Hi all, Wondered if anyone could help. I recently purchased a new vehicle and had driven over Waterloo Bridge during the congestion charge times forgot that the vehicle was not registered on CC autopay after driving my previous vehicle for so long which had been registered on autopay for a long time. I received no warning letters nor a bill for the congestion charge simply a £65 PCN straight away. I understand I messed up by forgetting to set up the autopay on the new car but obviously not everyone is on top of their game 24/7. Is there any way around this or to appeal it in anyway? Any advice/clarification would be appreciated. Thank you Regards

Business Tips-Have You Got Any For Newly Self Employed- Good morning old Tawnyowl here i hope you are enjoying your weekend. My brain does not seem to want to relax,full of ideas,some may think rubbish. The Entrepreneurs Of The Future. Can you offer them any advice from your own experience. Donate a little time to help others. Well i have tried all my life to make it big. Enjoyed the ride,the nearly man.But how do you class success. Are you happy to say i managed to bring my family up,provide for them,create a stable home.Worked hard all of my life. Time goes that fast in business before you know it if you have children they could be teenagers,grown up and gone. Then you wonder what the hell one day as you take stock one day. Entrepreneurs do not take much notice of hours worked it means nothing a target is there and you try to hunt it down in any way possible. Myself well it took me till i was 55 when i shot down London way to try my last shot bar ten to try,you never give up.6 years ago now,seems like yesterday. Tools in a case,train to Euston and only a few pounds. Ended up in Essex and walked the streets for days leafleting till i found work. Waiting in a alley very early the morning,catching commuters travelling to London to work giving out leaflets to them. Down there it is the same as anywhere 7 days a week. Pressure,you love it or hate it.Do not work do not eat. Finally on a break i came home and then it happened, a heart attack. In hospital as the Nurse was about to give me my jab i asked if i could finish my phone call. I was still organising jobs locally for a couple of workers to keep them going. Looking back i see the nurse now with needle and syringe waiting to take aim.A wonderful woman. It was nearly Christmas. Coming out of hospital,i realised when this job was finished i had to face the fact i was getting older. Gym usually 4,5 times a week then work was a normal day.Construction. I have made massive mistakes along the way so i am trying to give a few tips.Have you any. For those starting out full of enthusiasm.Like i say i hope what i am saying some may agree on. For those wondering,i had no money left so had to find how to make money from nothing. Surprising how people vanish from your life when things change.When you need help. But found a way and have just scraped by and about to employ a talented artist who should really be successful in his own right.Naturally talented but lost. There must be many out there. Money from nothing a new start.But the last one for sure,perhaps. So what would i do differently if i had my time again. Well i have only a few because as i say i never took time to take stock just ploughed on. But,lets have a go. 1-Most important is to have a stable home life,a partner who supports you.A strong base. 2-Try to find something that people return to you again and again. Example people buy milk,bread each day. Having a product that a customer only uses you once means you are forever having to find new customers. 3-Trying to do everything yourself. Usually means sooner or later you will burn out. Bring others to the table listen to them although your decision is the final one. What happens if you get ill,you could be finished. 4-Skills. You have a Skill that has been honed over years,a quality product that needs really skilled labour. Trouble could be brewing. You find yourself overwhelmed with work but when you go to find help there is no one skilled enough to employ. Those who are are already in demand. Expect to train someone but do not be surprised when you train them they go self employed themselves. Natural thing to do although the first time it may rile you a touch. But deep down you have helped someone.Some may stay as self employment does not suit everyone. Some like the stability of regular guaranteed income. 5- Try to find a market for when you get busy that unskilled labour would be easy to find. The job could be completed much easily .Nothing worse than turning work away.It stings a touch. And those pounds should be yours. 6-Learn how to be your own accountant it is not hard if you take your time. Keep tax returns etc upto date.There is a lot of advice,help on line nowadays. Even new apps so you can do things as they happen. Keep receipts safely,motor costs,everything you spend keep. Become used to doing this. Of course accountants are experts in saving you money if you earn enough. Register as self employed,get insurance. 7-And make a little time for yourself,your family,time goes fast. Ah well just thought i would start a thread. Any other advice from anyone please post away.There must be many Self Employed out there. Bye for now. Tawnyowl.

Hello I wonder if anyone could help please? We purchased a 4 year old dog from a private seller and had her for a total of two and a half weeks. She was sold as being friendly and gentle and the owners assured us that, "She doesn't have a bad bone in her body and wouldn't hurt a fly". Since purchasing Lola, she was always very vocal when out on a lead and barked and pulled strongly towards other animals and at times also towards people, especially so when out with my girlfriend. We were in daily contact with the previous owners via text with regular updates on Lola and we twice raised concerns about her seemingly aggressive behaviour towards other animals/people - we were assured that she would never do anything. I forgot to mention that the previous owners had the dog since she was a puppy for all of her four years prior to selling her to us, so in my view, they will have known her much better than we did! During the first week of her being with us, our neighbours were away on holiday, but upon their return, their dog was picked up from the boarding kennels and was subsequently out in the garden a lot - this caused Lola to run to the fence and attempt to almost burrow underneath it whilst barking at Bella. We also raised this with the previous owners, who assured us that she used to do this with their neighbour's dog, but would never hurt her. The neighbours suggested we introduce both dogs, as it was most probably 'barrier frustration' causing them both to bark at each other. I put Lola on her lead on Sunday evening and the lady next door did the same with Bella. Lola pulled towards the dog, whilst not showing any signs of aggression and sniffed her. Bella was lying down at this point totally submissive. Out of nowhere, our dog launched at Bella's head and bit down on her ear and wouldn't let go. The only way I can describe it is she was in 'kill mode'. All of the neighbours on the street came out and nobody could do anything either. I did my utmost to try and shock Lola into letting go, but she had no intention of doing so. I had to put my fingers into her mouth and prise her jaws apart - I am a 6ft man and pretty strong and had to use all of my strength to release her grip. Bella needed an emergency operation and we contacted the previous owners about this incident and also asked if they would take her back, as she wasn't as we had been led to believe. Within three minutes of my partner's text, she replied and said that her partner and her were both of the view that Lola is clearly unsafe and should be put to sleep! We were so shocked. My partner asked why they wouldn't take her as they had her for four years and if she hadn't been previously aggressive, why not, but their response was they had their child to think about and would no longer trust the dog. We also have children I hasten to add. We approached various kennels during the following days and nowhere would take her. We also visited the vets to get her checked for any medical reasons as to why she had acted in the way she did and she received a clean bill of health. We were advised to speak to the Dog Warden, which we did, and it was his view that she was dangerous and a 'ticking time bomb' and needed to be put to sleep. This whole experience has been devastating for us all and we have had no further responses from the previous owners regarding this matter. We had to take her to a vet to carry out this awful deed and she also said that she was an aggressive animal and this had to happen. We also discovered whilst Lola was in our care that she had a dog walker who used to take her out every day and upon checking his website, he was one who specialised in dogs with 'issues'. Sorry for the lengthy message, I just wondered whether you felt there would be any redress in terms of compensation from the previous owners please? Many thanks Paul

I just moved into a new flat 3 days ago, but I signed the tenancy agreement 7 days ago (I couldn't move in earlier because the landlord hadn't cleaned/maintained the flat in a good living condition). Anyway, the matter is that I just got a job to go abroad for 6 months (Exactly the duration of the tenancy agreement) and I don't want to be paying rent here for an empty flat. Is there any possible way I can get out of the contract before the initial 6 months term? there is no other clause in the contract. Thank you.

My friend has recently left her husband and they have two young children under 7. She's moved into a friend's empty house that's on the market, for the time being, until she's able to find somewhere more permanent. Her husband is staying in the family home where their kids were born, which is rented. She only works 12 hours a week and wants to know what benefits she'd be entitled to. She doesn't have a tenancy agreement for the house she's staying in for now as the owners are letting her stay there as a favour and not charging her a set rent. She's 41 and her children will be staying with her.

Needed to move to ground floor property due to husband's ill health, viewed property on very hot day, all windows open and flat was fresh and well aired. Contents looked a bit tired and this was noted to agents but thought all that was needed was a bit of decoration. Signed lease and paid deposit etc, got keys yesterday and on closer inspection the flat is damp and smells really damp, black mold on windows and other hidden areas. As I had informed agents of my husband's ill health is it more than remiss of them to neglect to inform me that the property had been treated earlier for a damp issue and I hasten to say that I think it is far from eradicated. I am now paying for my present flat and expected to pay for a flat that is uninhabitable for my husband, he has COPD and damp and mold will make him very ill. Is there any way that I can get out of this legal contract for medical circumstances?

Hi there I am one of a number of employees that will be TUPEd into a new company that was created to 'hive off' part of the business and provide a specific function. The function is moving it's head office to a part of the country with low wages - cost cutting is the primary reason for these TUPEs and proposed redundancies. There will be over 200 of us TUPEing and we have been already told that there will be redundancies as part of the process (as some of the roles have simply too many people assigned to them). The process has been going on for some time and information has been trickling out at a fairly poor pace. Any information we have received has been of poor quality and some of the information has simply been incorrect. We dont even know where we might be based as yet. Can anyone confirm the answers to a few questions, the above info (or about the process in general) please? - If we choose to TUPE and do not like the roles that we TUPE into, do we have 30 days to try out the role and are we legally able to choose to take redundancy if we do not like the role. - We are worried (collectively) about benefits received at our originating parts of the company and that these will disappear over time after TUPEing. Are company cars, pensions (and contributions), holiday entitlements protected? If moving to a new role within the new company, can we potentially lose them? - We have heard that certain salaries within the same role type will be frozen to allow other salaries within the same job type to catch up. Is this legal? It amounts to an effective pay cut for some. - We are also worried that in a lot of cases, the company is not replying to some requests for information and seems to be not too keen to put certain information down on paper. Should we be and are there any legal protection for employees on this? Many thanks for your time. GB