There are two points to my query, I will try to be both accurate and to the point. Our property that we purchased 10 years ago is at the end of a private road. We own 80% of the turning point and one side of the road which is outside a house that has just been sold 'subject to contract'. Our other immediate neighbour owns the other side of the road outside their own house. We have had words with the neighbour who is selling when we moved in as they would park on our private bit of road. We use our piece of road to park two of our vehicles, and we bought the house as it had enough parking, indeed it was sold to us as with additional parking for 3 vehicles. The property being sold has no on street parking (Although they could park on the other side of the house on the main street and enter their property from the garden entrance). Outside their garage is a small driveway, of which half is designated as part of the turning point. This is only marked by a tar line down the wall between our garage and theirs as the previous owners refused to allow it to be marked out on the floor. Their bit is obviously the other 20% of the turning bay. Planning permission for our house and our other neighbours house was subject to this turning point when the property being sold 'sold off' our plots of land in 1980. We have a copy of the original plans to prove this. Our concern is two fold. The new owners will have access and egress over our private road - no issue there - however, from what we have seen of them visiting the property they own multiple vehicles including a large work van. The only way they will be able to park these vehicles is if either D a) they block the turning point - and it is already too narrow so there will be no turning at all and involve reversing down the whole street. Or b) they knock down the front wall and turn the garden behind into parking (similar has been done the other end of the street, but that house owns the road in front of their house). If that was the case, our cars would still block access to their front garden - or would they have the right of access and egress across our parking spaces? Currently the parking spaces are not marked with white lines - we intend to rectify that next weekend as I feel we need a visual obvious sign that we park there. We have briefly spoke to them, just to say hello, when they were viewing and they were very 'off' - so the neighbour has obviously told them we have an issue with parking. They also were quite pointedly saying that our cars were not going to be parked outside their house for much longer! Not to us, but loud enough for us to overhear. I did at that point attempt to point out that we are parked on our own property - but the lady walked off very rudely without even replying. I have spoke to the estate agents to ensure they are notified of the turning point but we just got a solicitors letter from the person selling stating that as turning areas are not on land registry they do not have to notify the purchasers. I can see problems and want to be in a position to avert as easily as possible as life is much easier if we get along. I also feel they should be made aware of restrictions before they complete their purchase.

I recently received a pcn for using the bus lane on Southampton Row on my motorcycle during operating hours. I have since then informally challenged the contravention, but the pcn was not cancelled. My grounds for appeal are: the alleged contravention did not occur due to the signs and road marking being incorrect. I have attached a pdf with the Enforcement Notice, CCTV images, my route, google street view image and images taken by me a few days later. [ATTACH=CONFIG]60559[/ATTACH] After visiting the site where it happened I found the following: 1-The white information sign (962) on Bloomsbury Place (where I was turning from) was not facing oncoming traffic so had no indication of there being a bus lane (page 6). 2- When stopped at the traffic lights again no indication of the bus lane being there. All I could see was a box junction followed by a pedestrian crossing (page 7). There was traffic as well. 3- As I turned right I moved into the left lane as I was planning to turn left just ahead. there were no angled dashed lines at the start of the lane after there was a large break in a bus lane due to the box junction (please see page 8) 4- there was no 'BUS LANE' markings on the road surface where the bus lane restarted after the box junction (page 8). 5- the hours of operation sign (961) which is situated there was turned at an angle again not facing oncoming traffic (page 8). Hope to get some helpful advice on to how to word the representations. Thank you for your help in advance!

Hello I recently received a PCN for using the bus lane on Southampton Row on my motorcycle during operating hours. I have since then challenged the contravention, but the pcn was not cancelled. My grounds for appeal are: the alleged contravention did not occur due to the signs and road marking being incorrect. After visiting the site where it happened I found the following: 1-The white information sign on Bloomsbury Place (where I was turning from) was not facing oncoming traffic so had no indication of there being a bus lane. 2- When stopped at the traffic lights again no indication of the bus lane being there. All I could see was a box junction followed by a pedestrian crossing. There was traffic as well. 3- As I turned right I moved into the left lane as I was planning to turn left just ahead. there were no angled dashed lines when at the start of the lane after there was a large break in a bus lane (please see images in PDF) 4- there was no 'BUS LANE' markings on the road surface where the bus lane restarted after the box junction. 5- the hours of operation sign which is situated there was turned at an angle again not facing oncoming traffic. I've attached pdfs of my challenge and also the response from Camden council. Pictures taken by me and google streeview are in the challenge pdf and images of the CCTV camera attached to the pdf correspondence from the council. Would appreciate advice into whether to proceed. What would be the next step? Thank you in advance

Hello there, I'm new here and this is my first post, so my apologies if I'm not up-to-speed on how this site works. I was playing music in my flat today at around 11.30am this morning and turned it off after about an hour or so. After about another hour I had a woman who identified herself as being from the Housing Association (HA) knocking on my flat door, shouting through the letterbox and telling me to "open up the door!" There was not only a woman from the HA, but another woman outside my door, and my neighbour across the hall was talking to them and they were all waiting for me to answer. I was utterly intimidated and did not answer the door, but instead listened and watched them through the peephole. They left after several minutes of knocking and shouting through the letterbox. Can they do this? I thought they had to give at least 24 hours notice to visit your property, and not turn up unannounced. Back ground: I have had one previous noise complaint from a neighbour below me about two years ago for playing music one night, which was dealt with extremely harshly by the HA. They monitored me and finally closed the complaint after no further complaints. I have had to call the police about the neighbour who complained about me for harassment (long story); I believe he complained out of spite. I have lived here for just over three and a half years. Any advice would be most welcome as I'm fearful of what they might do next. Best wishes, Amanda Joyce

Hi everyone, hoping for some preemptive advice. My 15 year old son is Autistic, Dyspraxic with associated conditions. He has been in receipt of DLA HRC and LRM for 10 years. We have received the new adult form as he turns 16 in August. I have original dx letters and reports from 2008 (no reports since, but he still has OT and S&LT weekly, within his special school as set out in his SEN and also outside of school.), and letters from the school sen nurse, his OT and hopefully, the S&LT. He has a current Statement which outlines his difficulties and is in depth. Our GP is aware of his condition and care needs and will respond stating these, if asked. My son is very bright educationally, he has an amazing vocab and has self taught guitar and drums. It's his social skills, sense of danger, road sense and poor sleeping pattern that set him apart from his peers. He cannot leave the house independently (and indeed prefers not to go out at all) and still needs help with many things, due to poor fine motor control. I have to cut his food, tie laces and wash his hair etc. I have filled in the form very thoroughly, despite not being familiar with the adult form and I am asking to be his appointee due to him not having any idea about money, and also not being able to write adequately to fill in forms etc. He is happy for me to continue doing this when he turns 16. I also have a letter from the OT confirming his lack of knowledge regarding these areas. My main worry is that with all of the changes, his claim will be refused. It's not so much the loss of the extra money that worries me, rather, what will happen to him if they decide he is no longer eligible? If I am no longer receiving a carer's allowance, I will have no choice but to find work (his father is deceased.) and I am so scared for his safety if that happens. Just because they may decide he does not need that supervision, it will not mean that he actually doesn't. What if he leaves the house and gets hit by a car, gets lost, or gets bullied etc? I am literally terrified. He is due to leave his special school this year and start at college with learning support in September. The college is 4 miles from our house and he has to travel across the city to get there. I have already decided that I would of course appeal, and that has made me feel a little better, but I just had another worry pop up.. Would I be able to appeal at the tribunal on his behalf or would they expect him to do it? He just wouldn't be able to cope in that setting. I hadn't even considered that, so now i'm unsure if an appeal would even be an option. Does anyone have any advice for me please?

Has anyone any ideas/hints/ advice please, I am on ESA(support group) and DLA, been on these for 2 years now and am slowly going stir crazy as I was used to working full time. Can anyone see any problems for me in setting up an online shop, using etsy, to sell my knitted baby cloths? I do the knitting to give myself something to do and maybe make some spending money. How would this affect my benefits if I went ahead with it?

I was sent this email about Standard & Poor the rating agency being hammered (although they may appeal) on their ratings in Australia and I wondered if, in this day and age of bank bashing, transparency and more accountability whether this may be the beginning of the CRA's on consumer credit being tackled now on the effects they have on people's financial lives when they get things wrong and being made to pay for it. I do not have a lot of time for the Credit Reference Agencies in any event as they were invented to serve their own by Great Universal Stores I believe originally and whilst I can understand there may be a need for some kind of risk management in lending, their ego's , just like it happened within the Debt Collection Agencies until consumers turned with the help of CAG and other like minded souls, carried them into arrogance which meant that they change nothing on your rating unless their masters say so. Their masters being the finance industry as a whole. This report below just goes to show how companies, people, governments even are beginning to say " hold on a second - that's not right!" and not before time too. Let's hope this can be used as a tool and measure for complaints and rectification by the CRA's. Enjoy: Australian Court orders rating agency to pay damages for misleading investors In what has been reported to be a landmark ruling, the Australian Federal Court has ordered Standard & Poor’s (S&P) and the issuing bank (the bank that arranged the derivative product in question) to pay 30m Australian dollars (£19m) in damages to several Australian local governments. The claim concerned the AAA rating (their safest credit rating) given by S&P to two structured debt issues in 2006, which later lost almost all of their value. It signals the first ruling on a rating agency’s liability for investor losses. The Facts The claim concerned the rating, sale and purchase of a complicated structured financial product known as a constant proportion debt obligation (CPDO). The CPDO was a complex, highly leveraged credit derivative, operating over a term of 10 years, within which the CPDO would make or lose money through notional credit default swap contracts (CDSs) referencing two CDS indices known as the CDX and iTraxx indices. The issuing bank (through their previous dealings with S&P) had a good idea of how S&P would model the performance of the CPDO to assess the creditworthiness and the rating. Thus the issuing bank proceeded to model the CPDO in a way to ensure that they achieved a rating of AAA. When engaging S&P, the issuing bank pressed S&P to adopt its model inputs as the basis for the rating. Due to a series of errors, omissions and unjustifiable assumptions, S&P rated the CPDO as AAA and authorised the issuing bank to disseminate that rating to potential investors which the issuing bank did. The issuing bank created further versions of the CPDO’s all of which received a AAA rating from S&P. These investments were purchased by various Australian local governments through an intermediary in 2006 and later went on to lose almost all of their value. Decision The court ruled that S&P’s rating of AAA was misleading and deceptive and that S&P along with the issuing bank had been involved in the publication of information and statements that were false in material particulars and involved negligent misrepresentations being made to potential investors. The court stated that the rating implied that the likelihood of the financial obligations being met was extremely strong. The issuing bank was also criticised as it was “knowingly concerned” in S&P’s misleading and deceptive conduct and engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct itself. The court stated that a reasonably competent rating agency could not have reached the conclusion that the derivative should be given a AAA rating. The court has ordered S&P and the issuing bank to pay 30m Australian dollars (£19m) in damages to several Australian local governments. Comment While the role of the rating agencies (who tend to receive their fees from the entities which they are rating) came under much scrutiny during the sub-prime crisis, the ruling is the first of its kind on a rating agency’s liability for investor losses and is the first time that a rating agency (many of whom have previously argued that their ratings are simply opinions) has been taken to a full trial over a structured financial product. S&P has said that it plans to lodge an appeal against the decision. The decision means that rating agencies who have previously been unaccountable to investors may no longer be able to hide behind their disclaimers to protect them from liability. It has been reported that this decision could signal the way for investors to recover significant losses from S&P and the issuing bank in Europe. However, it remains to be seen whether such a claim would succeed in other jurisdictions (such as the English courts which have proved relatively unsympathetic to some investor claims, at least those by sophisticated investors) and raises interesting questions about the extent to which ratings agencies can be said to owe a duty to individual investors. Further reading: Bathurst Regional Council v Local Government Financial Services Pty Ltd (No 5) [2012] FCA 1200 (5 November 2012) A1

Hi there, I have recieved a PCN for being in a bus lane whilst turning left into a car park. I definitely want to appeal this as the picture shows my car in the bus lane for only a few metres before turning left into the car park. What are the rules on this? I have tried to look up the Traffic Management Order for this bus lane but Mcr council don't have any on their website. I have read somewhere else online that the bus lane is supposed to have a break in the solid white line where the junction is?Is that correct? This specific bus lane has no break in the solid white line. Hope someone can help!

Over the past month, I have had numerous phonecalls from a mobile phone number I don't recognise (got the number by dialling 1471). No message left on my answerphone so, I just ignore them. (had a suspicion it might be from a DCA). My phone number is ex-directory but it seems that these parasites can somehow get hold of ex-directory numbers. Anyway, I was out all day yesterday and didn't get home until 4am so slept very late into this afternoon. Comes down to find an envelope. In it, it contained a business card from Scotcall - complete with the same mobile phone number that keeps ringing me. I suspect this is for an old debt which is either just gone past it's sell-by date or just coming up for it. I think it is for an old Barclaycard debt. If it is, then it has done the rounds of nearly every DCA in the country! I have not been taken to Court. They have threatened on the card to come back again (harrassment?) My attitude to them is to go away in short, sharp, jerky movements. I will not contact them, talk to them or in any way be intimidated by them but they do seem to be getting rather desperate. Even if I did admit such a debt, I do not have the means to pay a penny. I was widowed earlier this year and my late husband left me virtually penniless (he didn't have life insurance). I have to live on £300 a month which consists of my late husband's two small pensions and the Widows Pension (can never remember what the new name for it is). I've cut expenditure to the bone and am thankful at the moment it is not too cold so have kept my central heating off. Thankfully, I get most of my rent and council tax paid for me but it is still a struggle. There are very few jobs here, not even temporary jobs and being in my mid 50s doesn't help either. I don't seem to get past the application form stage! I wish I could find a job as it would at least get me out of the house for a while. I started machine knitting again in the hope that I would be able to sell some knitwear. Sod's law, the machine broke down and is now in for repair. Anyway, I digress. How to deal with ScotCall. Should I just carry on ignoring them and hope they get fed up and go and annoy someone else? Incidentally, I had the Barclaycard in 2004. For some reason they put a stop on the card before it had reached it's limit of £500 despite the fact I used to pay the balance always on time so the initial debt was just over £400. We fell into financial hardship and I couldn't pay the outstanding balance. The last time I had a DCAs letter about this was a year ago - they were claiming just over £800. Said letter went in the shredder. It's been a horrible year and despite everything that's happened, I try to remain upbeat but I am starting to lose hope now. Things can only get better doesn't seem to be happening despite my best efforts