Can someone please explain to me why my post count is stuck on 76 ? yet when i look at my actual posts it says 96

Hi, I'm currently in the Work Related Activity Group of ESA, and have been on the work programme 2 years at the end of the month, the provider has said at this point I end the programme and the Jobcentre will take it from there and I'll be on 'Post work programme support'. I can't find much online about this, it all relates to JSA rather than ESA. Is anyone able to tell me what I can expect? I'm a bit uneasy not knowing! Thanks in advance

Back in May I parked at Brockholes on a bank holiday, i hadnt been there before, it was full and as i pulled in before the car park there was a grass bank, where someone pulled out so i left the car there, spent an hour in the visitor centre and so on, then left, i didnt see anyone paying nor any ticket machines anywhere, nor any signs. The notice was dated 11 June 2 weeks and 2 days later. I wrote back to them explaining the above and they replied saying there are huge signs everywhere. .but without driving back i wouldnt know so i asked them for a pic or diagram they refused to give me anything said they were not obliged to do this. Is there anything i can do with this or do i just need to pay?

Greetings, At the moment this is just an enquiry... I returned an item puchesed online via an Amazon seller. They sent the wrong item and so I requested a refund. They sent me a prepaid 2nd class label to return the item via Royal Mail. This has a tracking number. The item was posted on the 3rd of July, it is now the 24th and the item is still showing as "in the system" on RM's website! So the question is who is responsible if this item is missing, me or the seller? Who makes a claim against RM? I assume my original P&P should also be refunded... Many thanks.

Hello everyone, About two weeks ago I went to my local post office and deposited £40 into my cooperative bank account. Here I was so confident and comfortable and trustful dealing with post office. I gave two £20 pounds note £40 in total to deposit into my coop bank account. I inserted my card into reading machine and then I was asked to enter my pin code. And here we go. All done. I took my card out of the reader and said thanks and was going to turn around but she said, do you want the receipt for this transaction? I used this service before and normally I do not ask for receipt as I trust Post Office due to its reputation and trust among people. But this time somehow I said OK. I took the receipt and went back home. Next morning I was checking my account but I noticed £80 less in my account and found that the deposit I made was shown Withdraw instead of deposit. I checked the receipt and it shows cash withdraw of £40. I got really shocked and went back to the post office. There is only one person works in this post office. So I asked her what happened to my transaction and showed her the receipt she gave me. She asked me if I entered my pin in the card reader? I said yes I did? She said well her till was fine with no difference. I should talk to Post Office or to my bank. Now its been two weeks I have notified Post office. I was transferred to a person who works between Post office and Cooperative bank. She said that they will investigate the matter. Today after me sending them few reminders I got the answer from them saying that they cannot do anything as post office staff said that her till and paperwork was fine. They advice me to go back to that Post Office and talk to them again. i went and she said the same thing that her paperwork was fine. She never said that I did not gave her the money. She is saying that her paper work is fine with square till. In this whole process I have lost £80 which i was hopping to pay some bill but ended up losing £80 plus bank charges around £50 from my bank. Can please someone advice me what to do next? I am not blaming anybody but something did went wrong but I am the victim here and why should I pay for something which I shouldn't pay? I heard from my sources (locals) that same thing happened before and the same staff member was involved. In the end the bank ended up paying for that victim. Right in front of the post office there is a old people home. I have some terrible feelings but maybe I am taking it too serious. Please please advice. I work hard to earn this money and I want to spend it on something useful for me. Where the money went? Where should I go next? Police? Financial Ombudsman? Thanks

Can someone point me in the right direction to post a specific question regarding a debt collection company and a debt? John

Hi, I am new here and would like to apologise in advance if this is in the wrong place and also for the length of my post, I wanted to make sure I included everything. Any advice would be greatly appreciated... 2 years ago my daughter passed away and I completely lost my way. I became homeless and lost my job within a very short time frame. I put myself into a lot of financial difficulty during this time and messed up a lot of my life. I am in no way trying to make excuses for my behaviour and I take full responsiblity for what I have gotten myself into. People go through a lot worse than I have and still manage not to get themselves into the bother I have. After sofa surfing and spending days on the streets I finally deicded to try and turn my life around and sought help. I was found a place in a hostel back in the city where I come from. I was supported in getting my finances together and prioritising everything. I contacted the bank to make payment arrangements for my unplanned overdraft. They informed me it had been passed on to a debt collection agency and took my new address and had the agency contact me there. I made payment arrangement plans and have stuck to them since. My next steps were to contact the payday loan companies, who informed me they had also passed my details onto debt collection agencies. I only heard from one of the agencies, which was MotorMile Finance, who contacted me and we made payment arrangements at £10.00 per week. I gave them my email address but not my new phone number. The person I dealt with seemed really helpful right up until they wanted bank details. I emailed them back right away and informed them that I no longer had a bank account and that I am in the process of paying off what I owe the bank but let her know that I was more than happy to pay by postal order. I then received an email back informing me they could only do this by bank. I emailed again what I had just told them and received a reply (from the same person) informing me that they do have bar codes they can send out so that I can make a payment via a pay point. This is ideal for me and a lot easier. I received the bar code in a letter, emailed to activate it as intructed and made my first weekly payment. I did this for another 6 weeks, until I received an email at around 3:30am informing me that they had not heard back from me regarding my defaulted account. This was a surprise to me as this was the first I had heard of it and I had been paying weekly. I emailed to ask what was happening and heard nothing back. I also went onto their website and emailed from there. I heard nothing back from them except the automated emails in the early hours of the morning instructing me to call to arrange a repayment plan or be referred for a home visit. Over 8 days I emailed the two people I had previously dealt with, sent emails to the email addresses I had managed to find and sent emails via their website and I heard nothing back. Again I contacted them and explained that I felt that I was being purposely ignored and explained my reasons for not wanting to talk over the phone as I wished for everything to be by post or email. I felt and still feel that I was being ignored in order to phone them - but then they can say whatever they like over the phone and I have no documents of it. After 8 days of not hearing back I got an email from one of the women who had previously dealt with me. I was told that I had defaulted my account as there had been more than 7 days between payments. This was a complete misunderstanding on my part - I thought that I was okay to pay weekly on whichever day as long as I paid it weekly. I didn't realise that it had been be on the same day every week. This may sound obvious to a lot of people but I honestly didn't know this. because I had first paid on a Tuesday and paid on a different day the next week this defaulted me. I explained that this was a misunderstanding on my part and we set a date for the payment to begin again. I was also told I would be sent a plastic card that I could use to make the payments on. No card turned up and I used my old bar code from a letter. During this time I received another email informing me that I need to arrange a payment plan for my balance within 5 days or they will send somebody out to visit me. I contacted MotorMile and was ignored again. After 3 days of emails I got an email to tell me that my payment plan was still in place but the email was in regards to a second account they had just bought (it was the one I was waiting it hear from, from the other pay day loan) We set up a payment arrangement plan at £5 per week per account. I was told that the card would be sent out that day for my previous account and that she had set up a standing order for the account we had just sorted out an arrangement plan on. I let her know right away that I do not have a bank account and that any details of an account they have will be of no use. She said she would send out two plastic cards. I received the cards, activated them and made my first payment on the Wednesday as agreed. The following Wednesday I made the payments again and again last Wednesday. Before I left to make payments this morning I received a letter from MM informing me I had defaulted. Knowing that I absolutely have not defaulted and feeling very frustrated I emailed the person who had been dealing with me and asked why I had received this letter and how it was possible I had defaulted. I also sent a photo of my payment receipts that show the amount and the dates. I was emailed back almost immediately and told that after checking my account she could see I have defaulted and that is why it had been passed to the collections team and a home visit being arranged. She said she would be happy to reset my account for a date. I just want to get my payments sent and get all of this paid off, so I agreed about setting another date but I stood my ground and politely asked how I had defaulted when I had the receipts to show I have paid on the right days, the right amounts and haven't missed any payments. I expressed how concerned I am that this is going to keep happening as it is really beginning to stress me out. I am very ill at the moment and I really do want to get everything into order. It just seems like I have had nothing but issues since trying to arrange repayments with this company. I agreed to set the date for next Wednesday and for them to be as usual, each Wednesday and £5 for each card. Within an hour I received a reply telling me that my account had been set for one payment PER MONTH on the 21st, £5 on each card.. . Now as great as that is for me as I am struggling to live just now. I am very concerned at the offer. When I very first tried to make payment arrangements on my first account with them I offered £20 a month but was refused. Now with two accounts they are happy to accept £5 per month on each account? I feel like perhaps this was a mistake, so I emailed back confirming one payment per month at £5 on each account. I said this would be perfect for me and as usual once I start to earn more I will pay a higher amount on the accounts as I genuinely want to get all of this paid off. I have heard nothing back since but have a feeling that this time next week I am going to be bombarded with emails regarding a defaulted account and/or needing to make a payment agreement on both accounts. The person I have spoken to has been quite, but also very evasive at times. I have been very polite throughout these emails but have expressed how fed up I am getting and I have also expressed my concerns of paying these accounts when my payments seem to suddenly default and details aren't updated on their system, as well as their communication not happening within the company. I understand mistakes happen and people sometimes forget to do things but the amount of miscommunication does concern me. Also, as petty as it sounds, they keep getting my name wrong. It has repeatedly been spelt wrong which I can understand as people do often but I've been called two other names that only begin with the first two letters of my name. This makes me concerned as my details are right there in front of them. Again that probably sounds petty but added up with everything else and how evasive they are being and dodging answering my questions I can't help but wonder would this be better off going to court? I am really unwell and could do without having to go to court but the stress of this is really getting to me. I feel I shouldn't complain as I have brought all of this upon myself but I do genuinely want to get this paid and I am trying to turn my life around and settle down. Once again, apologies for the lengthly post. I wanted to give as much detail as I could as nothing has been at all straightforward with this company and I am very concerned that my payment plans are going to permanently be failing one way or another. Has anybody else had this problem with MMF before? And would I be better off letting this go to court? Thank you for reading. Any input would be appreciated.

Hi guys, I have a big problem with my Halifax mortgage. Today I should be able to switch my mortgage online, so I went to:- https://secure.mortgages.halifax.co.uk/mortgage/mortgage_switch.asp but when I tried, I got a message stating:- After contacting various mortgage servicing/products transfer teams, they checked and confirmed that none of the mentioned issues applied to me and could not tell me why I could not move forward. I was passed onto various different people in many departments and I got the same answer that they don't know. Their final answer was that this is an online issue, therefore I need to speak to the online team or the other option. So I rang the online team and all they said that if I could login online then it's not their problem and only the mortgage team can look into it. I'm going insane here as I'm being just fobbed off and have spent hours on the phone. Halifax don't have any online support for those who simply want a non-advised switch to a different product and are forcing me to go down the advised route, which I don't want to. Is there a chief executive number that I could call directly and see if I can get anywhere? :???: Regards

This is a very useful website for product recalls... I don't know where to put it but I think it'd be worthy of a sticky somewhere? Maybe the retail forum? http://www.recalluk.com/ It lists product recalls in the UK

I keep getting bad service from post offices. Some are completely fine, but in particular, the one around the corner to me where I work is terrible. I sell an item in particular on eBay which is 50g, and comes under the 'Large Letter' size. I either post them 1st class, or 1st class signed for, depending on which version is sold. This is the dialog that happened last time, but usually have to deal with it every time, no matter how many times I say 1st class signed for. Some times they don't tell me they have decided to send it using a special service and bill me for it anyway. Another time my girlfriend went for me, and they actually wouldn't let her send it using signed for, they pushed her to send it using the next day by 9AM service costing something like £9! Me: "Hello, could I send this one 1st class signed for please?" Them: "Yes, when do you want it to arrive by?" Me: "Tomorrow." Them: "That will be £7.68" Me: "1st class signed for is usually £2.34" Them: "Yes I know that sir [sarcastically], but next day is £7.68". Me: "I said I wanted it 1st class signed for." Them: "That is not next day." Me: "I just want it 1st class signed for." Them: "Ok fine, that is £2.34" Me: "Thanks, how long does 1st class take then?" Them: "It's between 3 and 4 working days." I have never had a single parcel sent first class arrive more than 2 working days after posting. Are these idiots trained into pushing people to pay the higher prices??

Edit: Please delete thread someone has made one already called. "More fun for us JSA Job Seekers"

This is a touching story http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-26935641

Hello there, I found out today that I had been sanctioned for failing to attend a work program appointment on the 7th of march. I didn't attend this because on the 6th I was given a letter at the job centre telling me my time on the work program had finished. I also mentioned to the advisers on three separate occasions that the work program (pinnacle people) keep sending me letters asking me to attend. I was told to ignore them. So today I find out I have been sanctioned until the 16th. I thought I would just try and document this somewhere on the internet as I couldn't find anyone with a similar case to mine. My adviser told me to fill out a DR7 form. Also does anyone have any idea how long these things take to process.

I'm aware there is a mega thread on this but it's quite diluted and filled with general questions a lot of which are not related to PWP at all. So thought I'd create a new thread to try and concentrate the information and compile the experiences of people who have had their first appointment on it or are currently further on down the line with PWP. Basically what you've experienced and what you are now expected to do/what they are doing at the moment on PWP. I basically just want to get a feel for what happens on PWP as a whole and how things change over time and I think this thread could help a lot of confused people (As I was the other week) to find concentrated information about PWP and what to expect. I also hope people can learn about it to ensure they are doing everything correctly to avoid a sanction because I feel like there are a lot of little pitfalls with PWP at least from what i've seen so far and if you are not careful you get slapped with a sanction even though you may be doing all that you can. Not sure if this thread will take off but I think it'll be helpful to everyone if we all try to contribute a little bit of our experiences / stories so i'll start and try and keep it only about PWP. Maybe some people who have been on PWP longer can also advise us how things can get tougher/different, how they try to catch you out (From my experiences i've got the feeling some advisors seem to do this, they actually look for underhanded ways to sanction you but not all do) I had my first PWP interview today, it was ok just asked me general questions about why I thought I wasn't finding a job and looked at my skills, the advisor wasn't pushy, rude or anything like that thankfully she was pretty neutral toward me. She just said I need to take a more active stance in job searching rather than a passive one (That confused me because sending out C.Vs etc is a active stance?) but she said stuff like phoning employers, all i've found from doing that is most employers don't care and don't have the time to deal with people phoning in. I got given a new claimant commitment to sign the points I have to adhere too, the main ones at least are. I will use jobsites and employer websites to find and apply for jobs i can do. (Daily) I will log into my universal jobmatch account to find and apply for jobs I can do. (Daily) I will contact employers directly to ask about jobs / apply for them (weekly) I will ask family and friends etc about jobs (Weekly) I will respond promptly to contacts and notifications from employers etc (Daily). I will register and maintain contact with recruitment agencies (ongoing). So that's my new claimant commitment, thankfully it doesn't seem to be as random and as many hoops as other people seem to face like look for work 4hrs. a day, go into town and look at job boards or some crap like that. However the UJ point i am concerned about I do not like UJ and it's crapp when I used to use it all jobs were just spam etc. I realise if you don't follow these points you can be sanctioned so it's best to do them all. I generally for the most part am and I usually bring in printouts of jobs I've applied for. But the with relation to UJ how do I proceed with that? do I check website without logging in so they can't track me and maybe apply for odd job? I heard idea from someone who said if they keep pushing you just say website doesn't work, disable cookies try log on and print off the error and show the advisor. Sounds like a plan if they really try to stop me using better websites. She didn't really push UJ and didn't seem to care about it just said oh it's easier etc. (UJ advice courtesy of a poster here called Mr. P) Also the recruitment agencies one how do I proceed with that? I also have to fill in a "My work plan" booklet has 2 sections to fill in between interviews it just has 2 boxes of "I will (What i'm going to do / how / when / where and What I did and what was the result? How should I go about filling in these parts? She also said write how long it took you, she sort of mentioned it as an offhand comment to do that. She also mentioned me looking into volunteer work, I don't want to do something completely arbitrary i'd like to spend a bit of time maybe doing something that has a little substance if I am pushed into doing this at least anyone else volunteer? do they push you quite hard into doing it? Thanks for advice, Hopefully others share and we can exchange advice.

post in the DEBT COLLECTION INDUSTRY forum dx

i, I am new to all this, think ive posted in the right place. I have received a court claim from capquest yesterday and its dated 28/2/2014. its a Lloyds credit agreement for the sum of £6188 I am really not sure about this debt. ..Ill start at the beginning: I split with my husband and left the marital home that was in april 2009. we did bank with Lloyds and we had an over draft and a loan but I thought that had been paid I really have no recollection of it. I walked away from everything I had and started again. I am on speaking terms with my husband (we are not divorced yet) and yesterday when I dropped the children off he handed me the letter it had gone to the marital home address. I just went sick as I don't recall any agreement. I asked if any other correspondence had been sent there for me and he said no. I have not been at that address for 5 years now so I am totally clueless as what to do. the particulars box on form has an agreement number and states its Lloyds and a date it was passed. the acting solicitors are HL and the signature is typed. really hoping for some help as it seems I have till next Friday if im right which is to register the claim i cant think straight i don't want a ccj against me as i want to go on a mortgage with my new partner. many thanks

Hi, Me and my wife have been on ESA(joint claim) for roughly 4 years, it's been for stress and anxiety which we have both tried to deal with. We've asked doctors for help, and received nothing but referrals which took ages to happen, but eventually both have received medication and various types of therapy. Unfortunately, during these years other problems have also cropped up. I myself suffer from chronic migraines, I get 3-4 a month that completely put me out of action for a day or 2, and have headaches that impair my regular daily function at least 2-3 times a week, which I can just about manage with medication. However, 5-6 times a year I do have 'super migraines' which cause me to black out. I don't pass out, my body carries on, but I don't remember anything and just get little flash backs to remember what I do. Which, as my wife tells me, is always the same. I basically lie on the floor screaming in pain for hours until I end up in hospital for 2-3 days. I've been like this for just over 3 years, stress seems to be a big part of the cause of all these attacks. I'm currently doing some volunteer work 2 days a week at a charity shop, hopefully working towards being assistant manager (job I've done before, and honestly I find it calming more than stressful) but I need to be able to be flexible on my days because the attacks are random so I may need 3 days off when I should be there for 2 of them. Which is why full time work is a definite no right now, obviously though it needs to be 24 hours to be entitled to Working Tax Credits, otherwise we'd not be able to make enough to make sense signing off, the Job Centre have made me turn down 2 jobs for this reason last year My wife does not have the migraine issues, but she does suffer anxiety and stress a lot more than me. She also has asthma, osteoarthritis, and had an operation on her knee which did more harm than good and has left her unable to walk long distances, and really unable to walk small ones either without medication and a lot of bed rest following it. One of the days I work (wednesday) is a day my son is at nursery too, and I chose that day purely so it was a day she could just spend all day in bed without worrying about anything, to make sure she had some pain relief in case we wanted to go to the park for a bit on the Thursday when we're all home. Her anxiety stops her working with people, and even prior to the incident that caused us both to suffer with it more extremely, she was already diagnosed with social anxiety and worked on her own as a key holder cleaner, something she can no longer do because of her knee (no manual labour was the doctors orders) 2 times we've been called to ATOS, both times my wife (main claimant) scored the customary 0 points. 2 times we went to appeal, and 2 times we won (one took 13 months, one took 9). When we received our paper work, we score 21 points for the first failure, and 27 for the second one, almost all were related to mental illness, with a few due to the physical issues my wife now had. last week, we got told ATOS want to see us again on March 1st. My wife is in a state, she does not handle stress well obviously, and she's constantly crying and worried. Not only because of the appointment, but also because of how to deal with it. She's scared of saying certain things because we have a young son (4 Years old in May), and worried that being honest about the amount of help she requires from me, and how much she struggles from time to time might make them think she is unfit as a mother, despite our son being in perfect health. I've tried to calm her on this, but it's not working and she's not booked in to see her therapist again, and is taking tramadol at night (partly for her pain, but also because they knock her out so she can sleep) to get any rest Our biggest worry is the change in how claims are handled now if you appeal, because we don't know the full information on it, we just know that we cant appeal and get ESA back right away (with doctors notes), and that JSA would be the way to go, but it offers lower rates. Our main issue here is that due to stress, anxiety, migraines, issues with mobility, etc. When it comes to leaving the house, we rely on transport, be it public or via taxi. Taxi is usually the option as the bus is quite far from us, and my wifes anxiety causes panic attacks on buses (manages ok if the bus is empty though) but I use the bus if I go out on my own, or preferably I walk. But we do spend quite a bit on public transport, other than that though we have no luxuries. Internet/Phone/TV is a low package, which we only have because it's the main way we keep in touch with friends due to issues with going out. We have no mobile phones, except really old PAYG ones with no credit unless absolutely needed, and we have debts from losing our home when we first had to go on ESA, and the house was sold for less than the value we owed on it. So that is being paid off. At the end of each fortnight, after bills, food and everything else we have little more than about £5-£10 to our name which we use if we need to go somewhere unexpected (trips to hospital as my son has asthma too, and has had a few times when he has needed to go due to trouble breathing) Obviously, if we lose our ESA, and have to go on a lower rate, we're really going to struggle. We already have some bills we're slightly behind on, so have to occasionally shift stuff around to do double payments, but it's really hard. We've gone through debt advice, and how we are now is what's best and what honestly works for us. It's a bit sad that we can't go out nice places (unless a lovely friend or family members takes us and pays for everything), but for the most part we can't really cope with it anyway. So we're ok with that. Our other worry about being switched over to JSA, is our housing benefit and council tax benefit. Sorting these out before took our local DWP office 3 months. Which lead to us nearly being kicked out of the home, because housing agency didn't think we were really entitled to the benefit, we actually had to take a member of their staff to the job centre to get proof that we were and that the DWP offices were being unreasonably slow to respond about it. With the issues we've had before, the two previous (incorrect) assessment fails, the money worries and the stress of switching over we're both really panicked at the moment. Obviously, we're hiding it from our son, trying to be nothing but upbeat when he isn't at nursery, but when he goes bed, or goes to nursery, the curtains drop and we both get back to worrying, I've broken out in a rash and my wife as I mentioned is constantly crying. I'm sorry this has been long winded, not wanted to miss anything out. But we really need some sort of advice on what to do with ATOS, how should we handle an assessment by people who have falsely failed us twice before... what's best for us to do if we do fail? what is the procedure? and how long will be in limbo? It's all stuff we can't answer ourselves, and stuff that's terrifying us right now... perhaps it's silly, but it really is bothering us.

Hi I'm not sure if this forum can help or where I would post about this topic...Could someone please point me in the right direction Thank you very much

Hi, I recently ordered some flyers from an online printer. I uploaded my file and paid through Paypal, around £70 The flyers arrived last week, no problem. However, today I received an email from the printer stating that because the flyer contained an application form on one side I now owe them a further £17 in VAT. Their website references no mention of VAT rules or what is or isnt allowed on a flyer. Where do I stand regarding this VAT bill? Thanks in advance.

Hello all, I made a CCA request a couple of years ago, I got the usual reply, reconstituted agreement and application form, I wrote back and told them that this was not good enough. All went quite for 2 years, then I was contacted by a debt collection agency, I asked for deed of assignment, they claimed that the account was still with the original provider, I then made a CCA request of the debt collection agency, they responded by passing on my request to the card provider, this request has not produced the credit agreement either, although I have asked the debt collection agency what further recovery action can be justified, they have not replied though they insist that I must write to card provide, this I am in the process of doing, Can I just add that all the other Debt collection firms I have dealt with on this matter have closed their files when I have made my CCA requests. Any help would be greatly appreciated Benjamin

According to the DWP website, Post Work Programme Support lasts for 6 months but no details of what follows. If anyone has any info I would be most grateful. Those who started PWPS in June will now be asking the question.

I have just got back from my first appointment for (Post Work Programme Support) and it wasn't so bad as I thought. My advisor was very nice towards me as I knew him 3 years ago before I started the work programme, anyway he just told me what to expect now that I have completed Work Programme like for example: going on courses to help get into employment, visit the Jobcentre more often, update cvs and mock interviews ete. Also he tried logging into my Universal Jobmatch but he couldn't as I haven't give him access anyway this is the best part, he said I don't have to give him access if I don't want to as that is up to me and he said he will not force me as he said I can just fill in them Job dairy as normal and he wasn't very angry when he couldn't access my account. He said I need to start doing more now and he also said I need to treat this as a full time Job and he said I need to contact other organisations, does anyone know what he meant by that? does he mean Job agencies? if yes then I am already registered with them. My next appointment is on 03.12.2013 at 12.00pm.

Hi, Sorry to trouble you - I am looking for advise following a written mortgage offer being sent by Nationwide Building Society ... then withdrawn. It's a long story, so don't want to post in the wrong forum ... but basically the mortgage offer 'was sent in error' and it has now been withdrawn. Please could you let me know where I would be best posting this. Many Thanks

Hi all, I couldn't find an appropriate forum to post this in. A friend of mine set off a smoke alarm in a hotel a couple of weeks ago. She said (and I can verify this as I visited her room) that there were no no-smoking signs in the room (or any that she saw outside of the main lobby). Her room was booked and there was no mention of the room being non-smoking. She apologised when the manager of the hotel arrived at her room and thought that was the end of it. The room was booked for a wedding. Now, the hotel are demanding a £100 'fine' and are saying that if she doesn't pay it, then they will bill the bride's credit card that they still have on file. Can they actually do this? Firstly, she signed nothing apart from the card that she filled her address on when she checked in - there was no mention of the room being non-smoking and no mention of a 'fine'. Secondly, even if there is an implied contract (which I would guess there is), would this not be considered a breach of contract therefore rendering this 'fine' unenforcable as per the 'Dunlop v New Tyre Co' argument? ...or should she simply pay up as they have her over a barrel?

Hi Guys, can anyone help me with a problem. I am looking for a paper copy of The Washington Times to use as a prop for the production of Annie I'm putting on, but living 300 miles west of London, I'm finding it very difficult. I do have the number for the single copy office of the washington times, but that a US one and wanted a contact nearer to home. Any ideas? Boris