From 5 December 2014 the blood–alcohol limit is going to be reduced from 80mg in every 100ml of blood to 50mg in Scotland. In practical terms this means that someone drinking alcohol and driving could be ‘over the limit’ to drive after a relatively small amount of alcohol. As the normal method of checking how much alcohol is in your system is a breath test you should be aware that the new limits for the breath test are 22 microgramms of alcohol in 100ml of breath. This has been reduced from 35 microgramms The new limits are only being introduced in Scotland. If you are in England and Wales and Northern Ireland the drink driving limits are still 80 microgramms in 100ml of blood. If you are within the alcohol limit for driving outside Scotland and cross the border into Scotland in your vehicle you may fail a breath test. This may be particularly important to be aware of over the Christmas and New Year breaks as many people visit family and friends all over the UK. Remember that drinking the night before can mean you are over the limit the next day because it takes some time for alcohol to leave your system. http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/news/whats_new_nov14_drink_limit_to_be_lowered_before_christmas_s.htm

How do I sue a company in Scotland from England. Already sent them the letter before claim etc. Despite Scotland having no pre action conduct for the type of case in question, their lawyer has already complained I used the English one which is apparently unsuitable for his client - although everything in the letter already corresponds with Scottish requirements. it seems I'll have to sue them in Scotland, the defendant says they aren't liable and besides I'm in England (HAHAHA YOU CAN'T TOUCH US). Money owed is £750.00. I should add that the law in question is a non-devolved matter, identical both sides of the border.

My apologies if this is covered by another existing thread. I am on ESA and having problems with my BOS current account. Basically, I have been getting into an unauthorised overdraft position as the bank states that retailers have a floor and ceiling of rates they allow before checking if there are sufficient funds available. It is a basic account and I am led to believe that it is not possible for me to get into such a state. Not sure if I am communicating my grievance properly, so forgive me. I am in a bit of a state, as it is causing me real hardship.

Hi not sure if this is the correct forum. Also the details I have just now a fairly limited. Sorry. My self and my partner have received an 'appointment letter' from walker love, stating they have a legal document they need to serve. I am not sure what this is to do with (possibly council tax). It has a code at the bottom mentioning 'sequistration'. A couple of questions: 1) does this mean some one has applied for sequestration? 2) If and when they turn up do we have to speak to them and / or allow them entry? 3) will we be getting 'charged' and attendance fee everytime they write to us or turn up at the door? Any advice greatly appreciated, this is freaking me out. thanks G

Hi, I've received a letter posted through my door titled "Charge for payment of money", this is regarding some outstanding Council Tax that I have not been able to pay. I have seen the posting titled 'Have you received a charge for payment/arrestment/summary warrant?' However I'm not sure who or where I need to send the documents to, it's on behalf of my local council but from Scott and Co. There's no listing of court address so would I apply for a payment schedule or time to pay through Scott and Co? Any advice on this would be appreciated, thanks!

Hi all, After a long drawn out saga it's got to the point I feel I need to look for advice regarding Council Tax arrears, and money owed to North Lanarkshire Council for the year 2013/14. Long story short, after coming into hardship in September last year we fell behind on Council Tax and a Summary Warrant was produced for the arrears. We contacted the Council and set up a payment plan for the remaining balance which was around £770, including the statutory 10% penalty fee. All was well for a couple of months but we again began to struggle to the point we missed a payment and almost immediately a Charge For Payment was delivered by the Sheriff Officer along with a charge of £102 for his services. Great. But business as usual. We then contacted Charles Anderson who were pursuing the debt on behalf of NLC and paid them a minimum of £30 per month for three months as we were told as long as we made regular payments to the balance there would be no further action. Our fault for not requesting a payment plan set out in writing, lesson learned again, but after making three successive payments of £40, £30 and £40 (all we could afford at the time) an Earnings Arrestment Schedule was produced based on the arrears of the Summary Warrant from September, reflecting payments we made to NLC after the SW, the payments we made to Charles Anderson, the Sheriff's costs and another £70 charge for the Earnings Arrestment. The total due under the schedule stands at £560. All sounds pretty straight forward, arrears dealt with by a debt collector followed by a batch Summary Warrant, Charge for Payment and finally Earnings Arrestment, seems pretty by the book. What confuses matters is our Council Tax bill for that year was in dispute as my partner is registered disabled with a genetic condition she's had since birth. The arrears were ongoing and we tried our hardest to continue to make payments while the bill was in dispute. On June 24th, a day after the Earnings Arrestment was produced, NLC produced a revised bill for the 2013/14 year which included a Disabled Relief adjustment and said "reason for amendment: change of banding", meaning they sent us a revised bill with a total of £110.59 still outstanding (which by the way, if we'd have had settled months ago when all this was going on, we could have probably stretched and paid off instead of dealing with debt collectors, but that's a side note) Having contacted Charles Anderson on Friday last week, they said they would contact NLC to get the issue resolved. I figured this meant the bill was going to be adjusted, but how wrong could i be? They emailed me today to say they have spoken with NLC who confirmed, all payments so far taken into account, the amount outstanding is £110.59. They also said as a result, the Earnings Arrestment would still stand and they would enforce it with a view to reclaim the arrears and their fees. Can someone please explain to me how this works? We're off to speak with CAB on Wednesday on my next day off, but in the mean time, how can they enforce a Summary Warrant based on arrears that NLC has now confirmed in writing through their adjusted bill for the year was, in fact, wrong? Since our amount paid up to the date the Summary Warrant hasn't changed, and the Council Tax bill was amended and the Disabled Relief backdated to the start of the year, the SW therefore reflects an incorrect amount, the 10% penalty would also be wrong based on the original arrears, and the Charge for Payment and Earnings Arrestment were based on the Summary Warrant. Charles Anderson are yet to reply to me questioning what their fees consist of, as surely they can't confirm the change in arrears and still enforce the Earnings Arrestment for £560? And if they did, surely that would imply their fees would have to make up the difference between the £110.59 both they and NLC have confirmed are the arrears and the £560 they seek through the Earnings Arrestment? Tearing my hair out over this one. My understanding is that the Summary Warrant should be deemed void as the Council have backdated the Disabled Relief and effectively shot themselves in the collective feet? I hope someone who knows more than me can explain this to me, and my legal position. I'm not in any way trying to avoid paying the arrears, I am however unhappy about the fact that Charles Anderson still want my work to pay them £560 based on the original outstanding arrears of £400, which has now been confirmed to be wrong. Help please

There are just too many unknowns, it would be very disappointng if the Scots decide to vote for independance.

Received a final reminder before court action this morning after previously ignoring letters. I'm in Scotland and have read the advice to ignore but I'm just posting for some reassurance!

Hi, I am tying to defend a court claim issued against my wife from capquest regarding and debt assigned to them from BOS. On 19/07/2013, BOS wrote to my wife to notify her that Bos has assigned the debts to crapquest. I have not heard from capquest until 03/06/2014 issuing a court claim while i am disputing a PPI case against Bos. Last year I had a SAR and I noticed that Bos charging more interest than the one I calculated using loan calculator under the same term, I believe that Bos added a premium insurance without my knowledge which they denied it. My question can I defend the claim of capquest using the defence that the a/c is still in dispute against the original creditor. POC: Monies due under regulated credit agreement no xxxxxxxxxxxxxx between Lloyds Banking Groups and the defendant the benefit of which was assigned to the claimant on 28/06/2013. The agreement terminated upon the defendant failure to comply with the term of the Agreement. Date of the claim 30/05/2014.

I'm not hopeful there is a solution at this stage, as I have left it too late to do much, so that's my own fault! I'm terrible for just pretending the problem isn't there I guess I just have to pay up and avoid going to court. The return date on the court summons is August 15th and calling date is August 29th. But if anyone has any ideas or suggestions, it would be much appreciated. I received a Small Claims Summons, a few weeks back now. Was surprised as I have no knowledge of this debt or the company making this claim, which is Arrow Global Guernsey, who apparently bought this debt from Phoenix Recoveries in 2011. It states on the court summons, that Phoenix provided goods to me on or around 22nd May 2004 for the sum of £123.58 and that is the amount they are claiming, plus court costs, total of £249.11. Obviously Phoenix did not "provide" goods to me, as they too are a debt collector, so I have no knowledge of where the original debts comes from. I would guess it was prior to 2004 though. I do know/remember in 2004, I went through a tough time with one of my boys taking seriously ill and subsequently having a bone marrow transplant. I'm more than aware I accumulated a number of small debts. I thought all had been settled and cannot access my Noodle account at the moment. Many thanks in advance!

Property was mortgaged in my sole name via Bank of Scotland. Account taken out in 2006. Was repossessed in 2009 following my redundancy in late 2008 and failure to pay. I had already left the property and wasn't involved with any of the process to repossess at the time. I didn't hear anything regarding the sale and subsequent shortfall until a letter from Henderson Booth & Snell (debt recovery agents) acting on behalf of Bank of Scotland on 27th November 2012. They stated the shortfall to be £26,XXX and offered the me the opportunity to pay a full and final settlement amount of £9,XXX or alternatively they would limit my personal liability to 50% of the original amount if I paid £50/month. Shaken that it was a large amount of money that had finally caught up with me, I filled in the standing order form and duly paid £50 per month every month from January 2013 onwards in order to limit my responsibility to ~£13,000. On 24th July I received a cover letter from Bank of Scotland telling me that they had withdrawn my account from Henderson Booth & Snell and passed it to Drydensfairfax. The accompanying letter from Drydensfairfax states I owe £25,XXX and as I have been making payments they consider the account not to be in dispute. They are asking me to make a repayment offer. Today I've received a follow up letter from drydens headed 'Notice of Recovery Action' giving me a final opportnuity to respond. I don't know what to do next and how to respond? I cancelled my standing order to Henderson Booth & Snell as soon as I received the letter, so my final payment to them was 12th July. I calculate that I paid £950 to them between January 2013 and July 2014. I've checked my credit report and my account with Bank of Scotland is showing as closed and 'satisfied' in May 2010 (one month after the property was sold at auction in April 2010). No other mention of this on my credit report at all under any other ownership. Having received the second letter from Drydens I am now extremely sceptical as to whether the first letter did originate from Bank of Scotland as both letters sent to me have the same return address, bar codes and font style used. The Bank of Scotland logo is faint and looks scanned in. The only information communicated on the Bank of Scotland page is my mortgage account number and balance owed. Are Drydens trying it on here??? The Bank of Scotland letter uses a PO Box 66, Rosyth, KY11 2WG address and the name on it is Paul Cameron. If my account is showing as 'satisfied' on my credit file, do I have to do anything? Thanks for reading.

hi im needing advice on the only bad debt on my credit file its small debt of 400 which is defaulted and has been brought by lowells ,now im aware of it being staus barred after 5 yrs as in in scotland ,that 5 yrs is in nov ,thing is my credit file is great at moment apart from that debt what im asking should i make it status barred in nov or leave it other year and let it fall of my file? if i do status barred does it stay on my file until 6 yrs are up which is nov 2016

hi i have sent Cabot a CCA request on 21.7.14 for an old Halifax debt going back to 2005, which my partner has been paying a token payment of £1.00 since He recieved a replay back from Cabot on the 24th july that they will try and provide the information requested within 40 days Today i have recieved a letter from Drydensfairfax solicitors acting on behalf of Cabot, the usual threats, do i ignore this letter or do i need to reply to Drydensfairfax

I am looking for some advice for my husband. He had a CCJ issued against him in July 2009 by a court in England. It was a hire purchase agreement for a car. My husband has always been resident in Scotland, including when he took out the credit agreement and when the CCJ was issued. We therefore had a couple of questions regarding this. 1) Given that he is resident in Scotland, should the creditor not have pursued him through the Scottish courts rather than the English system, therefore getting a decree rather than a CCJ, or at least getting a decree to sit alongside the CCJ? 2) The CCJ itself is due to be reported until 1st of August 2015, I have a vague awareness of something saying that debts are only reported for 5 years in Scotland, therefore it should stop being reported on 1st of August this year, is this correct and if so, how would it apply to this situation? 3) Given the judgement was made by an English court, is there any way we can remove it from his file? Any advice on this issue would be hugely appreciated, thanks in advance.

Hi I took out a loan with Bank of Scotland in 1999 for £5000 to buy a car and notice on the agreement that I also had something called Creditcare Silver,which came to £1532.50. My question is, is this some form of PPI and I was fully employed at the time and had full sickness benefits and a good pension scheme. I also have similar issues with HFC, but will cover that in another thread. Thanks in anticipation. Barney

Hi, have put in a claim 18 months ago against the Bank of Scotland for mis sold PPI ( now sitting with the F.O.S. ) through which we had a personal loan of £2000, this was back in 1998, but we still have the paperwork and on reflection it shows that Creditcare of £647 was immediately added to the loan and then they added THEIR own credit of £1202, total £3839, this was done through the post and a courier service, (for the cheque) but for the life of me we cannot remember asking for Creditcare, Would anyone in their right minds do so ? What fools were we !!! Anyway now the Ombudsman has dismissed it because of the time limit ,i.e. it is passed the date that the AA were covered by regulation selling ( January 2005 ) BUT the irony is that the Bank of Scotland WERE covered in 1998 ,so why can't they uphold the claim from the Bank of Scotland as the AA were "an appointed representative " many thanks in anticipation.

Following advice from the forum from a few years ago I sent the recommended letter (template provided)to Gartnavel Hospital and copied in CP parking. I have heard nothing from the hospital but continue to receive increasingly threatening letters from CP. They say they have forwarded my case to Debt Recovery Plus who have written " if the amount is not paid by the date shown (24/07/2014),or if a payment pan has not been entered into by that date, we will recommend that court action be taken to recover the outstanding balance," Losing my nerve. Can take the hit if they take me to court for the £40 but what if I had to pay court fees?

Copy and paste this post to your OWN THREAD: Answer the following questions using the details from the court claimform: name the issuing court: Who Is The Claimant: Who Are the Solicitors: What type of action? (Simple/Ordinary): What is the claim for – [type out ALL the text [minus pers details] [D1 BOX SPR FORM] or if Ordinary Cause look for the words which FOLLOWS [substantial connection with Scotland] NOTE THE EXACT WORDING IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT TO YOUR CASE SO GET IT RIGHT. type out ALL the text [minus pers details] [D4 BOX SPR FORM] or [Condescendence from Writ] NOTE THE EXACT WORDING IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT TO YOUR CASE SO GET IT RIGHT. date of raised claim [or court stamp date from writ or date from ] :- Last Date Of Service [look on form 07]:- Last Date For Response [look on form 07]:- What Documents are listed in Box E2:[or in your form requesting the same?] Is the claim for ......an Overdraft, credit card, loan account, HP Agreement, Catalogue or mobile phone debt? :- BOX D4 what has the claimant stated: IN FULL Date of Agreement: – Reference Number: – is this the original creditors account number? (y/n) how many digits does it have? Unpaid balance: - BOX D5 what has the claimant stated: IN FULL or [Pleas in law from the writ] ….. from your knowledge: answer the following: When did you enter into the original agreement before or after 2007? Has the claim been issued by the original creditor or was the account assigned and it is the Debt purchaser who has issued the claim.:- Were you aware the account had been assigned – did you receive a Notice of Assignment? Did you receive a Default Notice from the original creditor? Have you been receiving statutory notices headed “Notice of Default sums” – at least once a year ? When was you last payment:- Why did you cease payments:- Was there a dispute with the original creditor that remains unresolved? Did you communicate any financial problems to the original creditor and make any attempt to enter into a debt management plan? What you need to do now. Copy and past the above on your own thread with your own answers attached.

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?475116-You-have-received-a-SCOTTISH-Court-Claim-What-you-need-to-do.-**updated-April-2017**

Looking for some advice here-made the grave mistake of buying from this dive at the end of march this year. I had been looking for a diesel for my 100-mile a day work commute when I was tipped off about an 05 plate Vectra SRI at said garage for £2000. I had not seen the advert online but went to look at it. The shabby condition of the vehicle just sitting on the street should have been the first hint to walk away but I made the mistake of giving them a chance. Salesman came up offered £300 trade in on my then 51-plate Astra and a THREE month warranty. We barely got a look at the vehicle before getting pushed into a joke of a test drive -14 miles of diesel and an EGR valve problem they tried to keep from us. I definitely should have walked away there but [said] they would fix it and do the timing belt and NEW tyres I asked them to do so put down my deposit. This was 22/3/14. We asked for service history they claimed to have it and I have never seen it yet despite asking for it FOUR times and FSH WAS advertised. I get home that night and see advert online advertised with 90000 miles, had 99000 -felt pressured into buying as had put deposit down and feared they would try their best to hide behind their t&c and not refund but looking back I would have taken the legal route if need be-easy to do in hindsight One week later [edit] we get there and he tells us NONE of the engine work done and they had only done 2 of the 3 tyres (near bald part worns) and rushed to put another one on and he said ONE month warranty -we told him were were told THREE months (4 of us heard it). The car had been warmed up so we got it home and finally got to do the checks we were pushed away from doing to find a mouldy boot carpet and 3 inches of water in the spare wheel well (easy cheap fix), debris from the previous owner strewn all through the car, mouldy seatbelts, loose rear seat (despite them claiming it was fixed!!), washer pump not working ( failed MOT twice for this), still no service history so it was asked for again [EDIT]. Next day I drove it and because car was cold the EGR problem was there again-took 5 minutes revving to warm it up. Twice it stalled in traffic nearly causing accidents despite them claiming they fixed it too. Following day I returned it demanding a repair or refund -they took it in to get the valve and timing belt done. Two days later I get car back -they demanded the £200 for the belt in cash -I only had card so was driven [EDIT] in my own vehicle to an ATM to withdraw the £200!!! 1st Saturday in april -still no history I took it for a major at my local Farmer's at a cost of £219 where they found a bodge job done on the exhaust instead of a replacement they cut out the faulty part and poorly welded in a bit of metal that could have gone at any time-quoted £400 plus. Other work I had to do was replace the tyres -I went for decent ones with the miles I do - Goodyear efficientgrip at £130 a corner x4 and the fitter was in shock -2 tyres had 215 width and 2 had 225 (all legal claim DVS) but the ones I got were exactly the same, replace thermostat at £85, washer pump at £30. In 8 weeks car was in garage every weekend bar one getting bits done. 12th may heading down the M90 to work car starts bucking like skippy on substances. I make it to work but for safety had to be towed home. Next day I got the fuel filter replaced at £42. When they took it off the local garage said it was that black and spaghetti-like inside they thought it had NEVER been changed from the day it was fitted in 2005!!! I was advised to run the filter in again drove the car to work and back-no change the Wednesday back to the garage. On the Thursday they diagnosed it needed a new fuel injector ( part plus labour just under £400) I told them do it and on the Friday when they went to fit it.. ..found the swirl valve snapped (talking £700 work) and they didn't want the job (CDTI engine, MAJOR work) but at least they didn't charge for the unfitted part. When I told the mechanic I beat a guy with a young family to that car his words chilled me -" You did them a HUGE FAVOUR, that car was unsafe". I have tried rejecting it but they are hiding behind the line " You didn't follow the terms and conditions, You did the work without our permission". I also noticed the false advertising on the trade in - I know it had done 117500 miles, they listed it at 109000, if only I had printed the screenshots. When challenged, [they] clammed up and went on the defensive like he knew he had been caught out. Because I felt I was going nowhere (and couldn't afford a tow truck or get anybody to tow the car to them because they were never going to do it) I felt I had to take £500 for it. I spent £2900 on a £2000 car with another £1500 needed-disgusting and not fit for purpose. Went to a main dealer, got another Vectra 03 plate- 82000 miles £1800, better presented (even in pre-forecourt preparation stage) and the experience was so much better - the salesman wouldn't even talk a deal until we had checked everything worked and heard the engine, he was even honest on the first week to say no history before taking the deposit but a week later full history turned up and was given it to read before paying the balance. We were not allowed to leave before he had gone through every function-much better than the other [company]. I have got trading standards involved with DVS but the lack of evidence isn't helping. My question is even though I felt forced in both buying and selling can I claim something, even just a partial refund, after all what they sold me was totally neglected and they knew it, they were keeping quiet and pushing me away from the faults hoping they would go unnoticed.

I hope you can help! We asked a chap and his band to play a ceilidh at our wedding in 2011 and, long story short, he managed to extract more money from us than he should have and didn't fulfill his contract. We went through the small claims process and have a CCJ against him for approx £740, but he as never paid (and so I assume more interest has accrued?). We engaged a debt recovery agency, who also failed to collect any money (more money down the drain). As he lives near Glasgow, we now want to transfer the CCJ and register it in Scotland so that we can use local sheriffs/messenger-at-arms. However, we are debating whether to raise this and obtain a High Court writ, but I can't establish if this is valid or holds more weight in Scotland, like it does in England. It's also difficult to get a straight answer on how to transfer the CCJ to the Scottish register. So, I think the questions I have are: * How do you transfer a CCJ to Scotland? * What forms are required? * Who generates the forms - me or the local court (Barnet County Court, in this case) * Is it worth trying to get a High Court writ before transferring, or after? * Will we still have to pay more good money to sheriffs/messengers-at-arms in order to chase our money? This, obviously, has left a stain on our memory of our wedding (as my wife keeps reminding me) - we only want our money back and for him to learn that he can't rip people off and get away with it, particularly when it comes to wedding gigs! Any advice will be appreciated.

Hi, I believe I am due £3500 from Thomas Cook for a 22 hr flight delay in July 2009. I have been told by Thomas Cook they will not pay as the flight delay was down to 'extraordinary circumstances' - but it wasn't, the plane broke down. I took my case to the CAA who agree with us and say TC cannot rely on that excuse. TC are ignoring my demands for payment (there's a 5 year rule up here for flight compensation), so next step is small claims court. However, I live in Scotland, but TC is based in England. I have been onto the Scottish Courts website but it is horrendously complex, loads of horrible forms and suggests hiring a lawyer, which seems mad for a small claim. Anyone got any advice? Many thanks.

My husband and I had joint wages arrestment put in place for Council tax arrears my employer has stopped deducting my wages a few months ago but my husband is still having the money taken off of him. I assumed they would stop at the same time is there any reason that this would happen? Thanks

Hello, hope someone can help. Due outstanding council tax £500 ish, its from 2 years ago and not the address I am at now. The council do not currently know where I am Living. I contacted them by e mail to come to an arrangement to pay, offered an affordable and reasonable amount per month. They have now started sending letters to my parents address (this is not my old address, not lived here for years ). The latest letter received is stating that a warrant has been granted and I now have to supply employer, bank details, ni number etc, with a threat of a penalty if I do not. Can they enforce this ? sending letters to an address the debtor has not lived at for years. After the first letter I replied by e mail stating all comm to be by e mail as I don t always receive mail sent to my parents. I received a reply to this e mail so they are aware I do not live there, yet still sent the latest letter there. I have made the first payment using the online system to show good intent .I do not want to phone as I like to have a record of all comms. Any advice appreciated. John

Hi everyone, Does anyone know the address for an SAR to Bank of Scotland? thx