First time poster here desperate for some advice after google has proved fruitless. This is a long ongoing story so please forgive the length and thank you in advance if you manage to read everything. I bought my first car 28/06/2018 from a car dealership in Hounslow, ATM Motor Trade. I found the car on Auto Trader, the dealer had good reviews and it was a good deal for the car that I wanted. The drive from my house was around 90 minutes each way but I was confident I was going to love the car. The saleswoman seemed knowledgable and friendly and I bought the car that day. I paid by bank transfer (stupid looking back) and drove the car home. Already on the drive home there were some minor problems with the car not wanting to change into third gear which I put down to my inexperience in driving it and figured I would learn to do it properly. I was also trying to be eternally optimistic and hoping the car was fine despite my instincts now starting to say otherwise. I got into the car the next day and the check engine light was on. This concerned me enough to get the bus to work but I also called the dealer to explain that the engine light was on. They said it was just an issue with the emissions on the vehicle, there’s nothing to worry about and it’s safe to drive. I asked for this to be put in writing for me - already losing my trust and sensing the worst - but that was declined. Having lost all faith in the dealer, I decided to take the car to a trusted mechanic for an assessment. He plugged in the diagnostics computer and also did a thorough check of the vehicle. The number of faults that came up on the computer was higher than 20 and that’s without the physical issues that were found: holes in air pipes, badly worn brake discs, a puncture, even the battery wasn’t attached properly. I took photographs of all of the evidence on the diagnostics computer and areas of the car where the faults could be seen and then the mechanic and I decided it would be best to wipe the faults from the cars internal computer to see if they would recur. I emailed the dealer that day with the evidence I had and told them I would be returning the car for a full refund under the Consumer Rights Act. Initially they tried to offer a repair or a replacement instead but as you can imagine I had no faith in them at this point. Eventually they agreed I would return the car to them. I did so on 08/07/2018. I had driven the car a total of three times - two of those being home from the dealer and back again. The saleswoman was the same person who sold me the car and after much resisting sent me a text message to say that I had returned the car and could expect a refund in 14 days. After the 14 days were up I received an email claiming that there were no faults with the car, they claimed they had driven it everyday with no issue and it was “functioning” and therefore they would not be offering me a refund. They also would not return the car to me but only offered a replacement vehicle. I declined this offer and stated once again I wanted my money back. I have not heard from the company themselves since this date. I ended up escalating the issue to MCOL. The dealer did not respond to the service of the claim, a judgment was made against them and then I finally sent a county court enforcement officer to collect on my behalf. In the meantime the company (a limited company) changed their trading as name therefore rendering my paperwork and claim invalid as the company “no longer existed”. I did not know when I made the initial claim that they were a LTD company trading under a different name. Initially the name was ATM Motor Trade which they changed to Quality Motor Trade Centre (the irony!). I made a request to the court to change the company name on my paperwork and reserve the papers. I have since discovered they have now opened up a whole new business and are trading under this name instead! I am now at a loss for what to do. They currently owe me £2500 which I borrowed in a loan from my bank. I can not afford another car as I’m repaying the initial loan and I’ve been forced to revert to public transport (which is horrendous in my area). It seems they will do anything in their power to avoid paying and are obviously skilled at avoiding the courts. Any help would be much appreciated. I once again apologise for the length of this and thank you for reading.

Hi there CAG family, hope you are all well? I have been going through some paperwork for relative and are trying to reclaim old PPI from a Sky card, now owned by B/C. I have collated all PPI amounts and entered onto a spreadsheet I used from previous claims. Barclays have responded and although they state they have included compound interest, it appears to be way off. They have calculated PPI premiums together with charges and the compound interest amount added is closer to 27.29% of this total. This does not come close to the spreadsheet total (correct interest as per statements). They have then added 8% statutory interest (this value includes extra 45 days simple interest) which totals more than the compounded interest amount above! Surely that can't be right? The account was closed due to LVA which has also been fully repaid and settled. I maybe using the wrong spreadsheet for my calcs as the account was closed. It has been many years since dealing with these calculations and i'm confused, would appreciate your thoughts.

Hold onto your hats, this gets quite confusing! ... I have received a section 21 from a rogue London Landlord after complaining to the council for serious disrepair. I signed a tenancy agreement back in 2010 and the Landlord was a different company, but we paid our rent to a letting agent who managed the property. The company I now refer to as my landlord has been in charge of the maintenance of the property since 2011, yet the Agent still collects my rent payments. We have just last 2 weeks received a section 48 - which i have not signed receipt of... The landlords name is a new person I have never had any dealings with, and the "landlord" I have been dealing with for 4 years is now refereed to as an Agent. My agent (also pretty crooked) has told me that they are no longer my agent, but will not provide any proper notice or information on when this has stopped. They just ignore my emails. I have always paid my rent to the Agent, but neither the Landlord nor Agent will provide me details of where I can pay the rent to from now for the remainder of our 2 months notice period. It is clear there is some pretty dodgy stuff going on just to get us out due to our complaint to the council who inspected this week. I have never missed a rent payment in 5 years. Them not wanting me to make the remainding payments makes me think they just want rid and will have stronger case if i miss these last two payments? I am thinking of a counterclaim. Anyone any ideas or cases or examples of who I should be talking to here please? Thanks alot!

Hi, I can't sleep for worrying about this even though I'm exhausted! I was interviewed by a revenue protection officer on board a train in London in the middle of September, who suspected me of fare dodging. He interviewed me under caution, placed me under arrest and said that my case was being referred to the prosecutions department of the train company for consideration. I still haven't heard back from them and am worried they have sent me a letter which has got lost in the post. Is it normal to wait so long? The RPI had said it would take about 6 weeks for the train operating company (TOC) to contact me. I was travelling from south east London to East Croydon via London Bridge. I had a season ticket from my local station to London Bridge but no ticket for the onward journey to Croydon, which I had planned to buy at London Bridge. As it turned out, I was in a rush, the Croydon train turned up within two minutes of me disembarking from the inbound train, and I jumped on it thinking - mistakenly - that I could pay the difference on board or at the other end. Honestly! I was not until recently a regular train user as I had private transport to commute to and from work and have in the past paid on board trains for tickets, so genuinely did not realise I was committing an offence at the time, and it was never my intention to dodge a fare. I'm a reasonably well-paid professional person with no criminal record, so why would I want to jeopardise my good reputation and future career prospects over a fare of a few pounds? When the guard came round I said I needed to pay him a fare and asked if I could pay him the difference on my existing season ticket but he said he was issuing me with a penalty fare. I thought this was unfair and refused to pay it. It gets worse. I then told him why I thought this was unfair and that I had offered to pay him the regular fare. I felt I was being unjustly criminalised. Then I refused to give him my name and address when asked because I felt frightened of him. (He was a big, scary guy, which I accept is no excuse or defence, but I suffer from an anxiety disorder, was under a great deal of stress and behaved irrationally.) When told I faced prosecution and was being arrested, I said I would pay the penalty fare - twice - but the RPI said he could not take a payment from me, and did not say why. I also gave him my name and address. On the train the guard suggested I had given the wrong address because he rang a help desk, which told him I was not registered at the address given. But I am! I realise now that my lack of co-operation was a big mistake and I have accepted that I will be prosecuted. I wrote the TOC a letter straight away which I sent by special delivery, and emailed them, providing documentary evidence and a copy of my season ticket and Oyster card, as requested by them. But, three months on, I want to know if I should contact the TOC to check they have not already written to me? I do not want to find out further down the line that I was convicted in court in my absence because I did not receive their correspondence. More about the incident: When the guard arrested me on the platform at Croydon, I panicked and rang the police, telling them I was being detained by an unauthorised person. A police officer attended and supervised my interview with the guard at my request. Before the police turned up a fellow passenger intervened on my behalf, saying to the guard that he was shouting at me, and bullying and intimidating me, that he was a big guy and I was a woman, and the way he was treating me was inappropriate. The two men ended up arguing vigorously. The fellow passenger finally left, but refused to give me his contact details when i asked if he would be a witness. I gave him mine but he never contacted me. In my letter to the TOC I asked them to look at the CCTV on the platform, which would confirm my story about the passenger's intervention on my behalf. I also asked that the footage be made available in the event of prosecution which would show the two men clearly arguing. I don't want a criminal record but accept I may end up with one, which I believe stands for 5 years before I no longer have to declare it to employers. Could someone confirm this please? This would affect my employment and may even result in job loss. I am also an Australian and British citizen and fear it may adversely affect my right to re-enter Australia. As well as outlining all of the above, I said in my letter that I regretted the way in which the situation had escalated, that it was a genuine mistake that would never be repeated and that I would like to pay the penalty fare plus additional administrative costs. I also explained that in the past four months I had moved house, that the vehicle that I used to get to work was stolen, had had a brain aneurysm diagnosed and was presently being investigated for lung cancer. All of which possibly contributed to my unhelpful reaction to the guard. I supplied documentary evidence to back up all of this and gave the TOC permission to contact any of the relevant authorities to check the documents' authenticity, should they wish to do so. I also enclosed a letter from the council confirming my address (given to the guard) and a letter from a psychologist confirming that I had received cognitive behavioural therapy for anxiety. I had a lawyer look over my letter before I sent it to the TOC. He recommended a barrister, should the matter proceed, and I will take his advice and hire the barrister if I receive a summons. The question is, should I contact the TOC to ask why I have not heard from them? The solicitor I saw told me that the TOC must bring a prosecution within 6 months of the offence, otherwise they are not allowed to pursue the matter further. I realise NOW that I was in the wrong on the train - I just didn't realise it at the time, which I realise (now) is no defence. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading this far.

A London banker who regularly avoided buying a train ticket on his commute to the City has been banned from working in the financial services industry. BlackRock director Jonathan Paul Burrows was caught by inspectors at Cannon Street station last year and admitted to avoiding the £21.50 fare from Stonegate in East Sussex. In total, Mr Burrows is believed to have dodged £42,550 in fares. The City watchdog said he "demonstrated a lack of honesty and integrity". "Mr Burrows has admitted that, on a number of occasions, he deliberately and knowingly failed to purchase a valid ticket to cover his entire journey," the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said. "As Mr Burrows held a senior position within the financial services industry and was an approved person, he should have been a role model for others and his conduct has fallen short of the standard expected for someone in his position," the organisation added. Mr Burrows boarded trains at Stonegate in East Sussex, where there are no ticket barriers Mr Burrows avoided paying the full fare by boarding the London-bound train at Stonegate - a rural station with no barriers - without purchasing a ticket. On arriving in London, he went through the barriers at Cannon Street Station using an Oyster travel card, incurring a maximum fare of £7.20. 'I was foolish' Mr Burrows, who is now banned for life from working in any regulated financial industries, has since paid back the £42,550, plus £450 in legal costs. Reacting to the FCA's decision, he said: "I have always recognised that what I did was foolish. I have apologised to all concerned and reiterate that apology publicly." However he added that "the size of the settlement [with Southeastern] could be said to have led to a distorted perception of the scale of my wrongdoing". "While I respect the FCA's decision today, I also regret it, coming as it did after a 20-year career in the City that was without blemish. "I recognise that the FCA has on its plate more profound wrongdoing than mine in the financial services sector, and I am sorry that my case has taken up its time at this critical juncture for the future of the City and its reputation."

Dear all, I've been fined on a first capital connect train (and I've paid on the spot) for travelling with a carnet ticket on the wrong direction (using the return ticket instead). This was a genuine mistake. However, the inspector spotted in my wallet (and confiscated) a couple of old tickets; they have been used few times in the past (and he realized that the handwritten date was cancelled and rewritten). he tooked my details on an notebook, and wrote beside them "fake carnet." he also tooked note of a travel card, (that I've used for opening the gates, avoiding to stamp the tickets and then reuse them). In a nutshell, although i did not attempt to travel with those tickets reused, they clearly might have evidences that I've been intentionally dodging the train fares for a couple of months. I was doing this to mitigate the ticket high costs, but now I would just get it right, Can you please help to understand the possible scenarios and how to act accordingly? I would try anything possible to avoid any criminal record.. I would appreciate any suggestions (for blaming i am already doing very well on my own ) Thanks guys. C.