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SussexLady

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  1. Been on incapacity since 2004. Have a yearly medical by one of their docs. It's always a different doc, and I always get at least 15 points. Doc I saw last Oct gave me only 10 points, although my condition had not changed. I didn't know this till I got a letter in Feb saying my benefit had ended as I was fit for work. As I knew this was a mistake I didn't apply for JSA or any other benefits. I was perfectly confident that once I appealed and got another medical examination they'd realise the first dr's mistake and backdate my money to February. In June they said my request for another exam was refused, and was told my appeal had failed. I then asked for a tribunal hearing. Again I didn't apply for any other benefit. I thought that all I could get is JSA, but I cannot bear the embarrassment of having interviews and being rejected for jobs on health grounds. (This was what happened in 2004 and why the DSS staff told me to go on IB instead.) I didn't think I could get ESA because that would mean a medical, at which I had just failed to get the necessary points. Now the benefits office are saying I should make a fresh claim and get a new medical etc. I am really confused now! Right that is the background, now here are my questions: 1. I have a tribunal date for a day in September which falls right in the middle of my (already fully paid-for) holiday and I will be on the Isle of Wight. I thought they would be amenable to a change of date but when I rang the clerk was really stern with me, saying that the tribunal didn't take kindly to this sort of thing and she asked me to put in writing to them exactly why I cannot attend. She implied that nothing short of a hospital appt was considered sufficient grounds to change the date and if my excuse was not considered acceptable they will hear in my absence (and that means they will find against me.) Should I admit I am taking 5 days holiday on the IOW? I mean, as I'm not on any benefits currently, surely I am allowed to go away for a few days? If not, what excuse can I make that they cannot catch me out on? Should I cancel my holiday, losing a lot of money, to make sure I attend when they say -- after all if I win the tribunal they will have to to pay me £2,500 in backdated payments back to Feb. 2. Can I ask my GP to give me a medical certificate backdated to February, and if so what good would that do? I have made an appt to see her Friday, so hope to have a plan by that time. I see that amongst the papers they sent me is a certificate from her dated March 2008 saying there has been no change in my condition and I am unfit for work. 3. I have just received the forms for ESA. I see they are asking me to prove my savings if I have more than £5,500, which I do. There was no means-testing with IB, I am pretty sure of that. Is ESA means-tested? Should I just lie and say I have less than £5,500? Can they find out? If I tell the truth, will they then deny me ESA? Because if so, there is no point at all in filling in these forms. As you can see I am pretty much an amateur in these matters. Although I was on IB for five years you don't learn anything when things just run smoothly. It's only when something like this happens that you realise how little you know. All good advice gratefully received. Thanking you in advance.
  2. I feel rather dismayed that Monx missed my point completely. I wasn't advocating the Atkins diet for anyone. I am pointing out that giving up products made of wheat and sugar cannot possibly be bad for us, because these are man-made products which did not exist for millenia. Prior to that we lived on meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, berries and nuts. Any diet that cuts out wheat and sugar is going to be fine for us, whether you call it paleolithic, atkins, caveman, etc
  3. Hi Geoff and Lemon HeathLambert do not dispute that I made the booking or cancelled it. I have the booking reference numbers. But they are sticking to their guns -- no copies of the emails, no payout. I do also have debit card paper trail, but Heathlambert are not interested in that, because they are not disputing the booking. So what about this ombudsman business? Do I qualify?
  4. There you go then. I just became one of those chosen at random. I'm going to fight this, I have to fight it, I've been left with no income for six months, something that in my 26 yrs of paying tax and ni, never thought could happen to a British citizen! I wish I could go to my MP but to tell you the truth I know him personally and I do not want him to know that I am (trying to be) on benefits. Sorry I don't know what ATOS is.
  5. Ruby: "my medical was conducted by a doctor who did not ask me all of the questions and has put down totally wrong replies and information on the report, wrong as in she has written things i didnt say and not written what i did say. I now have to appeal" Exactly the same thing has happened to me. I appealed immediately, of course, and like any sane person assumed I would be sent for another medical. I want another medical, because I know that the doc has made a mistake. However, you don't get another medical, can you believe that? Incredible! But true! All I got was a letter saying "appeal refused"! No hearing, no medical. But they DID send me the "breakdown" of tasks etc and that is when I saw for certain that the doc wrote the opposite of what I told her, or took my best-case scenario and used it as my usual day. Now I have to go before a tribunal and I am totally dreading it. I've been without any benefits for six long months! Having read these forums I am now 100% certain that all this comes from a govt directive to reduce the numbers of people on IB by a certain percentage and we're just being picked out at random. I totally agree with those on here that say, tell them about your worst days not your best. Good luck Sussex
  6. Living on a tight budget I use the Travelodge online frequently. Recently they started adding £1 per booking insurance by default unless you un-tick it. As it's only a quid, I started paying it on every booking. I booked 5 nights (had to book each one separately because their website would not let me book 5 together). Day before travelling went down with food poisoning, and cancelled the five bookings. Got the claim form, the insurer is Heath Lambert. Filled in the form, got a certificate from my GP, submitted claim along with the booking reference numbers of each of the five bookings. Heath Lambert say that I must submit every automatically-generated confirmation email that I received from TL regarding my five bookings and my five cancellations. Because hundreds of emails come into my inbox daily, I habitually delete everything that I deem unecessary. This includes the avalanche of emails I get from TL. So, naturally, I do not have these emails. Heath Lambert gave me an email address for travelodge customer services and despite 8 emails since 30 June they will not reply. When I phone they tell me they don't keep copies of confirmation emails. Since I have the booking reference numbers, there is no doubt whatsoever that I had made and paid upfront for these bookings. I feel that if they MUST have these emails in order to make a claim, then it should say so clearly alongside the "add insurance" box -- you know, warning, you claim will be invalid unless you can produce your confirmation of booking emails and confirmation of cancellation emails. Are Heath Lambert being unreasonable, or trying to dodge out of paying me? Or am I the one in the wrong here? I still book with TL, but I now un-tick the insurance box. SussexLady
  7. Wow am I late for this discussion - but I just joined the forum so let me in! Just wanted to say that, if a low-carb diet is bad for us then how did mankind survive for millenia without wheat (i.e. bread, pasta), sugar, rice etc -- ie the things that you give up on the Dr Atkins diet?
  8. I was interested to read Skonk's description of the interview because SAME THING happened to me! Skonk said: "When I appealed, I got a copy of the doctors report, and for every answer I gave as YES, he put down as NO. It was like reading a complete reversal of what I answered." I am thinking now that the govt has told them that they have to get x number of people off IB and they are just choosing some of us at random and ending our benefit.
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