Hello Just wondering if anyone could give me some advice. About 5 years ago a debt I had was assigned to a DCA and a payment plan was agreed, the value of the debt was then £4750. THe DCA then decided to take me to court because I could not increase my payments they managed to get a CCJ against me for paying £20 per month. At the time the judge actually asked the DCA if they wanted to put a charging order on the debt and if so they could apply to do so. Despite my protests another hearing was established and the judge granted the charging order. The DCA also asked for interest on the debt to be applied but the judge said a debt under £5000 could not have interest applied. Since then I have paid without fail every month £20.00 as ordered. However due to financial difficulties and other debts I eventually went on to an IVA which I have now been paying for 3 years. My IVA practitioner said that the CCJ was separate and I should continue to pay that as it was now a secured debt and did not form part of the IVA. I recently had a letter from the DCA saying that my £20 per month is up for review I have to submit to them proof of my earnings and outgoings so they can assess my monthly payment. I explained to them that this was a CCJ and £20 was agreed by the court but they are saying that under new FCA rules they can assess my financial circumstances and if I can afford to pay more then they are entitled to more. The CCJ never said this. The thing is under the terms of my IVA if there was any more I could pay then surely the IVA gets any extra and not the DCA. Any advice on this please, is there a new rule under the FCA? Can the DCA enforce me to provide my income/expenditure? Thank you

Hi guys, havnt posted on here for a long time but i am so angry about the way i was treated in my previous job i really need some advice: background in Feb i started a temp role in a call centre. the role was until the end of june but the company took on employees who had performed well etc. Because of this i worked 6 ten hour days for over 3 months with the hope of obtaining a full time job. the company also employed young adults aged 16 and 17. Having worked with young people before, i enjoyed sitting next to them and discussing their plans for the future etc. the company also employs staff aged 18 - 65, there is only a small percentage of under 18 staff. I was called into my managers office who informed me that she was concerned that i was being inappropriate with my comments to the young adults especially girls. when i asked for a further explanation, i was informed that she overheard me asking one of them what they had for dinner the night before. My manager stated that she considered this comment asking them out on a date. I explained that i believed that it was a harmless question which i asked all colleagues when i saw them. i also explained that i had worked with and mentored young people before in my previous role and i was simply making conversation with my colleagues. my manager did not believe me, informed me that i was a "grown man and i shouldnt be talking to young girls" This comment caused me a great deal of distress and anxiety as i could not believe someone in a management position could jump to a conclusion without obtaining all the facts. i felt that my reputation had been damaged by her comments. I was frequently ostracised and forced to sit on my own for weeks as well as being ignored and subjected to bullying my team leaders. this caused me to go to the doctors as i was starting to develop symptoms of depression. several of my coworkers would still talk to me and come to me for advice with personal issues. i tried once more to speak to my manager and discuss that treatment i had recieved. I was told would have to make up the time if i wished to ave a meeting with her. during this time another male worker who is the same age as me (30) began a relationship with a 17 year old girl who was also in care. the male cowokers ex wife was also a team leader in the call centre and would frequently arrange the seating plan so he would be sat next to young girls. nothing was done and no actio was taken agianst the male coworker. The coworkers ex wife would freqently speak to me about her ex husband and how she still loves him etc i would offer advise and we became close. We would leave notes on each other desk which we found funny. i found another job and handed my notice in. on the morning of the beggining of my last shift i recieved a phone call from work to say i am not requred to come in this week as i had sexually harrased a "senior member of staff" (co workers ex wife) i was told that the note i had left her was sexual harrasment and would not be required to work and therefore loose a weeks pay. I asked to speak to the head of HR and explained the following on the phone: the senior member of staff had left similar notes for me which i found amusing. she had added me on facebook shortly after i put the first note on her desk several weeks previous the head of HR had repeatedly stated "senior member of staff" which implied that if this had happened to a tem, no action would have been taken she was aware of the grooming of a 17 year old girl in care by the ex husband of the complainant and no action was taken i had been victimised and made to feel like a sexual predator despite no evidence, complainants of investigation the head of HR raised her voice on the phone and stated "Its none of your business" which i replied she was aware of the grooming and she should have been ashamed of herself. i ended the call. I then sent and email to her outlining all of the above. 2 hours later, i received an email stating i would be paid for the rest of the week. I considered this the end of the matter but i am concerned that if i have to use this company for a reference, they will include the false allegations. I am considering 2 options at the moment: 1) do nothing unless they provide and inaccurate reference to any potential future employers. 2) sent a letter to the CEO with copies of all emails and notes explaining the situation and asking him to investigate the grooming and not to put anything detrimental on any reference. I really cant get ovet the way i was treated there, the coworker has been given a full time job and effectively a license to groom who he wants (he never goes for women his own age) i beleive they paid me for my last week without me attending as a form of hush money??? i have been made to feel like a criminal for an allegation that could have been proven false if a proper investigation was held. I do not want any form of compensation and i know an apology will never happen, i am trying to cover my ass and hopefully make life very uncomfortable for the managers and senior staff who chose to make my life hell. I am now in a better job with more money and less hours. i make more money than the seniors staff in the call centre. im really after some advice on what other would do in my situation??? sorry for the rushed post, now off to start my shift in a lovely country school where they do things properly!! regards

Hi A friend told me about these forums and in desperation thought I would turn to here to see if I can be advised what's best. I work alone with my boss, there is only the 2 of us. Early 2016 I was asked to push a broken down car. Next day when I got up I could hardly move with pain and have been signed off since then. I have since been diagnosed with a prolapsed disc and severe sciatica which is absolute agony so say the least. I can barely do anything and am facing surgery to try and help it. I have a personal claim going on and my boss insurer has admitted liability. I have been in receipt of personal accident sickness but as it is a fraction of what my wage is, I am now in severe financial trouble. I am about to lose my car over all of this. The past few months my employer is now saying there is nothing wrong with me and accusing me of fraud despite the proof I have with my diagnosis. He is withholding my payments I have only had since September. I was very scared of this guy, he used to make sexual advances to me and wrote a letter telling me to get my t*ts out to make sales if I have to. He told me the day after to burn the letter but something deep down told me to keep it which I did. He touched me on several occasions too. I needed the job and had financial commitments and was scared of him, it was not as easy as simply pack in as I am a single parent and depended on my wage to keep a roof over my sons head. He is making life extremely difficult for me by keeping back my payments I am due and I barely have enough to eat. The solicitor who is dealing personal claim for injury has told me there is no case against him for harrasment and that I would lose so I do not know what to do or where to turn. Can anyone please help me or advise me of what I should or can do? Many thanks

Hello Everyone I've noticed there is plenty of threads in regards to memberships with X4L but every single one of them seems to have some unique twist on it after a long time of receiving letters from CRS and now spratt edicott I decided to share my problem. On the March 13th 2015 I started 12 month contract with X4L which I wanted to cancel before the contract ended as the membership started to hit my budget after a while. Unfortunately the process to achieve this was rather difficult with my only option to give proof of redundancy according to the first email I sent to the gym. That was not possible in my case as at that time I had no job. JI was a university student with very little cash. I decided to just bite the bullet and cancel direct debit around February-March 2016 time as the contract ended. From that point I started to receive letters from X4L and CRS. I have sent them another email with a request to cancel my gym membership and the response you can see in the second screenshot . I have no idea where they got 1 remaining payment from as the contract finished and my cancellation of direct debit meant I don't wish to continue with their membership. HI would not cancel direct debit if they had an easier option to end the membership. Currently I'm being harassed with calls(which are ignored) from them and I'm constantly receiving letters from CRS lately I have received a letter from spratt endicott demanding £131.49 I've attempted to just ignore them but they don't seem to give up In and the advice I received from Citizen Advice was to just pay which left me bit disappointed. My question is what should I do? Continue to ignore them or accept my fate and pay?

I lost an appeal in November last year and costs were applied £750 - I appealed and this hearing was heard within another hearing Civil Case on Jan 4th 2014 - The Judge awarded the claimant £7,123 - off which £5,000 of this was costs. He mentioned something about only allowing certain sum of costs. I could not pay - single parent on benefits and offered £5 a month - this was refused so I applied for a redetermination hearing which was heard in March 2014. I informed Judge I had a caravan old tower 1997 that I could sell worth about 2k. Advertised on 8 sites including Ebay and no interest. Went back to court on Monday 23rd June to update situation and offered £25 a month (payable by my BF) this was again rejected - again given another 3 months to sell caravan then other party intends to get a high court writ. The upshot is unbeknown to me this debt has gone up - I thought the £750 for previous hearing was already added to final judgement of £7, 123 - the other party have now added interest and further costs on both amounts. I managed to sell some furniture and jewellery and paid £1,000 in April - thinking the debt was now £6,123 but the debt has now increased to £7,300 thereabouts. Impossible situation. My question would be - how do I query this £750 additional ? no mention of this in the final judgement so assumed £5,000 in costs was total. Can I question the interest side of things? if I managed ( family member) to pay off some and get it under the £5,000 does interest cease? The Judge mentioned any debt over £5,000 interest becomes payable. So would it be worth my while loaning the funds from a family member. Thank you for your help in this matter it is all very confusing.

Please help me, I think i'm being a little thick here what is OSC, and if so can i caim back any money from it as i have been with Bright House for ages?

Hi, I have read here that any acknowledgement of debt after the date of a default would reset the 6yr limit for statue barring. However, I wrote a letter in 2009 complaining that there was no alleged debt from 2007 and demanded that RBS remove the default from my credit reference file. RBS refused and I complained to the FOS, but was unable to provide sufficient evidence so the FOS didn't uphold my claim. Its now 6yrs since the original default, and Experian have expired it from my file. In 2009 I also wrote to Arrow Global asking them to stop harrassing me for the alleged debt with I told them I didn't owe. Arrow has now written to me again, and I would like to know: If it was clear in all my communications throughout 2009 that I refuted the alleged debt, is the matter now statue barred? or do I have to wait until 2015 because I wrote to them? TIA

Hi there I have had my perfect home account for around 8 months and have two items a couch and a tv ( i no longer have the tv as it got broke and i never had insurance ) i was making my payments regularly with no problems until 8 weeks ago when i got made to go on the sick due to black outs , I let perfect home know and they didnt seem to care just kept saying in need to pay . I told them my wage will got from 1300 a month to 400 and that my rent alone is 550 and council tax 140 . I got taken into hospiatl and they called round to my house every night demanding payment and to speak to me even know my partner kept tellin them i was in hospital and they would park outside the house for 30mins each time as well as asking my 7 year old who was out playing with her friends if i was in . I phoned them from the hospital and even said they can come up and see me in my ward if needed but they just kept phoning and harrasing my partner and eventually she gave them 100 pound which left her 12 pounds to survive for 2 weeks. I am still off on the sick and dont know what to do

I'm currently a customer of Brighthouse. I was late paying about 4 weeks ago. I contacted Brighthouse within a week to make a offer of payment and i was told it had gone to collections. They refused my offer of payment and are now constantly ringing me upto 12 times a day , they are visiting my property and they have threatened me with bailiffs and court action. I have paid in the past around about £150 in late payment fees alone and i have their service cover and insurance too. My 16 year old daughter is terrified to stay in the flat on her own as Brighthouse have sent to aggresive blokes around in the past who were abusive and used threatening behaviour. They have given me until tomorrow to pay the balance otherwise they will come out again. Where do i stand in this and is there any help available to me? This is making me very ill too. Thanks in advance.

I currently work in Scotland as a paid Community Development Officer although the board of directors who employ me are all volunteers. Prior to taking up this post I led a busy administration team for a private sector company before I left the firm having accepted a compromise agreement arranged by my former line manager. I should also point out that I previously raised a grievance process against my line manager and although my complaint was upheld, there was ultimately no change in his behavior and I reluctantly tendered my resignation at a later date. Since leaving the private sector and taking up post as a Community Worker, my former line manager has continued his vendetta campaign against me in an apparent bid to ensure that I am not allowed to prosper. It has come to my knowledge that in his capacity as a director of the company I now work for (I knew this individual was on the board of directors prior to applying for the job), he made efforts to stop me from being recruited by my current emplyers. Despite his recommendations to the board, I was successful in my application and my former line manager had to resort to an email campaign against me in which he continually questioned my work performance during my 3 month probationary period. He later resigned from the board of directors when I successfully completed my 3 month probation period citing that he would not remain as a voluntary board member if I was to be employed full time. Despite resigning from the board he quickly resumed his vendetta campaign last year following an altercation between he and I which took place outwith the workplace. The quantity of emails relating to my conduct and performance which have been sent by this individual is nothing short of staggering. Many of the allegations made against me are entirely false and there are many instances where he has made defamatory comments against me. His campaign against me has been carried-out within company time using my former employers premises, their equipment and their email address (even once using their conference room in during office hours to conduct a meeting with the chair of the board of directors in order to discuss my conduct and performance). Although I do not currently possess any hard copies or electronic copies of the emails in question (there are approximately 30 emails), I have been allowed to read most of them as my line manager continues to keep me informed of his failed efforts to bring this regrettable matter to a close. Under the Data Protection Act, I have now requested a copy of all correspondence written about me which has come from this individual. This request has been submitted to both my employers and my former line manager's current employers (all emails have been sent using the company's email). I have made every effort to ignore this character but he just refuses to go away and I now want to take action. Does anyone have any advice? Should I pursue a claim against the individual or my former employers and what grounds do i have for a claim?

Hello, Can someone please help me - I am being chased for monies by MBS Recoveries. Money was taken out on my name by fraud and 5 years later I'im hunted down to pay the shortfall after the house was sold at auction due to repayments not made. I'm in dialogue with the bank and the Ombudsman - but im still sent letters demanding payment. I told them my situation and was left alone for a while. A week ago a Private Investigator turn up - he was apparently looking for me - i was still exactly where i was the previous time - same work same house. Can they legally persue me if im waiting on a ruling from the bank and the ombudsman? Any help would be greatly appreciated. As my threatening insolvency and bankrupt and i just got married and planning to buy a house in the next couple of months and would hate to compromise my future.

Hello, its difficult for me to share this as the whole idea of being accused of this makes me feel physically sick. I've never been accused of anything like this before and it having a pretty devasting affect on me. I just cant imagine what will happen if i lose my job over this. I hope i can get some info or feedback from you guys as i really am devastated. So the situation is.... I was called into a meeting with HR on Wednesday and suspended due to an allegation of sexual harassment against one of my work colleagues. I wasn't given the details of the incident but i know which incident they are referring to. I am due to have another meeting with HR on monday. I'll give you a brief idea of what happened. I was in the kitchen working with two of my colleagues when the alleged victim passed by and started a conversation about a man who was arrested for taking pictures up women's skirts on the escalator in the tube. We were all laughing about this and she continued to say it was similar to when another one of my colleagues made fun by pretending to be a paparazzi and doing the same with her. We were laughing about this in a very light hearted way, which is pretty much the general atmosphere of our work place. I thought it might be funny to continue the joke and placed my phone on the ground between her and myself when the flash went off and the phone took a picture. (picture attached). Before i did i pointed it out to her and we both looked down at the camera and smiled. She was slightly amused and carried on working. I hadn't noticed her mother who also works in the same department standing behind us, who having just seen this began shouting at me. I tried explaining to her that it was a joke and to ask her daughter what we had been joking about. She wouldn't listen to me and threatened to inform HR if i did it again. Her daughter then told her to be quiet. We though nothing more of it, in fact we were conversing as usual until a few days later when i was called into HR and advised that someone had made a complaint about the incident. They are now treating it as sexual harassment. The person who this happened to did not actually make the complaint, neither did her mother but i believe her mother told her line manager who has always had issues with me and she took it upon herself to contact HR without finding out what had actually happened and bringing the incident completely out of context. As an isolated incident it sounds like a joke gone too far but this type of humour is continued throughout our department. We all know each others boundaries and never take anything past a light hearted joke. I myself have had my bottom slapped by the female in question and also by other members of the department. Its all in good humour. Which is why i was so shocked when i was accused of sexual harassment. It was in no way sexual and i was in no way harassing her. Being in a more senior position to the others in the department i understand that i should have set an example but this is how it was when i began working there. I believe the person who contacted HR with the third hand information has had a problem with me since i took this position. she has made several complaints against me in the past. One particular incident i was said to have insulted one of her female members of staff. This resulted in a meeting between myself and my superiors and was brought up again during another meeting later that year. Both times i strongly denied the allegations. I confronted the person who was supposedly the recipient of my insults, she agreed with me that the incident had never actually taken place and she was even upset that i thought she had contacted HR about something like that and agreed that it was probably her line manager trying to get at me through her. I do not want to lose my job just because it is easier for HR to let me go and i also do not want to accept a warning. I intend to fight this accusation and also file a complaint against the person who made the complaint as i believe they are doing this for malicious reasons. I am now suspended without pay and with sexual harassment on my record it will be virtually impossible to continue with my career and possibly wreck my home life also. I can't imagine going back to work and facing anybody as i feel anxious and embarrassed about the whole situation. It has really affected me badly from having to lie to my work colleagues and my wife about being absent from work, i've started smoking and also planning to see the doctor about taking medication for anxiety. I feel that all the hard work i have put into my job and the relationships i have developed there are in danger of being destroyed.

Hey everyone, first of all, apologies if i am reapeating what has already been posted on here, but im new and its hard to pick out the relevant imformation sometimes, so im posting from my point of view in hopes it will be clearer for me! Here goes...... I took out a loan with welcome finance around 4 years ago for £1000. I paid them regularly each month, for about 6 months then i borrowed another £500 and continued to pay regularly. Around 3 years ago i asked for the payments to be reduced as i was having some financial problems which they agreed to. After 6 months or so they started calling me over and over and sending letters saying they needed to discuss my account, as they wanted me to increase the payments, i ignored them, but continued to pay, and i also changed my phone number (for other reasons) and did not give them my new one. Then i continued to get a few letters every few months or so which i ignored, this went on for years untill i moved house around 3 months ago. Last month after a series of mishaps, i had to cancel all my direct debits including theirs. I have since recieved a letter from them at my new address (How do they know where i live?) asking me to call. I cant deal with talking to theses kind of people on the phone so i thought i would send a letter asking them to contact me only by post and i would reinstate the direct debit back to how it was. Before i even had a chance to send it the worst thing happened. Now they have started hassling me at work. I have never told them where i work, as i have only worked there for 6 months, they call over and over and get very agressive to the people that answer, saying things like 'i am gioing to call here every day untill you put him on! Surely thats not allowed? I never speak to them. I saw the complaint letter template and was going to send it but then i worried that this would be comfirmation for them of my address and work address, as it seems clear to me that they have been looking hard for me, even though i have missed 3 payments of just £73 each! Now today i have recieved a letter of default saying i have untill 19th nov to pay the arrears. what happens with the rest of the loan? Before i pay anything i want to see all the infor they have as it says on the letter i owe £1750 but thats more than the original loan, and iv been paying it for years, even with intrests that alot. What should i do? I cant call them, i panic just thinking of it, and im worried that this will mean some kind of acknowledgment if i do. Is it possible to pay the arrears then send them an SAR for the rest of the account? Someone please help me im at my wits end and dont know how to cope with this. Thanks.

Just a thought , as these speculative invoices are not something that could stand up in court , is there a case for harassement here if these beggars keep on sending them?

I have been unemployed for sometime now as I am Disabled. I reduced my payments to provident to a token payment. The Agent stopped calling as she said it was not worthwhile for her to pick up my token payment. So I arranged to send my agreed monthly token payment to my local branch, I have been doing this for over 2 year now. But over the last 6 month I have received letters from provident telling me I have missed payments on my account, These letters were signed by my local office but when I contacted my local office they said the letters are sent out automatically from head office. As I keep getting these letters I asked my local office to send out a statement of account as the letters were informing me I had missed payments. My local office did not reply so I rang them. I asked if they had received my letter, They said yes, I then asked if they were going to send out a statement of account as my payments were being called into question with there letters. They said no and told me to contact head office I rang head office to complain. I received a letter stating that I am paying much less than the original agreement. And so they are legally obliged to send out such letters every month. I said the letters insinuate that I am not making the token payments. Of which I have never missed. They said they would keep sending out the letters even though I have an agreemnet to make token payments. This just smells like harrasment to me, I wonder If anyone could suggest a letter I could send in regards to this thankyou.

Hi Guys, Would be grateful if someone could maybe clarify the following for a friend of mine, Mark has worked for the same company for 6 years with a completley clean record. One month ago got a note to file for bad customer service due to a complaint which he was not allowed to discuss or argue his case, no investigation done with other team members, this he was told he had to accept and that if this happened again would result with possible disciplinary action. He had grown a moustache and was told he looked like a peadophile and other members of staff made to vote on whether they liked it or not in a staff meeting in front of everyone, He was then given a final written warning for taking food to a table that he had not taken the order for (the manager took the order while he was on his break), the table was vegetarian which the manager had not comunicated to him and he took the wrong food by mistake and the table complained. He appealed the disciplinary disicion last week (which has still not been heard). Also his English has been constantly critisised (never has had a problem in 6 years). The day after he appealed he was suspended due to cashing of a cash payment to credit card by mistake, a schoolboy error. (the letter of suspension was with full pay), He was then two days later called up and asked to work because another team member had called in sick, He was also told the incident with the suspension will still be under investigation till further notice (but nothing in writing). This is a short version of what has happened, I have advised him that the grievance procedure should be used but not sure whether to wait until after the appeal hearing has taken place or to just get it rolling now?

I started making payments to Lowell, for debts they have bought, they matched the relevant account numbers/amount owed for the debts i know that i owe, and now they will not stop ringing me, 5 times this week everytime its gone something like this: Lowell: Hello, this is from Lowell, Can i speak to ? Me: Can i ask what this is regarding please? Lowell: Its a Personal Finance Call. Can you confirm Address/Postcode please. Me: I will not give out my personal details over the phone, if you need to contact me please send me a letter. i am very much regretting acknowledging the debt, i thought they wouldn't go away before, now i have started paying they have gotten even worse, i get voice mails and texts and phone calls, no letters since i started paying though, and no confirmation of the status of the account i.e. how much has been payed off. And i have no idea how they got my phone number, i was on pay-as-you-go until Nov 2010 which was well after the debts were sold on, so the banks i had the debts with would not have had this phone number or my current address, and i have had problems in the last with calls from sales people etc. so i only give my number to friends/family & the bank that i am currently with, i have no debts with them. i have also moved house 3 times since Lowell got in contact with me originally. This is driving me crazy how can i make these horrible people leave me alone, i will pay up, i know i owe money, i just want them to stop calling/texting/leaving messages.

Hi everyone, I have been having alot of problems at work for around a year and a half and a month ago I was verbally abused by my work collegue whom also pushed me. I put a grievance in following which I won, yet I have still been kept off of work for a month so far until the situation is sorted, yet the other individual is still at work. I have been treated differently and even the manager has been treating me badly she doesnt even talk to me anymore as she is very good friends with the other individual and it is a small company. I have told my manager previously about other situations and she just laughs about it. I even put in a complaint around three months ago about the way that I am treated at work which was simply ignored. I want to know what my options are and if I can claim constructive dismissal as I feel like the company are trying to keep me off of work for as long as possible until I leave. Thanks in advance

Hi all, Firstly thank you for reading and thank you for any help or assistance you can offer! I've been having a very tough time at work most recently which has lead to depression and me basically wanting to leave...after all my health is more important than my job. its a shame since I've worked for the company for over 3 years...worked my way up from Graduate level to a fairly senior position. Prior to this I loved my job and the company is a well known operates throughtout the UK. Firstly I have had ongoing 'issues' with my boss for some reason he has a dislikely to me...he has only recently started and problems have only occured since his arrival. I have tried to speak with him directly about this but frankly he couldnt care. Since this time he has been almost picking on me and I believe trying to tarnish my personality and character at work. Firstly aquisations were made that meant my suspension from work (this was was dissmissed as there was no evidence backing his claim), 2ndly a written warning against me (as part of initial investigation obnomialies were found) and the management thought it was evidence enough to give me a written warning. Clearly something needs to change and given his seniority above me I believe his word will always be stronger than mine...If I leave would I have a case for compensation against either him or the company?? my ace is a recorded conversation which in a nut-shell paints in a terrible light and has him saying some terrible things to me.. Does anyone have any thoughts?? thank you!

I have a loan with them for about 120 that was due on the 30/11 - 2 days ago. I also have 4 other loans, 2 of which i am on repayment plans for. In total i owe about 1500 to these companys and i currently earn about 120 a week so as you can imagine im finding it hard to pay them back. Anyway i told 247 moneybox the day before it was due that i wouldnt be able to pay it is there any chance we could make arrangememnts for a payment plan, to which i was told to leave it until it had gone into arrears and then phone up. Well i dont want to do it over the phone so i asked for an email adress, they gave me one and said this is for customer services email them and they will ring you. I said i wont answer their calls. I have emailed them and had no reply. Now they have started ringing me at 7.30am on my mobile and landline waking all my family up!! what should i do next?

Hi everyone, I hope someone can offer me advice regarding below. I started my new job on the 1st of June 2010 and was subject to a six month probationary period. Being a car driver was a ‘desirable’ element of the Person specifications - and not ‘essential’. Nor was it asked on my application form (have copies of both documents). It was raised during interview in which I stated a pay rise would help facilitate driving lessons but nothing more than that really. August 24th I have supervision. Asked about driving, spoke about options – ‘TARGET’ date of 1st March. (have copy of this) In between the six months period another colleague was receiving huge pressure to get her driving license too. I am now the only staff member that does not drive. My manager told me in her office that driving is now ‘MANDATORY’ for all staff. She also called me in around three/four weeks ago stating ‘we may need to bring the target date forward’ so I told her I really could not afford it and reminded her of the target date. Nothing more was said. 6 months later (1st December) I have supervision. I am honest and state that I am struggling with paperwork/ workload (I am not alone – ALL staff feel this way!). Manager highlighted that I had not received support from team leaders and would ensure support is received. Support received from manager at time of supervision too. Everything is ok as far as I am aware. (have copy of this too) Then on the 23rd of December I get handed a letter by my manager. Here it is:- (dated 17th December 2010) Following previous discussion we have had in your supervisions, you are aware that it is essential that you have a mode of transport i.e moped/motorcycle/car to enable you to carry out your role as a support worker. As discussed at your supervision on the 24th of August, we agreed a deadline for the 1st of March 2011. Your probationary period was set to end on the 1st of December 2010, unfortunately taking this in to account I will be extending your probationary period for a further 3 month, giving you the opportunity to improve on the areas you are failing to achieve in currently. Your probationary period will be extended to the 1st of March 2011 when your situation will be assessed you must understand your failure in meeting this deadline could ultimately lead to your employment being terminated. If you have any questions or would like to discuss this further please do not hesitate to contact me. The letter predominantly revolves around driving being the issue - the thing that bothers me most is that ‘I’ raised my paperwork/workload issue - not them – and there is no evidence that I am ‘FAILING’ other than my expectations of myself!! Someone has just passed their probationary period admitting to me that they had not even touched their paperwork. It feels they are using this as extra weight by saying ‘areas (plural) that I am failing to achieve in currently’. I suppose the question is – can they do this? Well, they already have but can I do anything about it? Should I not have received a new contract with driving being a prerequisite? I feel really stressed out and hate going in to work now. Hope someone can help advise me!

Hi. Need help with writing a letter to my landlord, things have gone too far now. Briefly, I am late with my rent by 2 weeks, it is a periodic tenancy; I have lived in the property for over 5 years now, it is not first time that I am late but as far as I am concerned it was not a problem as never received a single letter about it. My landlord begun to threaten me to change the locks, to 'blacklist' me, as well as making sure that I will not be able to rent again from local letting agents by giving bad ref; it all started about a month ago. At first I tried to explain to him that for the past 3 yrs I was a full time student I often had financial difficulties and that he should now by now that I am not going to run away (I have a full time job now, but have not been paid yet), he would not take a notice. He sends me lots of text messages giving me the dates stating when to leave(3 different so far), he also says I am staying in the flat illegally as there was no new contract signed, I am know that he is not right. Now he says he does not want money, he wants us out by Fri. He also said,( without seeing the flat!) that he will keep half of my deposit to cover the expenses for cleaning carpets which are surly as old as I am(I have a dog, L agreed to it about 4yrs ago, but changed his mind recently, ordering me to get rid of the poor animal). I am assuming he thinks that I have not got a clue about the legal proceedings etc Websites like this one help a lot! What do I tell him in the letter; want to keep it short, polite but clear of what I am asking for. Should I report it to any authorities, just do not want to find myself homeless after getting back from work on Fri evening. Never been stressed that much, really want it to stop.