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gazsus

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  1. After being a long time reader of these forums I thought I would share my own tale of woe. Back in November 2011 I was summoned to an ATOS medical, not knowing the significance of the situation (my fault). The person asking the questions refused to take anything but one-word answers, this annoyed me and I became a bit flippant with them (stupidly). The 'medical' was over in fifteen minutes and I thought no more about it (remember I didn't know what ATOS was at this point). Two months later, 16th of January, my benefits didn't arrive in my account. After making a few calls I discovered to my horror that my benefits had been stopped because I had 'failed' the medical. That's the point at which I discovered this part of the forum and, thanks to the enormous amount of knowledge and advice here, I was able to fight back. Roll forward to November 2012 and I finally get to have my say at a tribunal, one year and one day since the original 'medical'. The panel of a doctor and a judge were "overwhelmingly convinced" of my rights to benefits and promptly overturned the previous decision. (I suffer from chronic PTSD and Bipolar II) I phoned the DWP and asked what happens next, they said my benefits and any back-pay would be sorted out within 6-8 weeks. Well, it's now 5 months later and today I was finally awarded the monies owed to me. It has taken 23 phone calls to the DWP to reach this point and a lot more grey hairs to-boot. In the end I had to phone the tribunal service myself to request the proof of their decision because, despite numerous requests and empty promises, the DWP were incapable of preforming such a simple task. Besides the grey hairs I have suffered countless sleepless nights and my health has suffered quite badly from the whole affair. If it wasn't for the people of this forum offering advice and sharing their experiences I'm not sure if I would have made it this far. So THANKS to you all, without you I wouldn't have received nearly £2000 today in back-pay. As for the DWP, all I can say is I'm glad I live 3hrs drive away from them or I might have done something I'd regret.
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