A few months ago contractors from the local council unlawfully entered my garden and lopped branches off my tree. They later claimed this was in response to "a number of complaints" they had received that the branches inhibited access to the cemetery next to my house. There was no such obstruction and despite requests they have declined to show these complaints. They have now changed this...

If a notice to deliver a tax return is sent by HMRC, what date is considered the "date that the notice is served" - the date it was posted (and is any time allowed for it to be delivered, eg. the 1 or 2 days the post routinely takes to deliver mail, or is it deemed to arrive immediately?) or is it even the date it was actually delivered? Thank-you.

Hi there, I would appreciate some help on this simple question. I have issued a summons in the County Court for a small amount of money and a date for the hearing has now been set. Unfortunately, since filling in the Allocation Questionnaire, some of the dates on which I was previously free are now not free for reasons outside my control. Murphy's Law of course applies and one of these...

My employers human resourse manger followed the the wrong prodedure to get a medical report i.e. they say they " forgot " to let me know that they had wrote to my doctor (I did request to see it before them) so they managed to see it before me! this is not my doctors fault. As I am not happy is it worth it to sue them, maybe the amount will be to small to be bothered with or will they just be...

Can anyone please inform me of the legal position with mobile phone contracts? I entered into a 12 month network contact via a distributor. The distributor deliberately drew the contract document with a mobile telephone number which they knew was already allocated to another subscriber, it seems as a new gambit now being used to avoid keeping to their offer for a marketing incentive. When the...

Hi all, We have recently sent a subject access request to a hospital and have now had a letter back from them with the following paragraph..... An invoice will then be sent to you when the notes are ready. The invoice includes: £10 Administration fee

Hi, A good friend of mine is suffering from a torrent of disgraceful defamtory postings on the internet from a particularly unpleasant individual who uses multiple usernames. These include obscene and abusive ravings, and the posting of doctored pictures of him (in an attempt to discredit someone who in fact luckily has a great deal of respect). Would this come within the usual defamation...

Long shot on here I would imagine but here goes, My 11 year old daughter has started secondary school education on Anglesey (North Wales). The issu I have is that they are insisting that she learns her mainstream subjects all through Welsh, whilst I and her mother are Welsh, for reasons I dont need to go into my Daughter's first language is English. I have contacted the school and requested...

Following on from an earlier request for information my friend is now appealing the dismissal. There are several reasons for the appeal notably failure to follow statutory procedure (several instances of this) plus the reasons for dismissal are, in our view, demonstrably pathetic. Having written to the employer appealing the decision they have written back wanting to know the grounds. In the...

Is there any legal definition of usury in the UK? Would an APR of 1159% be considered excessive? (That is not a typo and the company does exist; although it seems to be based in America, it offers loans at that rate in the UK.) -- x If you have been, were they sharks? /|\

I am unhappy with the costs from my solicitor defending me in a civil case and intend to get a Detailed Assessment of Costs. I can find lots of information on the Court procedure to get the assessment ordered but next to nothing on what criterion a costs draughtsman uses to judge if the costs are reasonable. All I can find is a "Costs Assessment Guidance" document on legalservices.gov.uk for...

As has been mentioned before, the appeal court was asked to consider the issue of whether folding but locking knives are folding pocket knives. http://www.bailii.org/cgi-bin/markup.cgi?doc=/ew/cases/EWCA/Crim/1998/385.html The court's decision, once the double negatives are interpreted, is that locking pocket knives are not exempt - 'We furthermore take the view that to construe the phrase...

"It is our council's policy to recover such costs from those persons responsible." I own a house. I don't live there any more and it's empty and been severely vandalised. Recently, some people (might have been vandals or would-be stone thieves (we get a lot of stone-thieves because cut stone is very lucrative)) prised some very heavy capping stones off the garden wall then dropped them...

Straight after I moved out a rental property, Royal Mail (RM) failed to implement a re-direction and my post was still being delivered to the old address. RM acknowledged their mistake and I put them in touch with the letting agents (LA) to recover my post (fortunately the property hadn't been re-let in the intervening period). RM turned up at the property at the arranged time, to...

Hi all. Another quick one: If, when defending a civil procedure, I present a counterclaim, should I word the counterclaim as if it was a new claim I have initiated? ie: Does the original claimant now become the defendant (and vice-versa)? Also, do I always refer to both parties in the 3rd person?

My local council is threatening to bring prosecutions for people not filling in electoral roll canvas forms. I've tried to find the legislation this might be under, but can't. The 1983 Representation of the People Act introduces an offence of providing inaccurate information but there's no requirement to actually return the form. On a related note the council offers a web site to fill the...

Hi ulm, I was wondering if the experts here were able to recomend a summary concerning what is now considered Tresspass in the UK (in relation to land/building acesss). The old fashioned 'Tresspassers will be Prosecuted' signs used to only have legal validity in specific circumstances. My thoughts were that there must be some kind of law covering the following situation:

IANAL I'm posting this on behalf of an acquaintance so may be missing a few details, but I should be able to clarify over the next couple of days if required... Someone claiming benefit but working considerably less than the 15 hours they understood necessary to declare (part time cleaner) was found guilty of benefit fraud in ~2003

Hi Please accept the not too good English, have mild dyslexia, but will try to keep it simple. Live in a council house, this year upgraded bathrooms, kitchens, drives under the better homes project. Came to do the work in July, they said it would be better to move out when its all done, so i took a months trip driving and camping around europe with

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/7095134.stm I had a laugh at this but I could not see why the guy was prosecuted. I can't imagine that the bike filed a complaint.