They allready do this with a previous CT bill taking the money direct from my benefit.I thought it was round about £3.00-£4.00 a week.I think this is the maximum they are allowed by law to take.But they want me to pay this years CT bill as well.Its this bill they have handed over to Scott & Co for collection, not a previous bill as its getting paid by deductions.Council tax bill for the year April 2009 - March 2010.The cheeky sods have today sent me the total bill again stating on it that its been handed to sherriffs officers for collection and I have to pay the whole lot at once.Its not even the end of the financial year as the bill is up to March 2010. They are just taking the ****.If I was paying monthly, as you can, there would still be 5 months payments to go.I have been told by a relative of mine (my Mum) that while she was on holiday she was a day late in paying her CT bill, she has always paid on time ,they sent her a letter threatning her with Sherriffs Officers as well for being a day late.This is just not on.I am sure that as I allready pay CT by direct deductions from my benefit they should not even be asking me to pay this one at the same time as the deductions would continue until such time that all bills would be paid and you would eventually maybe catch up on CT payments. They ignore the fact you are on benefits and at risk as a vunerable person ie... someone receiving benefits and in my case disabled as well.Despite me telling them numerous times they don't give a ****.I have even informed them I will be on benefits the rest of my life and I am unable to work ever again.All they want is their money. Every three years I still have to attend a review at my local job centre and fill up the numerous forms and state why I cannot work, despite being classed as severley disabled by the job centre in the first place.They just tell me its the rules.Its a joke, but if I said I was a junkie, well you get everything.It makes me sick that junkies get Incapacity benefit because they are unable to work.Its self inflicted

Yes, but the council stated that banks do not disclose payments going into your accounts, so thats their excuse.Scott & co stated that they noted the contents of my email. So no excuses from either of them .I will add the regulations on to the email I send the legal department tomorrow. Just makes you wonder how many others they have bullied this way.

Yes, I am waiting for a reply from the legal department then I will explain that the council sent me a payment card for something I have not agreed to.

I contacted Scott & Co who are sending me pay in slips at £10 per month as agreed, but the council have now sent me a payment card to pay them monthly. I did not agree to pay them or pay the £30 per month they said they wanted.So today I sent them yet another email asking them why £10 a month is not acceptable to them and why they even sent a payment card in the first place for something I have not agreed to..I have informed the council that due to the fact they wanted me to pay £30 a month, I have contacted Scott...& and they have accepted the £10 a month which I offered the council. So, stuff the council.

Yes I was a bit dumbfounded myself when they said £10 a month was not acceptable.As for the deductions from my benefit. I asked them to do this for a previous bill that way I know its being paid and thats one thing less to worry about. My local MP is none other than Alex Salmond , getting him involved would really put the cat in amongst the pigeons.As for getting the right benefits, I had another thread on here last year about when the DWP stopped my disability/mobility/income support after 4 yrs of getting the benefits.I got that sorted eventually(took 6 months) but I got all of them back and was awarded them for the rest of my life.So I know I get the correct benefits. They want the CT bill paid as quick as possible as come next April the next CT bill will be sent out leaving me further in debt and unable to pay it.CT is the worst thing that was ever invented and is the cause of many households to be in debt, I bleedy hate it and I despise paying it. Robbing the poor to pay the rich. I wasn't even going to bother contacting the council again as Scott & Co will accept the £10 a month.I refuse to pay £30 a month and refuse to accept their arrangement.So come Monday I will contact Scott & Co and just pay them the £10 a month at least they know that its better to get a small payment than to get nothing at all and it shows I am prepared to pay something. I will have a look for their legal department and contact them and also contact the council as to why they won't accept £10 a month.Maybe they want to haggle to get more than £10, they have no chance. I have kept every email I have sent or received regarding this,but right enough I should print them off as once before my PC crashed and I lost every important email I had saved.I will also transfer them to a sd card or flashdrive once I figure out how to do it.I have managed to save movies /music on a flash drive before so it can't be that difficult. I do like the way they state that....... "source of income is NOT disclosed by a bank", seems this is their way to deny knowing I receive benefits.Well they can't get away with that because I have informed them I only get benefits (as though they didn't know in the first place) also I informed Scott & Co and definately kept those emails. As Scott & Co said at the top of the reply......we note the contents, so they cannot deny knowing I only receive benefits. Gone are the days when they could tell you anything they wanted and you just had to believe them, thanks to the internet and sites like these , no longer will they be able to pull the wool over our eyes, we are slowly getting to know our rights.

Yep your right, some folks have no clue,but of course they are all law abiding citizens who pay all their taxes and bills and are never in this situation (NOT).I hope one day they land up like us then they will see what its really like. I could just decide to pay them nothing if I so wished, then where would it get them, court with me ordered to pay maybe a £5 a month if they were lucky.

Right folks I have had a reply from Acc as below Thank you for your enquiry, I can advise that the letter issued to you from Scott & Co is simply informing you of the action that may be taken should payment or contact not be received from you. This has been issued to you as you have not responded to any previous letters sent. We advised you in writing on 16 June 2009 that a Summary Warrant had been granted and as you did not make any payment or contact us to discuss the matter as requested the debt was passed to our Sherriff Officer, Scott & Co. I can advise that a charge for payment has not yet been served, once this has been served it will authorise the Sherriff Officer to take further diligence to collect the debt due, which may include a bank arrestment. I must advise that this action may be taken as the source of income is not disclosed by a bank. I would be prepared to negotiate an agreement to repay the current year arrears with you, however £10 per month would not clear the arrears in an acceptable timescale, I would therefore ask that £30 per month is paid with the first payment to be received by 31st October 2009. Payments can be made at a post office and I will arrange for a card to be issued to you immediately. The debt will remain with Scott & Co until I receive your acceptance and first payment of this arrangement. Should you default in your payments the debt will be sent back to our Sherriff Officer immediately. So an action of charge for payment MAY include a bank arrestment as source of income is not disclosed by the bank. Despite me telling them that I am on benefits which they allready damn well know otherwise I would be charged the full ammount of CT. Also as above...."I would therefore ask that £30 per month is paid" Well I don't know about anyone else but the original debt was for £216.00 and when I went to school, 12 times £30 does NOT come to £216.00 it comes to £360.Even at £20 per month that is still over the original ammount coming in at £240. Who does this person think they are ?.£10 per month is all I can afford. Funnily enough Scott & Co were going to accept £10 a month.Should I just pay Scott & Co or contact this person and ask where they learned to count as there is no bloody way I am paying £30 per month.That is alot of money for someone who's sole income is benefits. I am bloody outraged at this persons lack of understanding. Seems to me all they want the debt paid as quick as possible.They are lucky I offered even £10 a month as if this went to court they would get damn less than £10 a month.

Well,Well Scott & Co are the first to answer with the following.......... Dear Mr XXXXXXXXX With reference to your e-mail dated 15th October 2009 we note the contents. As xxxxxxxxxxxxx Council has passed the debt onto us for collection they would prefer if you make payments to us, we can set up your proposed offer of payment at £10.00 per month. In your e-mail you stated you wish to pay at the post office we would like to inform you that there will be an extra charge by them for paying this way. If you would like to give us a date that you will paying on every month we will set it up on our system to prevent further action taking place. We look forward to hearing from you. Regards XXXXXXXXXX I have not had a reply from the council as yet.I will wait and see what they say as I do not want to deal with these cowboys if I can avoid it.

I 've altered the letter sent to the council and sent it by email to Scott & Co.Lets see what happens next and who will contact me first.I also told Scott & Co to contact me in writing only or by email and if they needed confirmation of me being on benefits to contact the council (as they know allready) or myself. Email is great you can contact nearly anybody you want all in the comfort of your own home.

They haven't actually done this yet,they are just trying to get me to contact them by telephone.I shall ammend the letter I sent to the council tax offices and send it to Scott & Co also stating to contact me in writing only. First link not working 404

I actually didn't even bother with Scott & Co and contacted the council directly.I sent them the following email...... Account no xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Dear Sir/madam. I have received a letter today from Scott & Co regarding an outstanding council tax bill for 2009.It states that ..... We have been instructed to Execute a CHARGE for PAYMENT and Funds Arrestment in respect of the debt above.This means that you will not have access to funds held in your bank account,building society account or due to you by a third party.It is essential that you contact us immediately on the above telephone number to prevent this action proceeding against you. I find this very threatening and distressing. I am a disabled person (registered severly disabled) after a bad accident 5 yrs ago which resulted in me being unable to work for the rest of my life.The only money I receive is benefit money ie, income support/incapacity/disability and this is all .As you are aware it is illegal to freeze an account that soley comprises of benefit money as this is exempt as per below............ Both the Scottish Law Commission and Scottish Executive concede that social security benefits are exempt from arrestment in terms of section 187 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 (see Enforcement of Civil Obligations in Scotland, Scottish Executive report, at paragraph 5.245). Section 45 of the Tax Credits Act 2002 is an identical provision to the said section 187 of the 1992 Act. It is therefore trite law that tax credits and other such maintenance 0Aor social security benefits are exempt from arrestment. The case of Woods v Royal Bank of Scotland 1913 SLT 1 Reports 499 is authority for the proposition that where exempt monies are paid into a bank account Those monies remain exempt from arrestment insofar as such monies can be clearly identified within an account. I clearly states on my account that any payments I receive are made up from social security benefits and to do this would cause undue hardship and I am also exempt as I would be recognised as a vunerable person. This is the only money I have to live on and as the law states ...a person needs xxx ammount of money to live on and this is all I receive. I allready have deductions taken off of my income support for a previous council tax bill at the maximum allowed. It is not that I am unwilling or unable to pay But I refuse to be bullied by Scott & Co and find their tactics very underhand and unnaceptable and do not want to deal in any way with this company. If there is a way that I could come to an arrangement to pay £10 a month would this be acceptable ?. Is there a card or pay in book I could be issued with enabling me to go to the post office and pay the arrears by this method ?. I only have a Post Office account which does not allow direct debits and I would find it extremely difficult to travel to the nearest council tax offices due to my Disability.I also do not have a credit card or debit card. As you can see by this email I am prepared to pay this bill but if this is not acceptable please let me know. As I have said above I do not want any involvment with Scott & Co nor do I want any visits to my house, as I would refuse to speak to them and they will be asked to leave.Thus resulting in this bill still to be outstanding.Can you assure me that this Charge for Payment/Funds arrestment will not be attempted as IT is illegal and exempt from this happening. I will keep a copy of this email as it will clearly show that I have contacted you in an atempt to offer a monthly payment which is all I can manage. Regards xxxxx xxxxxxxxxx This clearly shows I have contacted them and offered them a monthly payment.To date I have not received a reply from the council, all they have emailed me back with is a confirmation stating that they received the email I sent and they are dealing with it, but if need be I will send Scott & Co roughly the same letter altered to suit.With what I have been reading on the various forums seemingly the next step that Scott & Co take is visiting home addresses to try and get you to set up a payment plan and pay them directly which I refuse to do.Do you think I should send them the (altered to suit) email as well ?. I have also kept copies of anything I have sent/received. FP

I wonder if I could email them,I shall have a look, It does state on the back of the letter that you can pay online various ways.As though I would give these lot my bank details, I am not that stupid. The council allready take money direct from my benefit for a previous bill so there is really no way they should even be doing this. Do I enter the account number from the letter I recieved from Scott & Co(n) as there is no way I am putting my bank details on it.And being that they do not know which bank I deal with this would give the game away.As they have not tried this yet I think that I will contact my bank first. Not to sound stupid but I can't find the letter of appropiation

They haven't taken any money from my account or tried to (yet) As Scott & Co do not have any idea of where I do my banking would this not mean there is no way they could execute a funds arrestment or is there some way they could find out where I hold an account.? Surely they wouldn't try to contact every bank there is in the hope of discovering where I do my banking or are they that stupid? I have no direct debits or payments of any kind taken out of my account and it clearly states on my statements that every payment put in to my account is incapacity/disability payments. I really think they are trying it on especially after reading the govan law centre link in the hope that I will contact them. Not in a million years will I call them and if they do decide to visit my house they will be told exactly where to go.Seems they are just speaking out of their derriere. If they could do this they would have allready done it. Would it be worth contacting my account provider to inform them that Scott & co might try to arrest my money being paid into my account and this would be illegal as its benefit money. I think I will just wait and see what dirty trick they try next.They should not be getting away with this.I will save a copy of DB's letter just in case.

Thanks for thr replies I am reading them now.I was 60% sure they couldn't touch benefit money

Just received this from Scott & Co this morning.Its for council tax Account no Charge year Payments recieved Balance due xxxxxxxxxx 2009 . 00 216. 46 We have been instructed to execute a CHARGE for PAYMENT and Funds Arrestment in respect of the debts above. This means that you will not have access to funds held in your bank account,building society account or due to you by a third party. It is essential that you contact us immediately on the above telephone number to prevent this action proceeding against you. It then has a payment advice slip attached to it. What does this mean ? Can they arrest my funds ? I am a disabled person (after serious accident in 2005) and unable to work and the only funds I have/get paid into my bankbuilding society account are my incapacity benefit and disability and income support payments.I have no other money coming in and that will never change. As I understand (and correct me if I am wrong) the law states that a person needs xx ammount of money to live, this being my benefit payments.I am sure that they cannot even touch this money as its all benefit money.And of course this would cause undue hardship. I allready have deductions taken from my benefit each week for a previous council tax bill paid directly to Aberdeenshire council.And as per deductions taken from benefit payments there can not be more than one deduction allowed per payment and it can't be more than a certain ammount.I think they are not allowed to take more than £5 per fortnight, which is roughly the ammount I pay. Scott and CO have no record or any idea of which bank/building society my money is paid into and I have no intention of telling them.Also the council (Aberdeenshire Council) have no idea which bank building society I am with. So basically can they find out which bank/building society my benefit money is paid into without me telling them and put a funds arrestment on to it?. There is also a bit on the bottom of the letter stating ....if you have recently cleared the above arrears please ignore this letter. Are Scott & Co just trying it on into scaremongering me into contacting them and try to get me to set up a payment scheme and of course they would then find out my bank details. This has got me worried and it seems a bit severe for an account which is just overdue a few months. As I allready pay the maximum allowed through deductions from benefit, I can't really afford to pay anymore. Should I contact Scott & Co and offer them 50p per fortnight or just ignore their threats as without my bank/building society details there is not a lot they can do. They also have no idea I am disabled and on benefits and if I did phone them I would definately lose my temper with them. To me they seem nothing more than bullies and will do or say anything to get their money. Being disabled and on benefits would class me as vunerable and unable to pay. I remember these muppets from years ago when I was married and my wife had run up arrears on a catalogue. I was working then.They had visited my house and at the time no one was in so they could not get into the house and never spoke to me or my wife.When we got home there was a note that had been put through my letterbox ,hand written on a blank piece of paper stating they were going to take away my stereo system and the tv and video recorder and how much they had valued them at and would be back next day to collect them.Because of this I did manage to scrape some money together.I had not a clue then about dcs and balliffs and what they could and couldn't do. They had looked through my window, never even gaining entry and seen the items and then written out this note and I of course I fell for it.They did come back next day and my wife let them in and we landed up paying them. I now know how underhand and intimidating these muppets can be, if only I had known back then my rights I would have told them where to stick their note and would never have let them in. It just shows the underhand tactics some of these balliffs/sherriff officers resort to and back then I was completely ignorant about what they can and can't do.They just preyed on people not knowing their rights and still do today. But thanks to the internet and of course sites like these we are all a lot wiser now and are fighting back against them.Without the CAG I would still not be any the wiser, so I wish to thank all the members/posters for all the invaluable information on here.Hopefully someone more versed in sherriff officers and Scott & Co can advise me of what to do next Apologies to kermit/miss piggy and co for classing sherriffs officers and balliffs as equals to them.By and far the Muppets are far superior and are more respected. FP

I know how you feel, I too am disabled and have a disabled bay clearly marked outside my home.It even states on it..........Disabled bay for disabled blue badge holder 1XXXXX. Which is myself. Now I stay in a small village in Aberdeenshire Scotland but have the same problems as you. There are only five parking bays right outside my house, one of which is the disabled bay. But, before I got my mobility car and the bay, my neighbour accross the road from me always parked his own car and his wifes car in two of the spaces, leaving only three spaces for everybody else. Greedy Piers Morgan! Whenever someone was parked in the end two spaces in which he parked both his cars, as soon as they left he was outside like a bullet to park his cars there. I used to laugh like hell, saying to myself ....who does he think he is. Found out later that he thinks he is better than everybody else and a miserable Piers Morgan as well. The day came when the council came to mark the bay as disabled, of course his wifes car was in it. The council worker knocked on my door asking me if the car was mine, I replied that it was the neighbours wifes car, the council guy said ...he had allready asked the neighbour and he denied it was his car and didn't know who's it was. Well how stupid can you look? Didn't seem to bother him. After that nobody parked there but myself. But last year due to DWP refusing me disability I had to put the car back at the end of the three years. (I have a thread on here all about that). 4 months later Meantime the neighbour started parking his car in the disabled space (by this time he had retired and had only one car now). I went out to him one night and said ......have you a disabled badge ? otherwise you shouldn't park there. He moved his car to another bay, which there were 2 empty when he had parked his car in the disabled bay in the first place. It just defies reason. Next day I got a phone call from the council asking if I had a car, the cheeky sod had only gone and complained to the council. The same man, this I was told by his direct next door neighbour.......put dogs dirt through their letter box. How sick can you get ? Now, unknown to my neighbour (as if its got anything to do with him in the first place) I had by this time won my appeal and had ordered another car which I now have. But if I go anywhere by the time I come home, if there are no empty bays he still parks in the disabled bay. What is wrong with parking round the corner ..only 15 feet from the bays there, puzzles me. He then has to come out and shift his car anyway to round the corner. The thing that nearly had me lose my temper was ...his bloody son! Who thinks he has every right to park in my disabled bay and does it all the time. I said the same too him....do you have a disabled badge ? If not he should not be parked there. He turned round and said to me ....tough ****. What an arsehole. This problem is ongoing at the moment, even if there are five empty spaces he still parks in the disabled bay. I have come to the conclusion that his dad has put him up to this. Nobody could be that ignorant Well, then again. It makes my blood boil and someday he will get his come-uppance. I have even gone as far as asked a few of my mates who are local farmers, if they had a telescopic far-reach forklift, (you know the ones farmers use to collect bales of hay/straw.) If I was a nasty,ignorant,self important person like the neighbour and his son are with no shame either........ One -phone call to my mates, and they can be here in 5 minutes, along with their forklift, they will gladly shift his car, right out of the bay. I did think , I might have it put up on top of an abandoned container in the old scrapyard next to my house. Then lets see how he likes that. I never ever thought that people could be this nasty, but they have proved me wrong. Reporting a disabled person to the council really takes the biscuit (it did him no good) How low can a person get.

I now have in my possesion two letters stating that I am entitled to middle rate care component and higher rate mobility component (no end date). I did contact DWP about compensation but the girl I spoke to didn't know anything about that Also got back my income support (back dated). So thats me finally sorted out. Still trying to sort out my housing benefit, but they did tell me that if there is a credit put on my account I will have to apply for a refund. I have had a letter from my local job centre stating I MUST attend an interview in November (otherwise it may affect them paying me money and it may be stopped) regarding helping me back to work and making sure I am claiming the correct benefits. I phoned them up and asked if .....they were taking the mick, and was assured I have to attend the interview, but the letter is worded wrong about helping me back to work. I told them that I had just got all my benefits sorted and I know that what I receive is correct. But I still have to go. What a waste of peoples time and money. Ah well, At least I will get my bus fare back

Sorry for the late reply, Just returned from Thailand yesterday. As far as I am aware, if your claim runs out on Feb 09 (meaning if it has an end date), I'm sorry to say that you will have to go through all the hassle of re-applying all over again. They will definately contact you soon regarding this. But don't let them get you down, you can win, make sure you visit your local GP and tell him the DWP will be contacting him about your claim renewal and he should be able to help or if you attend specialist doctors ask them for a report about your medical problems. The more reports you can submit to DWP the better.

Thanks all for the support and kind words folks, Latest update: I recieved a letter from DWP this morning (9 weeks later), I was going to phone them today, (I kept putting it off) They state: You made an appeal against a decision about disability living allowance. We have looked again at the facts and evidence we used to make our decision.As a result we have changed the decision. :grin: Personal care They have now awarded me the middle rate of care component. Help with getting around Higher rate. Finally its nearly sorted. I am happier with the decision as this means I now get back what I used to get,(minus a few quid) being the difference between middle and higher rate personal care. This has been awarded with no end date, which means its for the rest of my life. I don't think I will take it any further and appeal for the higher rate personal care. I think that would be pushing my luck a bit too far. I have also got my claim back-dated to when I first got refused DLA from 15/03/2008 to date. So a big payment is due to me for personal care. Which details of are in the letter. (To be paid tommorow) YAHOO ! Next: I then looked up benefit advice on the internet, and as I recall, I can now get back Income support if I receive the middle rate personal care component, Well thats what it states on the DWP website. I phoned Income support and asked them about this. They are sure I am correct. They are now going to look into this, and send me forms to fill in. I did state that this was an ongoing appeal and I was assured weeks ago that if I was awarded Income support back I would get it back-dated. But of course the person I spoke to did not know. They owe me a fortune if my calculations are right. I will be chasing them up about this, as they are quick enough to stop paying you. This will also make a difference to me having to pay part of my rent. (Which I have been doing since March). My local council stated that if I got back Income support they would pay me back.......every penny I paid towards my rent. I don't hold much hope about this as I expect them to put my rent in credit with the ammount I have paid. This is no good to me as my award has no end date which means the money sits in my account in credit for the rest of my life It just goes to show that if you stick by your guns you can win.And without going to a Tribunal, which I stated I still wanted to go ahead with. They must realise they made a BIG mistake, an apology would be nice. Someone should be keel-hauled for this farce. There was no way I was going to lie down and give up. I now know my rights and stuff them How many other people have they done this to ?. I will keep posting about how things go, and cannot thank everyone enough for the good wishes and support I have received on this board. I just hope everyone else gets things sorted out as I have. This makes a huge difference to my quality of life and no more sleepless nights. Now, where is my Passport ? I need another holiday Thailand here I come, again. Best Wishes to everyone Pete

So true! I did not ask for this life changing accident. But, I feel so let down by......the system, I can understand why people just give up.Its as though they just throw you to the rubbish tip and forget about us. These days with the astonishing rise in day to day living, have our benefits gone up ?...............NO ! And they speak about discrimination. I am now getting the same money as someone who is classed as temporally sick. Or the same as a junkie gets. As I keep hearing .....The law says this is how much you need to live on, so get on with it. What kind of quality of life are we supposed to have. Who the hell works that out? Yes, I have been abroad many times but that was my savings, now gone. I got my mobility award back so I could go and order another car, truth being, I can't afford to pay for the adaptions or the petrol to put in it. One thing that I have realised is, that all these so called decision makers (that can and do ruin our lives) have not got a clue.They cannot begin to understand people with dissabilities and how it affects us.They are very poorly trained and most of the staff at DWP I have spoken to are always blaming someone else. The only people that understand dissability are ourselves, not some jumped up decision maker who has done a couple of hours training and think they know it all. Speaking about those that seem to get everything....... Guy in my village just recently got awarded DLA.He now has a motability car for himself. What does he do in his spare time.......................Teaches LINE DANCING! It doesn't make sense. This country is now ruined and if I could I would be gone in five minutes. As for contacting my local MP I don't even know who he or she is. I will have to look in to that.

I sent in an a letter stating that I wanted to appeal against their decision more than eight weeks ago. To date I have not even had an acknowlegment from DWP that they have received the letter. (Very strange). I highlighted all the excuses they used to deny me DLA and reasons why I disagree. Here is just one of their reasons........ Mr T_ _ _ _ _ has no problem turning over and adjusting his sleeping position or bed covers as he could use ........his right hand and both arms. Well excuse me! My left arm has all of a sudden grown back again. Call the newspapers! A miracle has happened. Makes you wonder what kind of people work at DWP. I am going to phone them tommorow to check whether they received my letter or not. I expect the answer to be no. I still have copies of the letter but I expect to have to submit a fresh claim, knowing them and how they so conveniently can lose someones letters.

Well folks I,m back home, After a wonderful holiday spent with the girlfriend in Thailand in her home town in Sukothai which is way up north from Bangkok, its back to the appeal. I today phoned the appeal board and told them I wanted the appeal to continue, and was told to contact DWP, which I did and they are sending me more appeal forms. I discovered today as well that because I only get lower rate dla I do not qualify for income support and because I get Incapacity benefit I am over the threshfold for full rent payment,(by £5.50 per week) which means I am now in arrears with my rent. Well I wish someone had told me about this. I now have less income so I now have to pay rent This does not make sense at all. But if you are a junkie you get everything.

Finally, Received letter from DWP today, Shock and horror, the tale takes a new twist. I have been awarded back the higher rate mobility component indefinately But only the lower rate care component (because as they state I only need help to prepare a meal) Here I go again. Do I disagree with their decision ? To true I do. So its back to an appeal tribunal again. To be continued.

Just had a call from my local council, Asking me if I had a disabled space outside my house and if I was currently using it. The other day I went out to my neighbour and informed him he should not be using my space and I then asked if he had a Disabled badge, he said he hadn't so I told him he had no right to park there.Especially since he had not even had the courtesy to ask me in the first place. The cheeky sod has only phoned the council and informed them that I am not using it and do not have a car anymore. Some people are just plain ignorant ! I was told he thinks he is better than everybody else. Well, ain't he in for a surprise. I told the council I would be getting another car soon and would be using it. So stuff my neighbour, who the hell does he think he is ? I had better not see him in the street or he will get a right piece of my mind.

Thanks all, for all the good wishes. As of today I still have not received notice of my DLA. I phoned the DWP last week on the 23rd and they said they had posted me a letter.He would not tell me on the phone. Surely it does not take nearly a week to receive a letter :-? I am starting to think that because I stated I would not be available for an appeal hearing from 1st june- 25th june,(I did not say I was going on holiday) they are playing funny sods and realise that...... from the 21st May when I first received word of the change in my award, if its not what I expect and I have not been awarded my higher rates back, by the time I am back and available again after 25th june.......1 month will have passed and I will not be able to appeal against the decision if I think its wrong. Thats what they may think, well folks if its wrong I will just start a new appeal again explaining that I did not receive notice for over a week and was unavailable after this time. So stuff their time limit of a month to appeal. Bank holiday or not it still doesn't take a week to send a letter even second class. It must be coming on horseback, a bloody pigeon could get here quicker. I am not going to let this spoil my holiday. My suitcase is nearly packed, (sorry folks no room for anyone),I have my lift to the Airport sorted, my taxi to pick me up at Bangkok and my hotel booked yesterday on the phone.Its great having mates there, the more times I go the more I discover.The guesthouse I am staying in I discovered last trip, a recently refurbished English owned small place with plasma tv, new beds, new fridge. new toilets and massive shower. very tastefully decorated, in house laundry (pennies to get your washing and ironing done) two bars downstairs all for only £7.50p a night. I just love Thailand and its people. Come what may, I am going to enjoy myself. Touchdown in Bangkok .........06.40am Monday morning