Hi Phil, Thanks for your reply. From what I've read, even if we were to transfer ownership of the house to my Mother, the local authority are allowed to look back as far as 7 years and will disregard any such transfer. They will still include the value of the house in their assessment of my Grandmother's assets, even though it is registered in someone else's name as they'll see it as an attempt to avoid paying for care. I'm wondering whether it would be somehow possible to create a charge over the property in favour of my Mother, not for the full value because she hasn't paid for all of it, but at least equivalent to the percentage she has put in. At least then she would get back what she was entitled to. I'm guessing it is going to have to be a solicitor job to see whether there is anything that can legally be done. JRP.

Hi, My Grandmother is 90 and her deteriorating health is making it increasingly likely that she will have to move into a residential care home. She owns the house that she lives in and consequently, I understand that it will be included in any assessment of her assets when the local authority decides whether she will have to pay towards her care. However, the situation is not so clear... My Grandmother (and Grandfather when he was alive) decided to exercise the right to buy their council house. However, to do so, my Mother helped them by giving them the deposit for the purchase. In addition, when my Grandfather died, my Mother took over payment of the mortgage and paid it every month for about the last 10 years of the mortgage agreement. She did this by taking cash from her bank account and paying it into the mortgage account each month at my Grandmother's building society. Consequently, my Mother is now in a bit of a pickle as technically, she has paid into the house but on paper, has nothing to show for it, as the house has always been in my Grandmother and Grandfather's names. Has anyone ever been in a similar situation? Is the local authority likely to accept that my Mother owns a percentage of the house and disregard that percentage when calculating my Grandmother's total assets? Would my Mother's bank statements showing the cash being withdrawn and then the mortgage statement showing it being paid-in minutes later be sufficient to demonstrate her interest in the property? Can anything be done to formalise my Mother's interest in the house? If anyone can provide any guidance I would be very grateful.

Hi TA, Thanks for the message. I would be really interested to hear what sort of a reply you get from OPUS. I managed to get my £52 refunded by the AA (although that was a nightmare in itself) and I've heard absolutely nothing from OPUS since. I therefore assume my balance has returned to zero & they won't be pestering me again. I only hope I'm not being naive by assuming that! Perhaps I ought to contact them to double check! Let me know how you get on, JRP1414

Hi, I wonder if I could get some advice please? A good while ago I had a Citi Card which I paid off in full and closed as I no longer wanted it. I believe it has been closed around 10-12 months. I have heard nothing from them since closing it. Today, I received a text message on my mobile phone from Opus saying my Citi Card account had been transferred to them and that I owed them some money, to be paid by 10th Jan. The message asked me to call them to make a payment by debit card and gave a phone number. I had absolutely no idea who Opus were and thought it was some sort of [problem] and so decided to look on the Citi Card website. Low and behold, I find a message on there, advising that Citi Card has been sold to Opus, whoever they might be. I phoned Opus and after some time, the assistant managed to locate my account. She confirmed that it had been closed some time ago and that the account had been transferred to Opus as part of a bulk sale of all Citi Card accounts. I queried why it was necessary to transfer a closed account and she said it was because I may wish to challenge a transaction under s.75 Consumer Credit Act and could now do that through Opus, if I needed to. The assistant also confirmed that the balance on closure was 0, but that recently, the AA had applied a charge to the account for breakdown membership renewal. The outstanding balance was therefore now £52 and that I would need to pay it else I would incur late payment fees and interest. I queried why I had not been told that my account had been passed to Opus and how a company had been able to charge a closed credit card account. The assistant confirmed that notes on my account explicitly state I have never been sent any communication to confirm the move to Opus because the account was closed when they received details of it, and that because my AA payment was an automatic renewal that I must've agreed to last year, they were legally allowed to charge the fee, which would automatically reopen my closed credit card account. I am going to contact the AA to ask them to refund the amount and sort that out with them, but could someone please clarify the following with regards to Citi / Opus: 1. Are Citi Card legally allowed to sell my closed credit card account to another company? 2. If they are, do they have to inform me in any way? 3. Do Citi Card have to seek my permission to transfer my personal details to another company? After all, I have no debt with them so its not as if they are selling or assigning any debt to another company, which I believe would be acceptable. So what gives them the right to transfer my data on a closed account? 4. Do Opus have a legal duty to notify me that they now own my account? 5. If my account has been passed illegally or without my consent to Opus, am I liable for the money they are demanding? Any help would be gratefully appreciated. I understand from the Opus assistant that many errors have occurred during this transfer of accounts and so it stands a good chance I am not the only victim. Kind regards, JRP1414

Hi, I am in need of some urgent help with a County Court Claim form received this morning for my other-half's loan with Lloyds. To cut a very long story short... She fell in to arrears with the loan. A Default Notice was sent to her in Dec 2009 and a letter from SCM Solicitors in Jan 2010, demanding full payment of the outstanding amount (£6,600). She contacted the Collections Centre and SCM Solicitors and agreed to pay £30 per month by direct debit. During the course of this agreement, Lloyds automatically increased the Direct Debit to the original payment amount of £200, without warning or permission. A complaint was made, they apologised and reinstated the £30 per month agreement. Low and behold, they did it again and after a further complaint, they apologised and admitted a breach of the direct debit guarantee. Again, the £30 per month agreement was reinstated. As a result of the problems, my other half refused to pay them via direct debit and after a lot of arguing was eventually sent a payment book to pay manually in the branch. She has been paying £30 per month as agreed since May this year in this fashion. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, she forgot to make October's and November's payments. By the time she realised, she paid November's in to the branch a few days late. She has now received a County Court Claim Form from the Northampton Bulk Centre demanding £6500 (inc court fees and solicitors costs). The form is dated 12th Nov, 1 day after she made November's payment into the branch. The Particulars of Claim states that following the letter sent by SCM Solicitors in Jan 2010, the Defendant has failed to pay the sum 'or any of it', which is factually incorrect, as she has paid 5 monthly payments. What are her options now? Does she have to admit the claim and agree a monthly amount, thus incurring a CCJ? Or is it possible to defend the claim on the basis that she has been paying the agreed amount and is willing to continue doing so, but has just had a hick-up over the last two months? What are the likely implications of defending the action? Any advice would be very much appreciated as we are both really concerned about this and would like to avoid a CCJ if at all possible. Thank you for your time.

Hi, I did mean to post an update on this but completely forgot. I travelled back to Menorca with absolutely no problems whatsoever. They looked at my passport but did not scan it or check it against any database. They simply waved me straight through. We didn't hire a car this year so I'm not sure whether that would make any difference, but I doubt it would. Ultimately, I guess the Police would have to pull you over whilst driving, check your details and then maybe find out you have an outstanding fine, but the chances of that happening I would guess are very small. I don't think it was a [problem] as such but that the Spanish authorities were chancing their luck knowing full well they had no way of enforcing the ticket. I guess it's worthwhile them trying for the cost of sending a letter. I'm just so glad I didn't part with my money. €300 seems a bit steep for your ticket, mine was only €100 I think. Did you run the speed camera over?! Travel with your mind at rest, the Spanish Government are just trying to cash in on a few extra Euros to boost their failing economy. Considering how expensive their car hire has become, I think it's a damn cheek!

Hi folks, I've been in discussion with the AA over this. They have received several other enquiries over the matter and having spoken to their Spanish counterparts in the breakdown recovery world, can confirm the speeding tickets are legitimate. Apparently Italy are doing the very same too. With regards to whether the tickets can be enforced or not, they are a little unclear. They have had one member who telephoned the DGT helpline and was informed that they cannot really make you pay and little will be done, providing you don't use the same hire car company again if you return to the country. Then on the flip side, they have warned that you may experience difficulties upon returning to the country and in extreme circumstances, the fines are passed to collection agencies. They didn't, however, state whether this had been experienced by UK motorists or whether they were just erring on the side of caution. Personally, I cannot believe a country would go to so much trouble as to pursue a foreign tourist for a speeding ticket and ultimately put some sort of flag on their passport to detain them if/when they return to the country. I would hope that such action in the UK would be reserved for serious crime such as murder and terrorism! However, this has left me a little concerned. The AA weren't able to really offer any advice as they no longer have a legal department for their members to access, but the general gist was that I should call the helpline, hope they tell me it cannot be enforced and then try to get this in writing should anything further happen. However, having heard the trouble some people have had just trying to get through on the phone, I'm dubious as to how successful this will be. I guess only time will tell as to whether anyone returning to the country gets some kind of backlash from this. Personally I'm disgusted with Spain and will seriously think twice about taking my tourism there again. I think it is a bad move on their part if they wish to encourage tourism in light of the current financially difficult times. If anyone has returned to Spain following receipt of one of these tickets, I would be VERY grateful to know what sort of reception you received.

Hmm, well you may well be correct with your diagnosis of the fault but nevertheless, being just 24hrs old when it developed the fault, it's hardly acceptable & I struggle to see how I could be at all to blame. On the SIM card front, that too is brand new & works perfectly in another handset, so that narrows it down to the phone. If you had it in your hand, you would agree with me that it's definitely a loose connection inside. On the Apple/ Orange front, it is plain & simple; my contract for the purchase of the goods / provision of the service is with Orange. I have no contract with Apple (save for product safety issues) & they would be well within their rights to tell me to get lost and to go speak to Orange to get a fault rectified. Orange have provided me with a service & also goods within the provision of that service and consequently the Supply of Goods & Services Act 1982 stipulates that those goods must be of satisfactory quality & fit for purpose. It is quite clear there is an inherent fault with the phone & therefore the responsibility lies with Orange to replace it. I don't have to go to Apple, I don't have to dance to their tune, but yes I can see advantages of going direct. My biggest gripe was that I had to do all the running around, incurring time & expense for something that was not my fault. It is these losses which I will be seeking to recover from Orange for breach of our contract.

After the most shocking example of customer service I have ever experienced in my life, I ended up giving up and calling Apple direct. They are sending me a replacement handset. Still no proper response from Orange, except for an answerphone message on the broken phone, leaving no return contact details!

Well, no reply to my phone calls or emails so far. I've forwarded my email to the Executive Office, asking for someone to look into it, suggesting they may wish to research the law before making a decision!

Here is a brief summary of a problem I am experiencing with Orange: - Took out a contract with Orange for an Apple iPhone, paid £99 for the handset. - 24hrs after receiving the phone, it developed an intermittent fault whereby the signal drops out and a message pops up - 'No SIM card installed'. - Called Orange Tech Support who agreed it was a fault with the handset but said my only option was to take the phone to an Apple shop to have it repaired / replaced under the warranty. I explained that my contract was with Orange and therefore it was my statutory right that they should replace the handset as it was not fit for purpose / of satisfactory quality. Orange said that for any other make of handset, this is the case, but not for the iPhone! They said that Apple have stipulated in a contract between them and Orange that they must manage any replacements / repairs. They basically said the law does not apply to the iPhone! - I requested to speak with a supervisor and was told one would call me back. Some 2hrs later, after chasing up this call, I did receive a call from a supervisor, who to my surprise, reiterated their stance that the law under the Sale of Goods Act or Sale & Supply of Goods and Services Act, does not apply to the Apple iPhone! He said I MUST speak to Apple to arrange a repair / replacement under the terms of the warranty. - I have fired off an email to Orange Customer Services, demanding they honour my statutory rights and replace my phone. I cannot believe what they are doing! I will keep you posted on the outcome. Has anyone else experienced similar problems? JRP1414

Ok, with the help of a scanner, some free character recognition software and a language translator (nice one Google), I have sort of managed to translate the bulk of the document. I have no idea what half of it means, but it doesn't seem to say what the sanctions are if you fail to pay. There is certainly no mention of arrest! Likewise, Google allows you to translate the www.dgt.es website, but again, there is nothing that I can find on there which says what happens if you don't pay. So I'm lost! -- Upon learning this Headquarters through photographic evidence of the facts stated above, has started disciplinary record under the number which is also indicated, being the instructor of the procedure body Sanctions Unit Treatment Center Automated reports and the appropriate body for resolution the Director of the Center for Automated Processing of Complaints delegation of the Chief Provincial Traffic Balearic Islands (B1). P. 'No. 28 of 26.02.08), in accordance with the provisions of etartículo 68.1 Text Articles of the Traffic Act, Motor Vehicle Traffic and Road Safety approved by Royal Legislative Decree 339/1990, 2 March, which is served on the right letting him know that it has, in accordance with Article 12 of Regulation Sanctioning Procedure, approved by Royal Decree 320/1994 of 25 February, to plead in writing to the Treatment Center Automated Complaints, PO Box 505 24080 or fax LEON No 902 512 151, with input or proposition of the evidence deems appropriate, within fifteen business days following the receipt of this notification, which in its defense appropriate. The fine, whose amount is entered in the appropriate box may be paid voluntarily within 30 days natural following receipt of this notification, with a reduction of 30% of its value, and the amount to pay for that reduction of 70.00 euros, and this will make him the waiver of claims, as provided in Articles 67.1 and 77.2 of the that law, and the completion of the procedure without the need to take special resolution, without prejudice to the possibility of bringing the corresponding resources. If not paid in the manner indicated, or make arguments in the specified period, the institution of proceedings will be considered draft resolution, as prescribed by section 13.2 of the Rules of procedure for the exercise of disciplinary powers, approved by Royal Decree 1398/1993 of 4 August, with the effects specified in Articles 18 and 19 of that standard. This file will expire one year after its initiation unless there are grounds for suspension (Article 81.2 of the Articles of the Law Text on Traffic, Motor Vehicle Traffic and Road Safety, approved by Legislative Royal Decree 339/1990 of 2 March). Information line: 902 508 686 LEON January 15, 2010 THE HEAD OF SANCTIONS CENTER UNIT

Hi guys, It has now been 6 months since my holiday to Menorca, and I have received a second 'speeding ticket'. Again it came recorded delivery and looks very similar to the first one. However, this time, it had an official looking pink slip of paper stuck to the back of the envelope and a much larger copy of the photograph of the hire car printed on the back of the letter. It doesn't seem to have a postmark though, which I'm not sure whether it should have, being a foreign letter? Again, it states that I was doing 70.2km/h in a 50km/h zone and they want either 70 or 100 Euros, I'm not sure which (as I don't speak flipping Spanish!). Interestingly, the photograph doesn't seem to show anyone inside the car, although I have to admit it is a poor copy. As there were 4 of us at all times, I find it difficult to believe that not one head can be seen through the back window, which leads me to wonder whether it is a picture of the car parked up, cleverly pasted into the Spanish background scene! Also, there is only one photograph and no markings on the road, so how do they confirm that the vehicle was exceeding the speed limit using the old 'speed = distance / time'? Or is it a different method of calculation over there? I'm still not convinced whether it's genuine or not. But seeing as though they can't be bothered to write to me in English, I cannot possibly be subjected to a fair trial as I cannot appeal to their courts, and they have not provided a simple method of payment; I am certainly not going to pay up. My only real concern is that I visit Menorca every year and if it is genuine, I really do not want to get arrested or given an inflated on-the-spot fine when I land next time. Thinking about it though, how would they know upon presenting my passport at passport control; that I am the person from the hire car last year? Sure they have my address, but that's not printed on my passport... I have tried my utmost to ascertain whether the thing is genuine, conducting research on the net, posting on here, contacting the hire car company (who had no idea about it) and even the AA (who didn't bother to reply) but no-one can say for definite. If anyone could shed any light as to whether these Spanish fine thingys hold a power of arrest for non-payment, I would be grateful to find out. Many thanks, JRP1414

Thanks Landy. I just don't know how these guys excuse their behaviour. I can't imagine a customer writing to the Chief Exec at my work and not receiving a thorough reply to their concerns! What a way to run a business.

Thanks Mills, that's certainly worth a try. I hadn't even considered complaining to the top. You just get to the point where you simply cannot see an end to the ridiculous situation!