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Lookingforjustice

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  1. It is possible but not impossible. Have you thought about running your own business. There is help out there for people who want to start their own business. Look at Enterprise Nation and the Government Start Up Loans. Maybe it's a good time to look at your own expertise, knowledge and skills and consider trying to monetize them. Maybe you have a hobby you can teach to others or was there something you always wanted to do before your health got bad. People are doing all sorts and their innovation never ceases to amaze. There are loads of free courses at Libraries, through Eventbrite etc you can look at and consider your options. Instead of worrying about whether someone will employ you maybe earning a living by doing something you like and enjoy will improve your health. I believe jobseekers also do a loan although the limit is quite small and usually if you take that route you would not qualify for a start up loans. The start up loan partners have loads of free events on eventbrite so why not go along to one. The loan is more dependent upon you, your idea and the business plan and the forecasts. Most of the partners will help you do these so it's not a problem at all. Give it some thought can't hurt might help. Did for me!
  2. I have found the Halifax quite reasonable. I had something similar where I was given wrong information by one of their advisors. This resulted in Halifax taking too much money out of my account. I am on a tight budget and other things defaulted and I got charged for non payment of a different direct debit and charges on my bank account for failed direct debit. Halifax picked up all the charges as a show of good faith. I believe that some amount of discretion is given to the advisor you speak to but maybe with the amount you were messed around on needs to go higher for authorisation. I was told that since Halifax started this system complaints have fallen dramatically so I would continue to pursue this. Having booked the holiday would you lose the money if you cancelled or would the impact on your family be too distressing. Let them know. As I understand it there is no obligation for them to pay you this money but I think given the circumstances they may do it as a gesture of goodwill.
  3. I am not an expert in benefits and I'm sure someone will advise you better than me on that. I would however get some evidence from your friend explaining the £5000 he put into your account. If you had £6000 in the same account why did you give him your card. Does his passport show him coming into the UK or when he opened a bank account and monies being transferred or the balance of his £5000 being taken out and deposited into a new account. Anything that can support your version of events. I would also get a letter from your doctor explaining you have been being treated over a period of time for an illness now diagnosed as ME. The limitations this places on you day to day or at certain times. Also that you suffer from and are receiving medication for depression. The impact upon you including not wanting to leave the house except to spend time with your parents. If it was recommended you do that and it could be included in your letter all the better. I think the above would be essential to demonstrate that you are ill and there was no intention to overclaim. It may well be that anything you sell will be taken as income. Inland Revenue do not concern themselves with Ebay sales unless they consider you are making the sales as a business or for considerable profit. It may be useful to check out whether they consider random sales of your own possessions income. Any inconsistency between the treatment of Ebay sales by Government departments might be an appeal point you could use if the decision goes against you. I can see why HB wouldn't want to be subsidising people whilst they were abroad if you had an AST rental agreement you might not have been able to break it or be able to give sufficient notice just being away for two months. You would obviously not be able to actively seek work if abroad unless JS applies to jobs in the EU as well. I would be making the point that they should recognise you have a mental illness and your parents are your closest relatives. Can they show that you were ever notified that there was a limit on the length of visit you could make. It's a shame you didn't actually use you savings to pay off the overdraft on your account but it's not an unreasonable argument that you didn't consider it as savings given you had this overdraft. As I said I am no expert in benefits but I think the case has to be made there was no intention to do anything wrong and to back up the £5K deposit for your friend as this is a significant amount. It will not help your illnesses to be stressed out obtaining bank statements going back more than three years. Whatever they decide if it goes against you I would find anything I could to appeal. I hope someone will be along soon to supply more constructive arguments for you. I am constantly amazed that people think individuals suffering serious illnesses and mental illnesses should still be able to cope as normal. I can't remember what happened last week never mind last year. Good Luck
  4. You could try writing to the Housing association and asking them to confirm in writing that the correct sound insulation was put in the building infrastructure. If the council and the Housing association are not willing to help you I would try writing a) to your local MP b) a local councillor c) a consumer programme like Dominic Littlewood, to see if they can get you some help. If the 'noise' above is just children and people walking heavily across the floor then it would seem this would not be deliberate or unreasonable by your upstairs neighbours just a question of the insulation. Even if the correct amount of insulation is shown on the building plans it doesn't mean to say it was actually put in. Try recording the noise on your phone or some other recording device and keep a log of the dates and times of the disturbance. Especially if you believe there is any malice in it. If you can afford an independent survey of the sound proofing I would get one. If not, try speaking to a local surveyors company and ask if they would consider doing one free or for a reduced fee. They may be more willing to help if you have some evidence to show that it is bad and having a negative impact on your health as you have to spend so much time indoors. If you can get a letter from your doctor to say you have told them about the noise and there has been a negative impact to your health it might add weight to your case. Six years is a long time to be subjected to something which you believe is excessive. Citizens Advice may be able to offer some help, a mental health charity or community legal support are worth trying. If there is noise at night try using some ear plugs. There are many different types on the market and although they are unlikely to stop the noise they may dull it sufficiently at least for you to be well rested. Whilst it may be irritating for a family being told for six years that someone was complaining about the noise of them walking across the floor and dropping things, having you beaten up is outrageous. I hope this incident was reported to the police and they took it seriously. I have actually seen something similar in a private house where the freeholder has the house made into two flats. There were two male occupants in the flat above both who removed their shoes when doing into the flat. One you could hardly hear at all but the other sounded like an elephant crossing the floor. Big cracks started to appear in the ceiling and running down the plaster in the walls. For the floor to be that springy I would have thought that there hadn't been enough floor supports or soundproofing put in. The fact that the whole area was so peaceful and quiet added to the tension when there was noise from above. The owner moved elsewhere and let their flat out. For some people that are out all day and most evenings, they might not be in enough for this to bother them but if it does, then feeling trapped and subjected to an unwelcome level of noise becomes very debilitating. Hope some of these suggestions might help.
  5. I recall seeing something similar to this on a previous thread. DVLA lost the case because they couldn't show they hadn't received it. I believe but there was another legal issue to it as well and it might be worth looking through previous DVLA threads but I seem to remember the court queried whether DVLA could actually bring an action at all on the issue. Does anyone else remember this?
  6. TV Licensing could save lots of money by unnecessarily chasing up people harassing and threatening them. I went to live abroad for a while and wrote to them explaining I would be renting out and would notify them when a tenant moved in. After three months they starting sending a barrage of mail to the house. Unfortunately the estate agent had gone out of business so I didn't know anything about it. The language in the letters was so threatening. I know it happened to someone else whose mother went into a home. The house was empty but despite informing them the letters just kept coming. In the end they were just ignored and said their system could only stop correspondence for 3 months. I'm sure this could be changed. I wonder how much such unnecessary enforcement costs. Apparently they have a list of all properties in the UK without a licence and continue to check them. Quite frankly I won't be sorry to see this draconian system disappear. I pay mine at the beginning of the year but this year I was a little late. I had you are under investigating notice in the same post as my licence. If the BBC want to treat ordinary people like this I for one don't care if they lose a few radio stations. Get advertising like the other stations.
  7. I cannot see the benefit to any business not to provide a receipt or an acknowledgement of receipt of payment. I think you are particularly vulnerable for cash payments made over the counter. I would write to the landlord and advise them of this problem because I think the agent sounds a bit dodgy frankly as their receipts policy a bit wanting. I would also be asking regularly to see print outs for your account to ensure they are correct.
  8. Have you tried going to one of the charities which helps with debt collectors. eg National debtline The Money Advice Trust (MAT) As soon as you provide them with the details of your income and what your expenditure is they can write to your creditors. Once they are involved the creditors must stop chasing you until resolved. Speak to your MP about the harassment just to mark it up. You are under no obligation to provide evidence to DCA's your debt is not with them it is with whoever you took the original loan, credit card or whatever out with. If the debt is from the 90's it may be statute barred but this doesn't apply I believe to CCJ's. The Disability Alliance has been campaigning about the tactics of debt collection companies and that disabled people have a double disadvantage when dealing with these agencies. Try contacting the Disability Alliance or CAB for advice. I realise you are housebound maybe someone could come to see you. I don't think DCA's would be bothered at all that their practices or procedures don't comply with the Equalities Act2010. The reality is with the constant calling and threats and misinformation given they may also be falling foul of the Harassment Act. They are aware that if you don't have money to pay the debt you most certainly don't have enough to take them to court. You could get a tape recorder and record any calls where you inform them you have written to them, you have informed them you are disabled and they are exacerbating your condition if they are, and give the details of dates and number of calls to your MP. These DCA's are awful. I would like to see some prosecuted for their behaviour and the financial institutions who tasked them held responsible for any harassment that takes place because they know exactly what is happening. I'm sure there have been cases of suicide as a result of these tactics and without a doubt cases of severe stress and depression. The people will then be left with a mental illness which may stop them ever getting back to work and being a lifelong dependent on the National Health. I am so sorry for what is happening to you. You could just get a relative to get you a mobile ie not in your name which you can use for friends and relatives and then either don't answer the phone or have it disconnected. You'll probably find it saves you money if you let people call you and use it sparingly. As long as you can phone out in emergencies at least it will stop the telephone calls. There's also a system called Tru Call which you can use to block calls coming in but there is an initial outlay for it although you might be able to get the council to get it for you. We have one for my mum because she has dementia and we are also putting in a door phone so that she doesn't have to go to the door any more for unwanted callers. If someone was making a nuisance of themselves at your door you could phone the police. They should come out as you will be considered a vulnerable person being bedridden and housebound. Someone else will be able to explain in more details what you could do about the debts but you are certainly under no obligation to communicate with these people at all.
  9. I would lodge a complaint with the company of unfair treatment. The situation led to constructive dismissal and you can ask for compensation ie to be given VR retrospectively. However being treated unfairly is not going to get you into a tribunal unless you were treated unfairly because of you age, gender, religion etc Where you ill and unable to work because of the situation. If you are claiming victimisation as a result of whistleblowing against your claim should have been in. The three months is fixed but there are cases that have been heard outside of the three months. Usually it isn't this long as there was nothing to stop you putting an ET1 in before now. You can put an ET1 in now but the company is going to argue vigorously that you are out of time. You also need to show in the ET1 that you gave the company an opportunity to put this right. So put the complaint in first immediately followed by the ET1 to the court if you want to risk the money. You will need some case law that supports your application to be accepted and heard. See bailli.org but it is not easy to search and you have to pay to go to a tribunal. Ask someone on the forum with access to one of the law sites Westlaw etc (normally available to the legal profession only) if they would search the case law for something which fits your circumstances. You really need a couple of cases to be in with a chance. This is only a chance but maybe the company might do the right thing if you ask for the resolution to be something they are in a position to give. You may be setting yourself up for more disappointment and the loss of the ET fee on top of what has already happened and the way to go may be forward and not back. Only you can make that decision but preparing for an ET is time consuming on what may be an emotional and financially draining issue and will impact not only you but for your family as well. Check your home contents insurance policy to see if you have legal advice coverage usually an extra these day and they may decline to help as you are out of time unless you can give them a very good reason and legal argument as to why they should agree to pay. You may have to apply more than once. The Citizens Advice bureau is a good port of call for a referral to the National Pro Bono unit or the Free Representational Unit (limited coverage in the country) and you can only get onto the system once you have been given a court date. There is no guarantee even if you get to this stage that you will actually get any help. There is community legal advice centres but there are very overworked and I'm not sure they would even want to try to argue a case for being out of time. You can only ask. If you pay for a solicitor yourself going to a tribunal is likely to cost you are £50K in fees through to the end. If you pay for legal advice initially you cannot change and ask for free legal advice afterwards. You could try speaking to your MP. Maybe just to explain about the dilemma many many people find themselves in but the Government is clearly trying to stop ordinary individuals for seeking justice and on the side of the employers. It is simply not a problem for the employer to treat employees unfairly or sacrifice individuals to cover up incompetence or worse in management Life is neither fair or just. Personally I don't believe justice exists in this country anymore except for the very wealthy. If you are looking for revenge then focusing on being a success elsewhere ,will I believe be the most beneficial to you in the long run. Good luck whichever way you chose to go
  10. I am no expert on small claims and I'm sure someone will clarify for you but I understand that someone cannot keep taking actions out which you have to defend if they could reasonably have raised the matter in the previous hearing. ie If there is four arguments in relation to a matter you can't keep raising them consecutively if they could have been raised together. It's called res judicata. It places an unfair burden on someone having to defend the action, running up the costs and having several bites of the cherry. I think you could raise this argument in response to the current request to have the verdict set aside. If the argument could reasonably have been raised by them the last time and they didn't, it isn't right to keep subjecting your son to have to respond. I have found this forum very good to get legal arguments and specific case law references once someone knows exactly what the basis for this latest request to have the verdict set aside is. Is your son eligible for free legal advice? You can also contact Citizens advice bureau and/or you local community legal advice centre. You may need to be more specific with exactly what the agent is now claiming in order to get the judgement set aside but I am sure even if you cannot get proper legal advice you will get sufficient advice from someone on this forum to talk you through more of the process. Good luck
  11. I would report this to the police in any event. This individual is trying to exhort money from your friend. It is highly likely he has done it before and will do it again if not stopped. The fact he has a conviction for fraud should make the police take your allegation seriously. If your friend is to claim in the civil court that this is a fraud, it would be useful to have a police report number. Maybe the friend might not be so willing to corroborate a lie if it is relation to a criminal matter. The police quite often say they do not like to get drawn in on civil matters and believe people use them to get an upper hand in civil matters. It is likely fraudsters will know this and think they can get away with intimidating others with fraudulent court action knowing the police are less likely to be interested. Get your friend to stick to her guns, give them the evidence. If they do not follow it up especially with the previous history of the individual then write to the Chief Constable of the area. In a civil case the testimony of witnesses is given equal value and are deemed to be truthful. It is the weight of evidence that will swing the decision on the case. In a civil case what your friend has told you and when she told you can also be used in evidence. ie Joe Bloggs asked to borrow £5K yesterday and I told him no. When and where the conversation took place and everything she told you about it afterwards and the emails she showed you. This in my view would have as much weight in a civil case and the 'friend' who claims to have witnessed the loan being made. The other reason I would report this is in case these fraudsters come up with falsified documents/emails just before the case the police can investigate them where you cannot. ie Make requests of the IPS providers for details of accounts where false emails are being generated. These can only be done for criminal investigations from law enforcement agencies. Get your friend to report this as a crime and submit a witness statement with details of all email accounts she holds. Do this straight away and go with her for support. I fear she may be given a number of emails said to be from her asking for a loan from an email account in her name that she never opened. Cover the bases in case this happen. If you prepare for the worse and it doesn't happen then that is much better than having something sprung upon you just before the court case. You may also be saving a number of other victims who don't have supportive friends around them. Don't underestimate the criminal trying to exhort her, for that is what this person is. Put the matter in the hands of the authorities who are designated to deal with it and chase them up if they don't. You can request information from your own IPS account holder so if any emails are produced which appear to have come from your own email address then you can ask questions of them. If however emails are produced from another email account opened in your friends name without her knowledge and consent she should write to the IPS provider informing them that the account is alleged to be hers but she has no knowledge of it. She can ask details about where and when it was opened etc but once she has acknowledged she is not the owner of the account the company should not provide her with further information. A letter of that nature to the service provider would serve as evidence in the civil case in that eventuality. Don't let her be tempted to try to get information on an unknown account through subterfuge ie it's in my name so I am entitled to the information. She is not. I only mention the use of false emails/documents produced because I have had personal experience of it and enough knowledge to know what to do about it. I would be surprised if this guy would risk the consequences for £5k but maybe with his next victim it might be £50K.
  12. Sorry that reads wrong, it appears the landlord has appeared to resolve the problem but only time will tell if the repair undertaken was the source of the damp problem.
  13. Tenants are able to apply for Energy savings grants on property which would include boilers and insulation. Take a look at Money Savings Experts page on Insulation and grants. A tenant would be eligible where the landlord would not. Some tenants feel are so anti the landlord they would rather put up with the inconvenience than as they see it get the landlord a free boiler! It doesn't make sense to me. In my opinion your son should talk to the landlord and maybe if they can get the grant the landlord can concentrate on getting the other things put right. Your son will be the beneficiary of any energy savings costs in the house and hopefully have a grateful landlord on side. As Steve says damp is often caused by tenants through not airing a house properly in winter and wiping up condensation although it does seem there was a leak in this case. If you can get the problems cleared up now, this being the lads first winter in the property then at least they can expect no boiler breakdowns next year and to be able to do their best not to contribute to any damp problems. Even though the lads didn't report the problems in writing it does appear the landlord has attempted to resolve the problem. A family member of mine is desperately trying to resolve a damp issue which only became apparent this winter, the cause of which has so far alluded them in their own house. It is I'm afraid a case of doing the repair you believe has caused the problem but sometimes it does turn out to be more complicated and requires more than initially thought.
  14. It would be worth checking companies house to see what assets they have declared on their accounts. If they try to switch their company assets to a new company knowing the company is insolvent it is fraud. ie Was the directors car, house etc registered in his own name or the company name? I would make a statement to the Police, Trading Standards and anyone else you can think of BBC Domonic Little, Ann Robinson consumer shows, local papers, etc but even if the current director does get struck off you usually find that the company starts up again with the wife or an employee shown as director but with control still firmly in the hands of the struck off director. That becomes even more difficult to prove who actually is behind a company. The letter from Companies House has asked the recipient to provide evidence of what action he is taking against the company after March to stop it being wound up. Therefore if you are not taking civil recovery action yourself then you might want to get a letter from Trading Standards, the police etc to confirm the matter is still being pursued. A copy of the police report, witness statement etc but just because it has been reported doesn't mean action is continuing so confirmation might be useful. Personally I wouldn't pay £100 or even £60 for a £152 debt because there's risk you will be £252 out. So unless you can afford to lose £252 and feel that the emotional investment in taking further civil action is worth it then only you can decide. ie the pain vs the gain! I think the lesson here might be don't sell your phone to companies offering cash for them when the phone has to be sent first. I agree it is absolutely frustrating to have this happen. If you are finding there are large numbers of companies registered from the same address then you are likely looking at the company formation address. Many companies don't have trading premises and therefore leave their company address as the company formation agent. They pay to have any mail sent to these offices redirected. However Directors are supposed to put their home address on the company house document but with an unusual name you might like to check 192.com to see if you can get an address. You could write to the company formation agents at the registered address and ask them what their policy is in relation to providing the registered forwarding address of a company registered through them for the purposes of civil recovery. Unless they have already put in the contract that they will supply the forwarding address when requested for specific purposes then they probably won't because of the Data Protection Act. Other agencies like HMRC require for income tax and vat to have a trading address registered. You won't be able to get it from them but the police and other official bodies would. I would write to HMRC as well as I have read somewhere about these phone companies starting up, closing down with lots of money owed including the tax (prefential creditors) and then starting up again with someone else shown as director. (Phoenix companies). Anyway hope this helps a bit, good luck to anyone pursuing this. Maybe starting a petition or a campaign to try to persuade the powers to be that something needs to be done to protect the public from individuals like this who hide behind company status. I'd like to think that instead of just being struck off they get prosecuted for fraud.
  15. I would contact your insurance companies on Monday to check if you can claim if you haven't already done so. I would also check with the Environmental officer at the council The reason I asked if you had been diagnosed with a disability was to look at what support there might be from Charities dealing with similar type of disabilities. I have a diagnosed disability. I am also not entitled to benefits but there are charities that have helped. Also there is advice from the Equalities commission as disabled individuals are often less able to go through processes and procedures in order to get their rights and help may be available. Shelter is very pro-active in helping people with housing problems and may have advice that could be useful to you. If you could find someone willing to act as a guarantor for your rent then you may still be able to move to a property without a deposit. Some councils also rent from private landlords and may know of someone who can help you. That's all I can think of at the moment for a quick short term solution but I'm sure someone else will be along shortly with some more suggestions for you. If I see or think of anything else I will of course let you know. Good luck
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