Nasty one in the Mail http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4702178/Nurses-pay-150-000-parking-fines.html County Court judge upheld all the tickets.

Got a sudden issue with HMRC who have sent me a nastygram for what looks an error I have made on my 2015 self assessment return. I was made redundant and had a few jobs tying me over (as an employee) until I found a good new employment. To support my income I also did some catalogue selling for one of these door to door companies plus some selling on ebay. As this extra income needs to be taxed I did a self assessment. I entered all the details as requested online and submitted. My tax liability was adjusted through my next PAYE code and all seemed fine until a few days ago when I received a letter from HMRC stating that they were investigating my return as there was some income missing and they wanted me to call them by the 13.06 to help with their investigations. They are alleging a company gave them an additional income figure of £3110.- which was not showing on my return. They say the company told them tax of £160.- was paid against this to HMRC. They say I still owe an additional £500 off pound in tax plus they may fine me. I was totally perplexed as I had no idea what this was all about. The company named on the HMRC letter (let's call them M) was one of my previous employers in the period when I had a few employments after my redundancy. I left them end of May 2014. Before I started another employment (with company P) which only lasted 6 months or so before starting my current employment (with company L) Going back through my records I have a P60 for the tax year ending April 2014 from company M. Then I have a P45 from company P and all other records are from my current employer, L. I have now realized with shock that I do not have any P45 from company M covering the time from April to May 2014 in my records and that the amount in the letter from HMRC must be the wages for those two months April and May 2014. As I have no P45 in my folder for those two months I obviously omitted those eight weeks of employment from my return when I completed it in 2015. I tried to phone HMRC but they are closed by the time I get home from work. Although it would appear I made an error on my return, what I don't understand is, why HMRC calculates £3110.- of salary at a 20% rate of income tax. I have never paid 20% income tax as my income was never that high. (Always below 20 K pa) So why do I owe £500.- in tax on £3110.- of wages which have already gone through the PAYE system at the time. I am totally confused about their calculation.

My friend I live with owes some council tax which he has been paying back monthly. He owes 246 pounds, and was supposed to make a payment on 15th month. He forgot, it was not a deliberate oversight. The bailiff came to the door, thought he was going to smash the door down. I went running down in my nightie wondering what the hell was wrong. This man just said you are being recorded and can I speak to so n so. I am working for the council, and I am from Bristol and sutor. I replied he's not in. Then he said can you ring him and I said no because I'm waiting for a very important call. This was true btw. I have an autistic son who is very depressed He then gave me the most horrendous look, didnt believe a word I was saying, and no chance to say anything else. Pushed a letter in my hand. Get him to ring me. When my friend got in he rang the man and say I believe you have been to my home, and tried to explain that it was an oversight. THe man just said I want the whole amount by Wednesday ,or I am removing goods and your car if you have one. He asked if I work which I do part time, but my friend said it's nothing to do with you, its my debt, and we were not living in the same property then. My friend then put the phone down on this obnoxious person who was really shockingly nasty in his manner. Rang the council tax to advise them, cant take the debt back. Gave me a number to call Bristow and sutor number office Guess what their computers were down. Though the man on the phone said they can't take goods if they've not been in the house. my big concern is my huge autistic son who has big anxiety issues and will not take kindly to us being threatened. Most of the stuff in the house is mine, nothing of any value. The car is on HP and I need it to get my son to appointments, he never goes anywhere unaccompanied, because he can't What can I do we don't have that money till my friend gets paid again on the 15th i don't have enough to pay it all from what I have left. He had every intention of paying it. any advice in a short time would help 2 days to find this money .......

Hello I hope you can help me, I joined the local Gymetc in August 2014, in January I decided I wanted to cancel my membership so I wrote to the gym and sent a cheque for the 6 remaining payments. I didn't hear anything back so presumed it was all ok, I then received a letter to say my Direct Debit hadn't been paid, I rang the gym and told them I had sent payment by cheque to cancel as my friend had done the same and they said it was fine. Fastforward to another month and I received another letter from CRS stating that I was now being fined for failure to pay to the tune of £307.25 to include arrears and a penalty clause. I emailed them to advise what I had done and said that I was only willing to pay what I owed 6 months payments and if I hadn't heard back within 14 days then I would presume the matter was resolved. It took 6 weeks for them to email me to say they had contacted the gym and that I was lying and I still owe £307.25 they claim I only made 4 payments but I paid my first month up front by debit card and then a further 4 so I owe 7 if I am correct? I then received another threatening letter so I sent the standard holding email asking for a copy of my contract as I have never seen or signed anything I paid over the phone when I joined. I then received the following email back today very lengthy and now I am really worried, I need to renew my mortgage soon and am concerned that I will struggle if they have registered defaults against me. I have been in tears tonight and finally decided to join your forum for help. Please can anyone help? The Thread is below Dear Mrs xx Re: CRS Ref No: Further to your email of 1st July 2015 we would point out that you have entered into a legally binding agreement with GymEtc to pay a minimum of twelve payments of £21.99 by Direct Debit of which you have paid only four. Your only dispute to date has been that you allege to have paid the remainder of your contract by cheque. We suspended action against you, investigated this one and only dispute and have furnished you with clear explanation as to why your claims are invalid. Please explain, therefore, why we should not continue to pursue you for this balance which we have every reason to believe is correct and due? If you are unsatisfied with our conduct then we recommend you take independent legal advice, however, you will be unable to make a complaint to the Office of Fair Trading because they have not existed for more than a year. They were succeeded by the Financial Conduct Authority on 1st April 2014, however, as of 1st June 2015, we are not regulated by the FCA either. With regards to your dispute of the additional fees which have been added you have implied that it is your opinion that the charges you have incurred are unreasonable, unenforceable and unlawful. We dispute this position. In the case of Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co Ltd v New Garage & Motor Co Ltd (1914), when considering deciding whether a charge applied at a rate specified at the outset of the agreement was a penalty, Lord Dunedin set out that: "It is no obstacle to the sum stipulated being a genuine pre-estimate of damage, that the consequences of the breach are such as to make precise pre-estimation almost an impossibility. On the contrary, that is just the situation when it is probable that pre-estimated damage was the true bargain between the parties ( Clydebank Case, Lord Halsbury; Webster v. Bosanquet, Lord Mersey)." The above applies to the cost of £25.00 applied in line with clause 6 of the terms of this agreement, which you have agreed to be bound by, and states that "If you fail to pay any monies due under this agreement or if any Direct Debit is returned unpaid or any cheque is returned unpaid or if any other form of payment is not honoured for whatever reason, you shall pay us on demand an administration fee of £25 (which we require to cover our costs of seeking to pursue such payment from you)." £25.00 is the amount deemed by Harlands' directors as representative of their average costs in dealing with the administration involved with a missed or returned payment. When they submit for a payment by Direct Debit which is then returned, they are charged by the bank. This amount does not amount to £25.00, however, and we concede that the cost of the paper, envelope and franking of the default letters does not make up the entirety of the rest of the sum, however, as a business they have to pay overheads for staff wages, whose employment would not otherwise be required if it were not for the missed or returned payments and furthermore pay overheads for office space and increased usage of utilities, equipment, furniture and stationery to accommodate these staff and the processes involved with the administration involved with missed or returned payments, costing hundreds of thousands of pounds every year. It is our position, therefore, that all of these costs are incurred as a direct result of a breach of contract by those who default on their agreements, which, in this instance, is you. The above precedent also applies to the to our own collection fees, which are applied at the outset of debt recovery action to cover all expected costs associated with that action. This is in line with clause 8 of your agreement, which states: "If you fail to pay any amount due under this agreement for a period of more than thirty days, then we may pass the debt to a third party company for collection. The reasonable and direct costs incurred in employing the third party company will be borne by you including costs in tracing you if you have changed your address without telling us." To be clear, the addition of these charges in such circumstances is stipulated in the terms of your agreement. It is our position, based upon legal advice, that our charges are lawful and in line with all relevant guidance. We are unable to enclose a signed copy of your minimum term membership agreement, as this was entered into via an online sign up process called SNAP and as such, no signed physical document exists. We assure you, however, that despite this, it remains a legally binding agreement, and to our knowledge is fully enforceable. We have, however, sent in the post a copy of the terms and conditions of that agreement, as well as all of the information transmitted from the website at the time of joining, including the personal details you supplied (highlighted in green) and the product information supplied to you (highlighted in yellow). Our position remains as previously advised. If you are not willing to set up a payment plan with us, we have no alternative but to proceed with further action against you. We will hold this for a further 7 days. If you advise us again that you do not intend to pay, we will continue our collection procedure, but will not continue to enter into further correspondence as our decision has been made. Payment can be made by Credit/Debit card by calling us on 01444 449165. Alternatively, cheque/postal orders should be made payable to Credit Resolution Services and sent to CRS, 2nd Floor, Rockwood House, 9-17 Perrymount Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, RH16 3TW. A payment plan can also be set up if you are unable to settle in full, although we do charge a little extra for this. If you are experiencing financial difficulty, there are organisations who offer free debt advice and assistance such as Step Change (0800 1381111), National Debtline (0808 8084000) and your local Citizen Advice Bureau. Please ensure a payment or response is received within the next 7 days, so we can avoid further action being taken. Yours sincerely, David Castle Collections Department Credit Resolution Services and CRS are trading styles of Harlands Services Ltd. Registered Office: : 2nd Floor, Rockwood House, 9 - 17 Perrymount Road, Haywards Heath RH16 3TW. Company Registration No. 2982925. Consumer Credit License No. 526513. VAT Registration No. 799 7113 70. Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority for accounts formed under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (amended 2006). IMPORTANT This e-mail is intended solely for the addressee, is strictly confidential and may also be legally privileged. If you are not the addressee please do not read, print, re-transmit, store or act in reliance on it or any attachments. Instead, please e-mail it back to the sender and then immediately permanently delete it. Although efforts will have been made to ensure that this e-mail and any attachment(s) are free from software viruses you should yourself ensure that they are in fact virus-free. Please note that Harlands Services Ltd does not accept any responsibility for any loss caused by software viruses. On 01/07/2015 20:30, Dear sir or madam, I refer to your email and numerous letters recently about my GymEtc Membership 3234. I have been unable to deal with this recently due to other pressing personal matters. The steady stream of correspondence from CRS has been an unwanted distraction at a time when it was least needed. If you continue with these lengthy intimidatory letters, I will make a formal complaint to the OFT without further warning. Please note I will not be paying any administration charges because, despite what you suggest, they are penalty charges. To enable me to properly consider your demands, please send me a copy of the membership agreement which I agreed to along with the related terms and conditions. Yours faithfully, xx On 20 May 2015, at 09:25, Credit Resolution Services wrote: Dear Mrs xx Re: CRS Ref No: 8275081 / GymEtc Ref No: 3234 Further to our previous correspondence, we apologise for the delay in our response. We have contacted Gym Etc regarding the cheque payment you allege to have made and have been advised that: "Thank you for your email. We do not accept cash or cheque for membership payments. This is untrue." Please advise us what has lead to you to believe that our fees are unlawful and unenforceable? To be clear, the addition of these charges in such circumstances is stipulated in the terms of your agreement. It is our position, based upon legal advice, that our charges are lawful and in line with all relevant guidance. For the above reasons it must remain our position that the balance of £307.25 is correct and the arrears of £219.29 are due. Purely as a goodwill gesture we shall be willing to accept the reduced sum of £242.42 as final settlement of this debt if paid in full within 7 days of this correspondence. Payment can be made by Credit/Debit card by calling us on 01444 449165. Alternatively, cheque/postal orders should be made payable to Credit Resolution Services and sent to CRS, 2nd Floor, Rockwood House, 9-17 Perrymount Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, RH16 3TW. A payment plan can also be set up if you are unable to settle in full, although we do charge a little extra for this. If you are experiencing financial difficulty, there are organisations who offer free debt advice and assistance such as Step Change (0800 1381111), National Debtline (0808 8084000) and your local Citizen Advice Bureau. Please ensure a payment or response is received within the next 7 days, so we can avoid further action being taken. Yours sincerely, David Castle Collections Department Credit Resolution Services and CRS are trading styles of Harlands Services Ltd. Regis

Dear Caggers, I wonder if I could ask for a little advice. I fell on hard times some years ago and was paying a very small amount to 2 different companies in 2011 for debts I was told I had to pay by ex husband. After we divorced I moved and changed banks and it looks like one or two DD's didn't get transferred over, I heard nothing until last year and had assumed things were written off till I got a letter from Cabot last June. I sent the CCA letter and heard nothing more. Last Monday 9th June I received a phone call asking for me in my old married name. I refused to answer the security questions, they refused to say who they were, and they hung up. 2 days later, 11th June, I get a letter from Marlin Financial Services saying I have 7 days to reply as there is no good reason why the outstanding debt they now hold has not been repaid. This alleged debt has been passed to them from Cabot. I have no idea what debt this is, there is nothing on any of the letters that I can identify. My credit record is absolutely clear. The nastiness part comes in after sending Marlin the CCA letter and postal order on the 13/6/14. I received 2 letters from them on the 19th. One was my CCA letter and postal order back informing me that I hadn't filled in the postal order correctly, so I wrote along the top on the line provided, ''Marlin Financial Services'' - and sent it all back 1st class recorded to sign for again. The 2nd letter was threatening all sorts of litigation as there was no good reason why I hadn't arranged a payment plan with them and the next step was solicitors and court. It gave me 7 days to reply with a suitable repayment proposal, the letter is dated 14th June. I received it on 19th June after coming home from work, after the post has gone so there was no way I could reply in time for their 7 day deadline. NASTY!! So the letter timeline. 1st dated 7th June, received 12th June. (To reply within 7 days). CCA letter sent 13th June 1st class recorded to sign for. 2nd dated 14th June, received 19th June (To reply within 7 days). 3rd received 19th June,to fill in postal order - sent back 1st class recorded to sign for. These people are not giving me any time to reply before their deadlines run out! Letters are apparently spending 5 days in the postal system before they reach me! The CCA request with correctly filled in postal order hasn't been signed for yet, its likely to be Monday for this:. I would appreciate anyone's thoughts on what is likely to happen next.

It is a fixed term laon agreement that I took out in June 2010 for the purchase of a car. It was a fixed term loan for 15k with 5k charges added and was for 60 months at 350pm. Paid every month up until Jan this year. Sent them an I & E asking to write off ...said no. I have had numerous letters off them adding charges at £25 a time and I wrote to them again on on 5th MArch offering a reduced payment of £200pm. No response so wrote again on 3rd April enclosing copies of all previous letters. Then had an income and exp form back with a rather sloppy written comp slip once again sent the I & E I had sent before which is the national debtline one. Has a letter back dated 11th Apr asking me to ring them. Now I know you are all gonna say I should never ring but thought it would be easier ...what a mistake! The guy on the phone said the following:- I should sell my car and then keep say 2k of the money to buy another and pay the rest off the loan? I replied not an option as one I need the car for work etc and also I would not get much for it and would be like giving it away and then I'd still owe most of the loan anyway. They could put a charge on my house. I replied no equity. He then threatened that they would take me to court and I pointed out that I felt an offer of £200 was a fair one in consideration of my circumstances and that I'm sure a judge would too! he asked for a landline and I replied I wanted all correspondance to be in writing ..he said they needed a number to get in touch and I said get in touch by post. then went to say that I would be fined over £100 if they couldn't get in touch! I replied that he should put a note on my account that all corresspondance will be answered promtly in WRITING! I also asked about the charges being added and he replied that as they are not willing to accept my offer charges will still be added!!! Has anyone had any dealing with these ... they are being really unfair in my opinion ..not sure whcih way to go with this please help x

In 2010 we were trying to sell a house, on 18/05 we signed a HIPS agreement, on 20/05 they were terminated by the government, accordingly we cancelled on 20/05. The estate agency have now passed this to their inhouse debt collectors who sent us a draft warning claim form from Northampton County court, stating we owe then 299+vat or if it goes to court 768, where they will seek further costs. As we have cancelled they state, the cancellation is not possible (3 years later) as we had agreed to wave our right to the 7 day cooling period by our initialling the clause, (which we did not initial) They prepared the form for us, signed it 17/05/10 then we signed it 18/05/10, then cancelled 20/05/10 Can they ask for a payment for something which is terminated, and then cancelled within the 7 days cooling off period (they say ye they can). The original form signed was by a joint party me and my brother but the court claim is in my name only as they say only I am liable?? Would I defend this claim as a vexatious claim and an abuse of the court process and are the debt collection department allowed to issue a DRAFT court claim form, to extract money from us by using this as a threat to litigate? I am a bit confused as they are hell bent on taking this to Court in 7 days, stating they are owed the money in full, despite the cancellation, as the cooling off period is not relevant. Please can I get some Advice and how I CAN defend this claim in full as I do not have 349 to pay them let alone 750 at this time of the year when I have done nothing wrong, we never did sell the property through the agents and in the end it was taken off sale, but they argue the HIPS certificates are there if we make the payment to view, and we are fully liable, whether we sold or not and regardless of the abolishing by the Government of the HIPS

My brother has been really having a hard time in his local job centre. They are nothing more than dictatorial obnoxious &%$"*. I make that statement as i have proof by way of covert recordings made through a ball point pen with an AV attachment that i lent him. These people really do think they are god in breaching a multitude of primary legislation either through ignorance, or performance management techniques. Over the last eight weeks, he has made numerous attempts to request an appointment with a department manager over his treatment at the hands of the benefit staff, all requests were declined. Based on the evidence collated, i hit the computer and typed up an official complaint as to the departments own complaints procedure. when he went into the employment office today, he handed the letter over to the lady on reception and waited to be called to have his monthly interview. During the interview, the office manager came over and said that the compalint will be discussed when his interview had finished. This interview with the department manager was supposed to be the first tier in the departments complaints resolution procedure. This manager was more interested in protecting and standing up for his department staff rather than dealing with the issues of the complaint, and constantly brow beats my brother with the tone and posture of this manager. The upshot was that he has requested a typed up response as to the content of the meeting. ( the manager was shocked at that request) The manager has stated that statement (minutes) will be ready when he next signs on. well they are given 15 days on the compalints resolution first stage. If he is not satisfied with that response then the complaint wil be elevated to tier two, Director General of Operations for theDepartment for Work and Pensions. The point i am making in all of this is how did we become as a society so numb where this policy is accepted as the norm. It would be wrong for me to blame all benefit staff as most are probably hard working and compassionate, but the front line staff on these videos is the clearest indication yet of an endemic process driven by policy and/or performance management techniques.