Thanks Lula, it seems there's nothing i can do for the moment They have informed me that "even childminders have to have paid holidays" which is great bu i already pay her £150 per wk for 6hrs a day. She earns a lot from me because £150 is also the very same amount she charges full time per wk i lose out because she charges me per hr instead.

Hi and thanks in advance. I have a really lovely childminder whom i normally get on with and who my daughter loves. My daughter is treated as one of the family. Problem is (i know i should have read it properly) The contract i signed over a year ago says that i have to pay her no matter the reason if i don't take my daughter to her as my childminder would otherwise still be available. BUT, i also have to pay my childminder if she goes away on holiday (granted half price). I do not have to pay her if she can't look after my daughter due to an illness. There have been many occasions when i have paid her for doing nothing but as it was me who chose not to take my daughter there, it was ok. I really do object to having to pay her anything at all while she is away enjoying herself especially when i have to pay someone else at the same time! Recently, she went on a romantic holiday and normally i don't bother with invoices i just ask how much. this time, i asked for one for tax credit reasons, that's when i saw it "holidays charged at half price" Main question, is this an unfair contract? can i get her to change it or is it just best to find a new childminder? Any advice would be appreciated

well mine is all done for the time being. I've applied for the defence to be truck out. AQ completed so Tues i'm off to court to hand it in. Gary h i'm intrigued by your last comment. Can't wait to see what you have up your sleeve! I did email our dear Inga a while ago who did say that she would be applying for a stay and in no way was i going to get a penny and the matter of penalty charges needed to be clarified which is why they are going to court, i did ask that if the matter was not clear at all, why did they apply charges and why do they continue to do so if they are unclear about the whole thing. Never got a reply.

Well it seems i have no choice, unless i want to appear awkward which is not a good 1st impression. The home visit is on the 5th, not sure how long for. i guess in some ways it will be good for my son to get to know his teacher. We'll see how it goes

bp V Abbey Amount claimed: £704.60 Claim no: 7ED03619 Edmonton County Court

brilliant i wonder what the judge was doing all that time!

I must admit i love watching the auditions, i can't believe some of these people! don't they have family/friends who love them enough to stop them from humiliating themselves? And while i'm at it, wot happened to the last winner? what was her name? leo-something what was the point?

Quick Q, since i'll be applying for a strike out, will i still need to complete my AQ and pay the fee? Got to return my AQ by the 31st of Aug.

I received their new defence dated the 11th Aug , mine only has 12 sections, i still have a copy of their prev defence in April so will be including that as well, i've closed my acc so won't be getting a copy of their new T&Cs.

Hey Lula hun thanks very much. I guess i'll just have to send the usual strike outs but include a copy of their prev defence. first thing, need to find out if they have asked the court for a stay.

Quick update, i received the usual letter, Abbey will be asking for a stay of my case, they've acknowledged my case twice! and today, i got a copy of their defence. This defence is different from the other one back in April. Does anyone know if a copy of their new defence is posted on this site somewhere? 4.3 if the defendant honoured the payment instruction in question, the Defendant thereby accepted the claimant's offer. 4.4 Accordingly, the claimant became bound to pay interest and charges in relation to that loan at the stipulated rate. 4.5 That liability does not at common law, constitute a penalty charge. So these are longer Breaches of contracts but loans? Anyone recognises this? Is this the new standard defence? Thanks in advance

Before anyone says, i know i was stupid, i had a parking fine which i genuinely forgot about, too many personal thing happening. Anyway, while sorting through my paperwork, i found the ticket, i called the local authority and they told be that it had been passed to a bailiff comp and that they would be in contact shortly, to be honest i wasn't in a hurry to to contact them so i just left it waiting for them to contact me instead (i didn't even ask for the name of the bailiff) this was after my being on the phone for over ten minutes and being told that Waltham Parking don't speak to callers and i should put everyting in writing or call an automated phone line! this morning at 7:30 am, the bailiff officer turned up stating a clamp had been placed on my car, and the cost, £557.58 i haven't even got £5 in my acc. I know for a fact that they have NOT contacted me because i've been looking out for any letters. Is there anything i can do? Forgot to add that the bailiff is TASK enforcement

well she's a busy woman1 this is her reply The whole purpose of the commencement of the Test Case is to clarify the law in this area. Abbey will continue to post updates on its websites to keep customers informed on progress of the Test case. I feel like sending a message asking why if this issue needs clarification, why has abbey applied thse charges and why does still apply them while the issue is going to court?

I decided to be a bit cheeky and asked her if this new strategy of avoiding paying out money also applied to abbey suspending all future charges from its customers accounts? lets see if she replies to that!

thanks Michael, just found the link. Sorry i was just being lazy! On a lighter note, right under Inga's email was "Ashurst, winner of law firm of the year 2007" God! i wonder what they had to do to get that? fob as many people as poss? offer lower amounts to claimants thereby still saving their clients money?

hi all, i've not said anything for a while, bit too much going on at home. Update: finally put claim in and Abbey had to respond by the 6th Aug. They acknowledged with he intention to defend on the 26th July, i've jut had an email from my favourite person at Abbey our lovely Inga to say that just in case i didn't know, abbey are applying for a stay of all cases, i've asked my court and they have said that my case is still ongoing. Is there a generic response to the courts when the banks ask for a stay? has a stay of all cases been agreed? any advice would be much appreciated.

That my children live full and happy lives That the rest of my family and friends also live full and happy lives As for me, to find a partner who actually lasts the whole course and doesn't get tired or go limp at the most inconvenient of times!!

I was in a pay and display car park at the Brewery in Romford essex, i paid for up to 3hrs and got back over 1 hr before i was meant to. The ticket was issued by MET parking services.

Hi all, need your opinion here. I was given a parking ticket for not displaying a valid permit at the window, i did buy one but sat was a windy day so the ticket must have got blown out of the car. It was one of those that doesn't stick to the window. as it stands, all i have left of the ticket is the part which you tear off and take with you to remind you of when it expires, if i was to copy that and send it off, do you think theres a change i can have the £100 written off? i didn't check to see if it was in the car at the time because i was getting the kids out and they had both just woken up and were screaming away so i was a bit err occupied! Please let me know. Thanks

I really do hate having to pay for it, 2 years ago, i was taken to court. I had moved addresses and had just had a new baby and both the baby and i were really sick and what with moving and all, getting a tvl was not the most important thing. Anyway, they had tried my door a few times but i was out. One day in the evening, one of those officers just managed to catch me he started asking if i had a tvl and silly me i was honest, i said no, he advised me to get one asap asked me to sign on a bit of paper to confirm that i had admitted to using a tv without a license, he said as long as i got one, it would be ok. I now know NEVER to sign anything but on that day, i was really stressed out, i'd been in hospital all day having tests for this and that and when he caught me the two kids were both screaming one was hungry and the 3 year had just been woken up it really was not the best time. Anyway, as it turned out, the paper i had signed was a caution accepting that even if i bought a license, they still had the right to prosecute me! Two days after i spoke to the officer, a bought my license in full, i though that was the end of it until 7 months later when it was due for a renewal, got a court date and a demand to buy my new license in full (i couldn't! i was on maternity pay), as it turned out when we got to court, their solicitor didn't even know i had actually bought a license, I'll never forget the look on his face when i told him that if he was going to prosecute people, the least he could do was 1st ascertain if those people had valid licenses in the 1st place! even the judge was amused, he had to ask for a short stay to confirm it all!

Hi, as said before, you should not be liable for this. Did you buy your house but didn't move in straight away? If so then yes, you would be responsible for it. however, there should be a discount either because the house was empty or if you were doing some refurbishment work on the house and it was uninhabitable then there should have been an exemption. if it was that you just bought your house and moved in straight away, you should only have to pay from the date of the completion of the sale not before. You should write to them, tell them that you were wrongly advised by one of their staff, request that the money which was overpaid be returned to you but include the property completion details as well.

Hi everyone, i've just started working on council tax and yes my employer does ask for your work details as part of making an arrengement. This does not happen straiight away, you 1st have to get a warning within the current year. They give you a date for paying your bill usually by the 1st of each month. The only time you get a choice of dates is if you pay by dd (and yes we can all work out why that is!) Anyway, your 1st reminder HAS to warn you of what will happen if you don't pay up on time i.e loss of paying over 10 installments. They do ask for employer's details as part of the agreement of making the arrengement however, they are not allowed to contact your employer unless you default, you don't have to agree to this but if you don't, no arrengement will be made. Now i'm not one for defending council tax (personally i hate it!) but we do give people more chances, because before it gets to the point where we ask for employer, details, you would have had 1st reminder(with warning of what will happen if you don't pay up), court summons (granted with court costs) but even the court summ will have the option of an arrengement at the back and if you don't pay, thats when employer details will be asked for. So not every council is as bad. as to the last point about asking for the full balance, put it blantly as they see it, (don't shoot me as i'm only the messenger!) you have already proven that you are a "bad payer" so they cannot trust that you'll keep to your payment (remember this is how they see it) If you move however, they CANNOT keep the money you have overpaid it is yours so they have to repay it you can't be held liable for a debt when yo are no longer in that house.(unless you still own it or your tenancy agreement is still ongoing). I always advise people to avoid getting an attachement of earnings cause its based on how much you earn and takes no account of your outgoings, i've had two in the past and it nearly drove me into depression. Council tax and car insurance are the only bills i pay by dd and that's because if i fall behind, i could lose my job all council tax employees have to make sure their accounts are up to date. Good luck to everyone. As i said, i'm new at it but if there's anything you need to know, just ask, i'm just getting used to the legislation so if i don't know, i'll ask

personally, yes! i think they could. Not sure if there are any rules meant to prevent this but even there were, it wouldn't be the first time the banks have ignored the law would it? Did you contact them? what did they say?

Yes i think you are right d1. You could ask for a stay of 14days pending payment. Personally, I'd only give abbey 7 days as it shouldn't take them that long to send the payment. I would also contact abbey and inform them that you intend to turn up in court as you still have not received payment. Do you still have an acc with Abbey? if so, double check that they haven't either presented the cheque or transferred the funds into that acc. When abbey finally settled with me, it was agreed that it would be by cheque, i assumed that they'd send it to me but as it turned out, they paid the cheque into my acc so they could make themselves more £ at my expense. And by the way, if the cheque is in your acc, you don't have to wait the full 5-7 days before it clears, i got mine within 2 days. lets face it, its not as if it will bounce is it?

Best of luck. hope they agree to it. even if they do agree, don't withdraw your claim till you have the money.