Thank you, ericsbrother, for your sympathy. He literally only had what was in his bank account, even his car was paid for by the Motability scheme, so no, there's no estate. If only there WERE a Rembrandt!! I really appreciate all the reassurances you and the others have given me - I was so upset yesterday evening, but there's plenty of fight in me yet!

Hey, dx100! I fully intend to!

You've all been brilliant, as always, and I'm really grateful, and thank you all for your kind and sympathetic words. I will definitely write to my MP, sacked by Boris or not!

Thank you, Bazooka Boo, for your sympathy. Some days are better than others, some are truly awful - better now I'm back at work with my lovely colleagues. I have a nasty feeling, however, that my MP was one of the ones sacked by Boris yesterday!!!

As I don't yet have one, this is a very good excuse to go and get one! You're a star, thank you.

Noted re Anon, fkofilee - force of habit. Spot on re the filing!!

In that case, I will "file" this letter, fkofilee!! I will, however, expect to get something from this Phillips and Cohen outfit, and then that can be similarly "filed". Thank you very much for your reassurance.

Thank you for your kind words, fkofilee - I'm going to try and post up the letter for you. I had a feeling that there might actually be nothing they can do, but really, sending letters addressed in that way is vile, in my opinion. lowell2.pdf

Good morning - I wondered if any of you excellent people could advise me as to the best way to deal with a very upsetting letter received from Lowell yesterday? It was addressed to "The Executor for the Estate of Mr XXXX XXXX", and is apparently in respect of an outstanding amount owed originally to Home Retail. My husband died at the end of June, and as you can imagine, I am still very much grieving for him, so this was not a good thing for me to come home to yesterday evening. I'm unaware that he owed anything to Home Retail, but they are stating that it's over £2000. They say they've referred the matter to their probate agents, Philips and Cohen Associates (UK) Ltd, who will apparently be writing shortly to discuss the matter. The fact is, though, whether or not this was my husband's debt, there is no estate. He had nothing to leave except what was in his bank account, and that was signed over to me by his bank back in July. What intrigues me, though, is that they say "Thank you for notifying us that Mr XXXX XXXX has passed away." Well, I didn't, because I didn't know anything about this! They even have the cheek to offer their condolences. What would be the appropriate way to respond, if at all, in this case? My sister was concerned that I shouldn't simply ignore it. Thank you so much.

Ha ha! Yes, I think you could well be right, ericsbrother!

I am very pleased to report that the letter I sent to the Grand Harbour Hotel has resulted in Parking Eye agreeing to cancel the Parking Charge Notice. I'm waiting on a response to the FOI enquiry I made to Southampton City Council and will post again when that comes through - you never know, it may prove useful in future. As always, my thanks to all of you who responded here.

Yep, I've done that - just waiting to hear back from her.

I was only trying to "set the scene", so my apologies for clearly upsetting you, ericsbrother, that wasn't my intention, and I do apologise if you feel I've been "wittering". I don't believe I've received any irrelevant advice thus far, though, so don't feel you've wasted your time.

In what way have I changed my "story" with each post, ericsbrother? I've never said anything other than I had afternoon tea with my colleagues, and that my then manager booked it up! I never said it was a corporate booking, I think you (perhaps understandably) assumed that. That's beside the point, however, I'm extremely grateful for all the information and advice given thus far, and fully intend trying to contact Mr Fish and/or Ms Adair.

Ericsbrother - she made the booking herself, it was an afternoon tea to send off a colleague onto maternity leave, not a corporate booking - we each paid an equal amount towards it. I have sent an FOI to the local council who I believe are the landowners, asking if they have any sort of contract with Parking Eye for that car park, and have written to ask the hotel if THEY have any sort of contract.