About 1430 hours today, Monday 22 December 2014, a Glasgow City Council bin lorry was travelling north on Queen Street when it appeared to strike pedestrians outside the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) before continuing to travel towards George Square, when it crashed at the Millennium Hotel on Queen Street at George Square. Read More Here: http://www.scotland.police.uk/whats-happening/news/2014/december/264461 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/road-and-rail-transport/11308468/Glasgow-bin-lorry-crash-live.html Very sad news especially at this time of year. I would like to wish those injured a speedy recovery and my heart goes out to those that sadly lost loved ones condolences.

I received a superb telephone call yesterday from cabot, and it went like this... Cabot: Hello is that mr Sev? Me : Yes, who is this? Cabot: It's Citibank - er, I mean Cabot Financial, we own your Citiba.. Me : I know, what would you like to know? Cabot: Can you confirm your date of birth and postcode for security Me : Sure, it's blah blah blah... Cabot: Thankyou. We've currently got you down as being on an arrangement with us for the sum of £blah. I was wondering if we can look to increase this at all? Me : Not really, as I don't have a lot of kob certainty at the moment and I'm not going to commit to anything until the economic situation clears. Cabot: well, if you wanted to settle this we could make this very attractive, and offer you a substantial discount anything up to 20% Me : That's very kind, but I really don't have the means otherwise, i'd have called you a long time back. Cabot: Well, as it stands Mr Sev, your current debt at your current repayment will take 25 years to pay off, we could come to a payment arrangement for £95 pm which will clear it in 5 years. Me : Sorry, but as I said, I don't have the means. That's why you and I are even talking. Cabot: Yes, I understand that. Perhaps we could interest you in a loan to settle this? Me : I don't think so, you've already defaulted me on my credit record, as have all my creditors. What makes you think that I can afford or want a loan when I can't afford to pay what I've already got owing? Cabot: Oh, OK, how about relatives or frieds, could they not lend you any money? Me : er... let me think.... no. Cabot: Well could you stretch to a 10% increase, it's only 2 pounds. Me : I probably might, but I'm not commiting to anything at the moment. Cabot: OK, well i'll send out the paperwork, to confirm and just to let you know if you miss a payment there will be charges and late interest fees... Me : Send what you like, but i'm not confirming anything at he moment as I don't know if i'll even have a job at christmas. Cabot: Well we need to get this debt moving and i'll give you a call in 6 months to see how your circumstances are doing. In the mean time, perhaps you could ask your family or friends for money, or consider our loan service. If you have an unexpected windfall We'd make the settlement offer very attractive. Me : Ok, if I win the lottery you'll be the first to know. Thanks. Cabot: Goodbye. Me : *hangs up* Is the lift actually going to the top floor with this lot?

I am a private house hold and have an ex-directory private landlines telephone with BT. I am 64 years of age with health problems. I do not run a business from home and this telephone number has been with me since 1966. On the night of the 24th October I started to get telephone calls from mid-night onwards which got picked up by the answer machine that I have no sooner the answer machine started the calls were cut off after giving a fax signal and then the process was repeated again up to seven or eight times call after call then after a twenty minute break it started again. This was kept up all night long. When I dialed 1471 to find out who it was it said caller withheld the number. However, after five days and nights of this nightmare harassment, I managed to get the two telephone numbers that the calls were made from. They are 01 452 378 483 and also from 01202 406 090. I contacted BT and asked them to check these two numbers as I did not want to dial myself in case they were some soft of international [problem]. They told me the numbers were for Barclays bank and it was Barclay's bank that were making these endless harassment calls to my number. I then called the first number and I wast old by a very rude Indian man that it was Barclay's Call center in New Deli and that I was placed on what he called a Hit List. and he told me that I can not be removed from the Hit List. I then had to make seval calls to Barclay bank to be told on several occassions after being given a complaint number that they will look into the matter which takes three days and mean while I will just have to put up with whatever they dish out such as these calls all night long. I had five days of this from the 24th until the 28th October all night and all day. I was not able to use the telephone most of the time as they also managed to block the line making it unusable each time they made a series of these calls as the phone line would go dead for a while. I am ill with Ostio Arthurits plus heart problems as I had a heart attack last year due to stress and this was the last thing I needed as I also had lost my elderly aunt who passed away at the end of August. I have now been told that Barclays have put a stop to the calls however, I had a further two days of calls on the 13th and 14th of November when it started up again after being told that they had taken me off the list. Barclays have just contacted me and made me an offer of Fifty Pounds which I refused for all this harassment they then made an offer of Two Hundred pounds which happens to be twenty pounds per night and twenty pounds per day for all this aggression. I have told them I will not accept that sum of money and I will now taken this further to the Ombudsman. I find Barclays the most outrageous, and ruthless bank that could not care a dam for their customers and I hope that this helps any one that reads it to stay away from Barclays as they are the most rude and unhelpful bank I have ever encountered. When asked a very simple question to why did they do this to me they said that they have no answer to this question and they were really not concerned about health situation.

What is the procedure for job centre advisers to check your private email account on your phone to see if you've actually applied for jobs and have proof of it? I currently have proof on my email account of jobs which i've applied for which I can retrieve on my phone but what is the actual procedure for job centre advisers to physically see these emails which counts as my proof in looking for work? Can the adviser demand I hand over my phone then open each email to read them or do I just need to turn the phone screen to the adviser and show them the emails listed without actually going into them and showing them every single email. The reason I ask is because I was informed by an adviser this week while signing for my JSA that they have the authority to ask me to hand over my phone so they can check through my emails themselves otherwise I may well be sanctioned. I know there will be a data protection breach in that somewhere and know they can't force you to hand over your phone so they can rake through the emails but I'm just asking around for a little clarification before next signing day.

I signed on at the job centre on Wednesday.When i was there my advisor gave me 3 jobs to apply for and said i had to apply for them before i sign on again in 2 weeks on the 5/11/14. She told me to make sure i apply for them along with proof i have as i could be sanctioned for not applying for them. Today iv gone in to Universal job match to find them and apply for them.Iv found and applied for 2 of them but i cant find the third even with the universal match job ID.It was definitely on there at some point because the advisor had printed it out to give to me. My question is surely i cant be sanctioned for this as i have attempted to apply for the job but it no longer exists?

I have just been for my first Jobcentre Plus interview this week .Transferring from ESA to JSA.I can only describe it as "like being strip searched at an airport !" Well done JobcentrePlus West Derby Liverpool.

Hi there, I am wondering if anyone can help. I recently bought a dinner service from a local antiques centre. I later discovered that the set is fake. I have had the service seven days. I have contacted the owner of the antiques centre who said that the service was another dealers who has a stall within the centre. She said that she has paid that dealer and she is not responsible. She said that she will ask the dealer to contact me to try and resolve the issue. Can someone please tell me the best way to proceed if the seller refuses to contact me or refuses to give me a refund. What are my consumer rights? Kind regards Gary

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-29170371

I dont quite understand what the problem here is, claimant on DLA, partner is a carer, claim income support/child tax credits etc. Do not claim Mortgage relief (barred for whatever reason it was at the time of the claim some years ago) October, the Atos form arrives re assessment, form filled in and sent back (recorded), nothing heard from since. No medical sought (as yet) Roll forward 2 months and a letter drops through the door from the Benefit Integrity Centre in Ilford (about 100miles from the claimants address) withan Income Support from A2/04/12 . Form states that claimant has been getting income support for some time now and they need make sure they're getting the right amount of money. The enclosed letter from the Integrity Centre was dated 7th December and they want it back by the 20th December, just under two weeks. It is 33 pages long, has questions that were not asked the same or were not on the original form filled out about 6 years ago when the claim was first made, some of the questions seem almost intrusive. Some of the questions require quite accurate information, the claimant is currently not really well enough to answer the questions, some of the paperwork required needs a bank statement obtaining/ share amounts calculating etc. All this within 13 days or the threat of money being stopped? Seems a little unfair. They also want 'where to pay the money into' which they already have the details re accounts/sort codes, so why the need for these details? In part5 it asks ' Do you or your partner have any of the following' and ' You must answer for every item in the list. Tell us about accounts even if they are not in credit. but then go on to give just one line and £ amount for the bank accounts? Does this mean the claimant has to say 'Yes' to the bank accounts and then add how much is in each one credit wise and put the total in the box? If this is the case, the accounts are all but one overdrawn. Also, it asks for saving, there is a running float of around £1k in the account that the DWP payments are put in to, this would not be 'savings' but more of there before it gets used (which it does every month. They also want details of the mortgage but this was before the initial claim was made by some 4 years and no mortgage relief is being claimed (they are disallowed by the rules) so why is this relevant? why do they need to know? any help/advice would be much appreicated, the time limit given for the form (sent on 7th, received on 9th and want it back by 20th) seems a little strict.

anyone had to go here before, if you can advise what's the best way to get there ie car or tube as it's going to take me almost an hour to get there by either mode. just trying to keep the cost of getting there as low as possible and as convenient as i can. travelling from east london closest station is upton park slightly longet to get there by tube than car but i dont know how easy it will be to find parking there. thank you your help is much appreciated

We parked at the Peel Centre on the evening of 9th February 2014. We arrived, parked & left with some friends who were in a separate car. All the ticket machines were covered up with yellow covers, so we couldn't purchase a ticket. We took photos of all the machines in the vicinity just in case of any come back. We received a PCN from Excel Parking Services which we appealed against, but it was rejected. We appealed to POPLA, and again the appeal was rejected. In short, Excel & POPLA are saying that we should have contacted the Helpline No, but the sign next to each machine just says “in case of machine failure please use another machine and report the fault by calling our Helpline telephone number”. However: - There was no fault to report. - We couldn't use another machine because they were all covered up. - It doesn't say on the sign that you should call the Helpline number to make alternative payment arrangements. - Our friends who arrived, parked & left at the same time as us didn't receive a PCN. - I have asked Excel Parking on several occasions (by email) why the machines were covered up on the night in question - they haven't replied. How do we know they didn't cover them all up on purpose to catch people out?! This is the summary from POPLA: "Considering carefully, all the evidence before me, I find that by parking at the site for 73 minutes without purchasing the appropriate parking tariff, the appellant breached the terms and conditions of using the site. I also find that if the appellant was unable to purchase a valid ticket/ permit, they should have contacted the operator on the number provided on the signage displayed at the site, failing this they should not have parked there. I also find that the appellant’s case is that of mitigation. Mitigating circumstances do not form a valid ground to allow an appeal. Accordingly, this appeal must be refused." I now have until Friday 1st August to pay £100 fine "in order to avoid any further action by the operator". I would really appreciate some advice!! Thanks Karen Williams

HELP I have lost my appeal with popla and now Excel are threatening me with county court judgment What shall I Do?

Hello The Specialist Advisor at the education centre I go to has been non existant in supporting me. A snooty email or two and an email survey is all I got this academic year. She is the only one supposed to help me because of my condition. Can I request that somebody else less qualified support me instead who doesn't specialize in my condition? And can I request that she has no further input in my support? And that my profile be removed from her care? I hope this makes enough sense it's late and I'm getting tired now A little advice would be appreciated, thanks.

my hubby signed of on the 7th April he received a p45 from the JC with this signing of date he has not received a p60 should he have received a P60 from the JC as always thanks guys

Hello, just wondering if anyone can answer this for me? I have decided to create a new email address after having my current 1 for almost 3 years and decided to have a change. However, my new email address is: gay_guy1986 (yahoo), do you think my Job Centre advisor will have a problem with this email? if so how? I thought in the work place, its equal opportunities? what if he states, I need to change it because an employer might be homophobic and might not want to employ me, could this be the reason why he might have a problem with it? if an employer don't want to employ me based on my sexuality then surely he is in the wrong? Just looking for help on this matter, thanks

I was on JSA and received a call from the DWP last month wanting to do some sort of questionnaire - I didn't get the gist of it as I was running out the door at the time of the phone call and asked her to call me back. She called back when I was out to say she would be sending me a letter. I signed on as normal a couple of days later and everything was fine. A week after that I signed off to start my own business. I have now received a letter from DWP Benefit Integrity Centre saying that they have stopped my benefit as I did not respond to the letter - I did not receive a letter ! I am due 2 week JSA payment as JSA is paid in arrears - so I take it I can kiss goodbye to that - it also states that that all benefit will be stopped because I did not reply to said letter - surely they cannot stop my tax credits/child benefit/HB because of this? What is in the letter? I states that I cannot appeal - so what am I to do now?

If this is fact,will they check on your employment. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2576609/Now-rogue-payday-loan-firm-targets-jobless-encouraging-debts-sky-high-interest.html Regards,John.

Undercover film reveals inner workings at loan firm The Cheque Centre Reveals hard-up families on council estates are targeted by company Many sold loans with interest rates of up to 3,000 per cent Managers boast 'they've never turned anyone down' on camera Workers instructed to cold-call previous borrowers offering new loans Staff 'swipe' customers' accounts when they don't pay up Comes as Financial Conduct Authority announced new rules on industry Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2571091/Undercover-MoS-film-exposes-payday-loan-firm-preying-poor-heavy-drinkers-Waving-wads-cash-man-brags-lend-pay-raid-bank-accounts.html#ixzz2ulKgItm4

On the 29th of July, myself my son and his partner drove to the peel centre in stockport and parked next to nandos. My son paid for the ticket with cash and placed it on my dashboard. On the 8th of August I received a letter from Excel parking telling me I had to pay £60 as I didn't purchase a ticket. The only explanation I have is my son is dyslexic and might have entered a wrong character In the ticket machine. If this is the case (which I am positive it is) I don't feel I should have to pay the fine as this was simply a human error and I still paid them for a ticket. I have explained this to them and they don't care. Where should I go from here? Can they take me to court? thanks in advance for any help maureen

As predicted they did it again. I don;t know why my advisor just didn't say from the beginning that he had no intention of allowing me to go on the new enterprise allowance scheme. Here's what happened today. After raising this with the manager of the site last week I was supposed to go in today to fill in the paper work. Only I had this job interview, and as part of my JSA deal I had to go along with it even though the intention was to go on this scheme. I rearranged the interview for after today, and filled in the application form they sent me. I suspected all along it was a set up. I saw the emails they sent me printed off when I went in on his desk so then I knew it was coming then. This company basically have handed the job centre personal documents of mine without my consent, which I think breaks the data protection act. I have reported this to police and guess what- not a police matter. The company also cancelled the interview following my application form, so I sent them a cheeky email back telling them where to shove it and they grassed me up to the job centre, who have now referred my claim to a decision maker. My advisor also refused to sign me up foe this scheme on these grounds as well, so basically the whole thing has been a set up. My question first of all is where do I stand on this with regards to the data protection act, and what can I do about it? I'm ill from all the stress they have caused me this year and going get a sick note from my doctor again tomorrow. I thought if I could start up my own business then this would allow me to be self sufficient without having to worry about not sleeping and turning up late for work all the time, and making myself more ill. Second question- can I now claim ESA if I have been referred to a decision maker and how does that affect my claim for that? I was on it last year but ATOS kicked me off it, I should have challenged it, but I honestly want to work. I am having transient health problems which are causing me a lot of worry.

Hi folks, new to the site and looking for any advice on how to deal with Mitcheldean Collections/Contact centre. A little while back I received a letter from them stating they were seeking repayment of £881.82p of unpaid crisis loans, dating from 2000 to around 2003( when I then had a partner and her 2 kids whom I was claiming for as a couple). The bug bear for me with this claim is that several large amounts are not, rightly in my mind, for repayment as we were at the time 'told' to claim crisis loans to the amount of out Income Support at the time. Which was £180 a fortnight. after receiveing the letter I called them, and asked for all the dates in question to be sent to me. I in turn sent these letter to an 'apparent' office in Clyebank asking for details of all my signing on dates to be confirmed as well as receipt of payment by Giro cheque. This I know they must have as I was told back then that it would take 11 weeks minum to process any lost cheques. These never turned up. There are payments on there which I wouldnt mind paying back ( although a part of me stupidly asks that if they knew I couldnt pay it all back then...why give it to me at all????). Can anyone help or have advice on this. Much apprecieted in advance

Ok, lets start with a bit of background. Just over 2 years ago I was on ESA due for stress and anxiety and was referred to "the work program" During that time My marriage broke down and I moved from Cornwall to Lancashire for a fresh start. Out of the 2 years on "the work program" I was actually working for about 18 months of the time. The support when I moved was at best negligable but mostly non existent. About 6 weeks ago I had to give up my self employed freelance HGV driving due to a small bump. It was not so much the bump but the fall out and accusations that came from it led me to having panic attacks when it came to driving Articulated lorries. At this point I had already started the procedure to get my taxi badge (Licence) as the quiet season was coming up for Lorries (Jan - March/apr) Plus its easier to push a car around than a 65' long Lorry. The job centre have had extensive documentation and promised the earth with regards assistance in financing getting my Taxi badge (Medical/CRB/Btec course) Then backed out because I was on "the work program" My "Work program" provider refused to fund me because I actually finished with them Yesterday (27th Nov) and won't be starting work for another couple of weeks at least. Which brings me to today and the appalling way I was treated at the jobcentre in my coming off work program interview. An appointment I was actually looking forward to as they were hinting at being able and willing to assist me in getting back to work. That did not happen, and in my opinion the adviser went out of his way to try and cause my benefits to be sanctioned. At no point was any of the things that was discussed at my final work program meeting discussed. The first thing mentioned was that he did not like my email address. I had already had to set up a new address because universal jobmatch would not let me re register my email and I had lost the log in details. Since I am originally Cornish my new email address was "Pastymuncher74@xxx.com" He suggested that it was a "Joke" email and that I change it. Then said that if I didn't then he would issue a "Jobseeker's direction" which is what he actually did. (Unless I change it by Tuesday next week, my claim will go to a decision maker) At this point, I asked him to show me the legislation and where it stated in law that this had to be done. The reply was, and I quote "I don't have to show you anything" Next he changed my jobseekers agreement insisting I increase my minimum requirements, included activities I am not comfortable with and insisted I register with employment agency's (Which I had already said I would not do......I have had experience with agency's...none of them good) Again reminding him that I have a job lined up and will be starting in 2 or 3 weeks as soon as I have finished jumping through all the hoops I need to to get started. I attempted to bring up the issue of funding for the medical and was told to bring in proof of a guaranteed job. It was pointed out that the proof was provided 3 weeks previously and was told "Oh we wouldn't keep that" in other words it was binned. The "revised" jobseekers agreement was then thrust at me to sign, which I duly did but added "signed under duress" which I informed him I was going to put. At this point he then picked up both copies and said "I'm not having that" and binned them, printed out fresh copies and thrust them at me to sign. I was given the option of signing them or my claim suspended while it went to a decision maker (which I certainly could not afford) then added sarcastically that "its up to you if you want to put that under duress nonsense on again" Which I promptly did. I was also informed that I "had" to allow DWP access to my universal jobmatch and that "hand written logs are no longer acceptable." His whole attitude throughout the interview was like he was on a power trip (I am god and you will do what I say) and very confrontational. I was under the impression that he was deliberately trying to find an excuse to sanction me. I have now been called back to see him on Tuesday (To see if I have changed the email address) which will make 4 visits in 4 working days (2 today, 1 tomorrow and 1 on Tuesday) with the impression that if I don't play ball, more interviews will follow. I feel that he has totally overstepped the mark and is possibly bullying/harassing me. Length of time signing on this claim.......6 weeks Sorry about the "war and peace" length post but its really got my Gander up. I'm intending to make a complaint but need some guides on what grounds/legislation I can. IE where he's overstepped the mark. Stuart

Can anyone tell me have they got the bank details for the Cheque Centre?I want to start paying back a payday loan I currently have with them.I am trying to get a repayment plan in place but I am getting numerous calls daily from them after defaulting. What is the best way to deal with them?they have me worried sick and I am feeling very low because of this daily harassment.

Posting this on behalf of a friend of the family, so sorry if the details are a bit hazy ... They claim child tax credits; apparently you need to renew the claim each year. So, he rang up to renew, and was told that he needed to supply them with his exact earnings for the year. He'd been on Job Seekers Allowance for part of the year, so explained this, and told them he'd contact the Job Centre to get the exact figure (and would be in touch again once he had it). It took something like 4 months before the Job Centre finally provided the information. He phoned them at least a dozen times and was given various excuses. On one occasion he was told that they now had the information and would post it off to him the next morning - it didn't arrive until 6 weeks later. During this time, the Child Tax Credit people told him that he'd missed the deadline for renewing. On top of that, they are now saying that he owes them money (I'm not quite sure why - overpayment perhaps?) He explained that the hold-up had been with the Job Centre, and this time was told that exact earnings figures weren't needed - an estimate would have been enough (and of course, they denied having said that exact figures were needed). He's been told that he has the right to appeal against the decision blah blah blah, and is being sent an appeal form. Is this the best way forward do you think? Or should he be looking at something more proactive and aggressive?

Hello all, I am new too all of this so please accept my apologies.. My wife has a £ 900 payday loan with The Cheque Centre, it is costing over £ 200 per month in interest alone and we can ill afford this, month after month we are milked and simply rolling it over... What are the consequences of not paying it ?? What are they allowed to charge for Non payment ?? I want to get her to cancel the Debit Card, and then arrange to pay them off, she is unwilling to do this as they will call her mum and whomever else they have as a contact on her initial application.. If she was too agree a £ 100 per month repayment of the original loan where does she stand with additional charges ????????????? regards Mark