I pretty much agree with that. When i said i don't get any ratings it was suppused to be a little bit tongue-in-cheek, I should have used a smiley or something but to be honest I tend to see myself as opinionated rather than informative, although I try to help if I can.

Trying to get my post count up! (Admittledly it took me 6 months to come up with that! ) Anyway it seems to be working to a point this reputation thingy, I'm not a big fan of points schemes and the like but it can't be a bad thing if it helps considering the purpose of the forum.

Just one thing soli, you're NOT being a pain, nor is anybody else posting on this forum and requesting information. That's the whole point of this forum's existence, to help and to educate. Remember most of us are still learning on here and the more information there is, the more clued up we become, the more chance we have of winning. And remember everybody, this isn't some sort of vigilante site, I'm sure none of us object to paying what we rightfully owe, we are just fighting for what is rightfully ours and is being unlwfully taken from us. Like most other people on here I was one of those that always sort of felt that the banks etc. were illegally fining us but wasn't quite sure where to go with it. The general consensus of opinion with anyone you spoke to, even Citizens Advice etc. was, "Look, we all know it's not right but forget it and move on". I now take great delight in telling them they are wrong and we CAN fight back and win.

All the answers are in the thread really, if it doesn't have two dates, one being the Date of Notice/Issue and the other being the Date of Contravention it's invalid.

Oh, they do, do they? I only knew about this because they told me just a couple of days ago when I phoned them about cancelling some of the services I don't use on my account. Their words were, literally, "You get caller display free if you sign up with TPS". No conditions were mentioned! As it happens I don't make ANY outgoing calls EVER; I have more free mobile phone credit that I can ever use so there is no point in me making outgoing calls from the landline, in fact I wouldn't even bother with a landline if it wasn't necessary for my broadband connection. I'm a bit cheesed off that I have to pay line rental for a service I don't really need to be honest. I did ask about the light user scheme but I'm not entitled to that for some reason or other, again possibly because I have broadband on the line.

The only problem with the TPS service is that it only works with companies who abide by the rules; those who do not still continue to call you anyway and that includes a lot of DCAs! However it might save you a bit of money - you get free caller display from BT if you register with TPS.

0870 numbers usually require 100o's of calls for you to earn cashback on them although you can get them free. You can earn about 3p per minute with an 0871 number which costs a one-off fee of £9.95 from 0845 numbers - UK 0845 Number Provider UK2Numbers. There are no other costs and calls cost the caller 10p a minute. I've got one for this very purpose, although don't expect to MAKE money unless you have a business that takes a lot of incoming calls - I have about £12 in the account after 15 months! I believe it's probably very good for preventing a lot of sales calls though, I got one because I was fed up of incoming sales calls using my freephone number which I had to pay for!

Keep the points, I want those Euromillions! (sorry Mrgreengenes, I'm already in the same syndicate)

I actually believe that the reason many companies don't leave details is to determine whether or not you are still actually available on that number or not. There is no other real reason why they can't leave at least the company name but often all you get is "please ring John on this number urgently" and so on. Despite my thread title I'm actually having a lot of trouble with Welcome Finance who phone me incessantly from various different numbers including mobile and withheld numbers - I've got eleven logged so far but every day they find a new one! I have already written to them (sent recorded delivery) requesting that my phone numbers are removed from their database and if they continue I will report to the relevant authorities but they have completely ignored this and continue to ring both my landline and my mobile several times a day. I now intend to ask them for compensation for harrassment

Glad it's not just me then!

Lytham St. Annes use Parkwise too, I've contested two tickets on this basis and also on the basis that there were no clear signs stating that the area, just off the main street in St. Annes On Sea (by the shops), was a pay and display car park - there is a ticket machine with a large sign but because there are no signs at the entrance I didn't look for a machine. Signs should be clearly marked, you should have to look for them! On the first occasion it was a hot day and the glue on the ticket envelope left a residue on my windscreen directly in my line of vision. I have presented them with an invoice for cleaning the windscreen (which will double if not paid within 14 days :grin: ) and told them that I may yet prosecute for defacing my vehicle and placing me in a postion where i could not legally or safely drive it - the glue left quite a sticky mess and was directly in my line of vision. Their reply, if I get one, should be interesting!

Well done, that's absolutely fantastic and as a Blackpool resident is exactly what I have been telling everybody on this thread for months. I have written to Blackpool council time and time again over the illegality of their parking tickets for the same reason, most of the time they don't even bother to reply. I "owe", with bailiffs fees etc, over £2000 (according to the council) and my next letter will be to the council asking them for a not inconsiderable amount for harrassment from the bailiffs, incluidng trying to take my car away. I heard the radio report and as you said it's a matter of principle, for me not just because of the illegality of the tickets but becuase of the manner in which Blackpool council operate, namely painting double yellow lines everywhere making it virtually impossible to park legally then sending an army or traffic wardens to catch everybody out. The only downside of course is that problem remians, they'll just chnge the wording now but WELL DONE, THIS IS A MAJOR VICTORY AND THE SAME PRINCIPLE MUST APPLY TO EVERY TICKET THEY HAVE ISSUED. If anyone wants to hear the radio report it should be on all morning every half hour, listen at * Radio Wave 96.5FM - Across Blackpool, Wyre & Fylde *, click on "Listen Live" at the top of the screen

Same here, I've scrapped the direct debit instruction as the dates they took it out on were erratic and have told them that I will ONLY pay by bank transfer. They refused at first saying that they could collect the payment at a cost of £25 per callout (no chance) or I could take it in to the local office. I did this for a few months but then they relocated, they are now a 20 mile round trip away. I told them therefore the only acceptable method was to pay by bank transfer, that way i have complete control. Again they said "not possible" so I said "Sorry you won't be getting paid then, refusing my offer of payments isn't going to look very good in court". Surprise surprise they agreed to accept future payments this way and said someone would be round to collect the last manual payment (without charge) today. Sure enough they have tried to ring me all day - a total of seven times - and keep leaving messages on my mobile and landline. this is despite the fact that I have officially requested that they stop ringing. I came home form work then via the back dor popped round to my neighbours. Within 30 seconds their collector was banging on the door and shouting through the letterbox - I stood and watched all this from my neighbour's window! She must have seen me go in the house and assumed I wasn't answering as she was there a good ten minutes then came back again 5 minutes after driving off. This is completely unacceptable - I don't get this much grief from the average bailiff and it's not as if the payment is overdue! My only problem is apart from any charges they might have put on the account (illegal obviously) and the extortionate interest rate I don't think I've actually got any sort of case against them.

I'm curious about all this talk about statements, I've been with Welcome for just over two years with a H.P. agreement and have never had any kind of statement from them yet!

Worth mentioning this again from a few months back: "Under the decriminalised scheme brought in by the Road Traffic Act 1991, when a vehicle is, for example, parked on a yellow line during controlled hours, it is said to be parked ‘in contravention of the regulations’. Thus there are no offences, merely contraventions...............In some car parks, contraventions of the regulations are enforced by Parking Attendants issuing Penalty Charge Notices. These can be challenged in same way as if the Penalty Charge Notice had been issued to a vehicle parked in the street" This is a quote which actually comes from the official NPAS (National Parking Adjudication Service) site!

Interesting, although O2 have recently increased prices to some numbers so it's possible that the website hasn't been updated yet. However the important point I'm trying to get across is that phoning 0700 numbers will invariably cost you considerably more than ringing most other numbers - just don't phone them!

I just phoned O2 to get the cost of phoning an 0700 number from my contract mobile.......75p per minute!

Sorry but it's your post that's misleading. In the very early days there were Premium rate numbers around that charged upwards of £5 a minute before the cap was put on it. Premium rate text message services can still cost £3 per incoming text, possibly more. I actually complained to O2 about such a [problem] not that long ago, with one of those free scratchcards you get in junk mail and even popular TV listings magazines and so on. It asked to text in for your winning number. O2 said that there was not much they could do unless I actually had sent in the text and been charged but agreed to a refund if I tried it. I did and got SIXTEEN texts back at at cost of £3 each - a total of £48 in the space of a couple of minutes. Not an 090 number admittedly but the same thing. As for 070 numbers I CANNOT EMPHASISE ENOUGH THAT THESE ARE NOT CHARGED AT STANDARD RATES!!! They may call them "Personal" numbers (but who cares what they're called?) but they are charged at much higher rates than normal calls and more importantly they LOOK like mobile numbers thus duping people into believing they can phone them as part of their inclusve minutes - not so. Take this excerpt from Inweb Networks, one of the hundreds of service providers out there: "How much will an 0700 number cost me? Setting up an 0700 number is free, the caller will be charged 37.5ppm daytime, 25ppm evening and 12.5ppm weekend for dialling an 070063 number." That's just one example but costs vary and may be much higher. You will find that if you look at service provider's websites they are often very cagey about 0700 number call charges, in many cases they are not given at all. As for complaning, ICSTIS is merely an offshoot of Oftel and ther Oftel site is a good starting place for your complaint (ICSTIS can be accessed from the Oftel site). Furthermore, because 0700 numbers are not classed as premium rate numbers it is Ofcom and not ICSTIS that monitor 0700 numbers and charges - don't take my word for it, phone them and ask them! Ofcom: 0845 456 3000 (local rate from your landline, may be chargeable from your mobile, if calling from your mobile using your inclusive minutes use 020 7981 3040 instead) ICSTIS: 0800 500212 (free from a landline)

THIS IS SCANDALOUS. Private companies are jumping on the bandwagon and using the same tactics as councils are and illegally ticketing people. Most people pay up because they are coerced into believing that if they don't pay they are liable to pay more. GARBAGE! DON'T PAY UP! They have absolutely NO juristiction in the law of this land to fine you anything! Thw worst they could do is lodge a court claim against you for non-payment; they have no legal right to fine you though and would get laughed out of court. THERE IS NO LAW which allows a private company to "fine" you (or clamp you for that matter) if you park on their land. DON'T FALL FOR IT! If in doubt ask them to show you which law allows them to fine you without a trial. They will not be able to give you an answer because there isn't one.

If you get banks, DCA's, in fact any financial organisation hassling you on the phone simply refuse to engage in any sort of discussion and just say "Sorry but I don't discuss financial matters over the phone". Nothing more, nothing less. If they try to persist simply repeat, "Sorry but I don't discuss financial matters over the phone". If they keep phoning just say everytime, "Sorry but.....". They get the message eventually. If the calls keep coming you can tell them that you want your phone number removing from their files - this is your legal right although they may spin you the line that they "must" have a contact number on file (says who?). If they continue to phone tell them that you will report them to Ofcom as they are breaching the Wireless Telecommunications Act - Ofcom do take this seriously!

I will indeed post the answers here, assuming I get any! Don't hold your breath though!

That's the question, what DO you do? In Blackpool's case, Neil Herron MP is fighting this council amongst others (all the details are in the other "Your parking ticket may be unlawful" thread), when I get chance I am going to find out at what stage NPAS get involved because none of the correspondence I have had from Blackpool Council even mentioins the NPAS service - surely we have a right to know that such a service exists? Blackpool's method is to reject the appeal, double the fine to £60, ignore further letters, send it to Northampton Magistrates Court and register it as a debt (at which point it goes up to £90) then send in the bailiffs. As yet I don't know where this is going because the bailiffs can't get in my house and can't (legally) take my car so they're certainly not getting paid.

£25 a letter and £5 callout? You sure you have got that the right way round? If so it will be interesting trying to get them to explain why different customers are charged different amounts!

Yes, the signs they used to put up have been scrapped although I do know a road where it has signs saying no parking during summer months (forget the exact dates) adjacent to double yellow lines.

Yes, i've had "callouts" at £25 a time, I also got a letter saying they were charging for letters and, I think, phone calls too. Not a problem as far as I am concerned, they can "charge" what they like, they won't be getting a single penny more than is on the original agreement.