Hi All, I'm hoping someone might be able to offer some advice... I bought a new-build flat (for my sins) on the Hyde Housing shared ownership scheme in 2007. Since then, my water bill has continually increased year on year from £13 to £98 per month. Early last year, Thames Water confirmed there was a leak in underground pipework feeding the property. In December, following a lot of further investigation and heel dragging, they confirmed it was a customer side leak and that I would have to arrange for repair. On review of my water bills, it seems that the leak started in year 3. Despite initially arranging for investigation, Hyde Housing are now washing their hands of the matter advising that I am responsible for the repair as leaseholder. Whilst that might be so, I can't help thinking that new pipework should last longer than 3 years. Does anyone know what rights, if any, I might have to pursue this and whether I should be forcing this issue on Hyde (or Rydon Construction as builders, or via the Zurich Warranty)? Yours very stressed and fed up, Laura

I was on the Coombe Rd side of the CPZ side, probably right about where that give way sign post stands. If it makes any kind of difference, I approached from Coombe Road.

Yes, I parked on Heathfield Rd just where it meets Coombe Road.

Hi folks, Wondering if anyone can help... I've just received an NTO from Croydon Council in respect of a PCN issued on 16/11 at 20:27 re "01-Parked in a restricted street during prescribed hours. Band A". This is the first I have heard about it, the PCN was not served and as such I am going to challenge the fine. However, the reason for posting here is confusion relating to the controlled zone sign. The road in question is Heathfield Road in Croydon. When I parked up, I checked the sign which said Mon-Sat 8am-8pm. On receiving the NTO this morning, I did a google map search and it seems the reverse of the sign has a different restriction on it, being Mon-Sun 8am-Midnight. I crossed the oncoming lane to park and at no time did I see the varied restriction on the back. Perhaps foolishly, I took the sign at face value and didn't think to double check when I got out of my car either. I've had a look at The Traffic Signs Regulations and can't seem to pick anything out about this. Does anyone know if these kind of signs are permitted to have different restrictions printed on each side? It seems to be incredibly misleading. I have attached photos of both sides for reference, apologies for the quality, screen grabs from googlemaps is all I could manage. Finally, I don't have access to a scanner at the mo so am unable to post a copy of the NTO but will do so as soon as I can. Many thanks, Laura [ATTACH=CONFIG]40170[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]40171[/ATTACH]

Hi Guys, The CAG forums helped me a few years ago when I managed to reclaim £1,000's in unlawful bank charges!! Thankfully I managed to get myself back on track but yesterday I learned that a good friend of my OH has got himself into a pretty bad situation so I thought I'd come back here for some suggestions from those going through the same thing... Long story short, he lives at home practically rent/bill free. He takes home c. £1,200 p/m in wages. He has come clean and admitted that he has a gambling problem (which we are trying to address separately) and took out a payday loan to meet a shortfall. That spiraled into several payday loans each taken out to meet the cost of the last. He also has a bank loan and credit cards. Details (some are a rough estimate) hereunder:- £11,000 HSBC Loan 36 months (monthly repayments of £311) £1,036 HMRC (self assessment from previous employment) £931 HSBC credit card total balance £468 Capital One credit card total balance £728 Wonga loan of £540 + int payable 07/06 £919 Quick Quid loan of £750 + int payable 31/05 £472 Toothfairy loan of £400 + int payable 19/05 £649 Lending Stream loan of £295 + int payable over 6 months to 28/10 I think he is also sitting quite heavily in an overdraft of around £1,500. Typing 'out loud', my thoughts/questions are: Immediately cut up both credit cards; Open a basic account with a different bank and arrange for salary to be re-routed; Write to bank and creditors to cancel all direct debits on old account; Write to creditors requesting interest freeze and offering pro-rata payment plan (are payday loan companies likely to accept offers or is there a better approach?); Should he make a pro-rata offer in respect of the HSBC loan which would result in a higher monthly payment then the current repayments OR should he count the regular repayment as a monthly expense and reduce the available income to pro-rate between the rest; We have suggested he makes an appointment with his local CAB to deal with both the debt and the gambling but I worry that he will struggle to be completely honest with a complete stranger. He's a good lad but has had a bit of a tough time over the last 2 years and he has managed to get himself into this situation without anyone knowing a thing about it until now. I really would welcome feedback on my points above as well as any other guidance that can be offered. Many thanks, Laura

WOW - that DOES add up!! Can you just imagine all those Chairmen at the upcoming shareholder meetings, brilliant!!

Wow - fantastic, such a good amount too! I had an offer in full but am yet to have the funds credited to my account - but its certainly a great feeling to know its coming! Well done for sticking with it!

No probs Stormbringer - it can be confusing so glad I could help!!

Stormbringer, I will try to explain your 3 options as best as possible. 1) Claim your charges only; 2) Claim your charges PLUS what is known as contractual interest. This is the interest you are charged on any amount outside your agreed credit zone limit. That means, if you have a £600 overdraft, you can claim the interest charged on the amount you are OVER the £600 by. This can be quite tricky which is why I didn't bother! It is also likely to cause delays in reclaiming your money so you really have to weigh up the benefits. 3) Claim your charges and if (and only if) it gets to court stage you can choose to add 8% to your claim which the courts will award under section 69 of the relevant act! Hope that makes things clear and best of luck with your claim. Laura

I wonder if someone here could advise... The letter I received from Adam Lee was from the Dunfermline, Fife address which is the address I have always corresponded with since I opened the Credit Card account with BoS (i.e. before the Halifax merger). Should I continue to liaise with this address and will the Scottish address cause any problems if it ends up going to court stage? Thanks L

Hi Jetspark, Wel done for completing MCOL - to be honest, I was kinda looking forward to doing that bit (although not as much as getting the money back!!). I got a letter from BoS today re my credit card charges I'd tried to claim informally via telephone - they've offered me what they consider 50% of the total charges applied to my account. Their offer is actually more than 50% of what I had calculated so they've dug a partial grave there! I'll be rejecting and claiming the full amount which I now understand to be higher than my initial claim . L x

Hi All, Whilst reclaiming with Natwest I decided to have a go at my BoS Credit Card. I contacted them by telephone a few weeks ago offering to settle the matter informally. Today I received a letter from Adam Lee in the complaints team with an offer of £267.50 which he advises "represents half the charges applied to your account". By my calculations, this figure is slightly more than 50% which would make sense as I am missing 3 statements which I believe would have had more charges. Little did he know he has just increased the claim hehehe I digress... Anyhow, I'm not going to accept this offer so will write to them tomorrow advising same and giving them a further 14 days in which to repay me the full amount. Having just received an offer in full from Natwest, I'm all fueled and raring to go - BoS watch out!!! Laura

I agree with Mr. Bump!! I didn't get to court stage but having read numerous posts on the forum it would seem that pretty much all get their total charges, statutory interest and court costs returned once it gets to court stage. If it were me, I'd be inclined to decline their offer advising you are now expecting your court fees & statutory interest and consider it their own fault for dragging the process out in the first place! Good luck with whatever you decide to do!

Presuming you have incurred further costs by taking it to the court stage, I would be inclined to either: i) accept their offer as part payment requesting the remaining amount to cover your subsequent expenses; ii) reject offer on basis that this does not cover your additional costs and advise that you will continue with court proceedings until an offer is made, in full, including any additional costs you have incurred. Hope this helps.

Would a mod kindly mark this as successful and move it to the successes section please?? Thanks