Hi, I bought my parents a UK coach holiday and, as they're both pensioners, travel insurance which included cancellation cover as both have had illness in the past. Unfortunately, a direct family member became ill a week before they were due to travel and they decided to cancel the holiday and visit her instead. The family member sadly passed away 2 weeks later. The insurer sent out claim forms, these were completed and returned along with a death certificate which was required. Last week, the insurer wrote back requesting additional evidence for the deceased, namely the completion by the deceased's GP of a long winded complicated medical form? The cost of which, needless to say we have to pay. Is this fairly standard? Or, is it a ruse by the insurer to find a way to avoid paying the claim? If it was either of my parents that became ill, I could understand a medical form being required, but for a family member?? Thanks for your help, any advice would be appreciated.

Over the festive session there are a total of 3 days when there are either no services at all, or the availability of services is so low as to be pointless, yet the passenger transport executive for South Yorkshire refuses to amend any travel card purchased that run over this period. Over the 3 days in question there is a bare handful of bus services running in Sheffield funded by the Council or a specific service for one place of work. There are no trams or trains running for 2 days completely and what looks to be a very reduced service on 1 day. In short I'm out of pocket by the sum of £10.17p for services I can not use. I'd like to push back at this subsidy for the Passenger executive from my pocket, considering the executive is already funded from taxes paid by me, so how do I do this ? What laws kick back at the idea at paying for services that are not available ? What do other local area transport executives do over the period ?

Dear forum users, I hope I can gain some useful advise here as I can't afford proper legal advice. Story goes: I took a train from Llandaff to Cardiff Central (3 stops £3.60) for the local beer festival. Spirits were high and my mind wasn't on the ball. The ticket office was closed at Llandaff so usual run of business is buy on the train or at Cardiff Central. This train the conductor went back into his cabin and so I could not buy a ticket. When I got to Cardiff Central I asked where can we get a ticket bacause there was no ticket office open. Was directed to unpaid fairs desk. This is where I did things wrong big time. I claimed I came from Cathays. 1 stop after Llandaff. 60p cheaper. My normal run to work is Llandaff>Cathays. I claimed ticket office was closed. They called the station, station said they been open all day. During call I realised I wasn't thinking straight and said I came from Llandaff, but still ticket office was closed. I offered to pay the full fair but the officer said it was pointless as I was going to have to pay twice. So I didn't. This was all taken down in a statement and I had to sign it. Letter came few weeks later, I responded giving my story of events, apologised firmly stating that I had every intentiont to buy a ticket but put my hands up for confusing Llandaff and Cathays stop. I also offered to pay the full fair and wished not to waste anymore of their time. I'm a regular user of the service and always pay. I still have a Llandaff>Cathays rtn ticket for that day. I hold my hands up, I've done wrong I've been informed I must respond to the threat of court proceedings within two weeks before it progresses. I've no criminal record and I don't want to get one because of a stupid fib and 60p. Am I being paradoid or is what I did that serious? Any adivse on how to proceed would be much appreciated.

Accompanied children under 11 will be able to enjoy free travel on all National Rail services in London from 2 January, At the moment children are only allowed free travel when they are accompanied by a paying adult on Tube, Transport for London (TfL) rail, Docklands Light Railway, and London Overground trips. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-34791332

My daughter has received a pre-court action letter from First Great Western. It states that she is in breach of the Regulations of Railways Act 1889 and requires a payment of £84.70 within 21 days. £80 of this is a charge towards costs incurred. I am rather upset at this as she did try to pay at the station she departed from and was unable to as no staff were manning the ticket office - they had put up a sign - and no one came through the train during her journey to enable her to buy a ticket. Also just to confirm – she waited in the queue with 4 others until the train arrived into the station, and then there was a run for the platform. When my daughter arrived at her destination station – she was stopped and did not have a ticket. My daughter explained she did not have a ticket and the reason. She was not given an option to purchase a ticket, but instead the ‘Inspector’ took her name and address and this letter entitled Pre-Court Action is this next communication we have received. I am happy to pay the fare, and do not understand why this option was not offered to her when she explained about the unmanned station which has no ticket machine. I do have an issue with paying £80 for a template letter. I have a photo of the sign that was displayed at St. Erth station (where she got on), and records should show that a conductor had not gone through the train in the 3 stops she was on the train Do I have any hope of fighting the admin charge – I feel it is not representative of the time/effort of sending a template letter? Thanks in advance.

Hi-I was just wondering if anyone knows how far they can actually make you travel to these appointments, at the moment they are making me travel 30 miles just to do job searches on the computer etc. its an hours drive at least cos the traffic is awful or 2hours on public transport. Also, am currently on a sanction because my wonderful "advisor" sent me an email telling me to attend the wrong office for my appointment so obviously I missed it (they have one 12 miles away from me as well but she reckons they only see esa people there...?) so obviously I have no money whatsoever until my hardship payment comes through in 2 weeks-my mum spent her last money filling up the car so I could get to my stupid appointment and so there was nothing left for parking,I was running late cos I had to drop her off at her work on the way over there and I didn't have time to park far away where it's free so I parked in a pay spot without buying a ticket thinking I'd only be quick and I could buy a ticket when they gave me the petrol money back- I told her I needed to be quick or else go and move the car and then come back but she deliberately kept me over an hour and then surprise surprise I got a parking ticket-so I went back to the office,dumped it on reception and said it was a present for the advisor,the reception lady called after me saying she cant pay it and I shouted back that I don't care it's her problem now and I can't pay it. (I then bought a parking ticket-I'm hoping if I write to the council with the ticket and an explanation they'll let me off the fine) I can't get into trouble for like harassment or something ridiculous for this can I? I was just making a point lol Its not like I was acting in a threatening way.probably the wrong thing to do though cos now she knows shes upset me

Hey all. I'm so sorry if this is the wrong place to ask but I had no idea where to put it so please feel free to move it to the correct place. I am currently working in a temporary, full time position with the possibility of going permanent after 3 months. While I'm temp, I am "under" Manpower, if/when I go perm I then get took over by the company I am working for. Manpower use the TSA Scheme but I'm having a few problems and I hope someone can help me. I have been paid 4 times (I worked 1 week in hand and get paid weekly while temp). My first wage and TSA was correct: TSA Allow: 34.60 - A TSA Adjust: -34.60 the allow and adjust matched but the next 3 payments have not matched: TSA Allow: 43.25 - M TSA Adjust: -47.58 as you can see, what has been taken out is greater than what has been put in, which means I am short by almost £5 per week. I asked our point of contact for Manpower if the allow and adjust should be the same - she said yes and said she would look into it for me but I havent heard anything from her for 2 weeks. Now I am emailing the whole team as advised for someone to help but I'd like some info in case they are trying to pull a fast one. Can anyone who knows about TSA explain or let me know if the allow/adjust should be the same or if they are meant to be different and why? Is the above TSA correct and I'm worrying about nothing? I've heard so many bad things about Manpower since I started my new job that I'm worrying they may be taking money from me (and others). What rights I have and what I do about it if all this is wrong. Any help/info is appreciated. Thanks.

http://www.itv.com/news/meridian/story/2015-09-03/a-woman-tells-of-her-disgust-at-finding-a-hidden-camera-while-showering-at-travelodge/ http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/13641641.Woman_stunned_to_discover_camera_hidden_in_shower_while_staying_at_Wheatley_Travelodge/

Foreign Office advises against all but essential travel to Tunisia The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has today changed its travel advice to Tunisia to advise against all but essential travel for the time being. FCO travel advice has highlighted for some time the high threat from terrorism in Tunisia, but the evolving security situation since the attack almost two weeks ago means the decision has been taken to advise against all but essential travel to Tunisia. READ MORE HERE: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/foreign-office-advises-against-all-but-essential-travel-to-tunisia

I was tempted to use 'discriminate against' in the thread title but thought that may have been a bit too strong. Ok, so my mum is currently on a trip to Dubai with my dad (He's already over there for work) and so we went to take out a travel insurance policy. She's done this trip (alone and with me) several times in the past few years so we've got a good bit of experience with buying Travel Insurance online, usually from the Post Office, and just printing out documentation at home within minutes. All nice and simple. So this year we sat down (She's not at all IT-savvy, so it's down to good old Son who works in IT to do something so 'complicated' for her ) and went to go through the process as usual, but this year there was something a bit different about the questions to answer/fill in, with more details on the medical side being requested. In the past there's never been any medical questions when buying travel insurance beyond the "pre-existing conditions wont be covered" type stuff. Now, unfortunately my mum was diagnosed with Breast Cancer nearly 6 years ago. Fortunately it was caught very early and through a combination of minor radiotherapy and drug treatments, she made a complete recovery and was given her all clear last December. Previously this has never been applicable to the questions that we've been asked when buying Travel Insurance online, but the new questions, or at least the new wording of the questions, meant that it did seem to fall into the 'relevant' bracket now, so when the following question came up, Along with. We had to click Yes, wanting to give an honest declaration that she had been for treatment, but that she was now all clear and no longer undergoing any treatment. On clicking Yes we were asked what the condition was, and Breast Cancer was an option. We were then given the following questions, Available answers were, "No", "Yes - spread to lymph nodes in armpit only" and "Yes - spread to other parts of the body". Fortunately, our answer was "No". "Under 2 years" "2-3 Years" "3-5 years" "5-8 years" "8-10 years" "More than 10 years" Our answer was "5-8 years" "Yes" "No" "Still waiting for surgery to remove the cancer" Now on this one, we selected "No", as there was never any surgery. However I'm assuming here that Chemotherapy and medication don't classify as 'surgery' as there wasn't what I could consider a surgical procedure involved. For this one we selected the option of 1 to 2 visits in the last 12 months, the last one being her final check last year before getting her all clear. Well, no she's not. Treatment is complete, but there was no option for that at all. There were only options for Chemotherapy, Surger, Radiotherapy, Tablet treatment, Other Treatment or No. So we had to pick no. So as you can see, there were absolutely no options to say "I did have cancer, but it was treated completely successfully without the need for surgical removal". So we put in those details, and then got prompted that there were no policies available based on the information. Hm, odd. So next we tried a comparison site, thinking that might be a bit better. We ended up on Moneysupermarket after prompting that there was a previous cancer case involved were directed to their "Pre-existing condition" quote site. Sounded good, something a bit more specialist. Went through that only to be prompted with word for word the same questions and answers. Obviously we put in the same information....and got the same results. No policies available. In the end, she had to phone up her bank and managed to get a quote over the phone since she could actually explain the cancer was now gone and she'd received her all clear. But why not have an option for people who have been successfully treated for Cancer? Why did we have to go through all that? Are insurance companies just of the opinion that once you've had cancer, you always have cancer?

How long does it normally take for ATOS to put your travel expenses claim into your bank account. I filled out the form before I left the WCA Centre and handed it back

Hi, I university student and I travel from slade green in kent to london and I have a 16-25 student oyster card. I used to get a zone 1-6 weekly travelcard on my oyster but started to get zone 1-2 weekly travelcard thinking i would be ok with it. Got caught today by an inspector at slade green station and was cautioned and was asked severall questions. I told them my friend said I could use a zone 1-2 travel card and said I didnt know that it was a zone 6 station. They asked for my friends name and address but i only gave his name. I know its totally my fault dont know what to do. What will happen next, would I be prosecuted? Really scared. Any advice please.

Hoping to go away a few times this year and am looking at travel insurance. I've been given quotes that range from £30-£100 ish. But is there really that much difference between the insurance that each company offers? I've had a look on compare the market and put my details in to see what comes up. I am aware that some compaies won't come up on comparison websites.

Hello knowledgeable folk, I've been in the same role for the same company for 15 years, the last 8.5 of these years have been worked from home. Home is a minimum of 2 1/2 hours drive from the office location. My work is completed online, I've never had any issues raised with the quality of my work, or my location until now. A new manager has come in and stated that I should be in the office two to three days a month. There is a statement on my contract that I can be required to work from other locations within reasonable travel distance from my home. I've stated clearly that I am unable to fulfil this request, but I'm still being pursued to comply, it's as if I am speaking to myself. What I would like to gauge is whether this statement on my contract is enforceable? I have never had to work from anywhere other than my home in the past 8 1/2 years since I moved to my current location (my company could not replace my position when I moved away from the area, lucky me). My gut feeling is that the new manager wants the role moved back in house, I understand and just wish to be treated fairly. Do you think if I asked for redundancy I would have grounds? To be honest the relationship between the new manager and myself is not great, he lied about me to our overall boss (who thankfully knows me well enough to check the facts), so leaving wouldn't be too much of a disappointment at this point! Thanks in advance!

Hi all I have my monthly season ticket from norwood junction to fleet NOT via london. other week i heard someone saying on train that one of the barriers at london waterloo accepts tickets not via london. I used them and i was observed by a RPA of southwest trains walking all through platform 1 till plat form 19 and using barriers there. He confronted me and gave me a receipt which says i will be hearing form SOUTH WEST TRAINS . I have never come across any situation like this before and i literally stood shaking when he was asking me questions I ended up signing the receipt which explains that i walked all the way form platform 1 to platform 19 to use my ticket which is not via london.Receipt also says i tried to skip payment of 1.60 pounds. i was so tensed and i was shaking when he was confrnting,when he asked me to fill in details,i did by mistake enter wrong DOB.I am even worried about that. I was told i will be receiving letter from SW trains within 3 weeks. I am so getting worried and tensed , seeing all these posts. Please someone explain to me about the process. My application for passport is under consideration I dont want get into criminal records.I know i did a mistake stupidly. IS there any way to avoid it to settle out of the court?etc? I am so embarrassed about myself & deeply feeling guilty about what i did for sake of just 1.60 pounds . ONE IMPORTANT THING is why should any barriers accept tickets which are not via london?ITS FAULT in the system. should i meet any solicitor regarding this or should i wait for letter from SW. how much time it will take them to write to me? Please some one HELP... I am SCARED.... I AM REALLY SORRY for wat i DID.... i dont knw what to do now

Holidaymakers who have an accident or fall ill while on holiday risk having their travel insurance claim turned down if they have had just two alcoholic drinks. The Financial Ombudsman Service, which adjudicates on consumer complaints, has warned that insurers are increasingly accusing customers of "alcohol abuse" in order to wriggle out of paying claims. It has disclosed the details of cases to highlight the issue. In one, the insurer insisted that a customer suffered from "alcoholism" even when medical evidence showed that they had consumed no more than two alcoholic drinks. Travel claims are most commonly rejected if a customer is accused of not declaring a medical condition. However, the ombudsman has reported a rise in complaints over insurers using alcohol consumption as an excuse to avoid paying. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/insurance/travel/11113938/A-couple-of-drinks-Its-alcohol-abuse-and-we-wont-pay-your-claim-say-travel-insurers.html travel insurance – alcohol exclusions http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/PUBLICATIONS/ombudsman-news/120/120-alcohol-exclusions.html

Hi I'm doing a 6 months course and have been told by the college I'm starting my course at that JOBCENTRE will pay for my fares there and back. I kept all my fares and gave them to the Jobcentre 2 weeks ago. Jobcentre said they will NOT pay my fares and it cost me LOTS! I can't afford to pay for this course back and fourth. They put me on this course so why am I paying for it?!

Hi there, I am currently on ESA (the work related group which I protest but nothing changes) and on Avanta's work programme, which is a waste of time (I've been telling them for over a year I want to go back into education and each month they say "hey how about self employment", etc..). Basically, I'm currently in Newcastle staying with family and must attend the monthly appointment which is in Bolton. That's a £50 rail fee away (with my railcard), just for me to walk in and say hi, tell them I don't want self employment I want to go back to education, and yes I am still seeing a therapist. It is a complete and utter waste of time. My question is are they required to reimburse that £50 rail fee even though I'm travelling from Newcastle, and not my registered home address? Because quite frankly it is a waste of time and money (that's a large portion of my ESA gone) to do something that terrifies me (I have severe social anxiety), but I've missed one or two appointments already and my advisor has been sending angry voicemails telling me I must come or they'll sanction me. It's bad enough that I'm being forced on the train journey which is a horrifying prospect, but hopefully I can regain the money spent? Thanks for your help!

Had an appointment at the JC on Saturday - first time I've been asked to attend at the weekend - and was annoyed that my JC didn't have a cash box available to pay my (and others) travel expenses. I can get it next time I sign on but this is totally unacceptable. Now I wasn't in dire need of the £6, but there's plenty who would have needed that money reimbursing immediately, especially younger people on lower benefit rates. If you're normally paid expenses in cash at your JC and are called in at the weekend, best to get confirmation that you'll get your expenses on the day. I have 2 emails to write now; one to my District Manager (who I know) and a copy sent to the PCS Union - may as well rattle their cage too. Will also report the adviser I saw who didn't offer expenses at the start of the interview as per guidance and ended the interview without mentioning them, also against guidance.

Hello I'm just enquiring about the Job Centre's ability to pay for travel expenses to an interview. I have an interview in Edinburgh but I live in Manchester. My 'Work Coach' has advised the Job Centre will pay for my travel, but they will only pay for the train. The train works out to be nearly three times as much time travelling as going by plane, but it's also more expensive. Having done some research, it seems the money comes out of a 'Flexible Support Fund' but information about this is very scarce as it seems to be allocated at a local level by District Managers. I'm wondering if anybody has experience of this or if they can give me some more information? Ideally I'd like to get all travel expenses paid for as it seems stupid to have a means of reclaiming the cost but not using it. Thanks

Post Deleted Speaking with HR about the issue on Monday. Thanks for the comments

hello, In a few weeks I will have to travel constantly for about 7 - 8 days. This is 3 days by train 4 days by bus. Everything is usually fine whilst I travel through Russia by train and the Baltics, Poland and Germany by bus. I usually experience problems within Netherlands / France / UK - when air conditioning does not work in the bus. In 2010, I was unconscious because the air conditioning didn't work on a bus and my body could not cope with the heat. I don't want heat stroke again and certainly don't want to be unconscious again since it took me ages to recover as I felt ill for weeks after this. I shall travel in August. My question is: If I am on a bus and the air conditioning is not working and it is a high temperature, I know I have to leave the bus for the sake of my health. Is the bus company then responsible for my financial losses such as replacement bus ticket for the rest of my journey? The first 2 times without air conditioning on bus, I sent complaint letter to National Express / Eurolines who then gave me % off voucher for my next travel. The third time it happened when I was unconscious, National Express didn't answer my complaint. I then changed companies to Ecolines since I found they run a bus directly to UK over 2 days (constant travel). So, if I find myself in a position on Ecolines direct bus with extreme heat and no air conditioning, can I get off the bus and would Ecolines then be responsible for giving me a free ticket to continue my journey on a bus with air conditioning? I realise this may sound petty but my body can not cope with heat for a long period of time and I'd like to know my rights if this happened again, because really I am not looking forward to this travel and I do not want to experience heat stroke or heat exhaustion / unconscious again. Thanks! ps.... No, I can't fly because of fear

Hi , I had an interview last week [ did`t get the job] but i had to go by taxi , can i claim full or part of my expenses back ?. NB Sorry i should of made it clear that i am claiming JSA & if i could claim the money back from the JC when i next sign on.

Hello, I recently left my job at the Royal Bank of Scotland - no banker bashing please as I'm in the process of taking them to tribunal. As an employee I applied for a staff season ticket loan to pay for my annual train ticket with the balance being repaid through my salary over a number of months. Since leaving the company I am now receiving numerous telephone calls from their collections department threatening a default if I don't pay. The only agreement was an internal form signed by my line manager at the time, there was no credit check or anything like that. I would appreciate some guidance on how to proceed with this as it's my understanding that without a CCA they can't enforce this on me? I can upload a copy of the document if required. Thanks in advance.

Hi all, I am employed by a company full time in the UK. My contract states the following : I am based from home, and work 7.5 hours a day on a customer's site (+1 hr lunch) and have to travel up to two hours a day to get to the customer's site and back (one hour each way). They used to pay us in fifteen minute intervals for travel time in excess of that. They have changed it so we can only claim 30 minutes at a time, and we are not allowed to round up, so we would have to travel over an hour and a half before we could claim any travel overtime (30 minutes). This means we now have to give up to 3 hours travel a day without claiming any extra pay. We have also been told that this travel time cannot be included in the working time directive, which I have not opted out of, because it is travel time and not 'work' time. We are also being told that if resources are not available, we are expected to travel more than the hour in our contract. Sometimes we are booked on jobs that are several hours travel away, without being asked if we want to work those hours. If the job is over a certain distance then we can ask for a hotel, but this cannot be booked for the first day's work. My question is, is all of this legal ? Can I take any action, as I feel we are being treated unfairly. Unfortunately, we have no union representation. Thanks.