I have no doubts, it will take some doing and a lot of luck, 'In Roy we Trust'. He does well in adversity.

I have been made aware of a taxi company in England using a loophole in Scottish law to avoid its responsibilities regarding licensing laws in England. Can they do this? I understood that Scots & English law are two separate entities?

Good evening to all.. I was a student in a England University, where I graduated in 6/2003. After graduation, went to my home country in E.U. and never returned to UK.. While in England, I had some credit card outstanding balances (approx. 1,000 each, if I remember) and the 'student bank account overdraft', (about 1,500) -prices in GBP.. At that time I was broke, really.. My uni mates told me, that since those where small amounts, there was no need to worry.. But, what if the c/c and the bank, have pursued the cases, and have gone as far as to a civil court? If there was a hearing, and with my absence a outcome produced, wouldnt there be a 'arrest warrant' for non-paying the debt, or not showing up in the court? Those are assumptions, but I want to make sure of what might happen. I want to travel to London next week, for visiting friends.. Is there the risk, of being arrested in the London airport, under a 'arrest warrant' for debts and non-showing up to the court? I dont know if there was action against me from the bank or the c/c issuers, but I presume there might have been something .. I have a new passport now -the old one has expired long time ago- but I dont know, do they use the d.o.b. and names in the airport check-in, to identify possible persons with debts? It is 11 years since I have left England, I like the country very much, but I am concerned now to visit again.. Any help greatly appreciated..

Hi, I believe I am due £3500 from Thomas Cook for a 22 hr flight delay in July 2009. I have been told by Thomas Cook they will not pay as the flight delay was down to 'extraordinary circumstances' - but it wasn't, the plane broke down. I took my case to the CAA who agree with us and say TC cannot rely on that excuse. TC are ignoring my demands for payment (there's a 5 year rule up here for flight compensation), so next step is small claims court. However, I live in Scotland, but TC is based in England. I have been onto the Scottish Courts website but it is horrendously complex, loads of horrible forms and suggests hiring a lawyer, which seems mad for a small claim. Anyone got any advice? Many thanks.

Hi, I'm self employed and live near Sheffield and I've carried out some work for a customer near Aberdeen. They have made a part payment, but are holding back just short of £1000 as they believe I haven't fully completed the work. I believe I have completed as much of the work as I can and have explained my reasons via emails and recorded letters. I have also offered to go to a mediation provider, but the customer has made no response. Should i consider issuing court proceedings? and if so, would I use the English or Scottish Courts? Many thanks in advance.

Hi fellow CAGgers, My son is intending to return to England in the near future (about 2 months hence) after several years outside the UK He will obviously need to rent an apartment and get a job (hopefully) What changes should he be aware of in relation to tenancy agreements, e.g. fees payable outwith the rent, TD schemes, etc. There will probably be an issue over credit checks - how best to approch these? Thanks for any pointers given G

Hi, I am considering making a small claim against a company in Scotland however I reside in England and am hoping someone can advise me how to proceed. Background. I had a financial agreement with a company who is based in Scotland and as far as I am aware do not have an office in England. When this financial agreement was set up I resided in Scotland however I no longer live there but reside in England and this financial agreement came to an end in 2012 and I was resident in England by that time. For reasons I do not wish to divulge I now wish to take this organisation to the small claims court as the usual letters have not resulted in a satisfactory response. Now the problem arises in that the organisation has offices in Scotland yet I live in England. Referring to the English small claims website https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/overview to make a claim through the English courts the organisation needs an English address which as I mentioned above the organisation does not have. So I looked at the Scottish law courts website and on the face of it it looked as though I could make an application to a court in Scotland. Because I do not live in Scotland I thought (by reading through the Scottish law courts website) that I should apply to the court nearest the defendant. To check this is the case I phoned the court and spoke to someone in the small claims court and explained my scenario. Unfortunately this is where I became confused. The person just asked me (words to the effect) 'under which jurisdiction' do I want to make the application. I stated that I did not understand what they meant re-iterating that I do not live in Scotland. They then replied that I would have to pursue the defendant through the English courts to which I countered that the English courts (apparently) will not allow this because this organisation does not have an office in England. At this point I got the impression they were becoming irate with me because I did not understand the phrase 'under which jurisdiction' (again I am para-phrasing somewhat), so they just pointed me to links on the Scottish Law Courts website where I can get in touch with Citizen's Advice etc. So my question is can I make a small claim against this organisation which has offices only in Scotland yet I live in England? which legal system do I use? Unfortunately speaking to the person in the Scottish court I became more confused. I realise that the court cannot give me legal advice but I would have thought they would have been able to clearly state whether they could accept an application for a small claim given the above scenario. Many thanks for your help.

I was wondeing if someone could help. I moved to the Netherlands just over a year ago. I am disabled and so is my husband. My husbands support was cut ten per cent so we have been below minimum wage. Because of this and a language barrier, I would like to move back to the UK. Only I don't have an income or a home to go to. Would I be able to receive support? and how would that work bringing my husband?

Hello guys, I went on holiday to the USA recently, hiring a car from a well known international rental company in Massachusetts - although the vehicle I picked up was registered in the state of Pennsylvania. Whilst in the USA I made a left turn on an urban dual carriageway in the state of New Jersey - the weather was wet and it was night time, I approached the junction (which was lit with two overhead green lights and a green light on the right side of the road) with caution, in the appropriate lane, checked there was no oncoming traffic and made the turn. I noticed two camera flashes at the time but had no idea why or what I had done wrong. Upon my return to the UK I was sent a letter from the hire car company stating that Jersey City Municipal Court had issued an $85 fine for turning left against a red signal. I e-mailed the company (htallc.com) and asked for further information, and was sent a web link showing me turning left where there was, in the upper-left of the video, a single traffic light with a red arrow pointing to the left on the far side of the junction. As of today (months later) I have noticed that there was also an overhead light on the left hand lane which did not appear to be switched on either in my violation video or on google street view - 2643 JFK Boulevard West, heading left onto Montgomery St near St Peters University. I'm rather annoyed with this as before leaving for the USA I made an effort to read up on local driving laws and regulations and would never knowingly run a red light. If a similar junction existed in the UK I would certainly have contested the criminal charge in court on the grounds that it was not properly designed or enforceable. Furthermore, the red arrow is not included in the description of traffic signals in this particular states' Driver Manual (NJ page 186) so it hardly seems fair to require foreign drivers (allowed to drive for 1 year) to be aware of undocumented traffic signals. Legally, I was notified that all criminal fines to the court had already been paid by the hire company and that they would chase the debt as per a clause in the rental agreement. My options now appear to be to: try and contest the original fine on technical grounds, undoing the payment to the US criminal court by appealing via htallc (which I am sure would cost a fortune and involve unwanted travel abroad to a foreign court with no guarantee of success); to pay the charges and administration fees levied or to simply ignore the charges as they have become a civil rather than criminal matter and may not be enforced in the UK. I'm inclined to simply ignore the demand for payment (of just over $100) - can this debt be enforced against me in the UK, is it likely to be enforced and will non-payment affect my ability to travel to the USA or hire vehicles in the USA in the future? Bearing in mind I'm somewhat stubborn and not inclined to pay what I feel is an unjust fine, what action would you advise me to take and are there any unforeseen consequences of my current plan to simply ignore the debt?

Hi - I live in Scotland and I need to raise a small claims action against someone in England. He is an individual (not a company), and he owes me money circa £600. I've called my local sheriff court, and the county court in England, and neither gave me a straight answer, and I'm still none the wiser! Please help me!

Hi - I came across this website and there is some great advice being given, so I was wondering if someone could assist me. I worked for 10+ years as a sales agent/fitter for/with a large UK provider in Ireland. My contract made it clear that I am a contractor, rather than employee. I have always lived in Ireland and all work I did for this company was in Ireland. They recently terminated my contract, as they indicated that I owed them €3,000 in amounts collected which i had not paid up. Five others also had their contracts terminated for the same reason. I was happy to stop working with them as they were quite unprofessional in many ways, but I contested that I owed this amount, as they had agreed to pay me a higher level of commission and also agreed to pay me for a training session I gave. I may however, owe them €500. I wrote to them explaining this and providing evidence of my claim and asked for an agreement on installments for the €500, but received no response. (The €500 I owed, was used by me to pay the expenses (travel etc) involved in doing my job and would have been taken out of my next pay packet, this was standard practice). Today I received a letter informing me that the matter is before an English Court. The company is seeking €3000 and I have 7 days to respond. Can I contest this jurisdiction from Ireland. If so, how does one go about doing this. I do not have the money to pay for a solicitor in the UK, or for flights to the UK. It seems very unfair that I can be sued in a country that I do not live in and did not work in, just because the company I worked for have their principal office there. Alternatively, should I just begin paying by installments the €500 I owe, but contest that I owe the rest in writting to the Court? Any help and/or advice would be appreciated.

Hi everyone; I'd like some advice regarding a council tax debt that is being pursued by Rossendales. I moved to England to live with my girlfriend as she was studying down there, lasted all of about 7 months. This was about February of 2012. (edit.) I moved out of our flat in February and back to Glasgow where I've been since. A month or so ago I had a letter from Rossendales hit my door step saying I have a debt to the council! I spoke to the council and Rossendales informing them I had no court summons or any information about the alleged debt. I was told that they only have to send the summons to the last known address (even though it was Lincoln city council who tracked me down over a year later!) I asked if they could track me down AFTER the court case, what stopped them doing it before? No answer, repeated themselves saying they were only obliged to send to old address (not much use to me). I'm a student, unemployed and living off of approx £50 a week (less than JSA). I was wondering if a English court order could be actioned in Scotland? What upse The total amount is a little over £160. I've asked Rossendales to allow me to set up a plan of £3 a week, they declined so I told them I wouldn't deal with them and I'd pay to the council the £3 a week via their online payment, spoke to council who wouldn't do anything because "the debt is with Rossendales now" BS. A little of something is better than a lot of nothing, right? I also live in a shared house with some family, there is a car parked on the grass of our small front garden, it's broken down. This car is owned by a family member and doesn't belong to me! It has outstanding finance on it, regards to proving beyond all reasonable doubt, does the bailiff have to call DVLA to find ownership? Oh, they've sent me a letter today saying it has been assigned to an "enforcement officer". What upsets me more is that they try to make this cowboy bailiff sound high and mighty. If we want to do that; I am known as an education enforcement officer. Anyway, any advice you have would be great. Thanks.

Hi everyone I need urgent advice. i am currently 2 years into an IVA and have been offered the opportunity of a working holiday in Australia. My boyfriend is emigrating and has been offered a job and a house and has asked me to go with him on a temporary basis to see how I like it. As I am under 30 I am eligible for a working holiday visa but how will this affect my IVA? I can continue to make my monthly payments as i have managed (by selling everything I own) to get some savings together. I am terrified that they will terminate my IVA and I will be left to sort out my debitors myself? I have trawled my agreement and the internet but can find no definitive answer. Thank you

The National Heritage List for England English Heritage has launched a searchable Heritage List for England, including listed buildings, scheduled monuments, registered parks and gardens, registered battlefields and protected wreck sites. It comes with a health warning as the data has come from a number of different systems and so may contain inconsistencies! It is also possible to nominate more. The list is on the internet here :- http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/ With thanks to SG Landscope