During the last few weeks, apparently more than 2000 migrants have managed to get through security in Calais and are now in the UK. Theresa May is refusing to comment on this, as it does not make sense to publicise successful illegal migration. It would just encourage more to come. The new fences around the Calais Eurotunnel terminal are not working properly. They were put up in a hurry and are not robust enough to stop people. Some MP's are calling for the British army to be sent to Calais, which is unlikely as the French would not allow it. Also to turn the Eurotunnel terminal into a military controlled area would be pretty drastic action to take. What is the answer ? Migrants want to come to the UK and it is very difficult to stop them. Most have destroyed all of their identity documents, so even if they were rounded up by the French, it would not be easy to process them. I.e to establish genuine refugees from economic migrants. It would not be easy to return the migrants home. My suggestion would be to find an African country willing to act as a migrant assessment centre. Then to round up migrants and fly them to the assessment centre to decide what to do. Advise the people that they would not have any chance of going to the UK unless they cooperated. I.e to reveal true identity and provide all info requested. Then to return as many to country of origin as possible. For genuine refugees that would be harmed by return to home country, the EU should have a shared quota system, with the UK accepting some.

Hi all, Just a little advice needed please. I received a Private Parking Invoice on July 22 in Manchester from Vehicle Control Solutions. I looked on a couple of forums and the advice seemed to be to ignore it and don't make contact until the 'Notice to Registered Keeper' arrives. BTW, the parking ticket states that 'The driver is liable for this PCN'. This morning, I received a letter from Rossendale Collects, dated October 10, giving me 7 days to pay a balance (no mention of fine or invoice) of £130.00. This is the original invoice of £100.00 plus an administration fee of £30.00. The letter is, grammatically, terrible. One line reads 'You have ignored previous request for payment' They also seem to have an aversion to the use of a comma too! Also, there is no mention of the date the invoice was given or the address of the car park. I heard that if the the parking company don't write to the registered keeper within 56 days, that is reason enough to cancel the invoice. Has anybody had any experiences with these companies? Shall I just ignore this letter and future ones? Many thanks in advance!

I owe just over £1500, which I was paying up until I was off work with a illness and then diagnosed with anxiety back in December. I wrote to grattan asking to make reduced payments and freeze interest, they wanted doctors letter which I sent and they reduced and froze interest for a few months but now they want the account paid in full. I've asked to keep reduced amounts as there is no difference with my medical condition but they've said no they want me to get a debt charity involved and another doctors letter before they will think about freezing interest and looking at a reduced amount. I'm going to cca them but I think I opened this account in 2008 but could have been slightly longer than that. As they already have on record a doctors letter do I need to send them another one? not sure I should have sent them one in the first place! I've been paying £10 a month which I know isn't much but my electric was in arrears and have been clearing that as its a priority debt.

Hi, I recieved a letter this morning from the above dca, it is with regards to HMRC "saying that this had been passed to themselves the amount owing just under £600.. It was for working tax credits I last paid 100 to this debt around 2011 directly. But nothing since because of circumstances.I have just about sorted my credit file out and this letter has come out the blue, I am tempted to call and offer to pay as I'm afraid of getting a ccj or them phoning my workplace ect, Anyone help with this one much appreciated ...

Hi PCN challenge Yoda's! I have posted this over on MoneySavingExpert, will update both with responses if useful... Help! A friend who shall remain nameless recently received a PCN on his motorbike at the Aquatic centre from Gemini Parking Solutions. Here's the info: - he parked his motorbike next to the cycling parking outside the front of the centre, to get there he had to access this area, via a gravelled area which could in theory be deemed to be pedestrian walk area but he did not pass through the Gemini Parking Managed and ANPR fitted carpark entry nor did he enter their carpark area at any time -there are no signs saying do not park here - the ticket was issued in this area and the reasons given on the PCN are 'the vehicle was parked in a no parking zone' and in the other section 'parked on a public footpath' - he had on a previous occasion on asking the Gemini parking warden (who was not wearing any identification vest or name badge other than holding a parking ticketing device) be told to park in an area with similar coloured gravel and it would not be a problem. - this carpark is motorcycle (MC) park for free but no where is there a designated parking bay, so MC users have to take up a car bay, which on another occasion he was told not to do as he would incur a fine again from another unmarked warden. He wonders if the jurisdiction of Gemini is enforceable beyond the car park area and into the pedestrian area, which must be owned by the London Legacy Development Corporation who would have control of the area outside the designated Gemini parking controlled area? Should he wait follow advice as per your newbies thread and appeal before the 28 days expires, or should he respond within the 14 days to try and retain the discounted amount if unsuccessful at a later appeal date. It would seem on this thread that Gemini dont offer the reduced amount beyond the 14 day window [as per another website] that contained an uploaded letter from 2012 sorry couldn't attach link as new person. Thanks in advance!

got a ticket of £60 earlier, car park was split into two halfs one for cromwell the other for eurocarparts there was signage. just went to ask if they stocked certain items step in the door 2 mins later bam ticket the parking attendant must of been lurking somewhere for him to ticket and disappear that quick:???: should i pay it ? i am on PCP solutions finance plan if that matters

I received an email from cash plus asking to contact them. I did as requested, and spoke to a gentleman called 'Zwelli' who proceeded to ask an uncomfortable line of questioning. I was asked where my money was coming from, and I explained I have a business PayPal account and that all the payments made into the account are electronic payments which can be accounted for. Every single penny has documentation to show how it was earned and where it came from. This gentleman insinuated it could be money laundering - impossible as 99% of all money deposited was electronic payments made by BACS transfer from PayPal, and each PayPal transaction can be accounted for. I emailed a piece of information to them that they asked for, a url link to an advert posted online. Although I asked for confirmation that this was received, the email was not acknowledged. The following day, I suffered further humiliation when I found my card had been declined and I could not withdraw money from the ATM. I phoned the following day, but head office were not available as it was a weekend. I phoned the following Monday at 9am, only to be told by all staff that head office refuse to speak to me and will contact me in due course, with no set time frame or any information or reason to why my account was frozen. Them simply cite 'technical difficulties'. This has lead to literally hundreds of phone calls from myself in an attempt to pressure them into giving me answers but they refuse. They refuse to reply to my emails, and they refuse to talk to me. I obtained the head offices number and when I attempt to speak to them they divert me back to customer services who then tell me the same thing "head office are citing technical difficulties and won't speak to you". Either that or they are rude to me, tell me not to call them anymore and hang up the phone. The department dealing with my case refuse to talk to me at all and when I get put through to them they immediately put down the phone on me. Apparently they held a meeting to discuss the fact I won't stop calling them. This piece of information slipped out of one of the staff I spoke to on an unrelated department, the finance department. Yet still they will not call me and will not reply to my emails. I have now obtained the CEO Rich Wagners email address, and emailed him directly, he also will not reply to my emails. I have tweeted him on twitter, he doesn't reply. I tweeted the company and they blocked me. They currently have £1500 of my money, I can't use my card or log into my account, and they won't even speak to me to resolve this issue. I have offered to provide all documentation for every penny that went into the account - no reply. I don't feel I need to provide any information as I am entitled to my privacy, but I am willing to do it if needed. It is only a prepaid master card for people with bad credit history, not like I should have to jump through hoops when it's an account with no benefits. They will not let me close the account either. I only had this account as I had a poor credit history and my financial situation improved dramatically. Once I resolve this and have it closed I'm going to try and open a proper account again. However this does not help with the situation I'm currently in. In conclusion I am a sole trader, and without access to this money I am now sitting at home unable to work. I need the money to purchase stock and run the day to day operations of my business. I have explained this to the department handling my case and to the CEO Mr Wagner, but they do not care, I get no reply. It is bad enough they blocked my card and account and are withholding my money, but the fact that they refuse to even speak to me is the most frustrating thing. I have never, ever dealt with customer service as poor as this, and have told them I will be contacting media outlets and the financial obudsman. I do hope if anyone can help me that they please get in touch. I have found that they did the same thing to an 82 year old woman, froze her account and wouldn't let her close it until a journalist Tom Hazell contacted their CEO. I'm sure others must be having problems with this company and I would like to unite with those people to have Advanced Payment Solutions practices scrutinised. What they are doing to me is just plain wrong.

Quick outline of case first. My girlfriend had a secured second load taken out with Firstplus about 9 years ago in joint names with her and her then husband for his debts (yes she is aware this was not ideal) they then split not long after. She has continued to pay this debt with Firstplus. She then started struggling with the debt £400 per month on top of her Mortgage single parent etc. Case defaulted, got a CCJ and a reposession order now Suspended re-possesion order or something like that. She then started to repay and again began struggling with it so First plus then marked it as defaul and passed the debt to Credit Solutions. They have been tootally unhelpful when she tried to negotiate lower monthly payments stating that this wouldn't even pay the interest and charges so £400 was the minimum she could pay. So a few weeks ago I got her to ring Credit Solutions to ask for a redemption figure. The latest statement from them stated the balance to be £5200. They said they had to go back to First Plus. We then received a letter from "Eversheds LLP" reason for quotations will become clear. Panicking she ran Eversheds as the figure in the letter was just over £13000 stating "this includes our charges up to the redemtion date". So panickinng she rang them (Eversheds) who stated " we do not hold an account for you relating to First Plus and have not dealt with them in over 3 years. So confused she rang First Plus who stated yes this included interest and charges from Eversheds . The reason CS held the balance as £5200 was because the interest and charges had been frozen?? Confusing. She advised that she had been offered a bit of cash from her father and was wanting to make an offer. The Firts Plus agent advised to write in explaining her circumstances and with an incomne and expenditure sheeet and this would go before managers. So we did that, explaining that she has been struggling, detailing stress and problems at home as she has a disabled child too and sent an offer of £3000 for full and final settlement. we hear nothing for just under 2 weeks when yesterday a letter arrives from First Plus saying following your correspondence the debt has been passed to Credit Solutions????? And to contact them. your correspondence has been passed to them also she rang Firstplus stating she had sent a letter offering a full and final settlement as THEy had asked. The agent said that it looked as if proper process had not been followed, explaining it should have gone to a manager etc. Again my gf pointed out the Eversheds, Oh yes that will include their charges again she says. To which my gf advised of the call to Eversheds who had nothing to do with it. The agent than said yes the debt really should not have been handled like this but you will have to contaft CS. This all sounds to me like they have really messed this up and leaves us open for a complaint. Also we do not know if they have passed the letter to CS reegarding the F+F Offer. Does anyone have any advice on what we should do, and if we have decent grounds to get CS to accept the F+F offer? I also think CS will bounce it back to First Plus. All very confusing . Writing this just before leaving work so if it is a little rushed this is why. But we are foaming and just wanting to clear this debt with the £3000 we have sitting waiting for them. Any advice appreciated. Many thanks

Hello, I am in a position whereby I am about to arrange either a trust deed or DAS. I haven't signed anything as yet. My circumstances are now about to change in that our empty house has finally sold so once this exchanges, not only will i be better off financially as I will have no mortgage and insurances to pay (was paying rent and mortgage which meant we couldn't meet credit card payments), I will also be able to pay a good chunk off my debt. I don't know what the best option is as once the house completes, I can pay way more than the minimum payments are and finally get things paid off. At the moment for the next few months i still have mortgage to pay for and can't afford minimum payments. Can you enter a DMP for say 4 months? Or is it worth just contacting my creditors to explain the situation and see if they will allow lower payments until the house exchanges? Just trying to decide what the best option is with the least damage to my credit score. I have only just cancelled direct debits for minimum payments and am late with one payment so far. I can afford to make some payment towards the minimum payments but not full. Thanks

Anyone else bneen plagued by this company so far this week i have had 8 calls 2 a day from this company and last week the same , i have asked them to stop but they consisitently say we didnt csll you , so i need to take it to the next step but i cannot find a adrress for them ( i think they are A PPI claims company any ideasi have a number 0203 6211496 if that helps

Hi I am paying off an old debt to BT through Pastdue credit solutions. I need to let them know I cannot make this months payment but cannot get in touch with them. I have e-mailed phoned and written to them but have had no reply from any of these attempts to contact them Can anyone help. Have you had any problems with this company at all?

Hi This is my first post and I'd love your input!! I recently bought a flat and moved in 10 days later. I noticed clear No Parking without a valid permit signs. I had not been informed how to obtain a permit and there was no information on the signage on how to do this. I received a parking ticket from London Parking Solutions that day as I was moving furniture into the flat from my van. I was given the phone number of the managing agents of the flat and called them. They had not been informed by solicitors of my acquisition of the property so were unable to issue me with a permit. They told me that my van would be exempted from parking tickets until I could be issued with a permit. I appealed against the ticket but was rejected on the grounds that I did not clearly display a valid parking permit as per the warning signs. I am reluctant to waste time with an appeal to IAS as I've heard they're not as independent as they should be and publish no details of appeal outcomes. My instinct is to ignore further invoices and wait for the Letter Before County Court Claim and then fight them there. Would I have a case on the grounds of unfair contract since, as I am entitled to park there, they have incurred no financial losses??? I am allowed two permits for 2 cars, the first is free the second is £25 payable to the managing agents.

Hi everyone, My wife received a letter on July 9th from Pastdue Credit Solutions, apparently acting on behalf of, and claiming a debt of £700 owed to HMRC for Single Tax Credits. The letter doesn't give any info about the debt, but just threatens further action if not paid, giving a payment date of yesterday. We have not claimed tax credit for around 7 or 8 years, and even then it was as a couple. The last time my wife claimed as a single person was 10, maybe 12 years ago. We have never been told about this debt, and even if she did have a debt a decade ago, we had many years of claiming where they would have taken monies owed back again I think? Does anyone have any advice on how to handle this company, or deal with this situation? Thanks

Hi everyone. I have a comparitively small debt of £350 for gas and electricity supplied by Eon at a property I moved out of a year ago. Eon have got PastDue to "manage" and recover the debt but it has not (as far as I can tell) been assigned to them. I have followed previous Forum advice and told them I will only communicate with them in writing and offered them in writing £10 a month. They have now come back to me asking for confirmation that I owned or occupied the previous property; dates that I entered and vacated the property and confirmation of my date of birth. They say they need this information to comply with the DPA. Now I must confess I'm not a leading expert on the Data Protection Act but I thought the act was there to safeguard personal information that companies held on people NOT as a tool to extract info companies do not have about you. If these people are properly acting for Eon shouldn't Eon be able to confirm dates when we were taking energy from them. They were properly informed when we vacated the property last year. I would welcome any thoughts members have please.

Hey all, I read a few older posts regarding the Hassall brothers & their previous debt collection business, pursuing companies & individuals and wondered if any information was listed on here regarding their newest venture SMD Credit solutions? How much clout do these companies have for putting pressure on companies for alleged amounts? A company I work for is being pressured by them to pay an extremely large amount for their client which is in dispute, due to an alleged debt many years old - many legal threats & deadlines have been presented so far. It all seems so wrong to me that these tactics can be used any valid thoughts/information are welcome. Thanks in advance

Good morning all, Thanks for your recent help with my Lowell/Carter/Frederickson/Coop issue. I'm still waiting on the outcome. While dealing with the above, I requested a copy of my CRA file from Noddle and discovered that I have a default account with APS Ltd for £178.00. Date of default is 31/08/2012. Now APS did a prepaid credit card which i applied for ages ago and used for travel within Europe. Basically load required funds and use it instead of my main bank card. I suspect the charges are either a delayed transaction, or charges/interest of some sort. My questions; - Judging from my recent experience, how do I find out who currently owns the debt? Is there a template letter I should use and what am I asking for? Current owner? Total amount? Statements? CCA? - I haven't heard from APS at all! I wouldn't have known if I didn't check my file. What can I do about this? - I am volunteering to resolve the issue. In your opinion, can I negotiate a lower settlement figure or am I better off paying the whole thing? Would paying a lower figure affect how the settlement is recorded with the CRA? Apologies for the lengthy post.

Hello everyone, A couple of weeks ago I got a letter from Credit Solutions regarding a debt I have with Paypal and they gave me the usual B.S about arranging door step visits, County Court etc and I sent them this email ; Please be advised that I will only communicate with you in writing. I have noted your repeated attempts to contact me by telephone over the past few weeks and via letter and one door stop agent and these have been duly logged by time and date. Furthermore, should it be your intention to arrange another “doorstep call”, please be advised that under OFT rules, you can only visit me at my home if you make an appointment and I have no wish to make an appointment with you. There is only an implied license under English Common Law for people to be able to visit me on my property without express permission; the postman and people asking for directions etc (Armstrong v. Sheppard and Short Ltd [1959] 2 Q.B. per Lord Evershed M.R.). Therefore take note that I revoke license under Common Law for you, or your representatives to visit me at my property and if you do so, then you will be liable to damages for a tort of trespass and action will be taken, including but not limited to, police attendance I got a letter back today saying the following ; In relation to your comments surrounding a door step visit, please be advised that you are not correct in your assertion that, under OFT rules, we can only call at your home if you agree to make an appointments. In law, our client is in a different position to a postman or a member of the public asking for directions. When you opened this account, you implicitly agreed that your client could communicated with you to discuss repayments. You do not have the contractual right to revoke that agreement until the 'loan' has been repaid. Does any one know what else I can say to them? plus his reply seems to be a template as it's not a loan.

Not stayed in touch with developments over the last few months so have been 'ignoring' a PPC invoice since December. This morning I arrived home after a few days away to find a 'Letter Before Claim' from Premier Solicitors in relation to this dated 29May. Argh ! The 14day clock running seems to indicate that my response needs to be back with them by Friday (12th) unfortunately i'm off to Germany Sunday early until Thursday. Horrible feeling I might have to settle which goes against every fibre of my being. - £110 grrrrrr Could anyone offer some advice please please TIA

Hi all, I have a corporate card through a very large organisation and I am leaving the company next week to start a new role. I have never missed a payment but the past month I have ran up a £2000 bill roughly. Stupid I know and I haven't missed a payment or anything. My question is..... My american express doesn't show on my credit file at all. I can not pay the full £2000 off in one go like you have to every month. If I didn't pay the bill my understanding and this maybe naive is that the company I used to work for has to pay it? If I did not pay it how could it effect my credit report? I am thinking it won't because it doesn't even show. If I don't pay the amount I will get a few nasty letters I presume. My point is if I don't pay the £2000 nothing will really happen? Am i being stupid, probably am. If I didnt pay what is worse case? As long as it doesn't affect my credit report I am not really that bothered. Thanks for help

Hi I apparently recieved a PCN from Gemini Parking Solutions for parking in an unmarked bay at the London Aqautics Center at the Olympic Park on 27 Feb 2015. There were no prominent signs for parking or penalties in the car park. I was unaware of the PCN till I received a Reminder Notice letter on 28 April 2015 posted to my home address as the registered keeper of the vehicle for a charge of £100 now from £60 if paid within 14 days of the PCN. Stupidly before coming onto this site I appealed to Gemini Parking Solutions supplying my details stating that I was the driver. The PCN was not on my windscreen when I returned to the car it must have blown away as it's quite windy at the center with no buildings nearby. I appealed that I never received a PCN, obviously they rejected my appeal and sent me a image of the PCN on my windscreen (to my surprise!!!) and they claimed that their parking operative noted that the driver ripped up the PCN in front of him!!! - that never happened. They have now sent me a POPLA Appeal form, what should I do now. How should I appeal ? Thank you.

I have received a PCN from the above saying I parked in an area designated for commercial vehicles. I am sure I did not spend a minute there as I got out of the car and back in almost immediately and drove off. I need assistance to dispute this, as it is crazy. THan you

[ATTACH=CONFIG]56956[/ATTACH]Hi there, This is my first post here. Firstly, I live in Scotland and know that after 5 years a debt is statue barred and after 6 years it drops off your credit report. Six and a half years ago I had a 2nd job as an Ann Summers Party Rep. I didn't pay off the rest of my account with them when I finished parties in Nov 2008. Now this company has started to chase me for the money. This account has NEVER shown on any of my credit reports. I received first letter and as I knew it was over the time frame, I replied with the statue barred letter from this website. I today received another letter acknowledging my letter and they have asked me to confirm details with them. What should I do next? I have attached the letters Thanks for any help.

Hi im wondering if anyone can help me, i got a parking charge notice from these people asking to pay. after doing some researches im hestitating to pay because of what i read from others drivers who got charged. What do i do? They clearly did have their bright red signs up in the area that i parked it just seems so odd that they are asking to pay by paypal and not automated payment line over the phone. Please help me what should i do

Hi hearing different storys about these. are they any good or are they a rip off

I am trying to help out a family member, who has paid just over £1000 to a company called Crystal Clear Debt Solutions to sort their bankruptcy. The last payment made was over a year ago now, but they have not heard anything from them since June 2014, and from what I can tell, the company doesn't exist anymore. Does anyone know anything about them? None of the email addresses or telephone numbers work anymore, and they don't respond to any letters. They have a 'consumer credit licence' at the bottom of their letters (0637107), if that makes a difference? Also, they are apparently also known as Formprep Ltd. However, I do believe they no longer exist as a company. Does this mean that £1020 paid was for nothing, and she'll have to start again with the bankruptcy claim and just write that money off? Is there no legal way of getting this money (or at least some of it) back? Any advice here would be much appreciated.