way outside of the period allowed but don't know how useful that would be anyway. Input will be very welcome.

Decided to purchase a car tommorow from a private seller. It is a corsa and a R plate registration. Taxed and MOT tll april. Great for cheap motoring Just gone on to that price comparison site with that rodent and the quotes baffle me. Fully comp with a £350 Excess £342.00 Third party only £ 357.00 Confused.com

Extract from http://www.newstatesman.com/business/2013/10/disabled-and-work-programme-cold-calling-companies-8-16-hours-week Despite this, the Conservative Party conference launched with George Osborne’s pledge to practice “tough love” on the people who, having gone through the Work Programme, are still unemployed. Yesterday, it emerged the disabled and long-term sick would not be exempt from being penalised for the scheme’s failure. Leaked documents show Iain Duncan Smith is seeking ways to give jobcentre staff more powers to make people on ESA undergo further tasks to prove they are “trying as hard as possible to get back into work.” This includes forcing people with serious health conditions that have been judged as ‘time-limited’, to take up any offer of work. Department of Work and Pensions staff would be given the power to strip the disabled or sick of their benefits if they refused. Might account for why I have 3 appointments booked in the space of 8 days all with the word, mandatory highlighted. 1 of those appointments is a rescheduled doctors appointment (rescheduled because of the work providers added appointments) be interesting to see if they will allow it (without a sanction). It is not just an appointment it is for further tests with an on going condition.

Hi, My ex-wife is unable to find the money to make the minimum payment on her LTSB CC. She needs to know what the best way forward is, Should she make an offer to make a lesser payment? thanx suvin

THESE ARE ACTUAL COMPLAINTS RECEIVED BY “THOMAS COOK VACATIONS FROM DISSATISFIED CUSTOMERS”: [Take the above with a pinch of salt as this came in an email] 1. “I think it should be explained in the brochure that the local convenience store does not sell proper biscuits like custard creams or ginger nuts.” 2. “It’s lazy of the local shopkeepers in Puerto Vallarta to close in the afternoons. I often needed to buy things during ‘siesta’ time — this should be banned.” 3. “On my holiday to Goa in India , I was disgusted to find that almost every restaurant served curry. I don’t like spicy food.” I’ll book it but only if I can screen my fellow travelers first. (image via Thomas Cook) 4. “We booked an excursion to a water park but no-one told us we had to bring our own swimsuits and towels. We assumed it would be included in the price.” 5. “The beach was too sandy. We had to clean everything when we returned to our room.” 6. “We found the sand was not like the sand in the brochure. Your brochure shows the sand as white but it was more yellow.” 7. “They should not allow topless sunbathing on the beach. It was very distracting for my husband who just wanted to relax.” 8. “No-one told us there would be fish in the water. The children were scared.” 9. “Although the brochure said that there was a fully equipped kitchen, there was no egg-slicer in the drawers.” 10. “We went on holiday to Spain and had a problem with the taxi drivers as they were all Spanish.” 11. “The roads were uneven and bumpy, so we could not read the local guide book during the bus ride to the resort. Because of this, we were unaware of many things that would have made our holiday more fun.” 12. “It took us nine hours to fly home from Jamaica to England. It took the Americans only three hours to get home. This seems unfair.” 13. “I compared the size of our one-bedroom suite to our friends’ three-bedroom and ours was significantly smaller.” 14. “The brochure stated: ‘No hairdressers at the resort’. We’re trainee hairdressers and we think they knew and made us wait longer for service.” 15. “There were too many Spanish people there. The receptionist spoke Spanish, the food was Spanish. No one told us that there would be so many foreigners.” 16. “We had to line up outside to catch the boat and there was no air-conditioning.” 17. “It is your duty as a tour operator to advise us of noisy or unruly guests before we travel.” 18. “I was bitten by a mosquito. The brochure did not mention mosquitoes.” 19. “My fiance and I requested twin-beds when we booked, but instead we were placed in a room with a king bed. We now hold you responsible and want to be re-reimbursed for the fact that I became pregnant. This would not have happened if you had put us in the room that we booked.”

Erics sister-in-law got an invoice for overstaying in a supermarket car park so as I was preparing a letter to deny any contract I decided to do a check on who owns the land etc. My enquires lead me to the Valuations Agency who were very pleased to receive my calls and email as the supermarket concerned bought the land and demolished the buildings and made the car park but failed to tell them or local council that the land was no longer derelict. VOA will be sending their chap round to evaluate but tells me over the phone the rateable value of said property is £250k. That will be a big bill for PPC or supermarket to pay when backdated 6 years! I bet PPC tell VOA that they arent responsible and ONLY work for supermarket. Also reported PPC for not having planning permission for signs and enforcement officer to visit site so hopefully they will be fined for breach of planning regs or better still forced to remove them (poss close car park?). I will keep you posted. Just wondered, should I tell supermarket Head Office why they have been dobbed in?

JC decided i should sign weekly. I was meant to sign and see advisor but there was a mistake (surprise surprise) and i signed on with a lady who was clearly narked she had to fit me in between appointments. She told me i would have to go twice to the JC next week, i immediately informed her it was Eid (muslim version of xmas) and she said - 'i know but you still have to attend'. Wonderful as they screwed it up. Thankfully my new advisor turned out to be muslim and be booked off so she had to make an appointment the following week. But really - can they legally do this to people? is it not against human rights or something???

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/barclays-pay-more-mis-selling-114845064.html#uXXP0pr

Firstly, hello to you all, as this is my first time on this forum. Forgive me if this is long winded or hard to understand, but I will do my best. I found you after doing a search on Google for "J Mxxxxxx Bailiff", as I was trying to find out information on this bailiff who has been recently harrasing me and my wife. When I came accross this thread from a few years ago......./forum/showthread.php?184351-rossendales-had-crazy-charges I was married in October 2012, and after the wedding we decided to lay all our debt cards on the table, no questions asked, as we felt we should clear everything we owed to provide a better future for our family. Between us both we had debts of around 7k, not a large figure, but in hard times, tough enough. One of these debts was for My wife and her previous partner from years back, joint council tax bill for a meager 95.43. This was originally much higher but my wife had paid most off as her previous was no where to be seen. Sadly my hours got dropped from 48 per week to 20 per week, but because some of the debts were for over payment of housing benefit, again one of my wife's debts, the council took that money out of what we were now entitled to to pay off the debt rather than go through debt management. Although it was clearing a debt, it meant we had to tighten our belts even further, causing more stress. As a result of my loss of earnings, we were no longer in a position to make any form of payment to the bailiff J Mxxxxxx who works for Rossendales. We explained to Rossendale's our situation and was advised to contact the council. There response was to apply for a DRO or use them for debt management as they did not charge admin fees. We were told they would contact Rossendale's to arrange a hold on the account until we knew what was happening. Sadly this never happened, which brings us to the core part of this thread. I received a knock at the door, but by the time I had arrived to answer it (10 seconds roughly), J Mxxxxxx from Rossendale's had already walked off back to his van. I looked down and he had posted a FINAL NOTICE letter through our door for the amount of £294.93. As this was not my own personal debt, I didn't even realise it was for a ridiculous amount, more than 100% the cost of the original debt. The very next day, he arrives again and knocks at the door. As I answered it and asked who he was, he just showed me a BAILIFF REMOVAL letter. I stepped outside to talk to him and shut the door behind me and he just started to walk off. I started to walk after him asking him why he was here when we were under the impression it was being placed on hold by order of the council he was collecting for, Wyre Borough Council (WBC). Abruptly he said "not interested, I'm coming back tomorrow to take your goods" and handed me the letter. I told him we own nothing he could take, we already sold everything to pay off what we could and all that was left was the furnishings as part of our tenancy agreement, and a car I use to drive an hour to work every day, so what exactly does he intend to take? He simply continued to walk off and said "I can take what I want and there is nothing you can do about it, I can even break in to your house and not be arrested". His rudeness got my back up and I'm ashamed to admit I lost control. I called him a bulls#!73r and a pzzzzk as he walked off and he retorted with equally offensive language whilst laughing and shouting kiss your car goodbye. Obviously my wife broke down in tears thinking the car would be taken, and she gave in and said just let him take the car, then its done with, paid and gone. My reply was a resounding "NO, why should we let that guy take our 1k car for a £300 debt, I'd rather sell it and pay him, and others off". I spoke to my dad who reluctantly gave me £300 to pay the debt and be done with, which I accepted, as I was worried, angry and didn't know what to do. I put the money in the bank and told my wife to pay the debt, if I spoke to him I would probably make things worse. The next morning, my wife called J Mxxxxxx and said she was able to pay the debt, his reply, good as its now £404.93. She replied er.......no its 294.93, to which he replied what ever, give me your card details. She gave him the details and he told her it would take 30 minutes to process. As she told me of this new supposed cost, I was rather suspicious and started to question all charges. It was at this point I started searching for information on J Mxxxxxx and found this website and others. I then started to panic thinking we were paying blindly for charges we have no idea about and could be false, JUST as my wife recieved a text saying "Card Declined sorry". I did not understand this as I had exactly £300 in the bank for him to take the funds, so the only reason I could think that it was declined was he had attempted to take a higher amount than agreed. This riled me up again and I moved the funds from the bank to stop him from taking a penny. I wanted this bailiff investigating. I contacted Rossendales who said they could not tell me the current balance of my account as that was at the discretion of J Mxxxxxx. All they could tell was there was a first visit charge of £24.50, a second visit charge of £18, a van attendance fee of £110 and a Levy fee of £47. I questioned this stating as he had not levied anything nor posted any paperwork stating a levy, surely these charges are illegal and fraudulent? To which she replied, "we have no control of our bailiffs charges and you need to speak to him about it directly". We tried to contact him to explain his charges but he refused to answer. We text him and he refused to reply. We contacted Rossendale's who contacted him but he wouldn't answer them either but would ask him to contact us asap. Whilst waiting for him to contact us, we contacted WBC to confirm if these charges were legal or not. I cannot describe the joy to hear he could only charge for first and second attendance, and we should only pay £137.94 NOT £294.93. She also added that he HAD in fact levied a vehicle, but only an hour previous, during the time we were at home trying to contact him directly, yet the reg he had given was not even our car, nor had any paperwork been posted or handed to us, so therefore the levy wasn't even legal. WBC asked us to leave it with them and they would get back to us. Today I had a phone call from WBC who informed me that I only had to pay the £137.94 to them directly and not to Rossendales and they were sorry for the trouble caused. Case closed......................or is it?? My question to the community is should I make an official complaint regarding Rossendales and J Mxxxxxx in particular? I'm not trying to score bonus points on what is in my eyes, a victory, but I do worry that this method of adding charges wrongfully, needs to be made aware to those who need to know. Im a strong character but even all of this has emotionally hurt me, and my wife more so, and god knows who else this is happening to every day. Thank you for your time reading my bla bla bla and I look forward to any constructive comments or advice.

Hi I am a little uneasy as I have a letter from Clarity arrived today regarding a £1500 debt to Cahoot in which it states "As time is running out our client has advised us that they will consider any offer, however small, to settle the balance" I can't help but feel that this is a letter designed to catch me out and what will happen if I offer £50... .it does say "however small". Has anyone experienced this type of letter? Thank you Deb

Hi I hope this is the right forum? I am looking for a mattress and I wandered into a second hand shop, and saw a new memory foam double mattress with springs in as well by Everest. My old mattress is slowly wearing out and I can feel the springs a bit now and it twangs from time to time (not often). The mattress is priced at £175.00 with £35 delivery. althrough the woman whom I next saw quoted £25. I have curvature of the spine and I do sometimes get achy hips in the morning so I don‘t want it too hard. Please can you advise me, my dad wants me to save my money and go for something a bit cheaper. But I am not going to get any better then that. I have laid on it and it felt weird because of the clear plastic covering that was still on it. I have seen one at £299 at another shop which was by a manufacturer called Viscount, but I liked that one because the cellophane wasn’t on it and I could feel it properly. Can you advise me what I should do please? Sorry if this is a silly question? Many thanks for reading this post.

I CCA'd my 2 accounts with NDR, both was valid, now ive sent a letter asking them to freeze interest and charges and accept £10 a month (for a 12 month period), they replied with 'it doesnt reach their minimum payment' and they wont freeze charges and interest. is there a follow up letter for once they refuse? I saw one before but cant find it now not sure if it was on this site tho. They also said if I dont get upto date they will forward onto a 3rd party - which i wouldnt mind, they wouldnt be able to add charges, and would probably agree to a lower payment. But I also recieved a letter saying it would go to court, wish they'd make up their mind!

Could you take the time to read and sign this E-Petition on safer Cycling.. http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/41324 Thank you

Hi All, I returned to my car after picking up a load of wood flooring and I had a PCN on my windscreen, however they have detailed my volkswagen as a vauxhall. Can I dispute/appeal the PCN as invalid on the grounds of the mistake on the document or do I need to argue the toss on the grounds of the loading/unloading rule. It was single yellow line and I was observed at 14:59 and I returned to car at 15:08. Any advise welcome Thanks

Hi, I was wondering if anyone here knew the best way to make a formal complaint to Hastings Direct? I have attempted to make a complaint by telephone on two separate occasions, but I just get fobbed off with promises but no investigations as to why the problem keeps persisting. In January 2012, I took out a car insurance policy with Hastings Direct. I deliberately ticked the various boxes that would ensure that I would not be subjected to marketing calls. However, shortly after the policy kicked in, I was being telephoned by Hastings Direct in relation to being offered additional products on my policy. Although I never answered these calls (busy at work and all that), dialling the number resulted in hearing an automated "you have been called by Hastings Direct..." stating it was to offer additional products. There was an option to press buttons to opt out, but it would cost money from my pay-as-you-go mobile (the number was 0845 286 6351) plus seeing as I was already opted out, I felt that Hastings Direct should sort the problem out. I spoke to Hastings several times last year. On each occasion, the customer service rep would confirm that I was opted out of marketing calls and could not explain why it was happening. They kept on leaving notes on my account for the marketing team to stop calling me, but calls persisted. I attempted to make a complaint via the telephone, however I was asked that if I received a letter promising it would stop, that I would agree not to take it further. I agreed, letter was received and calls admittedly stopped for a period of about nine months. It was at this point I found out that Hastings gave everyone's details to a third party and it was up to the third party to filter out those who did not want the calls. In January 2013, I renewed my policy with Hastings Direct. Lo and behold, shortly after the renewed policy starts, the calls start up again. I have spoken to Hastings, who continue to insist I should be opted out. On 23rd January 2013, I attempted to make another telephone complaint. Again, I have been fobbed off with excuses. Apparently, third party contact is out of their control, but they fail to realise this is happening because they gave my details to the third party. They stated that sometimes they ring to check details with the policy, but I pointed out if it was important, that an actual person would leave a voicemail and leave a number which leads to a call centre rather than an automated message. I was also told to using the opting-out facilities, but why should I do the work for them when I'm clearly already opted out? They are going to speak to the third party company again and send another lovely letter promising it will stop, but I just feel like speaking on the phone is a waste of time and that they will do anything to bring the number of complaints down. I was wondering if anyone had had better luck using a different method? I want to know why they keep on failing to listen to my requests to remove my details for marketing purposes. I know my issues are not as bad as some, but the calls happen regularly and are an absolute nuisance! In fact, I don't even have the marketing number stored on my mobile, but I know it better than my own number the amount of times it has called. Many thanks for your help in advance.

Hi, Im hoping someone may be able to help me out with a bit of advice, im currently an assistant manager in the retail industry, it is a large retailer across the UK and Europe. Im finding myself demoted with 3 days notice and the reason for this demotion is that the Store manager above me is under performing and will be being demoted into my current role, as a knock on effect of this i am required to also take a demotion, losing my manager status and my monthly salary. The short story is that my manager is under performing and will be being demoted into my role, therefore i am required to demote myself and return to an hourly paid role on the shop floor. The only alternative i have been given is to transfer to another branch ( very inconvenient ) and continue my role there. Any ideas where i stand with this would be greatly appreciated, stressing out here !!!

Does anyone know what happens if I am unable to make car lease payments? I have about 16 months left of a 3 year lease. Husband has left, financially struggling (to put it mildly). I cannot transfer the lease and the cost for early redemtion is about 3.5k. Any advice on any options much appreciated.

Hi, just received a PCN for parking on a road but not in a marked bay (road had not single or double yellow lines). The thing is the PCN is computer printed, it has the correct registration but the wrong car make. Is this grounds to ignore this parking notice or do I have to pay? Thanks in advance. Tim

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/rate-swap-scandal/9639202/Barclays-in-court-over-mis-selling-claims.html

Hi, I am (unfortunately) having to go to through an employment tribunal process against my present employer. I had an initial case management discussion meeting (CMD) a few months ago. At that meeting my employer's legal representative stated that my employer intended to call several witnesses. The names of these witnesses were not listed in the CMD agenda - even though I had openly listed the names and number of my potential witnesses - and I had expected the employer's side to do the same thing for the CMD meeting. My employer's legal representative stated at the CMD that they (the employer's legal rep) didn't know the names of witnesses, just the number to be called. I have since emailed my employer's internal Legal section several times requesting a list of witnesses names. My employer's Legal section has not even acknowledged receipt of my email requests let alone supply me with the list of names. This refusal to name their witnesses has the potential to weaken my case. Indeed one or two employees which I have sounded out as potential witnesses on my side have instead bailed out (which is unfortunately somewhat understandable in these days of job cuts) explaining that they were doing so because they might actually be called as witnesses on behalf of my employer (which is a lot less easier to forgive I must say!). I'm not interested in recriminations against any of my co-workers who may actually stand as a witness for the employer (I really don't have the enery left for it apart from anything else). However I do feel that I should be entitled to know who may have been 'bagged' for the other side! Does anyone know if I do have a right to know who these employer-side witnesses are and if so, can I make my employer disclose this list of witnesses asap? Any advice would be most welcome.

I have a situation with the base ( external side ) of my shower, which has been growing a rather nasty wool like fungus for quite awhile now. I do wipe the fungus away regularly with disinfectant but the horrible growth reappears rapidly and is getting progressivly worse. My plumber is pretty certain that a pipe has burst underneath, and, due to the extreme cold in the room, all year round, suspects the situation has been like that for quite awhile, but because the entire room is tiled , floor to ceiling, the only visible effects of the pipe burst, is the furry white fungus He states I should be entitled to claim on my insurance for the work. However, will the insurance company pay out when all that can be seen, is just the fungal growth, no physical evidence of flooding water ? Some years ago, during winter there was a big freeze in the area where I live, due to this a couple of pipes burst and my kitchen was flooded. My new plumber stated at the time that the pipes had not been lagged which they should have been, in particular as I live in a greatly exposed, high altitude building. ( I did, incidently, originally, ask, that the piping be lagged, but my request was flatly ignored ...) As the shower was installed by the same people who installed the pipework in my kitchen it would appear the same thing has happened again, except the flooding water is hidden beneath the base ( Please note : the base was totally filled in with cement, there is no access area, so the whole thing will have to be smashed to pieces to access the pipes, which will be time consuming and expensive. When I made the claim years earlier for the burst pipes in my kitchen my insurers were somewhat reluctant to pay out, even though many, many other households were hit by the big freeze in the locality ! They paid out eventually, but only because the rest of the nation was awash with flooding in their homes, so they had little option but to fork out ! However, now, I stand alone with burst pipes hidden deep down under thick cement and behind a strong barrier of tiling. The weather is not freezing, and no other homes are affected .... What is the best way for me to approach my insurance company to ensure I get a fair result, regards this particular, it would appear, rather longstanding, issue ?

based on this from the BPA stats http://www.britishparking.co.uk/write/Documents/Library/Reports%20and%20research/Parking%20Statistics.pdf 4.87 million at a discounted rate say £40 = £194,800,000 1.34 million at a higher rate say £100 = £134,000,000 total = £328,800,000 What a fantastic business they have fooling ignorant members of the public to pay their invoices.