I went Leisure World in Southampton to watch a film. ParkingEye took over the car park in June last year. The car park is 4 hours free parking for Leisure World users but you must enter your Car registration details to qualify. I didn’t. Received a PCN in the post, £100.00 would be reduced to £60.00 if paid in 14 days. I went on-line and checked the parking at Leisure World and it said “Free for 4 Hours”. Thought the PCN must be a mistake so ignored it. 9 days later a second reminder letter arrived. I went on-line to seek advice on parking on private land and the general defence advice at the time was ignore it so I did. £100.00 would be reduced to £60.00 if paid in 4 days. 21 days later a third letter arrived. £100.00, must be paid in 14 days. Again went on-line, unfortunately not on this site, and the advice was, as I was not the driver, to respond that I was not the driver and therefore not liable. Received County Court Claim Defended Claim based on on-line advice, again not this site, My defence was based on the fact that I did attend the cinema and therefore was entitled to 4 hours free parking. I also stated that I was not the driver and therefore not liable and also that as they are claiming a breach of contract they could only claim their losses and as 4 hours are free their loss was nothing. Courts acknowledged my defence. ParkingEye issued a Notice to Proceed, a 47 page letter. They have quoted a case involving a District Judge HHJ Maloney. This is a case they won but it is regard to two people overstaying a free period. I did not overstay a free period but did not register my car. They also said that I could not change my defence at this point without the courts permission. I understood that I have to submit a witness statement at some point and that would include any evidence I want to use in the case. Directions questionnaire (Small Claims Track) received and I completed and returned. ParkingEye sent me a their copy, signed “PE” as the claimant. Notice of Transfer of Proceedings to Portsmouth County Court. I am awaiting Judge’s directions. I have since sent a copy of a letter to ParkingEye from Odeon Cinema’s stating that they can confirm that I did purchase cinema tickets on that day and therefore entitled to 4 hours free parking. I need help.

Hi, Grateful for some advice. I've received a council PCN in relation to parking in a free 4 hours on street parking bay. According to the PCN, I was 'observed' parking in the bay at 8:41 and they slapped the ticket on at 12:53 just after I arrived back at the car to move it (= overstay of 4 hours and 12 minutes - 2 minutes just outside the mandatory 10 minutes grace period). On the council website they 'present' photo evidence of parking in in the bay, however all photos are timestamped with a time of 12:55. They have no evidence of the start time except on the PCN where it says 'observed at 8:41'. I remember parking at around 8:40 - 8:45 that day and I distinctly remember there were no parking wardens anywhere in sight. How would all this stack up at appeal (or even in a court of law)?

Hi, Recently I purchased an air compressor from an online store for £200. With this compressor they offered a "free" 5 piece accessory kit. One of these items was a tyre inflator/pressure gauge and this has now become faulty. I have contacted them to ask for a repair or replacement and they have informed me that as it was a free item then there is no warranty and they are under no obligation to deal with it. How do I stand legally? Although they call it "free" it is not really free as I had to buy a £200 item in order to get it. Many thanks guys.

I don't consider myself to be stupid.. but I am not sure what I need to do with this. I received through the post a letter addressed to me, enclosing a card for Amazon Prime - 30 day free trial. I am a regular Amazon customer buying books for my Kindle - I have never indicated in anyway that I would like to take up this service and have never purchased/downloaded videos from them either. My question is, bearing in mind the above that I have never requested this, do I now have to go and cancel this trial or will they automatically bill me £79.00 ??

Hello - I made appointments with 4 solicitors for free advice about my divorce, one of them carried on chatting away after the the free alloted time. She didn't mention I was going into paid time, and now I have received a bill for £135. So far I have seen 6 solictors on this basis and all have outlined what they can offer me, and given free advice. But this one solicitor decided to charge me. Is there anything I can do?

Afternoon everyone! I have successfully had 3 defaults removed, 3 debts written off and I am in the process of having one more default removed and debt written off! I have been on my journey for about a year! Its flew over, and brings me excitement to challenge these DCA! especially with so many positive results! I will be going into more and more detail! Good Luck - any questions?

Hello, Unsure if this is the correct forum so apologies in advance. I'll try and keep this brief. In short I opened an account in October and I've never received the free tablet offered, I've had rubbish customer service with zero new information from VM. Timeline: 18.10.2014 - Signed up for VM services through their affinity program (through my work). Broadband, phone, TV and came with a free tablet within 28 days of install as part of the deal (confirmed via e-mail). 18.11.2014 - Install (few issues such as not porting phone number and 152mbps speeds were coming in at 40mbps - apparently this will settle within a month ) 16.12.2014 - Chased tablet via phone - informed it's on the way. I raised concerns about speeds and informed of area issue's ongoing since October 23.12.2014 - Chased tablet again via phone - informed it's on it's way still (generic response) I push and then actually informed that my account states I'm not eligible, further investigation shows that my notes are incorrect, these are amended and I'm informed I'll receive contact within 2 weeks outlining tablet delivery info. I also noted about poor speeds still. 05.01.2015 - No contact from VM or tablet so chased tablet again via phone and told exactly the same as previous call however I'll receive contact within a week about the tablet. 07.01.2015 - Services down for around 24 hours. 16.01.2015 - No contact from VM or tablet and phone up and make a formal complaint. Speak with manager and I'm told same as previous calls, tablet is being processed and to 'bear with them', also discuss my slow speeds. I'm advised I'll receive a call back on the 19th from a Ryan who is handling my complaint. 18.01.2015 - I phone VM technical to discuss my slow speeds, I'm advised there are still ongoing issues in my area and 40mbps over wireless is perfectly acceptable, even over a 152mbps line. After phone call I add my own router and play with my settings and channels - My speed increased to approx 100mbps. 22.01.2015 - No contact from VM or tablet. Received a letter stating £4.50 per month increase. Phone up again to make additional complaint, advised the increases will be refunded. Advised the complaint is with the Ryan and I need to await his contact and she can't do anything, she e-mails him for to contact me. 23.01.2015 - E-mail CEO Tom Mockridge with complaint outlining poor customer services, absolutely no responses from VM and my tablet where about. 26.01.2015 - I receive a phone call from the VM CEO office to discuss my complaint, points outlined are tablet whereabouts, poor customer service and why I had to chase constantly for answers. A bit of a discount on next months bill and an upgrade on the tablet was verbally agreed. Call back promised for 2nd Feb. 10.02.2015 - Still no contact or tablet, chased via e-mail for update. 17.02.2015 - Still no contact or tablet, chased via e-mail for update. 24.02.2015 - Still no contact or tablet, chased via e-mail for update. 25.02.2015 - Received e-mail from the CEO office stating they are still looking into it and advised they should have heard by the 2nd February and are looking into different resolution route and will update me with they have an update. 26.02.2015 - I replied via e-mail asking about my upgrade had been processed. 13.03.2015 - Still no contact or tablet, chased via e-mail for update. I have outlined their stated 8 weeks are up and they have until the end of the day to resolve or I take further action. And that's it. According to the VM guidelines I am now eligible to raise this for independent adjudication through CISAS, which I will do at the weekend. I'm ****ed that I've been chasing for all of this time to get absolutely nowhere. From a legal standpoint where am I? Is the tablet actually part of the deal, am I actually eligible for it? Can I cancel the contract or can I push for anything due to the hassle/stress, time spent, inconvenience and not receiving part of my order? I don't want to go through another 6 weeks of CISAS process for nothing. Any advice welcome.

Free Water Saving Product may be available from your Water Company especially useful if you are in a water metered area. Go to this link: https://www.savewatersavemoney.co.uk/free-water-saving-packs If unsure of you water company your can use the search by postcode facility or just go down the webpage and then click on your water company provider to see what is available. Please be careful to check that the item is FREE as some items are available but at a reduced cost. Also remember to actually check your Water Companies own website to see what they may have FREE. You can also just do a search using a search engine adding your water company and Free Water Saving Packs.

Brighthouse targets the lower income families knowing that is a captured customer base. Because they have a captured customer base, they can make big profits by offering low weekly payments, which makes the offers look attractive and affordable, coupled with a very high interest rate. If we take just one item, a Sony PlayStation 4 with a few games, Brighthouse price on extended payment terms £1,352, elsewhere buying the PlayStation and games separately, £449 or less, a difference of £903. You can buy a nice little car for £903. Think about it.

HP 13" Platinum Pavilion x360 Touchscreen Notebook Brighthouse pice - £1560 Currys price - £704 which also includes McAfee security, Microsoft Office & Cloud backup So £1560 - £704 = £856 so you can either buy a second one and get £150 cash back in hand or walk away with an HP Laptop and £856 in your hand not forgetting the extras you get from Currys.

Hi, hope you can help I opened up a flex account with Nationwide in May and they offered me a £1000 interest free overdraft (which I signed for) for a year. Today I got a letter from them to say that my overdraft has gone down to £250 and from November I will have to pay interest. Are they allowed to just withdraw an agreement? Thanks

At Derbyshire Districts CAB we want to make sure that people in debt know that there are sources of free help; that they don’t have to pay whopping fees to a debt management company in order to get out of debt. To that end we have started the Fee Free campaign and we’re asking as many people as possible to help spread our simple message: You should NEVER have to pay for help with debt. Please help us get the word out. If you’re on Twitter or Facebook, if you have a blog or if participate in message boards and forums, you can help spread our message. You can visit our Twitter account (https://twitter.com/DD_CAB) and retweet our Fee Free messages. You can also find out more on our blog (http://feefreedebthelp.blogspot.co.uk/) and download posters, articles and pictures to share on social media. We think that our message can make a big difference to people struggling with their finances and we hope everyone can give it their full support.

Whilst browsing around on FaceBook, someone invited me to the ''Beat the Bailiffs and the Banks'' FB Page, so I joined, and all was well and good to begin with, I was able to impart some of the knowledge and advice I have learnt from here to others on their, who I must add, were completely out of their depth and knowledge when it came to their rights. After a while, the token ''no contract'' ''third party interloper'' comments began to surface and would always appear just after my advice advising not to contact them via phone, keep everything in writing etc etc... Then a poster with the name Getoutofdebtfree would agree in part but then attempt to undermine the advice? And slowly but surely, the truth behind the page came out, with those who have learnt or heard, of ROIRA and where calling themselves, 'commonly known as' and everything then became a ''no contract'' IGNORE, 'print this ROIRA off and stick it to your door'.... FML!! ROIRA how utterly puerile! As they say, a little knowledge is dangerous, then the accusations of being a 'shill' and a 'troll' began to surface, and I was told that if the OP had followed any of my advice she would have been out of pocket to the tune of thousands? So I said my piece and left, bidding them the very best of luck in their FMOTL defense against the corporations where their arguments have always been laughed at....

A new fee-free template for basic UK bank accounts has been revealed by the Treasury after a deal with major banks. Basic accounts do not offer overdrafts or cheque books, and may be given to those with a chequered credit history. Some holders of these accounts have been hit by initial fees of £30 or more after a direct debit or standing order payment has bounced. The cost can then escalate if the fees are unpaid. Under the new terms agreed, these one-off fees will be scrapped. Economic Secretary to the Treasury Andrea Leadsom said the new accounts would give basic bank account holders "certainty and clarity". "It will end people being effectively locked out of their basic bank accounts due to high fees and charges when their payments failed," she added. Account holders should also be offered a debit card, in order to withdraw cash from the UK's ATM network. Andrew Tyrie, chairman of the Treasury Select Committee, welcomed the move but said it came a year later than planned. Inside a debt charity: Matt Barlow, chief executive of Christians Against Poverty, says: We ask all our new debt clients to open a basic bank account with a bank that they don't owe money to. It is often not an easy business, especially for vulnerable people. In some cases, staff at the local branches are unaware of the basic bank account and we have found they inadvertently up-sell, offering the client a current account which results in rejection when they carry out a credit check. This is especially hard on someone who is trying really hard to get their finances back on track and take their first tentative steps to addressing problem debt. One of the other biggest stumbling blocks is that the banks want photo identification, which can be too expensive for someone without a passport or driving licence. There are only one or two companies which allow other forms of ID and we would love to see the Treasury tackle that issue. Another difficult element is the lack of a debit card with many of these accounts which really hit people in rural communities who end up travelling to a cash machine out of their immediate area and are unable to do shopping online. 'Fair fees' Some banks have, at times, withdrawn or reduced basic account holders' access to cash machines, prompting criticism from campaigners. There are an estimated nine million users of basic bank accounts in the UK. Nine High Street banks have signed up to the deal, accounting for 90% of the UK current account market. Access to basic bank accounts is extremely sporadic across the sector” says Mike O'Connor Chief executive, StepChange Banking industry body the British Bankers Association, which worked with the banks to develop the new template, said the revised account was aimed at people who might not be able to open a standard account and customers in financial difficulty. "These basic accounts will make it easier for more people to manage their money. They will have many features that will help people to budget, pay bills and save up," said BBA chief executive Anthony Browne. The EU authorities agreed a directive earlier this year that said all residents should be given the opportunity to open a basic bank account, with fees that were fair, and allowing people the opportunity to switch providers. Kevin Mountford, head of banking at price comparison website Moneysupermarket, said: "While the main banks have always borne a degree of responsibility to provide such facilities, these have often lacked clarity around fee structures and uncertainty as to who can and cannot apply, so this should now change. "It is essential that all banks fully enter into the spirit of this ruling and create basic banking products in order to help those customers who have been badly underserved in the past." Mike O'Connor, chief executive of StepChange debt charity, said: "The experience of our clients is that access to basic bank accounts is extremely sporadic across the sector, and things like high charges and limited access to cash machines can cause real problems on a day-to-day basis. "This move will give hope to the millions of people who currently feel locked out of the banking system, and help them to regain control of their finances. "However, signs of financial difficulty should not be ignored. We would urge banks and those across the credit sector to do more to recognise when people are falling behind on their essential bills and credit commitments, and signpost them to free independent debt advice as early as possible." More ...

Hi, I know there is a Vodaphone rep that frequents these forums so if they or anyone else could clarify something for me please. My friend has an iPhone on contract with Vodaphone and has requested a code to make it sim free. He was told by an advisor that they cannot issue a code as he got the phone and contract through Phones4U. As they have gone bust what is he supposed to do now, surely it doesn't matter where he got the phone from, his contract is with Vodaphone and it is currently locked to their network. Any advice please. Thanks.

Have there been any recent changes in what cca request we send ie Credit card cca and loan cca? Mr W

Hi, i'm new to the site and was wondering if anyone could help with this problem;- I decided to visit Hexham, having never been shopping there before, taking my 7 year old son with me. Nearing Hexham my son told me he needed the toilet and I managed to find a car-park on the edge of town, which was signed as a long-stay FREE car-park. Entering the car-park at 11.20am I also noticed what looked like a ‘pay machine’ but this was covered in black plastic and obviously not in use. I parked as quickly as possible and took my son into town to look for some public conveniences and returned to my car some 30 minutes later to double check the parking was indeed FREE, since I had noticed the covered up machines, I found a parking ticket on my windscreen. Considering the signage states that it is a FREE car-park for 3 HOURS and that my car was observed entering at 11.20am yet I was still issued with a ticket at 11.41am ONLY 20 MINUTES later, also incorrectly noting the colour of my vehicle. I cannot see how this is a valid claim for a parking fine considering the times involved and the fact that my time of entering was noted. I could understand if the time was noted and I had still not returned several hours later but this is not the case, as proven by the times stated on the ticket. I'd be grateful for any help on this. Thank you Mick

Hi My girlfriend parked in a UKPC car park with free parking but didn't notice you needed a ticket. UKPC have issued a Notice To Keeper for £100. I always used to ignore these but I gather the advice is not to. She has until 22nd October to pay or appeal. Please advise - I've been told multiple things about the uselessness (or not) of the appeals process. Can anyone help, especially given it was free parking for (I think) up to three hours, which makes a £100 'fine' particularly ludicrous. Many thanks

I signed up for the 14 day free trial which ends on 13th Oct 2014. I attempted to cancel the subscription, but could not get any further. When clicking on the "cancel subscription" link, I was taken to a page where I had to verify my email address by inputting the password. When I hit "Enter" NOTHING HAPPENS! This system will NOT let me cancel the subscription! So what next ?

Just a quick question, some money has turned up in my Lloyds account and I have no idea where it has come from. I went to the bank nearly two weeks ago and they said they will block the account and investigate the money. The money was paid in on the 18th Sept. My question: is there a length of time to wait before the money becomes mine? Should I go back to the bank or just wait it out? I feel the longer I leave it the more likely it will become mine lol! Wishful thinking I know. Any suggestions would be grateful.

Dear All, I have another small query for you regarding housing benefit overpayments due to rent free weeks! I received a call from my Mother saying that she had been contacted by her landlord, or rather a member of staff (a national social housing group). My Mother tried to explain that they (landlord) informed her that she owed them just over £500 due to Housing Benefit overpayment! Before going into detail regarding the above, I should let you know that my Mother receives, and has done for a number of years, pension credit entitling her to full HB and CT. The HB has always been paid direct to her social housing landlord. I will also add that my Mother was also paying off a HB overpayment at £xx per month. In fact, almost a year ago, I had noticed on my Mothers bank statement, that a DD was being paid out but she could not recall what this was for. After some digging I found out that this DD related to this HB overpayment, which had not only been paid in full but was still being taken from my Mothers account. This resulted in a credit to the amount of around £900, being held in my Mothers landlords account. I spoke with a member of staff who confirmed that my Mother had indeed overpaid this HB overpayment to the tune of £900 and that they would arrange for this sum to be paid back into my Mothers account. This has now taken place and as I say, some months ago. Now, arises the present predicament. My Mother has received a call from her landlord, in which they explained that her HB has been overpaid due to the fact that HB had been paying rent for the 2 rent free weeks per year since my Mother moved into her current address. I have been told that this is in the tune of around £500 and had mistakenly been included in the above £900 that my Mother had overpaid to her landlord. I was also informed that there were a large number of tenants renting property from this social housing group who have been caught in the same trap and face having to pay differing amounts back. Now, although I have not had a chance to discuss this face to face with my Mothers landlord, or a member of their staff, a few queries arise! The 1st and most important being, is my Mother liable to repay the HB that had been paid direct to the landlord due to a problem with notification of rent free weeks? This takes me back to when my Mother moved into the current property and that it is more than likely that it may well have been a member of staff of her current landlord who would have completed any such HB application form. If, as suspected, this is the case, surely it would have been down to member of staff who completed HB application form to include the correct number of weeks for which HB is being applied? I cannot fathom how my Mothers landlord has the ability to request that my Mother repay any amount of HB when this is no fault of my Mothers, as far as I can make out. Since my Mother took tenancy she has always been entitled to Pension Credit and as such, to full HB and CT. The only matter where My Mothers circumstances have changed was at the beginning of this year when she was diagnosed with Alzheimers. At that point I made contact with AgeUK who completed and submitted a application for Attendance Allowance which was ultimately granted. This then entitled my Mother to a higher figure of PC due to the Severe Disability Premium being added. However, this would have no bearing on my Mothers entitlement to HB. Bearing all of the above in mind, until I am told/shown anything to the contrary, am I correct in thinking that this or any amount of HB overpayment paid on the above basis, is/should be classed as unrecoverable due to the fact that it has been caused by official error? In a nutshell, once my Mother signed tenancy agreement, her rent has been paid in full by HB direct to her social housing landlord. My Mothers repayment of previous overpayment of HB (relating to different property/landlord) which had caused a credit of some £900 to Mothers current landlord, as explained in paragraphs 3, 4 and 5 above, should have no bearing on current matter. Indeed, I would go as far as to say that my Mothers landlord should have notified my Mother once that previous HB had been repaid and not have kept collecting this once it had been paid off. All responses and replies gratefully received.

Hi all, I about to come into some money, quite substanial amount. I owe £100k to 14 creditors (all credit cards) and have a CCJ from HFC/Marbles and they are about to obtain a charging order on my property (paid £5 ccj payment week late and now up to date). Most of the creditors have been ok with reduced payments but some nightmare i.e. HFC/Marbles. I realise I will have to pay full ccj amount but how much can i offer the others as full & final? My credit history will be pants for the next 6 years anyway !!!! Regards

Hi All I just want to let everyone who is struggling with multiple payday loans that you can get out of the trap. A year ago I had 9 payday loans and owed close to 5k. I was struggling every month with enormous rollover fees. I dread to think what I have paid in interest fees over the last 4 years. I paid my last payment today and am now free of these sharks forever. With help and advice from this site I decided to bite the bullet a year ago and decided I would not pay anymore rollovers. I contacted them all and explained I could no longer afford the horrendous monthly fees and asked for repayment plans. some were easier to deal with than others but in the end they all agreed. I told them what i could afford and over the last year I have slowly paid them all off what i owe. The relief of knowing I never have to go through that again is enormous. I know my credit file is trashed but I earn a good wage and from now on its all mine. If i can do it then anyone can. thanks for all the wonderful advice on this site. I couldn't have done it without you.

Something new seems to be happening in Kent and it seems that the Prison Service are literally allowing people to have "free allotments", only for use, not to keep, outside the prisons. I know this is true for the Swale, Kent area! Only drawback is that there aren't usually hosepipes or outside taps in the area so be prepared to cart a few 10l tubs of water around

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