Afternoon, I am posting on behalf o my mother. First of all a brief background. 3 years ago my father died, prior to that he was in a Residential Home who cared for him due to him suffering from the latter stages of Alzheimer's. He had ben in there for around 3 years prior to his death. Whilst he was in the home my mother had 2 hip replacements also. My father was the sole wage earner, my mum had never worked as she had no need. She also never claimed benefits until my dad went into a home. All of the private pension that my dad had (around 800 per month) while he was in the home was taken by the home to pay for his care along with his state pension. My mum literally had nothing to live on and given that she could not work due to her hips received benefits to help her out. Included in these benefits were housing and council tax as she lived in a council house. These benefits were paid directly to the local authority. My dad died three years ago and his private pension was turned over to my mother. As part of the benefit review she was asked to fill out all sorts of forms, no really knowing how to do this she asked for assistance and she went to meet a representative of the local authority/benefits office and she took all of her bank statements and letters regarding my dads pension with her. They filled the forms out for her and took them to process whatever benefits she should receive. They calculated that she should still receive the housing benefit, which meant that she only paid a small proportion of the council house rent and that she would receive council tax benefit so she had to pay no council tax. This was pretty much the same for the next three years. Now she is of a pensionable age and receives a state pension a further review has ben carried out and she now receives no benefit at all and she is happy to pay her full rent and full (Single occupancy) council tax. However it seems that during the review they have found that she should not have had any benefit for the last 3 years since my dad died as she was receiving his private pension of around £800. They have advised that she now owes £13k. She has ben to a meeting today with the local authority, which is Staffordshire Moorlands, under caution and they have advised that they have reason to believe that she is guilty of fraudulently obtaining the benefits as she never told them that she was receiving my late fathers private pension. I find this quite ludicrous, all she ever did, as neither my mother, myself or my brother, knew anything about the benefits system, was take the bank statements, which clearly showed any income (the private pension was paid into the only account that she has) and she also always took the details of the private pension with her. At no time has she attempted to mislead anybody and to be quite honest she would not know how to mislead somebody as she has no idea how the benefit system works. So for the last three years she has had a benefit she thought that she was entitled to having had the member of the LA or benefits office fill out the details of the form with her. She had no idea that she was not entitle to this benefit. It is my opinion, as a relative layman, that as she has not set out to mislead anyone and that it seems that the error has been made by the LA or benefits office then she should not be expected to pay back the money that she has been paid. At least not the £50 a month (at least) that they are now demanding. She has ben threatened with court proceedings and prosecution today should she not agree that she will pay all of this money back. I have done a little research and I have found this rule: "(2) Subject to paragraph (4) this paragraph applies to an overpayment caused by an official error where the claimant or a person acting on his behalf or any other person to whom the payment is made could not, at the time of receipt of the payment or of any notice relating to the payment, reasonably have been expected to realise that it was an overpayment." My view is that this is exactly what has happened with my mother and I intend to fight this. However I would appreciate any input anyone has on here that may help. Also can I request from the local authority (or more accurately can my mother) all details that they hold on her and any prior meeting that have been held where assistance was given with the filling out of forms. Finally as a coincidence the lady that my mother always met to fill out the forms does not work for the LA/benefits people anymore so cannot corroborate my mother's version of events. thanks in advance for your help Mark

without going into the full story i was accused of shoplifting at b and q, which i denied, the video evidence did not show me shoplifting, but they said they had enough evidence i was asked to fill in a civil liabilties form, to which i refused, the police were called, they asked me to do the same, i again refused, i gave the police my details and said i do not want you to give them to the staff, but eventually they did, and the staff filled the civi liabilities form with my details, and tried to give me the form, which i had not signed, but i did not take the form, they then said i could leave, so i left without the form. they said it would not make any difference, they would still claim against me, i took no items from the store and the items they accused me of taking, i left there, where do i stand, will i still have pay the liabilities, apparently for staff time etc, any help, thanks

Hi, On the weekend I popped into my local supermarket to get a few things, I had my 2yr old with me and I put him in the trolley. I usually go with a list as I am a scatter brain but this time I forgot so I picked up some items that I remembered we needed and on my way round I put my carrier bag into the trolley. I wasn't really thinking about it I just put it in. Anyway when I got to the till's I put the stuff from the trolley onto the belt and had to take a chocolate bar off my son to pay for it and he started to cry for it. I was distracted by this and didn't check the trolley. I paid for my stuff but on the way out a woman security officer called me back and walked me through the store to a room at the back and asked me if I knew why we were there I said no so she proceeded to tell me that she had seen me on the cameras put an item in my trolley and then cover it with my shopping bag then at the tills I left the bag and the item in the trolley (clearly I didn't leave the bag in the trolley because I filled it with my shopping). The item was still in the trolley and I apologised for the mistake and said I honestly wasn't thinking and I was distracted at the till. She then told me she wasn't going to call the police on this occasion and I wouldn't receive a ban but she needed me to write down my details on a plain A4 piece of paper while she got someone to sit with me and got a receipt for the item. By now I'm in tears because I wasn't trying to steal anything and I was hugely embarrassed, I had the money in my hand to pay for the item which was £4.50 but wasn't given the opportunity to offer to pay for it. When she came back she said I understand what you said about your child at the till but to me he appeared to be behaving well, as I said we won't get the police involved or action a store ban but because of the value of the item I will have to send this to head office who will send you a civil recovery loss because I had to watch you on cctv, bring you here and get someone to sit with you. The manager made out that it would be a small fine maybe £2.50-£3.50 and no where near the £90 the police would have charged me. She took the piece of paper from me and told me I could leave. How long does it usually take for a civil recovery letter to come through? I've also read it seems I'll be in for a hefty fine £150+ which seems excessive to me for a £4.50 item. Also I never filled out an official form it was a plain piece of A4 and they didn't even ask me for ID, is it possible they were just trying to scare me and I won't hear anything back from it do you think? As my husband seems to think they don't have the power to do anything and even if I do get a letter I should just ignore it and forget about it and was just an honest mistake. This is really playing on my mind though, it has taught me a lesson to thoroughly check my trolley at the check out but I feel like I can no longer shop in that shop because every time I set foot in there they will be watching me all around the shop!

Hi I have recently had an interview under caution as I am accused of ESA and HB benefit fraud. I claimed ESA for a around a year and HB for 5 months, the situation is, is that I was claiming HB and ESA as a student I didn't know I couldn't, me and my partner were struggling to pay the rent and someone told me as long as I wasn't a foreign student I could claim. I took this poor advice and did claim, initially I thought it was a joint claim with my partner but I was wrong it was all in mine. also I didn't realise I had to inform the ESA that my partner worked 30 hrs a week, it didn't occur to me as it was my ESA and not a joint claim. I really didn't mean to defraud the system I just didn't t think straight, I accept responsibility, I also suffer from bipolar and have serious mental health problems, the forms were just confusing and I must have answered a question wrong. I do have a solicitor. My worry is that I will go to prison, is this likely? I really scared!! Thanks

This is a bit of a long story and I hope some one can help. I have had an interview under caution and been accused of benefit fraud dating back to December 2010. In November 2010 I moved from the family home I shared with my father due to personal reasons and moved into a flat 200 miles away. As I was unemployed my father was my guarantor. I struggled to make ends meet until December 2010 when I emailed my father stating that I was unable to afford to live, the housing benefit did not quite cover all my rent and my flat was electric storage heaters on a pre-payment key that I was putting nearly £80 a week on and still not having much warmth. My father agreed to start paying me a £150 per month towards the rent (as a guarantor he knew he would be chased if I did not pay), my electricity, my broadband and food. This payment continued until June 2012 when I moved into a rented house, the same price but with gas central heating. My father continued to help me financially with bills but the amount was reduced to £120 per month. I explained all this to the person who interviewed me but I was told that this should have been declared so that the amount could have been deducted from my JSA, thus meaning I would still not be able to pay my bills. All the paypoint receipts I had for my electricity when I was on a pre-payment meter were thrown away when I moved house, I didn't think I would need them again. I have had my JSA stopped and have been told its more than likely I will be charged and have to pay it all back. Is there anything I can do to get myself out of this situation? My dad was just helping me so I didn't become homeless, starve or freeze to death. I am worried sick about this. Thanks

As I was shutting down the till at work the other day, there was a £30 discrepancy, this didn't worry me at the time as a few weeks previously there had been a £70 discrepancy and it turned out to be an office error, on top of this, another till on the floor on the same day as the most recent one also had a discrepancy of £60. I came into work yesterday and was called into the office for an investigation meeting where I was accused of taking the money from the till. I told them that I had someone stand with me when I was closing the till down, watching me count the money and also that the shop manager was also on the shop floor as she was attending the discrepancy on the other till on the floor. They told me that as I was the only person to use the till the entire day that it must have been me, the other problem is that there is no cctv in store to prove my innocence. I have now been suspended from work with pay. I feel absolutely terrible, I am so stressed, I feel so ill and cannot sleep, I feel like they have decided I am guilty already without any proof, I also feel discriminated against as I had gone in the same morning (before the investigation meeting) to ask for a wage advance, they asked in the meeting if the two were related? I felt that was a totally inappropriate judgement and has upset me even more? What can I do? I am so worried that am going to be fired because of something I didn't do! I hope someone can help me out.

My husband and i had been in a particular Tesco store quite a few times as i had been looking for a Stylus for my Samsung phone. Different staff had helped by using various styluses including one for Samsung but none had worked. They mentioned something about having a Universal one i could try but was currently out of stock and said on 2 occasions they would give me a call when this particular one cme in. They never called. Anyway one evening last month myself and my husband had gone into the same store. We had been out for the whole day but i wanted to go to the store to get a few things for work the next day. We ended up being in the store for a long time as i was looking at clothes. Also one customer had asked me what i thought of a particular jacket that was for sale there so we hd a long chat. We were just about to go an pay for our shopping when i remembered i wanted to go and look at the Styluses. I have a multitude of medical conditions including M.E so feel very drained much of the time but i always make the mistake of pushing myself too much/far.. We went over to look at the styluses. I noticed there was one there (Universal) which was in an unopened box. When i say unopened i mean the box was not sealed, taped etc. Obviously had the box been sealed i wouldnt have dreamt of trying to open it.. I knew i needed to try it on my phone to see if it worked. As it was after 1.00am by this time and there were no staff about to ask i took the stylus from the box and tried it on my phone. As with what happens with M.E i felt by this time more drained than ever and knew i was so tired i needed to go and thought i would look at the stylus another time. I gave the stylus to my husband and said "can you put this back, i am feeling very drained i need to go" and walked away. Unbeknown to me my husband thought i was giving him one of my pens as i am always doing this eg giving him my car keys and much more so he was used to mehanding him things. We were both half asleep. He put the pen in his pocket and put the box on the shelf. We paid for our shopping which came to £70.00 and then proceeded to leave (unbeknown to me he had the pen in his pocket). As much as i can see what this perhaps looks like it was a genuine mistake on my husbands part. He may be Absent minded but he is not a thief. We of course were collared by members of staff and taken into a back room. One of the staff kept continuously saying to me "you have done nothing wrong". They wouldnt allow my husband to speak to explain what happened. We were shouted at and received the most horrendous abuse. I explained all i had done was give the pen to my husband as at the point i was completely drained. The Security guard who had previously been aware i had been looking for a stylus pushed me when i asked what i had done. he said we are accusing you of aiding and abetting.and pushed me. I said i had done nothing wrong. One of the staff searched our bag ad asked if we had stolen anything else. Of course we hadnt! They called the Police and as i have never been in trouble in my life i asked for a lawyer. One Police officer said i didnt need a lawyer as i wasnt been charged with anything. Also the member of staff who had repeatedly said i had done nothing wrong took my clubcard and i was told i was banned from the shop. When i explained i had taken the pen out the box as the box was open and not taped, sealed etc one Police Officer informed me it was still stealing. They wouldnt let him speak and one of the sraff said to him where is it? My hsuband thinking he had my pen and nothing else told them he didnt have anything. When he realized what they were talking about he took it out and said "do you mesn this? i thought it was my wifes pen" They wouldnt allow him to speak. I have never stole anything in my life let alone been in trouble and in fact all my friends say i am too honest for my own good. I have been shopping in Tesco for over 40 years and this has never happened. Neither myself or my husband have ever been in trouble. I have recently received a letter from head Office saying that after investigation the Manager of the store acted appropriately and that we had a "Pending Charge" and were also banned from the store from life. I cant sleep properly since this happened as i have not done anything wrong and am worried sick when i apply for future jobs this "Pending Charge" will show up in a Pre Employment check.especially as i work in Banking. I have spoken to a few different lawyers about this. Each one tells me something different regarding the checks. They all have also said that they may forget about it, take it to court or give us a fine. My husband had been absent minded. He is neither a thief nor stupid and why would he try to take a pen when we had all the shopping and also knew there were cameras everywhere. This has come as the icing on the cake after a serious of nightmares which have taken place since we moved here including the fact my car got broken in which incidentally the police cant do anything about.My husband didnt even get a chance to explain what had happened. After being told i wasnt being charged with anything another police officer came in after speaking to the staff in private said he was also charging me with theft. I said on what grounds what have i done? Show me the CCTV which no-one would. He said" i will save it for Court". So he had charged me but couldnt tell me why> Why would my husband try to take a pen worth a measley 10.00 when we had paid 70.00 for shopping. I am living my life wondering what is going to happen next and wondering why i am having all this bad luck as i havent done any harm to anyone in my life.

hi anyone come across this one from one of the governments fantastic services the H.M.R.C working and child tax credits to keep it short me and wife + family over the past two years have had a very bad marriage causing all sorts of problems had a split last year for around 11 months she stayed with the kids at our home me sleeping around at sisters daughters and me caravan and so on, then 11 months on got back together was back home for about 1 month talking things threw about our marriage then had a letter from the good people who are there to help famils HMRC saying my wife put a claim in as a signall person but they had information from one of there third parties, that i was living there all the time (no i was not ) sent letters out to say we have to pay 9.000 back we can appeall to a tribunal ect but we had a good read about the scary letter and basically we both have good jobs with a steady income so if we appeal could end up going court then may risk loosing our jobs if found guilty, so either way we can,t win i never want to have any help from the government system again it stinks?? and do third parties have the right to give information out, p.s there saying its because the third party has given them information that i have not separated any accounts or put the house up for sale and not separated under a court order ho sorry for not trying to keep my marriage and keeping my children from been upset at such a vital time in there education, there i.v got it of my chest and it stinks??? .

(Didn't know where to post this, it spans retail and legal, and CAG tutorial suggested Welcome page) I was accused by TKMaxx of retail fraud: buying two similar items and returning the lower price item for the price of the higher priced item, Although I did not deliberately do this, they say they have evidence that I did this on 8 items on 2 visits to the shop. My view is that they cannot prove it; but I have to go to court and the cost of a solicitor to represent me is about £400 which I can hardly afford and will likely be more than any fine. If I plead not guilty I can go to Crown Court and may have to pay a contribution to costs which I am informed could be around £4000. Which I definitely can't afford and I can't afford to take the risk of that. I don't qualify for legal aid. So basically I am stuck with pleading guilty to fraud, living with a criminal record, and trying to find ways of mitigating my punishment. Not what I expected of British justice and this could happen to almost anyone, easily. a few more facts. The alleged offences were 2 months ago (and 2 months before I was charged) and I can't remember some of the items nevermind how much I paid , or how much I received in refund. I think that if TKM had a strong case they would have reported it earlier and that they waited to ambush me in the shop to try to get me to admit it immediately. TKMaxx are alleging about £100 in fraud but actually, that doesn't take into account the money I paid for the lower-priced item. My actual 'gain', if there was one, will be less than £5 per item. Hardly worth committing a crime. The police have all receipts so I can't use them to check any facts or refresh my memory. I'm not sure if I should mention in court that the figures quoted are wrong by about an order of magnitude. I bought probably 200 items and returned over 100, and it could be that this volume led TKM to think I must be up to something. In fact, I had been waiting for sale time to buy stuff for me, friends and family. So making 8 ' mistakes' isn't a high proportion TXMaxx receipts (unlike comparable retailers eg Next) do not itemise individual items. They only say "Boys shoes", "Handbag" etc. and people pick the red sale stickers off the tickets so they can see the original price so the prices often fall off.. TKM say they have CCTV but I doubt that it shows how much I paid for the disputed items and how much I received in refund - ie no proof. Neither can they proove that I deliberately commited fraud - only that they suspect it on 8 occasions and therefore there is no smoke without fire. I think the CCTV is purely used an a bullying tactic because I don't dispute that I went to the shop and returned stuff, Checking on the Net, TKMaxx have been targets for refund fraud or ticket swapping since at least 2006 because of their lax processes. They have not changed these processes and closed this loophole so they are at least partly responsible for their own misfortune if people take advantage of it. OK so when I have a hundred items to return (unwanted by friends) and some don't have price tags attached, it is likely that I connected the wrong ones in some case. There may be occasions when I got a lower refund than I paid, I don't know. Sometimes I had to guess which prive went with the purchases and this is how the 'fraud' happens. I always give my correct name and address to the shop, which I wouldn't do if I knew I was commiting fraud. Also, TKMaxx have some items in bags which they say are the items I returned. I doubt they could prove that because I don't remember them being pu aside when I returned them. Someone must have dashed out of the security office and collected them, or gone through the receipts and found similar items. I doubt there is an unbroken evidence chain. Oh and I have the usual letter from RLP (see many other threads) which I will take CAG advice and ignore. Any advice welcomed and let this be a warning that it could happned to anyone who shops at TKMaxx.

I'll try to be as brief as possible. I've been on benefits due to mental health issues since 2006. In November 2011 I split from my husband and moved into my own place. Then with the new changes in HB/ESA last year and the upcoming changes to universal credit/bedroom tax, I realised I couldn't afford my place by myself and moving again I felt was too stressful. My friend, who also suffers from mental health issues, was having problems with his mum so we thought it'd be a good solution for him to move into the spare room in my flat. We contacted the landlord and each got a tenancy and thought this was ok. We have separate bedrooms but share kitchen lounge and bathroom. We are not a couple but now my friend has had a letter saying he's(we've) been reported for benefit fraud and we both need to fill a form in. My question is this... how are we supposed to prove that we are not a couple/living together as a couple? We split all bills equally and for the most part we do our own laundry/cooking/cleaning BUT we are good friends so we occasionally make each other a meal/have a takeaway and go grocery shopping together(for ease) and also socialize together. So again how are we meant to disprove the allegations? Really hope someone can help!

Hi I am hoping some one can advise me if there is anything I can do about this. I went in to wilkinsons today to get my dog a new toy, i picked it up, walked towards the queue which was huge so decided against it just for a dog toy, i put it back on a shelf and walked out. I then a had a rather burley bloke come and tap me on the shoulder who was un uniformed, had no id or had anything showing he worked there tap me on the shoulder and asked me if i had taken anything and not paid for it, (no alarm etc had gone off) i said no and then asked if he even worked there (i genuinely thought it was just some strange man as he had no identification and was stood half messing with his phone) he said he did to which I replied he didnt look like he did, he repeated he did and asked me to go back in to the store... I looked at him wasn't sure what to believe so just said no and walked off. I went to the shop next door to buy what i went in to wilkinsons for and when i came out there was the same man with 3 or 4 other uniformed men who then pointed at me. At this point I started panicking as I wasn't sure what was going on and I was still sure they were just strange men as they all came and stood in front of me. I got a bit iratate at this point as you would as I have never stolen anything in my life and when i asked why he thought this i just kept being asked to go back in the store (by this point there was one other man there who did have a uniform on and so i knew it was legit) I turned to the main guard who was clearly on a power trip and said that I would but I was going to make him look like an idiot as I hadnt got anything and afterwards I would complain and I wouldn't let this go, to which he kept repeating 'that's not gonna happen, no you wont' and everytime i said 'oh i will' he got a bit closer and slowed down his words...pure intimidation. I went back in the store in to their back room past all the staring people (by which point i started to get upset as it was embarrassing and i was on my own) There was a lady sitting in the corner who looked like she thought it was all ridic and looked a bit embarassed, the man in uniform and one of the men un-uniformed. The un uniformed man asked me what had happened while i was in the shop, i told him. I also started saying about the fact Im a 26 year old girl on my own and the security guard had no uniform or id etc so what was i supposed to think? the uniformed man then went on to say it's something they are looking at. He kept trying to turn it all back on me saying i made a scene outside to which i said i got a bit angry as i was scared and upset and annoyed as I hadn't done anything and had had these men surrpunding me who i wasn't sure had anything to do with the store!!!.. .It went on and I said for them to look through my bag.. .he said he didn't need to do that as he was happy with what had been said. ..at which point i said i was far from and they hadnt heard the last of it and i left, again with everyone staring It really shook me up and when i got outside a lady called me over bc i started crying and said she was going to call and complain as it was bang out of order. it has really upset me and i def wont be going back in to shop mainly for the reason i am so embarrased! I am sat here feeling all bothered, the reason I went in to the shopping centre was to get anxiety medication prescription and instead got this and then forgot to get my prescription as i just wanted to go home Can anyone advise please? Thank you

My daughter has been accused of stealing the days takings are the club she works in. They say she was fiddling with her sleeve on the CCTV and they cant see her actually put the money in the safe, but saw her go to it. She has a meeting on Weds and they say she has to give them a satisfactory explanation of what happened to the money!!! They have also told her who she bring and thats another young girl and cant take the older guy and they have told her not to discuss it with him. Her grandad is a retired union rep, is he allowed to go with her and also what should she be asking and doing, nothing like this has ever happened to any of us before so no idea what to do

Hi All, I have had a letter through accusing my partner and I of HB/CTB fraud. I have been invited to an interview under caution and just want a bit of advice to make sure i am not on the back foot when i turn up. I have looked over my last 2 years worth of income etc and i cant see anything wrong and looking at the benefits calculator we still qualify . Unfortunately it looks like i fall into a gap where i don't qualify for legal aid and i don't have any spare cash to pay for a solicitor.. The advice i am after is how do i go about getting the council to disclose the evidence they have against me? Is there a template letter i can send them, unfortunately i am not knowledgeable in legal lingo so i don't know how to construct the letter.7 Thanks in advance.

This is long winded, but I will try to keep it short. This has been a nightmare! I married in 2001, and had my first child in 2002. Sadly, my turkish husband was not the man I thought he was(even longer story), and we seperated before my daughter had her first christmas. We briefly tried dating in 2004, then I found out he was living with a woman he was seeing. I then found out I was pregnant again (stupid). I barely saw my husband while pregnant, but he was there for the birth. While in hospital my car was torched outside my house. The newspaper came round to take a picture of myself with my two small children and put an article to try to help me find out who had done this. This terrified me, and because of this my husband decided to stay for a few days after the birth. Two days after, there was an early morning knock at the door. It was the benefits agency. I was questioned about my living arrangements with my husband. I was told that I was lying, that we had never seperated. I couldnt' answer their questions. My husband refused to give me his address. I was told that I must be lying because I had a child with him, and that it takes months to make a baby. I replied that it can take seconds, but they refused to listen. I had an appointment at the jobcentre a few days later for an appointment with a lone parent advisor. When I turned up the receptionist went to inform the woman that I was there for my appointment, and heard the woman exclaim loudly "you are joking! I am surprised she had the nerve to turn up!" It turned out that this woman was the one who had contacted the benefit fraud investigation team. A few weeks later I received the report for me to read. I read it through carefully, and typed my response. The point that I could barely believe was one that said "Her two year old daughter has a strong pronouced turkish accent". This was laughable. I have never heard a strong accent on a two year old, and why would she have that accent anyway, when she lived in bristol? I was asked to attend court, but this was a long distance from me, which I could not afford to get to, and I had two small children for who I could find no babysitter. As their accusations were so unfounded I was able to work my way through the document, and put my point across for each and every point. I though no more of it and posted it, fully expecting this to be sorted out. I was then found guilty at my appeal. Apparently my document that I had sent to the court didnt arrive until two days after the trial. Amazing, considering I posted it several weeks before. I wanted to appeal against their appeal decision, but was told that if I did this, they would have to stop my benefits for the duration of the appeal. What could I do? I had two babies to support. I had to give in . They decided to take £10 per week from my benefits, and have done since 2005. I will be paying them until 2016. The amount they wanted to recover WRONGLY is around £7000. Now, a few weeks ago I received a letter from my local council asking me to come in for an interview under caution about housing benefit. I went along, taking a legal representative with me. Apparently the was an overpayment of £1000 of my housing benefit when I moved. I was totally unaware of this. I went through the interview, recorded on CD. After the interview was over the interviewer told me that because I have previous problems with benefit fraud, that this could mean a criminal conviction for me! I was also told that if I accept responsibility, I only have to pay back the overpayment, but I would have a criminal caution on file. If I refuse to accept responsibility, then I have to pay it back but with an admin charge of 50% added on top. Fair? I really dont think so. I really don't know what to do. I really feel this is all so unfair. My children have gone without for so many years because of their mistake the first time. £4000 that I should have been able to spend on them has never been received. This "black mark" has gone against me when I did nothing wrong. I spoke to my legal representative after the interview, and he was disgusted by my story, and advised me to speak to a solicitor. I also plan to contact my local MP to see what he can do. Can anyone give me any advice. I have done nothing wrong!

Hello, its difficult for me to share this as the whole idea of being accused of this makes me feel physically sick. I've never been accused of anything like this before and it having a pretty devasting affect on me. I just cant imagine what will happen if i lose my job over this. I hope i can get some info or feedback from you guys as i really am devastated. So the situation is.... I was called into a meeting with HR on Wednesday and suspended due to an allegation of sexual harassment against one of my work colleagues. I wasn't given the details of the incident but i know which incident they are referring to. I am due to have another meeting with HR on monday. I'll give you a brief idea of what happened. I was in the kitchen working with two of my colleagues when the alleged victim passed by and started a conversation about a man who was arrested for taking pictures up women's skirts on the escalator in the tube. We were all laughing about this and she continued to say it was similar to when another one of my colleagues made fun by pretending to be a paparazzi and doing the same with her. We were laughing about this in a very light hearted way, which is pretty much the general atmosphere of our work place. I thought it might be funny to continue the joke and placed my phone on the ground between her and myself when the flash went off and the phone took a picture. (picture attached). Before i did i pointed it out to her and we both looked down at the camera and smiled. She was slightly amused and carried on working. I hadn't noticed her mother who also works in the same department standing behind us, who having just seen this began shouting at me. I tried explaining to her that it was a joke and to ask her daughter what we had been joking about. She wouldn't listen to me and threatened to inform HR if i did it again. Her daughter then told her to be quiet. We though nothing more of it, in fact we were conversing as usual until a few days later when i was called into HR and advised that someone had made a complaint about the incident. They are now treating it as sexual harassment. The person who this happened to did not actually make the complaint, neither did her mother but i believe her mother told her line manager who has always had issues with me and she took it upon herself to contact HR without finding out what had actually happened and bringing the incident completely out of context. As an isolated incident it sounds like a joke gone too far but this type of humour is continued throughout our department. We all know each others boundaries and never take anything past a light hearted joke. I myself have had my bottom slapped by the female in question and also by other members of the department. Its all in good humour. Which is why i was so shocked when i was accused of sexual harassment. It was in no way sexual and i was in no way harassing her. Being in a more senior position to the others in the department i understand that i should have set an example but this is how it was when i began working there. I believe the person who contacted HR with the third hand information has had a problem with me since i took this position. she has made several complaints against me in the past. One particular incident i was said to have insulted one of her female members of staff. This resulted in a meeting between myself and my superiors and was brought up again during another meeting later that year. Both times i strongly denied the allegations. I confronted the person who was supposedly the recipient of my insults, she agreed with me that the incident had never actually taken place and she was even upset that i thought she had contacted HR about something like that and agreed that it was probably her line manager trying to get at me through her. I do not want to lose my job just because it is easier for HR to let me go and i also do not want to accept a warning. I intend to fight this accusation and also file a complaint against the person who made the complaint as i believe they are doing this for malicious reasons. I am now suspended without pay and with sexual harassment on my record it will be virtually impossible to continue with my career and possibly wreck my home life also. I can't imagine going back to work and facing anybody as i feel anxious and embarrassed about the whole situation. It has really affected me badly from having to lie to my work colleagues and my wife about being absent from work, i've started smoking and also planning to see the doctor about taking medication for anxiety. I feel that all the hard work i have put into my job and the relationships i have developed there are in danger of being destroyed.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2222220/Drug-firms-risking-lives-hiding-bad-trials-effects-medicines.html

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

Have been recently made aware of this. It concerns a driver accused by one of the regular name Parking Cos on here. Case is in Court and accused has been sent a letter asking for them to provide proof of sig by way of copy of passport/driving licence etc. They are saying that there is a possibility that another party could have registered the vehicle using their name etc and its their policy to report these suspicions to Police vehicle crime unit so they can check if the registered keeper insured the vehicle or if its been used in a crime. They go on to say that they have observed variations in the sigs used in the court forms...and say they want to compare these with the one shown on the V5. Anyone heard of this one before ? Why would the Police want to get in involved in what is essentially a civil case where the alleged driver who has been summoned for failing to pay a PPN has denied having any knowledge of the incident,has nothing to do with the vehicle cited or has ever had any vehicle with the registration named. Surely it is for a Court to be making any orders or requests for documents to be submitted and NOT a PPCo ?

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.

Hi, i work as a checkout operator in [edited to preserve anonimity] supermarket. My story is about not getting break, forcing to finish early, and been accused for something that i was not responsible. I got total 2 shifts for 8 and half hours this week-- one is 4 and half and other one is 4 hours. Yesterday 03/08/12 i went to do my normal shift according to my roster which was 4 and half hours (10am to 2:30pm). When you work more than 4 hours in checkout you get a 15 minutes break. We have a right to ask our break if we see we r not getting it. But it mainly depends on service manager as it is only her duty to deal with this and manage the day roster too. So i started at 10am and was waiting for getting my break. But till 2pm there was not any break. At that time i was thinking may be my shift was 4 hours today and tomorrow's shift would be 4 and half. At 2pm she came to my checkout and sign me off placing the close sign in my checkout saying she needs to talk with me. At fast i thought i was going to get the break. But she talked about some other things. i have become confused when she told me to start work again. i said to her i am finishing now as I my shift was for 4 hours. she said no, you are finishing at 2:30pm. i asked her straight away-than why am not getting my break yet? She went back to service desk to check it and came back saying yes that i am finishing at 2pm. but that time i have become totally confused and having doubt on her behavior. it was so clear on her face that she was hiding something. So i closed off my register and walked toward the service desk to see the day roster. i could not able to see that because she managed to be there before me and flipped the day roster page quickly and informed me my next day shift. i came back later when she was not around and what i found was shocking. She rewrote my shift making finishing time 2:30pm to 2pm only because she tried to hide it that she forgot to give me the break. How could a manager do this type of offence? But I managed myself to be calm and when she came back I asked her politely that am I getting that half hours pay as I was rostered for it. She started to accuse me it was my fault, I asked her to finish 2pm and I am always confused about my shift. I informed my store manager straight away. He was so sympathetic about this but told me not try to contract anyone else or call head office or call to the Union as he would do whatever possible. He gave me patronage every way that he would deal with it. I went back today 04/08/12 and came to know he went for holydays from today and will return two weeks later. I am feeling divested that his all patronages were a false act. Only because my background is not English he dared to do this and the service manager as well. i have talked with the union today. they will contract me coming Monday.

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!

Last weekend me and three others were on our way to a theatre show and were standing outside a train station. We were having a cigarette, but I cannot remember if, at the time I actually was (I may have had one earlier). As we entered the station, we were approached by local authority "officers" who pulled me (and one other from my party) aside and accused us of dropping and leaving our cigarette butts on the ground. As I cannot actually remember having a cigarette at the time I therefore cannot remember committing this offence. When being questioned I said very little, only identifying my name (as i didnt have ID on me) and this was verified. My wife explained that as we were running late we didnt have time to hang around and one of the officers said I would receive a Fixed Penalty Notice in the post. I did. I contacted the local authority and asked for a copy of any video/audio recording of me either admitting to the offence or showing me commit the offence. I have been told that there is NO video evidence and I said "very little" on the tape and my wife did most of the talking. No change there then. The man on the telephone said if it went to court, it would boil down to "My Officers word against yours, and you didnt deny it", which is true but I didnt admit it either. Im worried now as I really cannot afford to get a criminal record, as I would lose my job instantly, yet I feel I should not be made to pay for something which I honestly dont think I did. The other girl with me DID drop her cigarette and is happy to pay the fine. Any advice? UKD Also , really sorry if this is posted on the wrong forum, mods please feel free to move it if necessary.

Hi, I work as technical support staff for a reasonably large outsource call centre. I was dragged into an investigative meeting today to be accused of gross misconduct. The order to pull me in came from the client and not my direct employers. I'm not sure where I stand, so I was hoping to get some help. There are three grounds: -Firstly, I failed to follow a strict technical support procedure having incorrectly made the assumption that one had already been done. The customer had referred to something early on in the conversation which I know to be the direct result of the final technical procedure in almost all cases- so I didn't bother going through them based on that. This assumption turned out to be incorrect. This is the sort of thing that wouldn't normally even result in any form of disciplinary, more of a 'slap on the wrist'. -Secondly, I knowingly manipulated our system to achieve a result for a customer not strictly provided for. There are a select list of criteria for this procedure which results in the customer getting free replacement parts when they would normally have to pay for such parts. The customer was not far away from these criteria so I knowingly and willingly bent them to suit. These were flagged up. There are two problems I have with this, firstly, I was genuinely mistaken in what the correct criteria actually are due to lack of communication from on high and secondly, this is something that is an epidemic where I work. This would normally be met with a recorded file note, or first written warning. -Thirdly, as a misguided attempt to establish rapport with the customer I referred to a colleague as a 'jobsworth', despite the fact that he had diagnosed a problem correctly and I hadn't. There was a negative connotation to the way I said it, but it was a flippant remark and both investigators in my initial meeting agreed on record that no malice was intended. I've never seen a case such as this, but I imagine this would be grounds for a disciplinary. I have been informed of my rights and am expecting to receive the rest of the notice in writing. My contract is short and sweet and does refer to gross misconduct being a possibility in some cases but does not clearly state in which. I haven't been able to get a copy of my company handbook yet, but I expect more information to be held within. The company's policies seem to be largely in line with ACAS. I have not been suspended. Where do I stand? My line manager and I both feel that none of the grounds will stand up to an allegation this serious. Am I being naive? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hello, Today when I arrived home, my partner was distraught. He was accused of sexual harassment at work. The accusation: He said that he sent two text messages to a mates of his. The text didn't go to his mate instead they went to his female boss. One of the text suggested that his friend use a few condoms. The other text said, "David, call me, I'm worried about you." HR called my partner into their office. His female boss had complained that the texts amounted to sexual harassment. HR read him the riot act and sent him home early. HR expects to come in on Monday, but my partner thinks he's going to get the sack and will have an exit interview. Annoyingly both my partner and I lost our phones 2 days ago (in separate incidents) so he can't even check the phone to see what the heck happened. He has only worked at his company for 3.5 months - he's not even finished with his probation yet; That's at 6 months. My partner is EXTREMELY distraught. I honestly think he needs to see doctor. I've never seen him so depressed. What advice does he need when he goes back into the office? What are his legal rights? Can he be fired without a disciplinary? I want to arm him with as much information as possible. Thanks for your help!

Pretty damning report. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/cars/article-2150760/Insurers-auctioning-injury-details-claims-lawyers.html