sorry i have clicked several times in submit button as my pc wasnt ressponding. please delete the duplicate posts.

Hi Thanks to you all for your replies. I just logged in to give you a quick update of my situation which is more frustrating... I just dont understand how the law works in this country. Does every one needs to go through with some situation first to gain the required steps when certain circumstances arises? Been to court today and they refused my stat dec. They just denied it as according to them the time period has expired. What they explained was I had 21 days to make stat dec after I had become aware of the case. I received the letter (from Marston Group) in November 2010 and thats why they would not be able to reopen the case. While I was explaining my situation, right at the middle the prosecutor stopped me and brought this matter into magistrates attention. then I wasnt given any chance to speak. I was shocked and asked them where do I go now? I've been to every possible places and contacted all correspondences related to this matter. No one has given me right answer. The magistrate said "we are really sorry we can not help you as we have to go by the law." When I asked them what shall I do now they advised me to go to the crown court. after that I wasnt given any chance to speak. Guys, this is completely unfair. When I received the letter from Marston Group, there was just a case reference number. So it was reasonable for me to speak to the marston group to find out what happened. and after that you know what has happened. How would I know that I need to speak to the court about this to make a stat dec (I didnt even know what a stat dec is). I didnt even know the contact details or the court name until last month when the baillif lady provided me with the details. If my stat dec date was over, how could the court issued me with a date to appear to the court and make the stat dec. Werent they aware of the law then? anyway I am planning to take this matter to the crown court. any suggestion or advise would highly be appreciated. thanks russell

Hi Thanks to you all for your replies. I just logged in to give you a quick update of my situation which is more frustrating... I just understand how the law works in this country. Does every one needs to go throw with some situation first to gain the required steps when certain circumstances arise? Been to court today and they refused my stat dec. They just denied it as according to them the time period has expired. What they explained was I had 21 days to made stat dec after I had become aware of the case as I received the letter (from Marston Group) in November 2010 and thats why they would not be able to reopen the case. While I was explaining my situation, right at the middle the prosecutor stopped me and brought this matter into magistrates attention. then I wasnt given any chance to speak. I was shocked and asked them where do I go now? I've been to every possible places and contacted all correspondences related to this matter. No one has given me right answer. The magistrate said "we are really sorry we can not help you as we have to go by the law." When I asked them what shall I do now they advised me to go to the crown court. after that I wasnt given any chance to speak. Guys, this is completely unfair. When I received the letter from Marston Group, there was just a case reference number. So it was reasonable for me to speak to the marston group to find out what happened. and after that you know what has happened. How would I know that I need to speak to the court about this to make a stat dec (I didnt even know what a stat dec is). I didnt even know the contact details or the court name until last month when the baillif lady provided me with the details. If my stat dec date was over, how could the court issued me with a date to appear to the court and make the stat dec. Werent they aware of the law then? anyway I am planning to take this matter to the crown court. any suggestion or advise would highly be appreciated. thanks russell

Hi Thanks to you all for your replies. I just logged in to give you a quick update of my situation which is more frustrating... I just understand how the law works in this country. Does every one needs to go throw with some situation first to gain the required steps when certain circumstances arise? Been to court today and they refused my stat dec. They just denied it as according to them the time period has expired. What they explained was I had 21 days to made stat dec after I had become aware of the case as I received the letter (from Marston Group) in November 2010 and thats why they would not be able to reopen the case. While I was explaining my situation, right at the middle the prosecutor stopped me and brought this matter into magistrates attention. then I wasnt given any chance to speak. I was shocked and asked them where do I go now? I've been to every possible places and contacted all correspondences related to this matter. No one has given me right answer. The magistrate said "we are really sorry we can not help you as we have to go by the law." When I asked them what shall I do now they advised me to go to the crown court. after that I wasnt given any chance to speak. Guys, this is completely unfair. When I received the letter from Marston Group, there was just a case reference number. So it was reasonable for me to speak to the marston group to find out what happened. and after that you know what has happened. How would I know that I need to speak to the court about this to make a stat dec (I didnt even know what a stat dec is). I didnt even know the contact details or the court name until last month when the baillif lady provided me with the details. If my stat dec date was over, how could the court issued me with a date to appear to the court and make the stat dec. Werent they aware of the law then? anyway I am planning to take this matter to the crown court. any suggestion or advise would highly be appreciated. thanks russell

Hi all I would really be greatful to you for any suggestion or advice you may have regarding my situation. Back in January 2010 I moved my address and forgot to update my details with dvla. Unfortunately at the same time my road tax was due and as I didnt receive the reminder from the dvla I forgot to do the tax. In late January one day I was out of the city and my friend called me up to inform that my car was clamped by dvla. I relalized what I had done and phoned dvla to pay the fine. I had to pay £260 pound (£160 surety fee to be refunded after showing the tax disc) to get my car unclamped. I was not in a situation to pay the tax online so I dicided to do that later. (at that point I had no idea that I had only 24 hours to do the road tax) Next night when I got back home my car was infront of my house and my plan was to do the tax next day on my way to work. But next morning when I stepped out of my house, my car was not there. I was really scared and thought that it was stollen. I called the police and they informed me that it was towed by the local council. Anyway it took around two days to sort this out with the council and get my car relealsed from the pound. Again they charged me the same amount as my vehicle was untaxed. I tried to tell them that I have alredy paid the fine but it didnt work and according to them they were kind to me as they didnt charge me for the towing and storage fee. This was in the first week of February 2010. In mid February 2010 I had a road accident and my car was taken by a accident repair company with all the documents. I did not bother to change the details as I thought the car was going to be written off. In the mean time I had to move address once again and in June 2010 I moved to my current address. My accident claim took quit a long time and wasnt settled until around August 2010. Anyway when the accident claim was settled I got my car back and renewed all the paperworks in September 2010. In November I received a letter from a company called Marston Group stating a case reference number to pay £750 fine. I called them and discovered that it was related to the same offence. I told them I have already paid the fine not only once but twice, they asked for proof, I faxed over the receipts. Last month a lady phoned me to say that she left a letter for me in my door and was waiting outside of my house to collect the outstanding money. I went out and spoke to her and she said that they didnt receive any documents from me. I then again, provided her with the copies of receipts and she asked me to wait until she gets back to me. On 22 February at around 20:00 she phoned me to say that she has spoken to court and got instruction to enforce the action i.e clamping my vehicle and impounding etc. I requested her to provide me the court details so that I can speak to the court by myself. She then text me the contact details on that night. The very next morning at around 05:00 she called me back again and said that she has already clamped my vehicle and waiting outside to collect the money and I have got only couple of hours to pay her otherwise I will loose my car. I told her that you gave me the details only last night to contact the court and now you are not even giving the chance to speak to them. She was not listening to any of my words and was forcing me to pay the £750 on that spot. Anyway after around an hour of debate she agreed to allow me to speak to the court. She warned that she would come back at 10 Oclock to take my car away if she doesnt get the money or any instruction from court. I called the court at 9:00 and told them the whole story. They gave me another date to appear in the court to make a statutory declaration which is 28 of this month. I was really frastrated and helpless as how many times should I be penalized for the same mistake? One of my friend advised me to go to Citizen Advice Bureau. They spoke to the court and explained me that I still owe the fine. The explanation was, whatever I had paid was not the fine but just the release fee. The actual court fine was £480.82 and when they did not get any response from me (as they have been sending the letters to my old address) the case was passed to Marston Group and now this fine has gone up to £750 including all the added charges. My frastration is local council wasnt aware when dvla clamped my car. They towed my car because the information was passed to them by the dvla. When dvla clamped my car and I paid over the phone (I dont know if they had left any notice) I wasnt made aware that I have to tax my car within 24 hours, all I was said I will get the surety fee back if I show them the tax disc within 14 days. And how would I realise that the money I had paid was not a fine but merely a release fee and I should have waited to receive a court summon to pay another £480.82 because I have made a severe mistake by forgetting my road tax which would have cost me only £68. Should every driver in the UK be a motoring law expert to drive the vehicle? I am a law abiding resident of this country and I never have done anything or have any intention to do anything to avoid the legal responsibility. I am planning to go to dvla tomorrow to speak to them. Dont know if it will make any difference. The way I am treated I am feeling like I have committed a heinous crime and I should suffer for the misdeed (forgetness). Any advice or support would highly be appreciated.

Thanks Marie No. The staff purchase and waste policy section of the Employee Handbook provided by the company doesnt sate to ensure this. And interestingly under the list of Gross Misconduct it states that "rufusal to carry out reasonable instructions from a line manager or a more senior member of management" Though it is a Gross Misconduct according to the employee handbook to have waste product but I didnt know the product I consumed with her was wasted or paid for. She asked me to get the food and then we ate together. And according to the system log the product wasnt wasted as well. All I can think of now is that she might have put the product aside when she came into the site for her lunch. My mistake (though I dont think it as a mistake because it happened on many ocasions when my coleague bought an extra food while having his lunch and put it aside for me and asked me to have it later) was not to ask her whether she has paid for the food or not.

Hi guys I really appreciate the way you responded my query. I couldnt resist myself to post my case here to have your openions. In July 16th I was summoned into the office by my store manager. Also in the office was a gentleman who introduced himself from the Fraud Investigation Department and was asked if I could answer some questions for him I replied “yes” without hesitation-although I was somewhat curious as to what was going on. He asked me various questions regarding my knowledge of the staff purchase procedure and the waste policy: I did, and therefore answered him. He then asked me to watch some CCTV footage that showed myself and the assistant store manager (ASM) in the office on a particular day-being the 30/06/09. The CCTV showed the ASM and myself consuming lunch in the office. He asked me if I have ever eaten wasted products from the store-my reply was, truthfully, that I had-as had other colleagues-but only with prior management authorisation and knowledge. I was suspended from my duties on the grounds of a “Breach of Company Waste Procedures” and told to await notification of a subsequent disciplinary hearing-he verbally informed me that this would take place on the Monday of the following week-being the 20/07/09 at 1.30pm. I then left the store. On the day of my intended disciplinary-and having not yet received formal notification of such-my manager phoned me at around 11.30am and asked me if I had received the letter-to which I replied that I had not. She then informed me that the disciplinary had been moved to the Wednesday-being the 22/07 at 1.30pm. On Wednesday the 22/07 I was once again phoned by the manager and informed to attend the disciplinary at 1.30: once again, I informed her that I would-although I had still not received the formal notification by way of a letter. I arrived there at 1.20pm – and at 1.30pm was informed by the manager that the disciplinary was delayed and that I had to wait and the process did not start until 2.30pm. Anyway, the outcome of that disciplinary was my summary dismissal from the company. I made them abundantly clear that, the CCTV images that showed both myself and the ASM eating products for lunch in the office-were not images of anything that I had done which would have resulted in breaching policy-or so I thought. On the date in question-where I am shown eating lunch with the ASM, it was at the request of the ASM that I fetched the lunch for her which she told me was in the food processing area. I had offered to help her with the office as she was struggling, (she was fairly new to the role), and was asked by her to perform a simple task-namely the fetching of items from one place to another. I did not question whether or not these goods were paid for-as my ASM I had no right to question-or reason to question- such a thing. She asked me if I wanted one of the items, whilst I helped her in the office: I replied “ok” and we had lunch and started work as planned. This was only a “possible” and not a confirmed answer as they could equally have been paid for or wasted by ASM: I did not question this. Once again, when they asked me about those products it was just an assumption from my side that she had paid for it; when I was told she had not-I presumed that she had wasted it and put it aside for her own use later (which is commonplace with the management). Both the asistant manger and store manager frequently dined in the office. And it is a common scenarion that any staff member can buy food for the other staff member and ask them to have it and the other person who is having the product never find it necessary to ask or observe that the product was paid for or not. So I didnt realise the need to question her honesty, to question whether or not it has been paid for, or is waste etc etc. I have witnessed the ASM purchasing items on many occasions-but I did not follow her around checking to see if she pays. For the items of lunch that I now know were NOT paid for by the ASM on that day-and were not wasted either-I feel I am being made a scape-goat by being dismissed. In my appeal hearing, the only question they asked me why didnt I asked her that whether she had paid for it or not. and my answer was the same as i stated above I DIDNT THINK IT WAS NECESSARY. This is the first and foremost reason that I believe my dismissal was an unfair one: The second part is that the company is not following the right procedures in dealing with this case. 1. I did not receive any formal notification for my disciplinary hearing: it was verbalised to me and stated that I would receive such a letter: this has not been received. 2. The first disciplinary was postponed-again, very un-professionally, with notification coming to me by way of a phone call from my manager-2 hours prior to the interview. 3. The actual disciplinary was delayed by over an hour-again with no notification until my arrival at store. 4. I was never informed that I could have a witness with me: although this is stated in my dismissal letter-this was never offered to me verbally or in writing: I was also constantly told by my line manager that I would be getting a warning only: again, I realise that decisions cannot be pre empted-but I was in no way expecting dismissal, as I knew I had not committed an offence so serious as to warrant such a heavy sanction. It is important to mention here that the ASM also been dismissed as because she was found having food without paying on several occasions which she also agreed. She has been dismissed on the ground of violating Staff Purchase Policy and Waste Policy. Any advice, suggestion or openion will highly be appreciated Thanks

Thanks for the replies... I have been dismissed on 22nd of July. And I am aware of the fact that I have 3 months time (less 3 days) to go to the employment tribunal even if I dont hear anything from them.

Hi Just wondering if anybody can help me on my case. I have been working as a customer service assistant (CSA) for a retail company around 3 years. During my employment I have never been disciplined. I was the best CSA on that perticular site and was selected to join the internal training program to be promoted to the duty manager position. Back in July I was dismissed from the company which I believe was unfair and therefor appealed against the decision. They took a whole month to set up the date for the appeal hearing and earlier of this month the hearing was held. Its been three weeks now, they still havent informed me anything about the outcome of the hearing. Is'nt there any standerd time limit for the employer to inform the employee about the decision? Or they can take as much time as they want leaving the employee in a frastrated situation. Thanks in advance for the help. Please wish me luck so that the decision of the hearing comes out positive and they reinstate me on the job. If not I will try to take the opportunity to explain the whole situation and seek your advice. Thanks again