What do you think. Are some children missing out on the great outdoors and what it offers. Do you think perhaps as technology came in things changed. Do you really think computers help children learn or do you still believe in the old ways. I myself am obsessed with the outdoors ever since a child.The smells as you walk through woods. The crashing waves,and things you can learn on the shoreline. A walk through a forest. The unexpected nature you come across.That never fails to amaze you. First forest i came across was Grizedale Forest in the Lake District.Still think of it to this day. Castles and places like that where you can tell some stories,sometimes tall ones if you feel so inclined. Or your local park,a exciting place to visit. For myself it started when i went looking for a Dipper(a bird) in Wales.With a chap called Cluellyn Magnus Jones in Denbighshire.Way back in the 60s And came across hundreds of rabbits in a field unexpectedly. Just wondering what you out there think of things. Only problem i find as you get slightly older is the fresh air puts you out when you get home. No harm in that and the youngsters sleep well as well. All that fresh air. Just not keen on some questions like-"In your time was everything black and white". With research suggesting that children aren't spending enough time in the great outdoors, Caroline Fitton of the local Wildlife Trust explains why we should be doing more to nurture their love of all things natural. From a falling leaf to a cloud in the sky, nature captures every child's inquisitive sense of wonder. Spending plenty of time outdoors and engaging with nature and wildlife is one of the best things for any child, helping to develop fertile imaginations and bestowing a lifelong appreciation of the natural world. For many of us, spending time outside when we were young was a large and very valuable part of our childhoods; new technology and increased 'screen' time now bring concerns that the new generation are increasingly missing out. Much more on the link. Read more: http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/kids-engaging-nature-little-help-Wildlife-Trust/story-28183303-detail/story.html#ixzz3rgNi1XGr

Hi Guys, I was looking for some advice regarding the CCA being attached to the initial summons here in Scotland. I have seen it mentioned here a few times while browsing some threads but can't find a reference to it in the court rules, can anyone point me in the right direction, thanks.

So, Seeing as a lot of people on here have a gripe to air to the world, I thought it'd be nice to post a bit of praise. I've banked with Metro Bank since the spring time and I've had nothing but good experiences with them. Since opening their branch in Cambridge, many Main Stream customers of Barclays/Natwest/Lloyds and TSB have been switching over due to the 12hours opening times, Sunday and Bank holiday opening and the general level of service offered by the staff. I work as a Bus Driver, so the amount of time I spend in the city centre is high. Being a Metro Bank customer gives me a good chance of being given change in whatever denomination that I wish for, so most Bus Drivers now have a Metro Bank account (They'll also make coffee for you if you so wish, which is nice on a cold morning!). The call centre is good and open 24 hours, unlike Barclays which seem to close at 23:00 unless you pay for your bank account. I've had to recall a few transactions under the debit card guarantee which has been easy to do and when they were late paying it back to my account, got given £10 for the inconvenience. I was also given £20 for my ISA account being inaccessible for 48 hours which I thought was pleasant, seeing as I didn't need the money at the time. The online system is pretty easy to use and the mobile app is getting there, and I just find most of the facilities on all channels easy to use. So far me and my partner have accounts, and we're known on first name terms in branch by all members of staff. The only downside is that there's no branch at home when I visit my family, but that's soon changing. All in all, I hope to see many more metro bank stores opening as they're a genuinely reasonable business to deal with from Joe Average's point of view.

Virgin has become the first train company to automatically compensate some passengers if they are delayed. If you buy an advance ticket on the West Coast mainline through Virgin's website or app, you’ll get money back if your train is sufficiently late. The money would be with you within three days, and you won’t have to claim for it as it’ll be automatic. The government are encouraging other operators to roll out similar schemes nationwide. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34424729

Hello all, Got some really good advice before so would appreciate some more, Family member of mine works part time as a entertainment agent for a company ( providing bands etc ), they pay her a set amount for shows and then she pays the acts/ does some of the promo/ takes a percentage herself from it- they book/ pay for multiple shows in advance She has recently gone through a really rough time - she suffered a very severe sexual attack - and she has been in and out of hospital/ counselling the last few weeks, due to an injury suffered she will be having an operation tomorrow. She is overdue in a few invoices to acts but the venue has very kindly said they will pay them this week if she returns the money to them- she has a very good working relationship with them and they really appreciate the work she has put in She has 4 future dated shows that she is also going to return the money for as she wants to get herself back to feeling good/healthy again before starting again My question is what is an acceptable timeframe for this? She needs to get out to the bank to organise it - as not in a account she accesses online and needs to move some bits around- the money is sa If she writes to them ( or I will for her ) saying all future show payments and the overdue invoice payment will be returned within 28 days is this acceptable business wise? Obviously my concern right now is trying to alleviate pressure on her and getting her to recover from this Is there a template letter for a business to pay within 28 days that I can adapt? Any help massively appreciated Many thanks

Hello, in the last few days have I discovered that Vanquis Credit Card company are [problem]mers. I already have credit cards with Barclays and Capital One, and manage them perfectly well, am not in debt to them. I apologise, here, for the length of this post. In June this year, I received (junk mail....) an envelope from Vanquis, offering me a credit card with them. Because I was in need of a bit more cash at the time, I stupidly filled in the online application form, and then received a phone-call from them. They approved me for one of their cards. I did NOT then know that this company, Vanquis, are for people with bad or no credit history...to my shame, I simply assumed they were a mainstream, legitimate credit card company. After the card was received by me, a couple of weeks later, I used it to purchase a few items. Taking it up to within £3 of the (£250) credit limit. When I went through the application process over the phone, in June, with one of their staff, I arranged (or THOUGHT I did...see later) a Direct Debit with them, for the minimum payment. I told them that I'm on a (Civil Service) pension, and that it gets paid into my bank account on (the specific date of the month it's paid in). I thus said to them, "The DDebit will, therefore, be taken from my account several days later, right?". (ie, in line with all my other monthly payments). The Vanquis staff member said "Yes, of course All my relevant bank details were given to him, over the phone, in June this year, in order to [or so I thought...] set up the DDebit. Then, to my horror, on 18th July (just 6 days ago), I received a text from Vanquis claiming that my account was £33 overdrawn. Of course I phoned them immediately. I'd ASSUMED that the DDebit which had (ostensibly) been set up in June, had been taken from my account a couple of days earlier. Ie, I assumed my account was okay. (Not then knowing that they are a [problem]ming company - as I do know, now...). Prior to phoning them on 18th July, I went online to look at my account. And found, to my horror, that a couple of days earlier (ie, the date on which the DDebit SHOULD have been paid from my bank account, to Vanquis), Vanquis had slapped onto my account with them a £12 "Late payment charge" (???). A (FAKE charge, by them) charge which tipped my account over the credit limit. And that they therefore then slapped on a £12 "Overlimit charge". When I eventually spoke to Vanquis on 18th July, I said "WHY did you not take the Direct Debit which had been arranged in June?". The staff member said to me "We DID try to take it from your bank, but it was rejected". (NB., this, I learnt, was a deliberate lie on the part of Vanquis...). I told him that I had more than enough money in my ordinary bank account to cover the DDebit - that it should have been taken just a couple of days after my pension had been paid in. The Vanquis chap continued to claim that my bank had rejected the DDebit. I continued to say to him "That is nonsense, I STILL have more than enough in my bank account to cover that DDebit". The chap then had the audacity to say to me "Pay us £31 on your next pension payday and we'll clear the overlimit charges, and start again from scratch...". I checked with my own bank this morning, and not only did they confirm that Vanquis had NOT tried to put through a DDebit to them, but that NO Direct Debit has been registered with my bank, by Vanquis; even though in June I arranged such a DDebit over the phone - even telling them that (of course) they would need to take the DDebit each month on a date a few days AFTER my monthly pension is credited to my account. Having, in the last couple of days, read online re. the horrific [problem] that is being perpetrated by Vanquis - FAKE charges being slapped onto people's accounts (my own example, above, being one such), willy-nilly, and the extortionate interest charged, I'm very panicky indeed about what they might do to me, finance-wise, re. my account with them. I realise it was very careless of me not to have realised that they, Vanquis, are not a mainstream credit card company. It is an immensely stressful time for me, currently, due to other personal matters, so the very LAST thing I needed, right now, was to discover myself in the nightmare situation with Vanquis that I now see I AM in - thus adding to my stressed state. I've been reading some of the many horrific stories of people's experiences with Vanquis, online, and really do not know what I should do, in the first instance, to try to limit their horrific assault on my finances, with the FAKE charges they've slapped on my account with them. And re. the fact they deliberately did not, in actual fact, set up a DDebit for me, even though in June it had, I thought, all been arranged over the phone. Ie, they deliberately did not set up a DDebit with my bank, to them, precisely in order then to PRETEND they'd tried to put through the DDebit just a few days ago, to then PRETEND it had been rejected by my bank, in order to then slap FAKE charges on my account. (I've read, online, that other people have found this - that Vanquis have claimed that their bank had rejected the set-up DDebit, and then the victim discovers (as did I, earlier today) that they'd not set up a DDebit, precisely in order to slap the fake charges on... I would very much appreciate any advice as to what I should do, in this situation. Thanking you in hopeful anticipation.

I'm not sure if I should be posting this here or in the debt forum, if I'm in the wrong place then please accept my apologies. I have a debt of £1500 to HMRC (my own fault I have the debt but I'm working hard to settle it). I was paying £10 a week to HMRC through my online banking, it's all I can afford. I'm self employed at the moment but my business is dying away, I have no way of recovering my business. I have been looking for full time work and there's no work available, I have however had an offer of full time permanent work from a company I used to work for but the job start date isn't until January. About 2 weeks ago HMRC passed the debt to a debt collection agency called Apex Credit Management who have since demanded the debt to be settled in full, I have no savings and my only asset is a car (which I need), I don't know the exact value of my car but it's not a lot, I bought it 4 year ago for a £1000. I wrote to Apex with an offer of £10 per week token payment but they refused as it's not a high enough offer, the letter said something about HMRC policy to have the account settled within 12 months. If I couldn't raise the token payment then they would hand the account back to HMRC for further enforcement. £10 a week is all I can genuinely afford, if I start this job in January I could have the remaining balance settled by about March. If I was to continue with the token payments, is it likely that HMRC would take further action while payments are being paid? What is the chance that they would automatically bankrupt me? I have a couple of other debts (1 priority and 1 non priority - both larger amounts than HMRC) who have all accepted the same token payment without any problems.

Having done some reading and useful links I came across this story and could help some motorists that have had a PCN issued by a CEO for having their ticket blown over and facing down for more info please read here http://metro.co.uk/2015/08/17/heres-how-to-get-your-parking-fine-cancelled-5346489/ Linked from Scoop.it and metro.co.uk

The quote below is from page 19 of my attachment called to poor to pay (Council Tax) "Four London boroughs (Bexley, Brent, Islington and Southwark) now have a policy of not using bailiffs for council tax support claimants. These authorities clearly recognise the negative impact of bailiffs on potentially vulnerable people, and instead pursue other means of enforcement. It is interesting to note that these authorities’ collection rates are close to the London average, while Lambeth, the authority that used bailiffs against the second most claimants in 2014/15, has a significantly lower collection rate than the average. This suggests that it is perfectly possible for authorities to refrain from bailiff use for council tax support claimants without adversely affecting their collection rate. " Info from here http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:FtkP42_6BaYJ:z2k.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/TooPoorToPay-FINAL.pdf+&cd=17&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk

Hi this is my first time on the site so dont know much about it. Im looking for some advice please. I have 2 catalogue debts £3'000 with simply be and a wopping £10'000 with kays catalogue. I have always been a good payer until my husband left me 2 months ago. I have 3 children to support the youngest is 2. I have no job as im a house wife and of course my youngest child who's not at school yet. I am so worried I cant sleep!! I would of never run up such high bills id of known this was going to happen. After reading some forums on here ive decided to write to both of them offering a £5 a month payment. The thing I really want to know is with the Kays bill being so high what exactley can they do to me as I cant pay??? My eldest children are teenagers and I dont want them to find out and worry about this. Is it likely I will have debt collectors calling round and are they more than likely to take me to court?? someone please help I just dont know what to do, the worry of this is taking over my life. Many thanks.

Hi, In short, I received a claim form regarding a catalogue debt going back some time but less than 6 years. I sent a Part 31 CPR request as copied from this forum and I have just received the following response. Any help would be greatly appreciated as they seem to be able to ignore my request. Many thanks. Dear Mr 1970 Thank you for your email requesting disclosure under Part 31 of the Civil Procedure Rules. We confirm this matter will most properly be allocated to the Small Claims Track as this is a simple contractual matter and Part 31 of the Civil Procedure Rules will therefore not apply. In any event the Notices of Default and Assignment left the control of the Claimant when they were dispatched to you. It is the original creditor’s policy to issue agreements at the start of the contract and statements throughout the duration of the agreement and, in this regard, we ask you to refer to your own records. We confirm our client is not agreeable to an extension for filing the defence. As you will be aware a Claim was issued in this matter on 22 July 2015 and we are in receipt of your acknowledgement of service. Please respond to the Claim using the Response Pack provided by the Court. You should comply with the deadlines outlined by the Court in order to avoid a default Judgment being entered against you. We recommend you seek independent legal advice. Yours sincerely Bryan Carter Solicitors LLP

just wanted to give a shout out to Mr Lender and Swift Sterling ive quite a few debts and rather than going pop im trying my hand at sorting a payment plan. both the above companies have frozen my debt and to reduced payments, BRILLIANT and a massive help. i'm awaiting a few replies but these guys did all this with 12 hours of my initial email. SO DON'T GIVE UP HOPE IF YOU TREAT THEM FAIRLY TOO THEY DO TRY TO HELP

Dear All, I am extremely unhappy with the way that Scottish Power have dealt with a complaint I had. My father lived in Scotland and my brother and I live 360 miles away in England. To cut a long story short, in 2012 my late father notified them that his meter was not working correctly from October 2012 to date, they were sending bills to him with the same meter numbers on . In September 2014, my father died and Scottish Power had still not changed the meter even though it was still showing the same readings as in 2012. My brother and I were left his property as part of the estate and I (and the solicitors in Scotland) have attempted to get them to change the meter since September 2014. We found a buyer for the flat and they wanted to move in on 10th July 2015 but obviously we had to declare the meter wasn't working so they threatened to pull out of the sale. Luckily, at the 11th hour, Scottish Power did change the meter on the afternoon of 9th July as I threatened to sue them because the Purchaser threatened to pull out and the house sale may have fallen through. This meant that all the paperwork didn't get done in time and we finally sold the property on 24th July 2015 to the same person. The bills have now been sorted out and luckily my dad did keep making payments to Scottish Power until he died as he was afraid that he would end up with a large bill once the meter issue had been sorted out and I now have to pay them £12.09 to finish everything off. As you can imagine, this was extremely stressful for my late father who was very ill during this whole period, fighting cancer and going through radiotherapy and chemotherapy. He involved the Citizen's Advice throughout the whole time but nothing was ever resolved. I then took up the fight after he died because I knew it needed sorted before we sold the property. My dad did not let the situation go, but didn't get anywhere and I have now spent hours trying to sort it out even though I lived 350 miles away from the property . I feel that we deserve some sort of compensation but don't know where to start. I know that my solicitor in Scotland has written and called them on numerous occasions up to the date they changed the meter and I was constantly calling and emailing them to try and resolve everything so the sale went through. Does anyone think that it is cheeky to look for some sort of compensation? I spent at least 2 hours on the phone to them, then phone calls to my solicitor in Scotland, plus the bill I will receive for the solicitors letters that were sent to them? I wouldn't even know where to start in calculating such a thing? Any advice from anyone would be appreciated as the last 3 years have been very difficult dealing with this and the loss of a parent? Many thanks for reading. Worstutility

Hi Long story but the short version is. I owned a Cockatoo (Parrot) Had to rehome him as my dog had terminal cancer and needed constant care. Finally decided on a small sanctuary that had a small enclosure of animals. Sanctuary was owned by a couple that owned/run a pub/restaurant in a quiet part of the world. Have a contract drawn up by them that states if Cockatoo ever needs to be rehomed we would have first refusal and would be contacted to discuss. Have just found out today that the couple sold the pub in April and all animals rehomed to another sanctuary, one that allows large scale visitors and is open daily to the public. Sanctuary is not a charity. No contact was made with me to discuss this or my Cockatoo, he was just passed on without my knowledge. I am not happy with him being at this sanctuary and id prefer to have him back here, as stated in the contract. This contract was the only reason I parted with him in the first place, as I wanted him to have a secure home where he wouldn't be passed around to others, and in the event that they could no longer look after him, I wanted him back here with me. I have contacted the new sanctuary, but no response as yet. Do I have any rights? Thank you.

Hi guys, this is my first post and i need as much help as i can. I have been with Utility Warehouse since i moved in which was in November 2011 and i thought i was getting a good deal as i was paying £68 a month for both gas and electric but it was only till August 2013 when i found out that i was under paying. I then chose to pay for what i was using and pay the excess (£330) off in one go and was told that i would be charged for what i used. I was not told that i needed to supply them with a meter reading every month and with the meters being read by an external company and then me giving them a reading every so often. In July, i got a bill of £2200 for unpaid gas units in the post which i have been trying to dispute and decided that i wasn't getting any where and wanted to pay the bill off in small chunks. I have just got a new job and have been trying to get on my feet and i have spoken to them earlier in the month and an advisor said that i need to make a payment by the 10th but i didnt get paid till today. I was going to call tomorrow morning and sort it out but i have come home from a long day to find that my friend who is lodging with me allowed some so-called 'bailiffs' in on monday and they have changed the gas and electric meters. These new meters dont have the old meter readings or any writing on them what so ever, there was no paper work and no notice of entry from the court. I have been left no top up cards and the gas has been cut off!! I am extremely upset as there is no paper work and no nothing. Any advice would help as i need to sort this issue out.

We took out a 2nd Mortgage in 2003, as we had a few credit problems we had to go through an adverse credit lender in order to be accepted. When we applied we were told that as we have had problems in the past, the lender would 'insist'on us taking PPI and would reject us if we said no.... We needed the money badly as our 1st mortgage was heavily in arrears at that time and we had no other option so went ahead with the application with PPI. I understand this means we should be entitled to a refund on this basis? Here is where it gets confusing and I hope someone can point us in the right direction. We applied through Dial4aloan Ltd, I have searched the web and they do not appear to be in business anymore. The loan was taken through a lender called Igroup Servicing Ltd who were taken over by GE. Could someone please tell me who I should be addressing my correspondence to? Many thanks

Hello - some advice needed please. My son has filed for Bankruptcy and I owe him some money lent last year. I live on benefits. I own a house with a mortgage. What is the OR likely to ask of me? Thank you Damo

My story is a long one but I will try to keep it simple as possible. I have a couple of unsecured credit card debts. The largest is for £1184.20. My debts I believe are from pre April 2007 and if I'm honest are a result of a serious gambling addiction. My partner was understanding and supportive to a point and to combat my addiction I no longer work or earn any money at all and have no access to any money. I look after my children full time and have done since late 2009. I'm not married and I am not on the tenancy agreement for our home but I am recognized as living at my home address by the local housing authority that we rent from. My bank account will show any limited money I have is payed in from my partners account and is very little and is always used to pay for something via paypal. Today bw legal acting on behalf of Lowells have given me 14 days written notice of a County Court Claim. I have asked for proof of debt in way of a signed credit agreement and have made it clear I do not recognize or acknowledge the alleged debt. It is my debt but I truly have no money and after everything I've put my partner through I am lucky to gave a home and family. Can anyone please help me and tell how I should face this situation and what is likely to happen to me.

My car was hit by another driver today before and they proceeded to drive away, my neighbour heard the collision and luckily got the car registration and make and model. The damage to my car is only probably a few hundred pounds. I have called the police and I have an appointment with them tomorrow. What is the best way to proceed with this? I feel I have two options, go through my insurance and pay my excess (£250) and lose my my ncb. I can't help but feel a little bit hard done to here, I was hit by a possible uninsured driver and may possibly have to pay for the same as well as us all paying extra in our premiums. Any advice? Any chance the askmib site is incorrect? If I do pay for this out if my own pocket I will try and have the police take it as far as possible.

I have a question for you legal eagles, but first an outline. Recently there was a case of a DCA trying to collect CC debt of £3000 escalated to £8000 by interest. There never was an agreement, only an application which has never been found or presented in any form A DCA tried to obtain this debt by threatening court action. The chap replied do your worst. Court action started. The DCA then sent him some interest summaries and a Credit card agreement between him and a company he had never heard of. This agreement was undated and unsigned. They threatened to send these to court unless he agreed to pay up. He wrote back and asked who this company was, and where was the assignment. They sent him an assignment signed by the - what they thought was the original creditor but on the DCA’s headed notepaper. A complete fabrication. He did and said no more. He barred the phone calls from the DCA’s solicitor. He went to the court to contest the case, but the DCA had withdrawn and there was no case. My question is: Has this DCA committed an offence in trying to obtain money fraudulently under the 2006 fraud act section 2 (fraud by false representation), Which goes on to say: (1)A person is in breach of this section if he— (a)dishonestly makes a false representation, and (b)intends, by making the representation— (i)to make a gain for himself or another, or (ii)to cause loss to another or to expose another to a risk of loss. (2)A representation is false if— (a)it is untrue or misleading, and (b)the person making it knows that it is, or might be, untrue or misleading. (3)“Representation” means any representation as to fact or law, including a representation as to the state of mind of— (a)the person making the representation, or (b)any other person. (4)A representation may be express or implied. (5)For the purposes of this section a representation may be regarded as made if it (or anything implying it) is submitted in any form to any system or device designed to receive, convey or respond to communications (with or without human intervention). Problem: The DCA had come to obtain information about an existing unenforceable debt. It had no agreement, application form or any documents to show how the debt was incurred. It started to pursue this chap for the debt. It is quite obvious that the agreement was a false representation as was the assignment. If this chap had not been on the ball he may have just paid up, but he smelled a rat. Now this would appear to be a tactic used by this DCA to frighten people to pay a debt which is unenforceable, but used deceit to make gains or tried to obtain money knowing that it had made false representation. This DCA tried to con this chap into paying, they must use other similar tactics with other people, but are they committing an offece? What do you think?

Missus got 'just the ticket' from euro in a hospital car park today for 'Not Parked In Marked Bay'. She believed she was well within a bay - other cars similarly parked, and a (faded) white line behind the car. I'm the registered keeper, and she's a named driver on our insurance policy. I'm not totally up to speed with current protocols. Do I 'appeal' straight away to invoke POPLA procedure, or await NTK from them? If this needs to become a separate thread, by all means do your stuff. And thx in advance for any help in putting this one to rest. FYI, last time I got a speculative invoice from them in almost identical circumstances (c. 2-3 yrs ago), I just ignored it. Didn't hear so much as a pipsqueak from them. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Not even a threatening letter. I was devastated.

Hi need some advice got a big problem with Bailiffs. Im banging my head against a brick wall just getting nowhere ! Had a Liability Order issued in Dec 2014 £489.07, for Council Tax Arrears . Rang the Council and they told me they couldn't help i had to speak to Bailiff , rang him and he asked for full payment explained that i was on,JSA he asked me to send proof , which i did he told me he never received it ! offered to pay £10.00 a week he refused , so to show willing i paid it anyway hoping they would accept it . I made four payments, he told me i had made two ! Bailiff had now added charges and the amount had risen to £704.07. Emailed Council and told them i would send payments direct to them which i did , they accepted my payments . Council are now telling me i have to deal with Bailiff and the money i have paid them they will send to bailiff on my behalf . She rang Bailiff because i didn't want to deal with them, she set up a payment plan of £25.00 p/w direct to Bailiff ! they wrote and confirmed this . Wot do i do ? I had been in regular contact with the Council as i had no income at all for 6 months so they were aware of my situation . Please advise me on wot to do now i want to avoid all contact with Bailiff . The Bailiff has ADDED £310.00 in charges and threaded to remove my goods ! Lady at Council told me it was a punishment for not paying my Council Tax ! I just don't know what to do please help ?

Hi all, I am writing as I too have received a letter from TFL where they threaten to prosecute me. The incident happened in the train in March. I use a type of ticket that you buy in advance and fill in with the date of the journey when you travel. I was going back home after work, tired, sleepy, and I filled in the date on my ticket and accidentally entered a future date as I am so dumb I was convinced it was a different date. I was so convinced that I didnt even bother to double check in the calendar. When I arrived at the destination station, I was asked to show my ticket and the inspector checked it and told me, hey this is not today's date. He wanted me to pay the fine and I asked, is there any way to avoid this, as it's clearly been an honest mistake? and he said, yh I can take your details and the company will write to you to ask for your version. I thought, that is really fair!! I will give my version and then they will decide whether I have to pay or not!! Surprise surprise........"the company asking for my version" is a letter of intention to prosecute. I have already replied to them explaining what happened but I assume it is going to be useless. I have some questions, and I was hoping somebody here could help. I have read I could be prosecuted in 2 different ways (I copy and paste from another thread): - The most serious is section 5 of the Regulation of Railways Act 1889, criminal, requires intent to avoid fare, fine up to level 3 (£1000), or for second or subsequent offence can at discretion of court lead to imprisonment up to 3 months. - Railway byelaws (both sections 17 and 18), criminal, strict liability (no intent needed), fine up to level 3 (£1000) except byelaw 17 My questions are: - Will I know before going to court what law they are prosecuting me under? Can they change their mind at a later point? - If its the railways act, do they have to prove to avoid fare? I might have a fighting chance at demonstrating I had no intent of doing so. - If its the railway bylaws, then they dont need to prove intent. However is there any circumstance under which their evidence would not be admissible? The inspector was a 17 yr old bully and I believe he made some errors, e.g. wrote comments on my witness statement on a section that was meant for my comments, pressured me into signing, did not explain why he was taking my details and told me it was just 'to give my version' - Can I subpaena documents/CCTV for my defence? I am a fighter and will certainly not go down without a fight. At this point I dont care about the money. I only care about being turned into a criminal. I am most certainly not a criminal. I volunteer for two charities where I work with children and I need an enhanced DBS, so criminal record would mean no more volunteering. I am really shocked. In my country these issues are not covered by criminal law, they are covered by administration law and you would NEVER get a criminal record for such a matter. I don't know who had this idea but it sounds really out of proportion. Thanks for any help that you might give.

Hi guys, I have been lurking on these excellent forums for a while now (wow do I wish I'd found them sooner!) but now it's time to ask for some help on behalf of the wife who has received a claim form. Name of the Claimant: Cabot Financial Date of issue: 05 May 2015 What is the claim for: By an agreement between ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND (RBS) & the Defendant on or around 14/04/2005 ('the Agreement') RBS agreed to issue the Defendant with a credit card upon the terms and conditions set out therein. In breach of the Agreement the Defendant failed to make the minimum payments due & the Agreement was terminated. The Agreement was assigned to the Claimant. THE CLAIMANT THEREFORE CLAIMS 650. What is the value of the claim? £770 Is the claim for a current account (Overdraft) or credit/loan account or mobile phone account? Credit card When did you enter into the original agreement before or after 2007? Before 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. Debt Purchaser Were you aware the account had been assigned – did you receive a Notice of Assignment? Unknown about NoA Did you receive a Default Notice from the original creditor? Unknown Have you been receiving statutory notices headed “Notice of Default sums” – at least once a year ? Not that we can remember Why did you cease payments? Redundancy and financial difficulties What was the date of your last payment? Unknown as was in a DMP for a while around 2011 Was there a dispute with the original creditor that remains unresolved? Not yet Did you communicate any financial problems to the original creditor and make any attempt to enter into a debt management plan? Yes - CAP around 2011 Would I be right in thinking the first steps would be to acknowledge the claim on MCOL, CCA Cabot and CPR to Mortimer Clarke?

Can I trouble you for some advice? I have lurked here for quite a while but now want to clear something up. Over the past 18months 1st Credit have been hassling me over an old AA Finance Loan which was sold to 1st Credit in 2011. I received letters from 1st since 2013 and I wrote to them with usual £1 PO asking for true copy of account documents including signed copy of agreement, statement of acccount and T&Cs. I have received nothing from them. I have not acknowledged the debt and I have a letter from them where they state "I understand that you consider that you have no knowledge ofthe account" The outstanding balance was £16K and for one reason and another I couldn't pay it. I managed to make payments until 2008 and then through a debt management company i made more payments to April 2009. I believe it is now statute Barred but I am not saying anything for another month. they have not sent me any statements of account However. I have recently checked on Equifax and on my account is an entry by 1st credit stating that there is an active loan account for 16K. Advice. should i ask for a statement of account and ask why they have an entry such as this when i have no loan agreement with them that they can prove or can be collected? It doesnt show as defaulted or as a red entry it just shows as outstanding. I have attached what is on file at equinox. Experian has nothing and Noddle has nothing.