Hi Guys... I know some of these questions already exist on the forums but I'm losing track of all the searches and reading I've done because I'm not the best with fragmented data... so I apologise. We are having some problems with council tax at the moment... I have been on and off universal credit since last December and I am now signed off sick with mental health problems. My wife is a carer for our disabled son (and now me but unofficially as yet) so she can't work more than 16 hours a week. We haven't paid council tax for 2 reasons... 1. We're on universal credit... nuff said 2. because I was in and out of work the rate and discount of Council Tax kept changing and they could not tell us what we should be paying a month. As such our arrears have reached £382 Friday while we were out someone came to ours and left a "Notice of Enforcement Agents Attendance" through our letter box and the balance is now £617 I have no problem with the bailiffs coming round and I have nothing to hide, But i am concerned about being tricked into things that they have no right to do. 1. Does a bailiff have the right to access my online backing statements or search for paper ones ? - I've seen on the forums that they don't have the right to do this but wanted to check in this situation. 2. Does a bailiff have the right to force me to disassociate devices that are linked to an account ? - So we have an Amazon Alexa in most rooms including a couple of the more expensive ones... I have used them to build a home automation system for my son for turning things on/off making contact etc. They are of course linked to my amazon account and would have to be disassociated for others to use them. Could they force me to do this? The same question applies to iphones and android devices... these days they are locked to an account and would need to be disassociated to be sold on. 3. If I have built something myself or modified something that is not subject to safety tests / trading standards regulations... would they take it? - so for example I have DIY built myself a compressor and welder from old gas bottles, pump and other spare parts... they are good quality and safe so while I am happy to use it myself, obviously if someone else used it and got injured I wouldn't want that to come back to me. 4. I've been bankrupt before and I remember that the insolvency agent can check back and reverse the sale of any items that I have made within a certain period to resell and claim back the money... can a bailiff do this ? we have sold some stuff recently like old camping gear and a couple of old cupboards. some of them through the local auction rooms and the cheques appear in my bank statements. Some other stuff I have sold though facebook so this can kind of come back to question 1... can they access these and find out ? As i said, I have no problems with bailiffs and what they do... but that doesn't mean I give up any of my rights when I don't have to. Many Thanks for any advice Regards Mark

Hi Guys, Apologies if this is a previous topic, i've searched the forum for this but not sure the best way to term the search. My wife and I both went bankrupt in 2015 were discharged in 2016 (i should note that we were not married at the time and married shortly after the discharge)... a year later i began looking at my credit record to see how bad the situation was and noticed a few incorrect entries on my file. i spoke to Experian about sorting out the records who then also wrote to all my previous creditors asking them to update all their records. over a few weeks i noticed that although all the old accounts on my file were still marked as defaulted, the amounts owing were all changed to £0 i assume because these were written off in the bankruptcy. This happened on all accounts except 2 of them, these 2 were: PRA Group (debt collection for payday loan) Three Communications or a debt collector for them Shortly after i had contacted Experian the "PRA Group" debt started writing to me asking me to settle the account to "improve my file" there was nothing threatening just the usual annual account statement that they say they have to send me. I heard nothing from the "Three Communications" debt until last week when they sent me an offer letter to get the account settled, again "to help improve my circumstances" Curiously i noticed that the three communications account has now completely disappeared from my experian file. I have checked the paper work and both these accounts were in the bankruptcy... I have some questions about these experiences. 1. Wouldn't it be a breach of my bankruptcy to pay these creditors and therefore... 2. Do i have the right to send them a letter back telling them where to get off.. 3. Do i have the right to ask them to zero the account like all my other creditors have so that my defaulted credit balance is now £0 (even if it as compensation for harrassing me) Many Thanks for any help. Mark

I've been with AA for breakdown cover for less then a year, in that time I've never called them out. Recently I received a letter from them congratulating me that since i've been a member for a while I've now been upgraded to their silver membership... oh and by the way we've had to increase your monthly payments from £23 to £44 !! I did not ask to be added to their silver membership and I dont recall having any kind of notice that it was going to happen or being given the option to opt out. I've yet to sit down for 2 days and read the terms and conditions from when i signed up... but it sounds like i was on some sort of new customer price yet i don't recall any thing that made me aware of that when started the cover. The letters I've received imply that this is some kind of reward for my loyalty, and of course i should be grateful for being charged double what i was paying for some extra benefits that ill never use... Just wondering if anyone else had similar experiences and whether there's anything that says they shouldn't be able to do this. Regards Mark

Hi There, I hope that this is in the correct forum and acceptable. My wife and I petitioned for and were declared bankrupt in may 2015, and were discharged 1 year later. Since then we have made small attempts to repair our credit as much as is possible with a bankruptcy on our records and we have a couple of low limit credit cards each which we use and pay every month. One huge issue that we have is cars.. . for years we have been running £500 old bangers into the ground and unable to afford anything better. As an example i currently have a 2002 zafira thats done 170000 miles and gives me occasional trouble. I have been giving some thought to trying to lease a new car from one of the many companies i have found that offer bad credit leasing. I realise that this might be throwing away money and may not be the best way to go but honestly I am sick of waiting for the next time the car breaks down and spending my weekends fixing them again... I want my weekends back. Can anyone advise of the pit-falls to watch for and maybe warn me of any well known companies that should be avoided. I don't want to end up bankrupt again! Many Thanks in advance. Regards Mark

Hi Guys, i haven't been able to pay any of my creditors for about 8 months now and had no contact them... in that time myself, my partner and our children have had to leave our previous home and had temporary accommodation for several weeks until i managed to rent a house that belongs to my employer. its time to start trying to sort out out debts so i wish to send them a letter giving them our new address and asking them for the state of each account etc and asking them for some time. Please could someone with a bit more knowledge read the following and let me know if i'm giving away too much info or setting myself up for something here ? Many Thanks Mark Dear Sir / Madam I write with reference to the above account(s) Since January this year myself, my partner and our dependents have been experiencing extreme financial hardship due to loss of employment and large unforeseen bills which include medical, legal and vehicle repairs. This has led to a situation where we have been required to leave our previous home and have been living in temporary accommodation with No Fixed Abode until we recently found residence in a property connected with my employer. Clearly we would like to get this situation under control therefore we are contacting all of our creditors and suppliers to ask for details of balances outstanding. Once we have this information we hope to work out repayment plans for each account. Since it may take some time to receive all the information we require from our creditors and the benefits office at our new address. We respectfully request that you hold any current or future action for a period of 31 days and consider freezing any interest charges and fees to prevent further accumulation of debt. To further advise you of our situation please note the following: · We have priority debts falling into arrears, this includes council tax and court bills but not rent. · I continue to work 40 hours + per week however my partners fulltime employment was discontinued by her former company at the end of a maternity period causing the loss of almost half our combined income. she is currently working a temporary position with a maximum of 10 hours per week due to lack of affordable child care. · We have no remaining high value assets except for a car valued at less than £1000 and a collection of tools valued at less than £200 both of which are required for my employment. · The car is required for my work to travel to different sites, and I am expected to pay for fuel expenses and then claim this back by a certain date of the month although the date these are then paid is not constant. · We also require use of the car as we live in a rural area with somewhat unusable public transport options when travelling for work. · We have only the essential home contents required for living and the care of our children. Any other items were donated or purchased second hand and have little value. Since these financial problems also affect accounts for telecommunications we are no longer available on our registered phone numbers and e-mails, therefore please could ALL correspondence be made via the postal service at our new address. If you are unable to agree this request, please reply urgently stating your reasons so that we may give it our prompt attention. yours sincerely etc....

Thank you for the reply maddie unfortunately a large percentage of the debts are credit cards and loans Hi dx the list of debts is as follows... joint loan joint bank account with overdraft myself 2 credit cards partner 3 credit cards seperate current accounts with overdrafts mobile phone contract each. the loan and current accounts plus one credit card are all with the same bank. all priority debts are 1 or 2 months overdue so far. i dont mind saying on here the debts total around £35K Regards Mark

Evening All, My household has recently fallen behind on some pretty serious debt amounts due to problems with employment. so far no one has threatened any action but there has been plenty of chasing. We have been taking advice from the national debt helpline and currently we are deciding whether we can manage an IVA or we need to go bankrupt, but for starters we need more time to try to work things out so we can make this decision, work keeps me very busy and away from home a lot and along with dealing with a sick child at home getting to speak to companies is very difficult. We have been advised to send requests to our creditors asking them to hold off for a period but i was wondering what other people thought of these.. . my concern is by admitting the situation to our creditors we are setting ourselves up for a lot more trouble when the requested period has expired... sort of opening the flood gates etc. Following is a draft of the letter i have written to send, please could someone advise me if this is the best course of action and if the letter i have written is suitable for purpose Kind Regards Mark Dear xxxxxxx We write with reference to the above account(s), unfortunately due to recent employment issues both we and the rest of our household are now suffering very severe financial difficulties and we are in the process of taking advice and evaluating options to find a solution. This includes waiting for information regarding benefits we may be entitled to. We are contacting all of our creditors and suppliers to ask for details of balances outstanding. Once we have this information we hope to work out repayment plans for each account.Since it may take some time to receive all the information we require from our creditors and the benefits office. We respectfully request that you hold off any current or future action for a period of two months and consider freezing any interest charges and fees to prevent further debt. Since this request also affects accounts for telecommunications, we may soon be unavailable on our registered phone numbers and e-mails, therefore please could all correspondence be made via the postal service. If you are unable to agree this request, please reply urgently stating your reasons so that we may give it our prompt attention. Yours Sincerely

Sidewinder, thank you for replying. My concern and reason for asking about the legal responsibility to provide them the information is that i thought the lack of it would be a bit of a show stopper for them. Things like passwords into certain programs and the setup instructions for a couple of core systems. However it has been 10 weeks now since i was there and they seem to be doing just fine... im assuming if there is anything he could do about it i would have heard from them by now? still this bit you wrote concerns me there are emails where i've said i will provide information, but as i said i've been busy with medical problems with my now 10 week old and quite frankly if the rest of the team were smart enough they could get around these problems so should i send the letter / email asking for the payment and see if anything else come along ? this guy is quite clued up legally and having known him for over a year i know that he loves playing little tricks and catching people out who try to take him on.. very childish if it did go to court, would there be any benefit to me from the email where he basically admits feeding me false information. Mark

Hey Guys, Apologies in advance, this could become an essay. I changed jobs in mid October, and this is following on from some posts i wrote on CAG regarding paternity at the time.. I had approached my boss in plenty of time for the notice period for paternity and he told me a pack of lies about how it worked. he said that i have 2 weeks to take but advised me to not take it all in one go in case i needed more time off further on. i could take the 2 weeks as odd days here and there over the next year. i then asked what notice to give and he said we will 'play it by ear' at the time. Clearly he was hoping i would take a couple of days which he would overlook and then come back.. i don't think he wanted to go through the hassle of paternity payments etc. I then found a new job and handed in my 4 weeks notice which would have ended long before my son's due date, but after working a week of it my partner went into early labour and had our son late on the friday evening. So the Monday morning i called my boss and told him it was a complicated c-section delivery and i would need at least a week as per our agreement to support my partner who was pretty much temporarily disabled by the surgery. He told me that it was unacceptable and he needed me in after a couple of days as the company was very busy and behind on work. this caused a lot of upset and distress to my partner at a vulnerable time and i was advised to seek legal help which i did, and it was at this point i found out how paternity really works. So i wrote my boss an email stating that i had taken what he told me to be gospel but that i had since discovered that he had gave me false information, so i would be taking the 2 weeks i was entitled to. He replied saying that he totally agreed with me and sorry for the upset. basically admitting he had knowingly tried to deny me my rights. For my final week, i asked my doctor to sign me off as i was still rather angry and despondent about the company and it would not have been in anyone's interest for me to go back. My final day was October 15th, on Octobers pay-day nothing was paid into my account so i contacted the accounts person at the company to enquire. She said that i did have money owing (about £250 from SPP and SSP) but that she was having trouble closing my payroll and needed to speak to sage support.. also that she was waiting for advice from HMRC about taxes etc.. also she needed to confirm the amount to be paid with the afore mentioned boss (managing director) who was on holiday that week. Im not too desperate for this money so a week later i chased her and she said that she had now got all the information and was going to process it. I assumed this was going to be immediately but i saw nothing in my account for a week.. by this point Novembers pay day was close enough that i waited to see if they were going to do all the pay together, but today there is nothing in my account once again. I was a computer systems engineer and programmer, one thing my boss wanted before i left the company was full documentation on the programming i did and the servers and systems that were in place even though i had to pull it all apart and learn it myself when i started at the company... i did say that i would get this to them but to be honest i've not had time between my new job and medical problems with my newborn. my boss told me it was my 'responsibility' to provide this information when i contacted him to tell him i was starting paternity. i think this is possibly the reason he is withholding pay, i think he can be quite childish and probably hopes it bothers me... but it doesn't. so does this constitute unlawful withholding of pay ?? and do i have any legal responsibility to provide the information they want ? needless to say if this is how they are going to be im glad i haven't provided the info. i would like to send him an email asking for reasons why they haven't paid me and point out that if there are no reasons i will be taking legal action. would i be within my rights to take legal action ? i've kept all the emails about the paternity leave and also from the accounts department stating that i do have pay to come and that it should have been processed by now. any advice greatly appreciated kind regards Mark

Hi All, sorry to drag up an older thread but i didn't want to type this all again... so after a chat with the CAB, ACAS and some other legal bods... i sent my employer an email last week stating that i had come to him regarding my paternity leave and that i had taken what he told me to be true, but under advice from others i had checked the government guidelines and found what he'd told me to be a load of rubbish.... therefore i believed that i had fulfilled my obligations by approaching him in the first instance well before the 15 week notice deadline and any failure on my part was down to the information he supplied...therefore i would be taking my 2 weeks paternity. i also mentioned that he had caused quite severe distress and tension to both myself and more importantly my partner who had undergone major surgery with complications. and this whole incident had over shadowed what should have been a happy few days bonding with our newborn son and relaxing. his reply to this email was that he totally agreed with me and that he was sorry for the upset caused etc... do you think this is an admission of guilt on his part ? my first question is what could i do about this ? could i take legal action regarding this? not that im going to... im happy to just let it go but i want to know how serious it was and what power i might have... namely because of my next question. I am in my four weeks notice after resigning to start a new job... next week is my last week and this week is the end of my paternity... i really really really dont want to go back for 5 days, this incident had really upset me and my partner... it had caused me physical illness in the form of stress induced anxiety and i've been having chest pains , panic attacks and been breathless all week. I'm even more anxious about the thought of going back and im hoping to see the doctor tomorrow (if i can ever get an appointment) Not only am i angry to the point i might actually lose my temper and do or say something i regret especially if he starts trying to make excuses for why he gave me mis-information. Im also the only one of 3 computer engineers who knows how certain systems work, who knows the programming for software we develop and who some of the clients only like to work with. i know that if i go back for 1 week i am going to be harassed and drilled about work to be completed and information passed over... there is more then 1 weeks work to be completed and i shall be under immense pressure to get this done which wont help my previously mentioned temper and anxiety... you can clearly see there will be no benefit to me or the company if i go into work. Sorry this is getting a bit long... so questions Could i write to my boss and say that its not worth me coming in due to the bad feeling.. but i would be willing to work from home finishing off notes and updating documentation etc... if he wants i would finish my notice as of this week and take next week as a break between jobs unpaid etc but im still willing to pass on the information to the other engineers via private email. Should i approach my doctor and ask to be signed off for the week in fear for my health.. however could this somehow impact on my new job ? Can i use rights to time off to care for dependants as my partner is still quite poorly. Or any other ideas anyone might have... Any opinions are greatly appreciated.. Regards Mark

Hi Bazooka, Thank you for replying, just to clarify would i send an edited version of the SB letter or the "debt passed to another DCA" ? Regards Mark

Hi All, In June I had a letter from 'Commercial Collections Services Ltd' regarding an unpaid Anglian Water bill from 2006 and asked advice on here http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?355026-Anglia-Water-Letter-Does-it-ever-end I left the house after a 6 month tenancy in July that year and heard nothing since so I assume this to be statute barred. I sent the standard statute barred letter (from the CAG library) in June and heard nothing back. Today I have received a letter from a different collections agency 'Lewis Debt Recovery' requesting the same payment on the same account etc. seems I might have scared the first lot off with my first letter So i was thinking that i need to send them the letter "debt passed on to another DCA while still in dispute" this letter mentions that the account is in dispute because i have requested the CCA from the previous collection agency or creditor i am confused about this as the standard statute barred letter i sent doesn't mention request of the CCA just evidence of written contact or payment. does this still constitute a dispute and can i send this letter to the new DCA ? also is it worth me sending a copy of my original statute barred letter to the first DCA to the new one... or would that give them information i would not want them to know. lastly i have moved house since the first letters arrived, but my previous address is my in laws house so i can still get the letters... im not keen on willingly giving out my new address to people who are chasing me... could i advise them that the address they have is now a care of address and that i no longer live there.. or am i obliged to give them my new address when sending them a letter. As always any help is greatly appreciated Regards Mark

To be clear emmzzi I do apologise for the outburst...

You make some fair points there and I'm sorry about getting stroppy... Newborn sleepless nights and all that. it's just I know what my boss can be like this appears to be typical of him and with hindsight I should maybe have done the research myself but i went straight to him because as is me I like to think people are better then that.

blunt and to the point... how about a smile with some of these replies?? yes i admit i was ignorant of the law... that's why i asked my employer what my rights are and how to go about setting up my paternity, surely they should be somewhat aware of the processes since they most likely have X amount of employees who have gone through this... and im doing this for the first time...why should i need to google it ? but instead of giving me the information i needed they have mislead me and are now trying to make me come back in to work after a couple of days... they tell me that i am on paternity but its not to be taken all at once.. this is wrong i am entitled to 2 weeks continuous leave so clearly they are talking rubbish. please dont preach to me about Google either, i am a embedded computer systems designer & programmer and live my life on computers i probably use Google more times a day then you.. i dont use the automated tills in the supermarkets i go to the humanoid ones because its nice to disconnect for 5 minutes and have a chat with a friendly face from my local area... well same thing here... was it wrong of me to expect that some percentage of the population could and should still be able to answer my questions and concerns without using a keyboard? having read other posts on here you appear to be very much for the employer and not the employee... well here's a news flash... employees make mistake yes... but employers make mistakes and can also be quite difficult and unfair.. my boss made it clear in the conversation that he can not allow me my full paternity leave as they are just too busy well that is not my problem... and i dont think this would have been any different whether i gave correct notice or not... the fact remains that my partner and newborn son require care, i have to give her injections daily at a time when i would be working... i have to help her in and out of the shower and to get changed and then do all the care for a newborn baby... she is very upset at having to load this all onto me and the reaction from my employer has made this a million times worse. but having seen the level of your compassion on this site i wouldn't expect you to understand... i agree that sometimes people need telling factual information clearly and to the point... but if you cant advise in a non biased and friendly way... please dont bother...

Thank you for the replies. I have been working for this company 1½ years, i spoke to my boss a long time ago and asked how i go about giving notice for the paternity whether there was a standard form, do it by email or signed dated letter etc.. his response was that it was not needed and "we can just play it by ear" i am starting to believe that he does not intend to give me actual paternity, just hope that he can convince me to have as few days as possible and just cover them himself... i dont know if there are any financial or 'less paperwork' reasons he would do this, he does not seem to enjoy going to the tax / HMRC people as i remember he once told me there was no point sorting the emergency / month 1 tax code id been on even though he'd been contacted with my correct code.. because there was only 4 months of the tax year to go. The guidelines state that you can give short notice for paternity with a good reason... well i think telling me not to bother is a fairly good reason... any opinions though ? Regards Mark

Hi All, I have a fairly urgent problem with my current employer and my paternity rights. I am working the second of 4 weeks notice after resigning to move to a new career, my partner gave birth to our son late on Friday night after 3 days of labor which i was present for, the birth was finally by Cesarean Section which had complications meaning while she is now home she is quite incapacitated for the next week or two and requires my help to shower, get up take care of baby etc. I rang my boss this morning to tell him that my child was born and i would be taking the rest of this week for sure and will see about next week. He told me that he can not accept this and he needs me back in towards the later part of this week as the company is very busy and "it is my responsibility to make sure everything i do is handed over to someone else before i finish my employment" he then said that paternity is not a holiday it is a period of 10 working days (2 weeks) to take when i need it over the course of 2 years for parental duties etc... i stated that there is no way i can leave her or our baby at the moment as she will struggle to care for him and herself. There were then a series of lectures on how i could get someone to care for her,( theres no one we know and she would rather it was me considering the personal nature of the care needed). he also gave me his opinions on how women are sent home far too early after birth these days and how if she had stayed in hospital this wouldn't be a problem. i am concerned that i never actually gave written notice that i was taking paternity. My boss preferring to do things verbally.. but i have been advised that if i was not asked for written notice, then verbal notice was good enough (this was given pretty much when we knew she was pregnant). i also believe i read somewhere that i had to confirm weather i was taking 1 or 2 weeks notice which never happened. so questions... 1. can he control how much paternity i take 2. how much does the written notice and length requested matter ?? can this be verbal only 3. does any terms written in the contract or handbook over rule my statutory rights to 2 weeks leave? 4. does working my notice affect this in any way?? 5. i really dont want to work at this company anymore once i finish my paternity time i will have a week left to work can i request garden leave or just not bother going ?? I think that's all the info, any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance Regards Mark

Hey Guys, Tonight I've received a letter from Anglia Water regarding an unpaid bill of £550 from a house i lived at around 6 years ago. As I've mentioned in previous posts I was homeless between April 2007 and Jan 2010 i don't know or cant remember what i owed to who before that happened.. . therefore I've never received a letter regarding this before. Most of my records and paperwork are lost. Of course I'm hoping that this can be Statute Barred but does that apply to water companies? the trouble is i cant quite remember when i left this address, I'm pretty positive i had moved out of the house well before Christmas 2006 but not sure it was as early as that June, Once i moved all bills were in my partners name so the account was not moved with me. Also i only lived at the house for 6 months so I'm not sure how i ran up £550 worth of bills. At the moment the debt still appears to be with the water company but they are threatening to forward the debt to a collection agency if they don't hear from me by the 26th, i am concerned that this will go on my credit records, i have been doing well to build my credit back up and i could do without my credit card company and bank cancelling my accounts. I'm concerned about replying to them and acknowledging a debt, so any advise on how to respond to this. Any help is greatly appreciated and many thanks in advance Regards Mark

Hi Guys, I dont really know if this is the right place for this question so apologies if it needs moving. I have a few debts that may catch up with me at some point... i was homeless for 3 years and i really just dont know what is in my name from past relationships etc and what is owed anymore. needless to say my credit is quite bad but appears to be improving. Myself and my new partner live with her parents, but we are trying to get a council house as she is now pregnant... we both work but private rents are high if the coucil say no we will have to stretch to private rent. i travel each weekend to see my daughter 70 miles away from where i live, sometimes we have her overnight and have to make 2 trips this costs us £150 - £200 per month in fuel and taking her out etc. this does cripple us a little and is money that could get us a house quicker etc. but try to stop me seeing my little girl and you will need an army basically i also pay £160 a month maintenance for her by private arrangement... this was calculated using the CSA website so i think pretty much what i should be paying. i work in IT and im expected to use my own vehicle to occasionally travel to clients sites, i have to put the fuel in as needed and then claim it back which can take 1 or 2 months to get depending on how payroll cut off falls that month. for that reason i have to try and keep a fair amount of reserve cash to get fuel should i need it. to keep my job this is how i have to work so my question is this.... If i have to fill out a incomming / outgoing sheet for say a debtor, or the council, or the courts, how much of this could i legally claim as nessasary?... are they going to tell me that seeing my daughter is my own problem and can not be claimed ? and surely they have to accept that i need fuel on a buy as needed basis to perform my job. Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated and many thanks in advance !! Regards Mark

thank you...

hey guys Back in 2007 i was diagnosed with obstruction sleep apneoa... long story short i didn't know it was dvla notifiable condition until recently and no one told me. none of the leaflets or any other details given to me told me this fact. In hindsight im a little mad at myself for not thinking to check or look it up when i believe myself to have a fair amount of intelligence but there we go. another problem was that i've always thought the doctor/hospital advised the dvla anyway ( i have no other conditions so never knew). i became homeless and was living on the streets for a while straight after the diagnosis this so did not drive but i've now been back on the roads for about 2 years in those 2 years i've had 2 minor accidents one was considered 'not at fault' the other seems to have been decided as 'at fault' even though i was swearving to avoid a child on the road and had the choice to either kill her or hit an on coming vehicle. the first accident i was a named driver on my partners car and that insurance is now expired and we no longer use that company... the second accident was my own insurance policy that is still current.. Of course i want to do the right thing here and inform the dvla... but im aware that ignorance of the law is no excuse so my questions are: 1. what will happen will i get fined and lose my licence ? 2. has my licence been void all this time ? 3. is my insurance also null and void leaving me liable for the accidents i've had?? im guessing any old companies cant really find out?? I also drove professionally for a while so im wondering if that company found out whether they could take some form of action. Having a valid licence is also required for my new job as an IT engineer as i am expected to travel to site occasionally. Any advice here would be massively appreciated... its really playing on the mind. Many thanks in advance. Mark

i just tried calling the court... "if you are enquiring about a fine or bailliffs letter... please call the marston group on blah blah blah... ":???:

firstly thankyou for the help... its nice to be able to speak to a bailiff about how they would deal with this and what can happen... it calms a lot of fears... what concerns me is that the 7 days runs out this coming monday which is not enough time to get the court details and statuatory declaration done. if a bailiff comes before all that can i not just tell them that the debt is in dispute? also it may be that i did get a ticket... it may be that i took it off and then forgot about it... i just REALLY cant remember, i had a lot going on at the time... the things that led to me becoming homeless for 3 years mainly. But if i do the declaration and marston come forth with evidence and yes i definately had one could that be seen as perjury ? also if it does then turn out to be guilty as charged and the debt is valid as it were ... then surely having done the declaration and all that would just up the costs of going back through courts etc... i wonder whether to just pay it and be done with... but im reluctant to pay something that i cant remember and dont have any information about

marston_letter_1.pdfmarston_letter_1.pdf here is a pdf copy of the letter... hope this works !

well apparently the images get shrinked and i can't external link yet, so if anyone would like to see it pm me thank you again mark