Hi! The only small point I should add to the above is that I had to ring up the surgery and ask for a fit note AFTER I was sent home – in other words I was presented with a "FAIT ACCOMPLI" by my employer who told me I was no longer allowed to attend as and from the 26th May and I had to ask for a fit note – the Surgery Receptionist herself said that it was "very irregular but I shall ask the doctor for you". THEY took the decision about my fitness to work or otherwise, not me, I am still able to carry out electronics work at home of exactly the same nature, using exactly the same equipment, as I am employed for but my employer refuses to accept this!

Hi! It was a Visa Debit for the first £44.60 and a PayPal payment for the £56.20 that I no inkling of until P.P. sent me an email to say they were about to debit it! Halifax say "they can't do a chargeback on payments taken by a payment processor" There is no email warning from Bauer Media when the subscription payment due, it is simply debited outright with no chance to cancel it! (I have a subscription for a couple of other things and these other organisations do at least have the courtesy to email a reminder with a link to cancel it!) The chap Matt Allwright on "Watchdog" says you shouldn't auto– renew these things as a matter of course, but in the case of Bauer/G.M., you are given no choice!

Hi! Can anyone advisee how to get back a payment of £56.20, plus the opening transaction of £44.60 from Bauer Media Group/Great Magazines for a subscription to "Rail" magazine digital I never received please? Halifax say they can't help because the transaction was taken by a Payment Processor and PayPal themselves refused to reverse it because they said "I didn't follow the suppliers Ts & C's", as described later it is totally impossible to! The subscription was taken out in November 2020 from an "offer price" of £44.60, and nowhere does it say on either Great Magazines Website or Bauer Media that you are automatically signed up to an enforced "auto–renew", and what's worse, their Customer Services say (when you can actually get them) that "you are not allowed to cancel until a full years subscription has been paid!" I admit I have not tried phoning myself, but I have read enough of the 223 appallingly bad Trust Pilot Reviews for this company and 208 equally bad T.P. reviews for "Great Magazines"t to realize it is a sheer waste of money trying! I have been totally unable to get access to the "account" supposedly created to download purchased magazines from and the "password reset" button is a dead link that does nothing! (Many Trust Pilot Reviews say they automatically "block" your account as soon as payment has been taken so you can't log onto it yourself!) Is there any case for taking Bauer Media or PayPal to small claims on the grounds of the "Unfair Consumer Contracts Terms Regulations?" Altogether, I have lost £100 to this selfish German–owned organisation without seeing a single magazine for my pains!

InHi! (Sorry for the long explanation!) The fit notes are simply marked "poor vision" and "not fit for work" – it was after they sent me home I had to ring up the surgery and explain that I had been sent home from work and they were also refusing to allow me to attend the premises in any capacity whatsoever – they insist there is no other work in any capacity I can do, so I had to request the doctor to sign me off for an unknown and lengthy period, to which the surgery replied "we can only sign you off for one month at a time". I have asked for fit notes regularly, and have been sending them continuously since they sent me home, and I am collecting a new one from the surgery today! I have applied for e.s.a. as I was told I was entitled to be regarded as "partially sighted", but I have not applied for U.C. or P.I.P. yet. I was not told at the time I was sent home how long Company Sick Pay was paid for, my friend says "three months", another colleague said "six months" and a third says "twelve months", and it doesn't say clearly in my C of E! I received a normal salary payment on 15th June covering 15th May to 14th June, (which I expected to be paid in full as I was working for ten days of that period plus any holiday pay) followed by four further normal salary payments for 15th July, 15th August, 15th September and 15th October, so if my colleague's statement of "six months" is correct, I should get a final full Salary payment on 15th November and then S.S.P. after that, altho' a phone call from my manager last Friday suggested I may not be getting any more loot from them! Should I apply for U.C. immediately or wait for a decision on my E.S.A., or wait until what would otherwise be the next payday, 15th November, and see what I receive?

Unfortunately not – whilst I am free to join Unite, the employer does not recognise them and Unite themselves are extremely reluctant to get involved in disputes with this particular employer – my friend Steve who I live with is a member of Unite and he's had run–ins himself with management/H.R. himself and found Unite extremely unwilling to get involved!

Hi! One point I forgot to mention in my first post, I was sent home after the first anniversary of the "First Written Warning" over the "soldering iron accident" that occured April 2020, and at the time I was sent home on enforced sick leave, the "two–shift coronavirus" shift system had ended and we were all back to being employed normal daytime working hours with everyone in attendance! I did ask my manager/H.R. during the meeting of 26th May 2021 at which I was sent home, was this being considered a disciplinary matter again and I was assured, both verbally and subsequently in writing, that it was NOT, they called it "safeguarding!" I have sent regular fit notes to my manager by way of my colleague Steve, who as mentioned, works at the same employer doing identical work to me, and will be collecting another note from the surgery tomorrow! (As regards the c.v., I have had both vaccinations and during a recent admission to Walsall Manor Hospital about two months ago for mild pancreatitis, was tested again for c.v., which I assume came back negative as nobody came running about after me!)

Hi! I work in Aldridge repairing industrial electronics PCB's. In November 2019 I found I was starting to have difficulty with the vision in my right eye, that started off as distortion of vertical lines, and over the next three months this gradually got worse, until, February 2020, the vision in my right eye had got hazy to the point where I felt it was no longer safe to drive my car and I gave the car key to my friend Steve whom I live with and who works for the same employer as I do, doing an identical job to me. I went to see my optician in March 2020 who examined my eye, she said she couldn't examine it properly and referred me to the Opthalmology Department of Walsall Manor Hospital. By then the c.v. nonsense had set in and it was September 2020 before I got an appointment to be seen and after a detailed slit–lamp examination, it was decided to attempt to treat my right eye with YAG Laser Capsulotomy on the December 15th 2020. This procedure was unsuccessful and I was advised at a further Appointment on 7th May 2021 that Walsall Manor were unable to treat my eye and were referring me to New Cross Hospital for a more major consultation, which I am still waiting for. On 26th May 2021 I was called to a meeting upstairs at work with my immediate manager and HR via video, and told I was being sent home on enforced sick leave until after my eye was operated on with the more major operation. I have been off work since 27th May 2021 and my manager and H.R. are refusing to allow me to return to work and I have exhausted my company sick pay. At the meeting upstairs at work I stated that I felt I had adequate vision in my left eye to be able to do my usual duties and there was no need for me to be off work, but this was brushed aside! How do I stand when, as in a case like this, where the manager/employer forces me to take a long and continuing sickness absence with no idea of how long it will go on for? I do not know when New Cross Hospital will write to me regarding a consultation for the more major surgery my right eye will need!

Hi! I'm just very relieved not to lose my job from this incident – trying to get another Electronics job that pays my current salary that's not hundreds of miles away is a next to impossible task at my age!

Hi! Just an update on this! A different manager to the one that called my disciplinary warning heard my case on Tuesday and today and after considering the matter with H.R., it was agreed that the incident was an accident, but that I was at fault for putting my soldering iron stand in a dubious position where it could cause damage if it fell out of it's stand! The sanction I received was a written warning which they assured as counted as "first", and would be disregarded in 12 months subject to no further disciplinary offences, and that they want me to stay on suspension, (still paid) until Occupational Health had examined the iron, it's stand and my bench in general, and seen me in person, to make sure it's safe for me to return to duty! In the meantime I will continue to receive my normal salary (due tonight!) under the split shift system originally arranged by the UK branch manager!

PS! As well as making sure the cabinet power lamps are out before I leave, I also make sure any Customer's PCBs, etc., being worked on are safely positioned in the centre of the bench as far as possible and that no soldering irons, etc., are left too close to them, in the engineer who sits on the adjacent bench behind me knocks anything on my bench by accident! As I said in my first post I was astonished and mortified when I was shown the accident at 6 am Wednesday by the shift manager – there is another colleague on the group of four benches next to me but he is on the other shift!

Hi! Yes, there are large power indicator lamps fitted to the top of the control cabinet and I always glance up to make sure both of them are out before I leave the employer's premises every day. Since the employer introduced the Covid precautions, I have been taking my tools home every day, so I can't be accused of "spreading unknown germs or contamination" (most of my colleagues leave than on or near their benches), and I do look to make sure my soldering iron is safely in it's stand. It's only quite recently I started taking my toolbox back into work and obviously, lifting it's lid to place tools, etc., in it would obscure anything behind it – I have wondered if I might have accidentally knocked the hot iron towards the back of the bench causing it to melt it's way into the soft plastic of the 110V socket lid – I honestly couldn't be sure that might have happened altho' I did mention it at yesterday's investigation meeting! HR, who were present via Skype video link at the meeting, asked me for my consent to giving my personal email as postal services may be unreliable, to which I consented, as obviously I cannot access the company's one at the moment), have not yet responded, not even to confirm the suspension in writing yet!

Hi! This manager IS supposed (or at least claims to be!) H & S competent, yet he also accused me of leaving a deliberate shock hazard – I disputed this because the supply is totally isolated from earth, surely he ought to know this? This same manager regularly reads myself and other colleagues the riot act about "performance and warranties" (returned repairs that fail to perform to customers expectations) – he has NO experience in the field of work we do, and the nature of the work is industrials which cannot be bench–tested for functional operation, all we can do is test the components using methods each engineer has had to learn entirely by himself outside my employer's premises! The only training provided is a chapter on basic electrical safety from a public–domain book on Electronic Theory. There is no way I or any other employee there would deliberately a piece of the company's infrastructure or Electronic Test Equipment provided for us to perform our duties efficiently and safely, other than by an unforseen accident!

Hi! The only proof they showed me were pictures of the damage that occurred to the socket, nothing else. They did acknowledge that the power to the benches was found to be turned off at the time they became aware of the incident. My manager called me upstairs, showed me photos of the damage, and simply said "I want to know your account of how this occurred". I have had no disciplinary warnings on my record to my belief, certainly none in the past two years.

PS! No safety training on the use of soldering irons and where to use/place them is given whatsoever – apart from the usual instructions supplied with new ones, and ours are refurbished secondhand ones! I have been grumbled at about "too many screwdrivers on the bench", but you need at least four for all the screws in Electronics equipment, as I said there are no rules, guidance or training given, you're in an uncontrolled working environment as you quite correctly state! The only official training given is electrical shock precautions, and in 40 years experience of this field, the number of minor shocks I have had is less than the fingers of one hand!

Hi! My employer isn't unionised and none of the engineers are in one out of a fear culture I suspect! I have already moved the stand and got out less personal tools (no hand tools are supplied, engineers are expected to provide their own with no guidance as to how many and what form). The only reference I made to the employer's C.V. precautions was to state that we were under strong managerial pressure not to be in the building at shift end times, and I am liable to get engrossed in my work as a result of a desire to do a good job of it, and therefore didn't realise the passage of time – the clock is a long distance away and I can't read it from a distance at the moment, as I'm on the waiting list for eye surgery to try and help this. (Before my employer introduced this two–shift CV pattern, my hours were 8.30 to 5 and there was at least one other employee who always did evening overtime after 5 until 5.45 or 6, so there was always time at 5 to make sure soldering tools were left in a safe place and power supplies turned off at the end of each day)

Hi! I am 59 now and have worked in Electronics repair all my working life. Due to the Coronavirus nonsense, my employer has gone over to a two shift system, with the engineers (there are 46) split into Team A and Team B. I work on a bench at near the back of the workshop, with one other employee who is team A and I am Team B, and the remaining two benches are setup for testing with no permanent employee stationed there. Because of the Covid 19 nonsense we are placed under quite strong managerial pressure to vacate the building at shift end times, and I do admit I do get engrossed in my work as a repair engineer out of a desire to do it to a high standard, and didn't realise it had got to 1 on Tuesday, my shift end time! On arrival at work yesterday morning at 6 a.m. I was ushered to my bench by the current manager, and to my surprise and somewhat horror, I found the hot end of my bench soldering iron had got lodged in the plastic cover of the isolated 110V bench power supply socket! I've no idea exactly how that could happened by anything other than an accident, the proper stand for the iron was just under the iron and I can only assume I dislodged it at end of shift Tuesday afternoon at 1, after I'd switched the bench power off with the main switch on the premises wall, so the iron would have been cooling down anyway. I do not know wether my Team A colleague attended work on the Tuesday afternoon shift, I suspect not, unless he saw the aftermath of the incident himself and reported it! The upshot of this was that I got called upstairs by the line manager and asked to account for this accident, with an allegation that I flagrantly breached fire safety and electrical safety rules! He was also going on saying I could have exposed somebody to a serious electric shock hazard, which I dispute because the damaged 110V socket is fed from a safety isolated transformer with no return path for any potential shock current. The Soldering iron stands are NOT fixed to the benches in any way and we are given NO guidance on where we should place them – I placed my stand in the position it was at the back of the bench because I was constantly catching my left arm on it and burning it from having to reach over the bench to operate switches controlling sockets, etc. I was given an immediate suspension on full pay this morning and told H.R. will be in touch. Is this the sort of accident that could cost me my employment? At 59 with virtually no pension pot I don't really want to be going thro' the job–hunting weary–go–round again! I have been employed at my present employment 4 years and 5 months. PS! One small point to add – the damaged 110V socket was replaced with a new one by the shift manager and an electrical safety certificated colleague and I was issued with a new soldering iron later on yesterday morning, with nothing whatsoever said at the time about any further action being taken! Sorry for this being a long and somewhat technical post, by the way!

PS! Advice is always given here on moving vehicles out of sight of bailiffs, etc., I am in a multi-occupied property with public-parking round the back and the roadside but NO locked garages - can anyone suggest a minimum safe distance away bailiffs not bother looking into from known experience or knowledge of them please?

AH - That might explain why it's taken 8 months before I heard anything about it! Walsall Council have been aware for a long time that this property was in a ruinous condition - I only discovered yesterday that there's a "Class G Exemption" for unfit properties - I didn't know about this or I could have applied for it and possibly had my CT liability totally cancelled - the LL lad constantly refused to carry out the repairs or reinstate the stolen service installations! I'll sort out my Tenancy Agreement for where I am now and take it to 'em at Darnall St. in the morning!

I sent B & S an offer of £100.00 a month via the automated system which not surprisingly turned it down, replacing it with a revised offer of £196 over six months and the first payment of £196 on the 27th which I can't afford as my rent and DDs go out on the 1st April and I would be left with not enough to get to work which is 30 miles away! It is very likely I'll have to carry on going to work on public transport - attempted repairs to my car have so far proved unsuccessful and I've 13 days of fares to find totalling £175 before my next pay-day on the 15th April. Is there any chance of getting B & S to defer the first payment to the 15th April? It's not a case of me not wanting to cough this up. much as I hate paying C.T. because I use virtually no Council services as I live alone without children & am in reasonable health, it's that B & S have given far too short a deadline to meet their demands!

Hi! I've re-checked the N.O.E., the Liability Order it refers to is dated 16 July 2015 so presumably it refers to the 2014/2015 Council Tax Year! However I only received B & S letter dated 16 March 2016 last Friday the 18th - am I still in time to stay off bailiff visit if I email B & S this morning with a more affordable payment offer of £100/month and are they likely to refuse it? I have sent, once again, details of the date I moved out of the un-inhabitable Willenhall property to Walsall Council via their contact form provided on their website - I was unable to access any correspondence at my old address as the locks had been changed - I only found out what the CT A/C No was on the N.O.E.

PS! I've had another look at B & S's letter and it DOES NOT state what financial year they are trying to enforce on - does this matter? They state "Debt to Walsall Council £868.00, 1st Stage compliance Fee £75.00, total Debt £1178.90, leaving £235.10 not specifically mentioned.

Hi! Would a copy of the Tenancy Agreement for my current place in Telford serve for this? I no longer possess means of entering the derelict property in Willenhall as the locks have been changed.

Hi! I was living in a two-bedroomed property in the Willenhall area of Walsall that was totally unfit for human habitation - there was no electricity or gas as the previous installations had been thieved and trashed and eventually I had to move out in May last year as I had had enough, and as well as that I was constantly being called into my manager's office with complaints about personal cleanliness, etc., because I could no longer care for myself properly. (I no longer work for the firm concerned in that.) I sent a letter to Walsall Council advising them I had moved out of this property at the end of May 2015 but received no acknowledgement from them regarding this. I have now received a letter demanding £1178.90 by Bristow and Souter who are demanding a repayment arrangement of £107.90 A WEEK on it from 23 March 2016. Whilst I am in employment at the moment there is no guarantee of me being kept on when my probation period ends in two months time. I thought they were asking £107.90 a month but it's not it's a WEEK. Also included on the letter are the usual threats about seizure of goods. committal to prison etc. Can the good people on here advise me of the next steps to take please? I do have a car but I could park it at a local station a few miles away if needed - it's only worth £450 and I have no other possessions unless B & S want a load of old radio mags and cookery books! Many thanks! PS! It IS possible to get to work on public-transport but I don't want B & S to get their thieving hands on my car as I've been having a great deal of trouble with aggressive beggars in Wolverhampton lately!

Hi! 7-Zip will serve your need and its truly Open-Source Freeware - takes a little while to get to know it's interface tho! 32-bit [url=]http://www.7-zip.org/a/7z1510-x64.exe 64 bit Right-click "My Computer" then "Properties" - the General Properties page should display wether your Windows is 32 or 64 bit type - ensure you download the correct version for the Windows you have! Hope this helps!

Hi! If anyone could assist me with this I'd be ever so grateful! I have an enormous number of cds & dvds of archived stuff as well as (unfortunately!) an untidy filing system on many old HDDs, so what I'm looking for is a *Freeware* (i.e, not trial or one with 'pro' features you've to pay for etc.) Directory Printer Utility that prints in a neat format (*not a plain text only one!*):- 1) Folder Size & Name, Date Created/Modified; 2) File size & Name, Date Created/Modified; 3) A colour icon for each type of list entry - having the icon assists me in sorting directories out! Many thanks.