There is a serious offence going on here if they informed other people at your workplace. This is a private matter, "defamation of character" springs to mind. Unfortunately this is one of those areas where solicitors and so on apparently fear to tread. I have been claiming for a long time that the stress and harrassment caused by the way the likes of Welcome Finance, bailiffs, DCAs etc. operate should be compensated for and it's about time this issue was taken more seriously. Try talking to a solicitor, Citizens Advice, the trade associations they belong to and just about anybody else you care to name that is supposed to be there to help and all you get is "are you in a position to pay the debt? (plus the costs, charges etc. ) " Everybody wants to advise you on how to pay, nobody gives a toss about the fact that these people are destroying lives for profit and it's about time somebody somewhere started to take this issue seriously. It's not an offence to owe money but it hasn't stopped people taking their own life, yet more protection is afforded to a suicidal banged-up murderer. It's a national disgrace and something needs to change.

Surely because the Broadband is not actually free, but "part of the deal", he has a strong case? I was with Orange for seven years and their customer service for certainly the last three was appalling. In my last year with them I had no less than NINETEEN replacement handsets replaced under the Orange "Care" insurance scheme. This guaranteed a next-day replacement but on several occasions I had to wait for over a week. They even had the nerve to introduce a £15 delivery charge to replace THEIR faulty product! On at least three occasions the replacements I received were faulty out of the box. I advised them three months in advance that I was ending the contract at the end of the term but was advised to give them 30 days notice "within 30 days of the end of the contract". I officially ended the contract on the 28th November last year. They took my next direct debit on the 1st of December. On the 3rd of December I asked for a PAC code and said I would require it at the end of the contract on the 30th December. The next day they cut me off despite the fact that I had paid for a further months line rental and I lost 650 unused minutes. As if that wasn't bad enough, they have since tried to claim another £86 from me. I have no idea why, I have written to them three times and got no reply, all I get is letters from DCA's. All I am saying is that their service is appaling. Unoffficialy a BT Broadband senior manager told me the worst three BB ISP's for number of complaints is: 1. TalkTalk 2. Tiscali 3. Orange Just don't go there. For what it's worth, I switched to O2 for my mobile contract a year ago and they have been exemplary.

"If" ? Bingo sites are springing up at the sort of rate that poker sites did a few years ago, and I believe are currently the fastest growing. Online gambling has just been banned in America. I'm not sure if it's a total ban but I doubt it will have changed much and I believe that the serious American gamblers are probably now signing up to the UK sites and opening UK bank accounts to get around the problem. It almost certainly explains why major US online casinos are so heavily promoting theie wares in the UK. Personally I think that a lot of the problem is not necessarily addiction but more to do with people chasing a dream. This is probably in part due to the fact that people are trying to emulate the professional gamblers when they hear of the big winners and there is a huge chunk of cash being spent by people not just gambling but buying betting and gambling systems trying to find that magic formula. As for credit cards, a lot now refuse to let you use them on gambling sites although not surprisingly the increasing trend with some card issuers is to allow their use but add a surcharge, e.g. I just found out Capital One charge a £3 "cash withdrawal fee" for my £10 weekly lottery syndicate subs. As far as I'm concerned it's not a cash withdrawal (I never saw any cash!!!) and I will be claiming it back.

Hmmm, that's interesting, just about everybody you deal with seems to, whether you agree to it or not.

It's these two aspects i'm interested in, and i'm looking for clarification of the second issue. the receiver says that at this stage EVERYTHING has to be paid to have it annulled (see last post), as "all your bankrupcy debts" means everything that is owed, not just the debt that brought on the bankrupcy proceedings. What puzzles me is I was always under the impression that a bankrupcy order wiped out your debts? I can't understand how a person with around £70,000 equity can be declared bankrupt for a debt of under £4000. I thought bankrupcy meant that you were worth less than you had?

The whole thing is a total farce. I have actually managed to raise the full amount and offered it to the council but they have refused to accept it. The official receiver says that it will be accepted but there will be his fees (a statutory £1650 apparently) plus whatever other debts we (or she) has, about £1500, before it can be annulled. He was only interested in his money. I have suggested to the council that they are being unreasonable given that it is only 5 days since the hearing - the one we knew nothing about but they say it's out of their hands. Why? Surely the whole purpose of the exercise is to get them their money? I've spoken to a couple of insolvency firms but the suggestion seems to be that it will be almost impossible to annull on the grounds that we didn't receive the relevant paperwork as all the opposition have to do is prove they hand posted the letters - apparently stating that they did just that is sufficient!!!??? What infuriates me is that I offered them money months ago and it was turned down! I will definately try to get it overturned and I will be writing to my MP and the council ombudsman, haven't had chance to have a look at that site yet to see what they do, but i'm not taking this lying down. The whole thing is absurd. Apparently the council bypass the attachment of earnings option and earlier this year did the same to a single parent for £900.

I phoned the counciil (anonymously) and asked who was responsible for payment. They said that it was the joint responsibility of those living in the house. I phoned another council in another town to confirm and they said the same thing. Councils don't issue CCJ's they send the issue to Magistatres court just like unpaid parking tickets and then send in the bailiffs. They move on to this tactic because the bailiffs can't get in, but I/we should have been notified by law. We weren't.

Incidentally the house/mortgage is in her sole name which is why they have targeted her. What I can't understand is why my stepson's name has ever even appeared on the bills since every adult is jointly liable. We are all on the voters list or whatever it's called. And since I am jointly liable and my name DOES appear on the council tax bill, why haven't I been made bankrupt too? There seems to be an element of discrimination here.

I seem to remember somebody mentioning somewhere that you had ten minutes. This seems to be very unclear though, I asked security in the new car park with barrier controlled exit if I had to buy a ticket after dropping someone off there. I hadn't realised there were exit barriers. He said i just had to get a ticket from the machine and had 15 minutes to leave before having to pay. On the other hand recently I heard that the same council refused to cancel a PCN that had been put on a car while the owner had walked to the next ticket machine as the nearest machine wasn't working, so i'm non the wiser.

Yes, and for LEGAL parking tickets, i.e. those issued by police or council traffic wardens I seem to remember reading somewhere that the ticket must be either placed on the windscreen or handed to the driver. I would ask them to specifically quote precisely which law allows them to do what they are doing - obviously they won't be able to because there isn't one - but to be honest I would probably just throw this in the bin, there's nothing they can do.

I know, this is what's so frustrating. What I am particularly annoyed about is after several years of struggling I am just beginning to turn things around and I offered to pay them £50 a week three months ago and never got a reply. I spoke to the council today and they said they rejected the offer (although they never actually wrote back to me to say they had rejected it) because it had gone too far and the matter was out of their hands. I should have just paid the £50 a week anyway but that's not the point. I tried speaking to the comapny that brought the bankrupcy action but since it wasn't in my name they refused to discuss it. Ridiculous since I am jointly liable and I am directly affected since it's my home that will go too if we are forced to sell.

I only found out about it when we received the bankrupcy papers this morning. Apparently there was a hearing back in August which was adjourned because we didn't turn up and notices have allegedly been hand delivered but we have received absolutely nothing - it's not the sort of thing you would ignore! Thanks for the links, will take a look at them.

My partner has just been made bankrupt by the local court following an application by the council due to council tax arrears (£3500 approx.) This has come as a complete shock because although they threatened it several months ago we have had no notification whatsoever of any hearing. I also believe it is inappropriate anyway, the amount owed is in dispute and there are three adults in the house who are liable to pay council rtax, one of the three hasn't even been billed. It's my belief that the council have come down heavy because I worte to them asking for £5000 compensation for illegal harrassment from their bailiffs - they never replied to that letter. I've spoken to half a dozen solicitors, none are interested in taking on the case and the only "advice" I have been given is to pay up - which unfortunately isn't an option as I don't have even half the amount they are after. Any help/advice appreciated, I want this overturned.

What I don't understand is everone moans about it but doesn't want to rock the boat. Why???? I don't agree with parking charges full stop. We pay more than most of the rest of the world for our motoring, the Road Fund Licence (car tax disc) is supposed to pay for the upkeep of the roads BY LAW yet only a fraction of it is actually spent on the roads. We pay the highest fuel prices, the highest insurance rates, you know the script, but then we have to pay to STOP! They're our roads, we have already paid for them! Why should we have to pay to park? The whole system is an absolute farce, you couldn't make it up - you don't have to! You wouldn't mind so much if they put their ill-gotten gains to good use, but no chance of that, they are like kids in a candy store on pocket money day.

Yes, that's exactly what I intend to do once my illegal Blackpool parking tickets are finally quashed. My bill will include a lost day's wages when bailiffs letters have told me they will be coming back on (date) and then not turning up when I stayed at home and waited in for them. I would love to have the financial clout to take them on for compensation for the stress and harrassment they have caused, such as a letter stating that I had not complied with the Walking Possession Agreement (they never was one) stating that they will call on (date) "with a locksmith and the police". Also for continually threatening to take my car even though they knew they had no legal right to do so. The point is, how many people have had their cars illegally taken and sold at auction by bailiffs who had no legal right to take the car for dozens of potential reasons, e.g. 1. The parking ticket was illegal in the first place 2. The car is on H.P. 3. The car is for business use etc, etc, A friend of mine recently had his car towed away by bailiffs for non-payment on an (illegal) parking ticket issued by Blackpool Council. It cost him a 100 mile round trip and over £400 to get his car back. I have told him to claim and to sue the arse off the council but he is one of the majority in this country who put up and pay up, and can't be bothered with the aggravation of fighting back. I don't get it. Why do the majority of the public just pay up? The apathy in this country is staggering sometimes.

The general advise is "always maintain your payments". My personal advice is don't pay, chances are you will never see it again! That's my personal advice, based on past experience. it's a tricky line of thought to recommend but I've always argued that if the debt is in dispute as such, it covers you in the event that they take you to court for non-payment - they never do if they think there is a chance they might lose!

Can I join in? If you see my post above (no. 9) I have similar problems, as far as I am concerned the suite is not fit for the purpose. Just like the first time I have had no reply since I phoned them back in September despite them telling me they would call back the next day. My local Trading Standards, who to be honest have never been very helpful with anything, say that all I can do is ask for another repair under the terms of the extended warranty but it's obvious the suite isn't going to stand the test of time. Frankly I don't want the suite repairing because it's obviously crap, but I don't know where to go from here.

A [problem] is exactly what it is, this is just a blatant rip off based on the premise that "if the council can get away with it then so can we". I do think that if you are parked on private land then the owners technically have the right to charge you what they like, but how they enforce that charge is another matter altogether and the chances are that if there was no prior notification they would be laughed out of court anyway. I would make it clear to them in writing that you know it's a [problem] and invite them to either write it off or face being reported to the relevant authorities for fraud.

I suspect you probably are then Jimbo. These cashback sites are only just gaining in popularity but i've been a member of one of the biggest for over a year now and have had over £400 cashback. Some people earn thousands!!! Basically how they work is you get cashback everytime you shop simply by ordering through the cashback site, e.g. get 4% off at Boots (as cashback) or get £10 when you sign up for the AA, but the real beauty is you get this ON TOP of whatever offers the retailer might have. The best thing is you get free money for example simply by ordering a brochure without any obligation to buy anything (£2 earlier in the year for ordering a Fiat brochure!!! ) or by switching bank accounts - I got £20 cashback earlier this year by opening a savings account with cahoot with no requirement to save regularly and just a £1 deposit required. No brainer! Members also post special offers and misprices - how about a Dell printer for £9.99 or a mobile phone with £30 credit for £30 and £2.50 cashback???? Just two of the offers available earlier this year! I know we're not allowed to push these on here but these sites do work, basically you get commission back on things you buy just as CAG would get commission back if you bought anything from the links on the left, similar principle except with cashback sites you don't necessarily have to buy anything!

By the way there are laws covering "Terms and Conditions" too. They cannot simply impose them on you simply by saying "you agree to be bound by these terms and conditions when you enter this private car park..." Complete and utter twaddle. You have a certain number of days to look over any contract before the T&C's can take effect, and you have to have agreed to it, usually by signing for it. This isn't worth the paper it is written on, an equivalent few sheets of Andrex would probably be more valuable.

Good post. Basically they are "pretending" that they have a legal right to impose a parking (or whatever) fine on you. They don't. End of. They do not have a legal right in law to issue "Penalty Charge Notices" and they can't and won't take you to court because they don't have anything to take you to court for! The adjudication service has nothing to do with it whatsoever - there is nothing to appeal! It is no more legal than you or I placing a notice on our gate post stating "£10 fee for walking up my driveway to my door". It's absolute nonsense. They should be locked up for fraud. Tell them to get stuffed, and tell them why. Incidentally the practise of putting tickets behind wipers was stopped by traffic wardens because people were "getting their own back", if you like, by claiming criminal damage/repair bills after their wipers had apparently been damaged. Check your wipers carefully just in case.

Hard to say but it sounds as though the ticket might be unlawful if it doesn't show the Date of Contravention. I know there's a lot of it, but read the thread, lots of info in here and it's cheaper than paying up!

soli, I'm only guessing but was this some sort of credit agreement with 12 months interest free or something? I have heard that people take on these deals only to find that after 12 months they slap on horrendous amounts of interest. As I said I'm only guessing but it might be worth getting trading standards or citizens advice to have a look at your agreement, something's definately not right. Will be asking for details myself soon, I reckon I have roughly paid off over £6,500 of a £10k fixed rate loan but they still reckon I owe over £5k.

True, but admit it you would just love to....

Just to lighten the mood a little, have a listen to this. Hilarious! TURN THE SOUND UP