This morning i went to my first mandatory Jobs and Careers Fair in town, it's a FREE event, yet the staff at the JC treated us like common criminals with their threats of sanctions if we didn't go to it, but that's not all, once we filled in a form (local council housing?), we had to have our name checked off from the JC register (or sanction list as i called it!), we were then given a piece of paper where we had to write down 5 employers that we've met today and what we did, this was also written with the threat of sanctions if we didn't comply! Don't forget, this is a FREE event and everyone is welcome...unless your unemployed ****! 75 stands of which 10 were any use to me, most were agencies that i've already signed up with, loads of colleges trying to entice 18-25 year olds to join, and only 4 proper companies looking to recruit people! Didn't like the attitude of the DWP staff walking around asking random people if they've found anything useful yet! Oh well, at least i got lots of free pens from it!

Hi All On the chance that I might be able to get some advice on this matter, here's my Unpaid Fare Notice Nightmare so far... Bought mobile ticket online in April: Return, Hull to Kings Cross. Girlfriend initially had the app on her phone, so downloaded the ticket. Her phone broke, her phone was repaired, re-downloaded the app, but the ticket wasn't visible. She left on a 2 week trip to visit family abroad. (Note: She went to Manchester Airport with the same problem of not having the ticket on the app, and was allowed to travel hassle-free, having been told that they've had a fair bit of trouble with the new M tickets) A few days later with my impending trip and no ticket to show, I take my email receipt to the station and see if I can collect it from a machine (I know nothing about M tickets at this point, other than my gf telling me to 'buy these') Obviously, my code doesn't work. I go to the counter, the woman there tells me I will have to ring up Hull Trains to get it sorted. The next day I ring Hull Trains explaining the problem. I'm passed from pillar to post. Eventually I am told that my girlfriend, now abroad, will have to ring herself and have my phone handy (no proper landline number is offered, despite my asking for one - only an 084/085 premium number). I explain the logistic impossibility of this and it is agreed by the customer service staff member that the only way of sorting it is if my gf can somehow ring them from one phone, and ring me from another and tell me whatever number it is that I need to punch in to access the ticket... But she can't ring from abroad, just as I can't ring a premium number from my mobile right here. The day of my journey arrives. I am reassured by the missus via text and facebook that they get this thing all the time and that I should just show my email confirmation which clearly states the train, seat number, last 3 digits of debit card etc... But I'm not a sympathetic foreign girl. I'm an ugly, cynical man and the ticket inspector's hands were tied, or so he claimed. "Tell me the truth!" he demanded when I started to tell my story. Other than being slightly over zealous at the outset of our exchange, and being a tad patronising throughout ("you see it says there 'this is not a ticket" and "you've had x days to sort this out"), I wouldn't say he was rude. Meanwhile, my gf, who I had alarmed to the situation via text, was busy emailing Hull Trains to try and sort it. I was made to sign an Unpaid Fare Notice and advised to "give them a ring tomorrow". "What, I don't have to write a letter, like it says here on the notice?" "Give them a ring" he nodded reassuringly. "But it s..." "Give them a ring". I wrote a letter the next day, appealing the charge and explaining the situation. My return ticket, and the ticket which I had just failed to show, were both now on the app on my phone (it had taken them two hours from my gf's first email, whilst I was on the train, to fix) A couple of weeks later I received a letter from (Unreadable signature) the Appeals Assessor at RPSS (Revenue Support Services aka London & South Eastern Railway Ltd) thanking me for my correspondence but regretfully informing me that my appeal had been unsuccessful and I had to pay the £74. 3 days later I received two duplicate reminder letters that I owed £89 payable within 14 days lest I incur an additional admin charge of £20. Too shocked to write back immediately, I didn't. I have now received a letter headed NOTICE of PENDING PROSECUTION signed by the Prosecutions Manager according to the letter. Attached is a STATEMENT OF WITNESS, also signed by the Prosecutions Manager. Part of it reads... 'At the time of making this report, the fare which was actually due at the time of travel has not been paid and I therefore contend that the intention of Mr H was to travel on the railway without having previously paid the fare and with intent to avoid payment thereof.... I would be willing to attend court if necessary' My question is this: Have I got a leg to stand on? I don't want to break the law. I've paid for the ticket I used, and have evidence to that effect. £74 is a huge amount of money for me. Have I got any comeback on this? I've seen things online about 'strict liability' and 'mitigating circumstances may be compelling but irrelevant'. Is there any hope? Any advice or knowledge on this would be appreciated

Hi all, I have been reading with interest regarding some similar issues however no posts seem to fully answer my questions. See last year, almost to the day, I boarded a southern rail train in a rush, asked the platform assistant if it was possible to purchase a ticket on the train, he pointed to the train guard who had the ticket machine strapped to her, she waved and smiled and I boarded the train. I started to look for her in the two adjoins carriages and she was nowhere to be seen so I decided to take a seat and wait for her to walk through as they normally do. My stop arrived, gatwick airport, and I approached a station attended (or a train official, to this day I don't know who it was!) and explained the situation and where could I purchase a ticket from. After much back and forth I was issued a penalty faire which I declined to pay as I felt that I had not intended to evade the fair however I was not given the opportunity to do so, granted I could have gone to the station however my original train arrived at platform 12 at clapham junction and my connecting train was from platform 13, so yes, I jumped on this train and if anyone knows clapham station the station office is some treck! Anyway. My details were taken, I tried to inform her that my address would be soon changing however she stated my current address must be put on the notice. I was not given this notice nor a reference number and she said contact customer services for details??? This I did while in the airport lounge and notified them of the new address which all communications should be directed to and to please request he reference number so I could pay, by then I'd calmed down and thought I'd just pay the damn £20 and be done with it. I was refred IFPAS for payment however they said hey could not settle without a reference number!? So! Back to southern rail to request this, I recovered a replay stating my address had been changed on the system and I would receive the reference number. No further communications were recovered to me. Until today. Turns out a enforcement officer attended my old property with a distress notice and I have missed a court appearance down to southern rail sending all communications to he wrong address, I have yet to see any documentation however asked the EO over the phone what address and dates they have on the paper work and they a to my old address and AFTER the date in which southern rail confirmed that my address details had been updated!! Really don't know which way to go here, I have not had the opportunity to pay the penalty fair as was never provided any documentation nor did I have the opportunity to defend the case in court! Now I have a balif chasing me for £629.90!?!? Can anyone out there assist me and offer some next step guidance please? Really appreciate it as I'm sure not to sleep tonight! Many thanks

Hello Can my employer change the hours on my contract to suit themselves. Have been informed that if we dont work overtime our hrs will be changed from 7.45-4.45 to 7am to 4.45. The contract says we must do a reasonable amount of overtime to suit the buisness. Thanks in advance

I had a letter offering a 75% discount from Lowell the week before last, it was a debt which I knew was Statute Barred, but I hadn't told Lowell about this. Anyway I had a call from them last week and stupidly I answered it and all of the security questions (I know STUPID). I told them over the phone that the debt was SB and that the only reason that they were offering a 75% discount was because they knew as well as I did that it was unenforceable, they reply was that some people felt that they had a moral duty to pay back these debts, I replied that I wasn't one of those people. Anyway I expected a phantom payment to turn up after my silly behaviour and fast forward to today a letter arrived, but to my surprise it says Account Closed with Lowell. It didn't even cost me a Recorded Delivery Letter. Well Done Lowell for Once! QB

My hubby and I live in a 2 bedroom flat, we are in receipt of housing benefit and pay bedroom tax as we use both rooms for medical/health reasons. We are registered to move nearer our daughter as she provides care and support for us both. We are eligible for any 1 bedroom property across the county but we are also eligible for 2,3,4 and 5 bedroomed properties, paying the bedroom tax BUT only in the difficult to let areas where we live. In comparison, our daughter, who is not on benefits and pays her full rent, is registered to move as she lives in a 2 bed flat and wants a house but she is eligible for any 3,4 and 5 bedroomed properties across the county. Is this fair? Are we being discriminated against because we are on benefits ? Any thoughts or advice on this query would be welcome.

I have had a mortgage with this co for last 8 years or so and unfortunately there has been a history of arrears over the years due to changing circumstances. Currently, am 3 months in arrears and received a letter stating the amount and that i had 15 working days to contact them to make a suitable arrangement. On day 13 of 15 I called them and was advised that they would not accept a proposal from me, even with an income and expenditure statement, as due to my history I would most likely break the arrangement. They also advided that there was a letter on its way to advise of a court hearing to obtain a charging order against any future arrangements. On checking their system they then told me that the letter was but was not being sent out until 2 days later ( day 15)? I queried this with the advisor and then her supervisor came on the call and advised that the advisor was new but the details were correct. ie the letter sent to me advising I had 15 days was just a standard letter and should never have been sent to someone with my history.... He then advised that they would go over an I & E review but it would not be accepted without going to court first and he said I should attend the hearing. A week passed and I had still not received this letter advising of the hearing, but I did get an urgent voicemail from ME asking me to call their offices before 8pm. I called them and was put on hold whilst they checked the notes. A rather embarrased person came back on the phone and advised that although the letter had still not been sent out... . they would not accept an arrangement from me without going to court first and that the purpose of her call was to see if I could clear all the arrears on that day before further action commenced. I advised that this was not possible and was then advised that they were not sure why I had been promised a court letter a week earlier but she would chase it up for me. (!) I was then reminded that while my account was in arrears I was being charged 40.00 per month but that this would stop once there was an arrangement in place... .. (Errrm, this is what I am trying to do but you won't accept it unless court is involved and the court date is being pushed further ahead. Anyway, still no letter but I just wondered if anyone could advise if this is normal. Thanks in advance.

I wonder if anyone can help. I’ve been helping my cousin straighten out his finances as he’s dyslexic and doesn’t understand his statements – I suspect he’s also got dyscalculia as numbers just don’t stack up for him. He has a Santander account and when I log online for him it says the product is a ‘preferred in credit rate account’ but I can’t seem to find any information on this account online. He’s banked with Santander for about 18 months and although he has a £100 overdraft facility which he’s dipped in and out off on occasion he’s generally had no chargers bigger than a few pounds here and there for the overdraft facility; that was until last month when he started getting paid monthly instead of weekly. He basically went form getting paid £200 a week to making the last £200 last 5 weeks so needless to say he went over his £100 limit. The charges so far are as follows for last month: Daily unarranged fee £30 Daily unarranged fee £20 Paid item fee £25 [for a £6.19 debit card transaction] Paid item fee £25 [for a £26.00 debit card transaction] Paid Item fee £25 [for a £51.51 Direct Debit] He’s given me access to his online banking and when I first logged on his account was £133 overdrawn – I’ve increased his overdraft allowance to £200 to minimise the charges and I’ve paid a chunk of money in to bring it back into credit, however on the 25th of this month the following charges are pending: Daily unarranged fee £75 Paid item fee £25 [for a £51.51 Direct Debit] Paid item fee £25 [for a £5 debit card transaction] Pain item fee £25 [for a £42.66 Direct Debit] I assume there will be some charges next month too as he was over his overdraft limit until today and 2 direct debits have also been paid out. So for now he’s going to be OK with my help, and I’ve opened him a basic account elsewhere which I’ve set up a weekly standing order from his Santander account to give him his disposable cash – I guessed this would protect his bills money and take away the room for error. The question I have is are these fees he’s been paying justified? £75 a month for an overdraft facility seems steep – when I had a £3000 OD with Nationwide I think it was only £19 a month in interest! Not to mention being charged £25 for a £5 payment which they could have declined! All insight welcome. J

I had a business account with NW and recently sent them a SAR (and £10 cheque) which they received on 16th August now well in excess of their 40 day requirement I have also now sent them the letter before court action, time period also expired without any contact. Wherer do I go from here?

hi, i found this parking space in my town center and i have been parking here for around 2 years and never got a ticket. i thought that because all the road markings were rubbed off i couldnt get a ticket. today however, i got a ticket! gutted! the ticket said "Parked without clearly displaying a valid pay & display ticket or voucher" Here are the pictures: [ATTACH=CONFIG]40179[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]40180[/ATTACH]

Hi everyone. i'm in need of some advice. Last wednesday i had arranged to go and see some friends in london and intended to use the train to get there. at around 4pm i went to my local trainstation (Marden). The ticket office was closed so i went over to the permit machine to by a permit to travel that i could exchange on the train or when i get to london. The machine was out of order aswell. I boarded the train anyway and thought i could explain it to the train staff when i get to london and buy my ticket there. I was a bit early and decided to get off a stop early at sevenoaks. when i reached the gates there were a large group of revenue inspectors. I approached one of them and explained my situation to him. He took me over to another staff member with a ticket machine. I explained that the ticket office was closed and that the permit to travel machine was not working. He immediately said "its a penalty fare mate" I explained to him again and he just kept repeating "its a penalty fare". he would not listen. at the time i was thinking that penalty fare meant that i was gonna go to court and get prosecuted. I started to panic and tried to make a run for it but was caught by 3 big men who must have worked for revenue inspection. they took me into the corner and told me that i was going to be prosecuted. i tried explaining that their colleague was not listening. they took my details and said i would be hearing from them in the next 4-6 weeks. I know i shudnt have ran off but i didnt want to be fined for fare avading when that never was my intention. now i dont know what to do. i'm unemployed and can't receive legal aid for this kind of incident. Any advice would be much appreciated thanks.

Hi all My son has received a penalty fare notice letter from revenue protection support services based in Portsmouth, saying that he travelled from Lancing to Shoreham (southern railway) and did not have a ticket on 28/11/12 The problem is my son (17yrs) does not go out unless he is with me or his dad and I know he was asleep all day as I was home with him (he was up all night gaming have that as evidence on his playstation gamer log thing) Obviously i have no evidence to show that he was in bed or with me as we were both at home. Pluss as my son said why would he go to either lancing or shorham he does not know any one there or even where it is, even though it is just down the road. Does anyone know how the appeal process works and what I can do? any help advice would be great. Thanks in advance.

sorry i think its probly going to be in the wrong place but http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/42191 lets see how many signitures we can get the aim is legislation to force companys to rather than sell the debt onto debt collectors for a pitance to offer it to the debtor first for the same amount the initial companys still going to see the same ammount of money as they would if it had gone to a debt collector but it stops it gathering fees and charges and stuff and becoming an unmanagable debt

Hi all Sorry a bit long winded all this. Thanks in advance for taking the time to look at this thread. I'll give you a brief overview of the situation and then just a couple of questions if anyone could advise further that would be great. I was recently stopped at my destination station without a ticket for my journey. I was in a rush for the train that night and as a result did not purchase a ticket before I travelled (there are plenty of ticket machines etc at this station). On the train no ticket conductor came around and it completely slipped my mind to by a ticket. I was stopped as I was leaving my destination station and questioned under caution by a ticket inspector. I gave an honest account of the situation but didn't quite realise the seriousness of the situation at the time. When asked how I intended to pay for my journey at the end of the interview I initially said "i guess I wouldn't have bought one" but then asked that the statement be changed to "I wouldn't have been able too". The inspector said I would receive a letter in 2-3 weeks and I am currently waiting for this letter which I understand will probably propose their intention to convict me in court (almost certainly of fare evasion) and ask me to respond. I am clearly in the wrong here and now fully understand the seriousness of my actions. I work in the NHS and I am really worried about the potential impact this will have on my career if it go's to court. As a result I contacted a solicitor who advised to wait for the initial letter and then respond with a letter apologising for the incident and pointing out my previous good character and the potential damage of any court appearance given my position. Being worried sick I have spent the day trawling the forums for any advice on composing a suitable letter and have one formulated in preparation. One of my main concerns is that the solicitor has advised me not to dwell on the offence only to apologise for it, in the risk that I will further incriminate myself should I decide to defend myself in court. As far as I can tell the letter will ask for my version of events and as such I have detailed them exactly as I described to the ticket officer and described it as an error on my part. I have then gone on to apologise, point out the potential damage of court proceedings and make an offer to cover any penalties + costs involved. I know I am trying to second guess the not very exact science of writing these letters but should I leave out any reference to the event and stick with the apology etc ??? Or should I leave this part in given that it is the information I provided during interview ?? My instinct is that any damage has already been done when giving my initial statement and as such a further explanation of the reasons I had not bought a ticket won't help but won't do me any harm either. I'm guessing the main bit of advice here will be too wait to see what the letter says but I can't stop worrying about this and just want to feel prepared for the worst should it arise. Thanks.

About 2 months ago i made a complaint regarding a payday loan company who was basically trying to get me to pay £1120.20 for a loan of £120. I called the Office Of Fair Trading and they somewhat did agree that as i did take the loan i should have to pay it back but not at the costs they are stating so they accepted my complaint and said they would report it to the proper authorities aswell... About 2 weeks after the conversation with the OFT i received a letter from my local council saying they are aware of my situation and wish me to explain further and to back up evidence of any communication between myself and microcredit.... Sorry to say i was not too impressed already explained all to the OFT so i did nothing!!!! sweet F All!!! Sooo not less than 20minutes ago i recieved a call from the OFT regarding Microcredit askine ME if wanted to be a witness against Microcredit as they are preparing a case against them :O REALLLLY..... CAN I DO IT JUST NOW? Nope she said with laughter Hahahah we will call you next week for an interview over the phone that will last upto 1hr... Nice! Im very much looking forward to it! So do you all think this will be the end of Minicredit/Microcredit or will they get let off with it? Are they even trading legally? Comments and suggestion where this is heading will be grateful!

Hi all I am posting a thread here for the first time and it is on behalf of my parents. they took out a loan in June 1997 and have made all payments since and never missed a payment. So as far as they are concerned their 15 year loan agreement was going to end in June 2012. However, Citifinancial sent them a letter stating that in June telling tham that they still owed Citifinancial over £2000 because of interest on missed payments. My parents paid approx 95% of the monthly amount and the other 5% was made by the DWP (father had an industrial injury). My parents were baffled by this as they always made their payments on time (via their branch formerly known as Avco but they shut down) and then via cheques that were sent to Citifinancial directly. a complaint was made and they first stated that it was an error on their part as the DWP amount was not taken into account. But then they again stated they still owed them the money and they sent a statement from the past 2 years showing all payments being made on time but still showing a balance of over £2000. The issue is that because the loan was secured (parents have paid off mortgage to their provider) they have yesterday sent a letter that they will instruct solicitors to sell the house and recover the amount owing to them, even though an official complaint was made to them 7 weeks ago asking them for a full explanantion on how a balance of over £2000 can be owed, even though my parents made all their payments on time, they never received any letters stating that there was any overdue amount owing because of interest on late payments. I feel that this organisation are being dishonest and vile, it is quite convinient to ask for a balance owing at the same time the agreement should have ended. Can anybody please help as my parents don't know what to do as they have made a complaint but in the 7th week of the 8 week period given for Citifinancial to respond to the claim, their collections department are threatening them with legal action and their property being sold without their consent (even though deed is with my parents and mortgage has ended). Sorry about the rant and the length of the post. Thanks

Basically, woke up the other morning and my car has dissappeared.. i reported the car stolen right away, they found the car and took it to a local lockup, i rang them today and they said its £200 pound recovery charge to have my car back. how can i fight this?

Hello all - I've been having a look over posts in this forum for about the last hour and there's a lot of useful stuff so thanks to everyone involved. the situation; it involves my girlfriend and happened about 4 months ago. I wanted to post just to get a feel of things because at the moment I don't have all the exact details and she's worried. She got the train from a station into London. She bought a return ticket from a machine at the station that included a ‘zones 1-6 day travelcard’ (or whatever it's called). However, she bought that ticket thinking that she had her 16-25 railcard with her. When she got into London someone official asked to see her ticket and when she couldn't produce the railcard (because she'd left it at home) he confiscated her ticket, took her details (which she gave) and told her she couldn't continue her journey and would have to go back. She didn't have any money on her (only card) so he gave her a signed note to allow her make the journey back to the station that she had come from. He must have made mention of the possibility of prosecution as I got a phone call at this point with her in floods of tears being worried about being sent to prison. She made the journey back again without further problem. This is where the plot thickens though - when she got home and found her railcard it turned out that it had expired so it wouldn't have been valid even if she'd remembered it (she has since bought a new railcard and continues to use it whenever we use the train). She then received a letter a couple of months ago summoning her to court at the beginning of September. She rang a solicitor on the strength of a friend’s referral and they weren't interested, saying that it wasn't their area of expertise and she should contact someone local to the magistrates court. She's now terrified that she's going to have a criminal record for fraud and lose her job. This sounds unlikely to me but I have absolutely no experience of this sort situation so I can't offer any concrete advice. Any thoughts on what I've said and how to proceed would be greatly appreciated. Sorry for the slightly hazy specifics - she's just told me over the phone that she's due in court in a couple of weeks and doesn't have any idea what to do next. I’ll get more from her asap and get them on here. Cheers, drmac