Ratpack

I'm getting Christmas presents and cards for you at Belvoir Road but don't have a forwarding address. Please pop round to your old address so I can return these to you.

It was cold but I found drinking nearly a whole bottle of Pimms quickly numbed our limbs.

I agree. We had a lovely night. Please put more films on and maybe it would be nice if they held other similar events.

If you are into gardening - they are a godsend. They will eat all the slugs and snails and your veg will flourish. Lots of people are desperately trying to encourage them in their garden. I wish I had one.

People's instincts are normally right. If you feel something is wrong - there probably is.

Something with a rustic feel would be really nice. Lots of old wine bottles with candles dripping down, mood lighting, some exposed brick work, wine in pitchers, old wooden tables. Somewhere with a lovely relaxed feeling, rather than a swanky bar.

Brilliant. I love it here.

Wagamamas

Email the people from the council and Tessa Jowell and the woman from bailiffadviceonline.com as everyone needs to know about how many people this is happening to.

This is complicated but the out of time statutory declaration gets sent to the traffic enforcement centre. The council can reject or accept it. If they accept it you get all your money refunded but they can reject it. The problem is sometimes the bailiff companies also do the legal work for the council as part of their contract so they will reject the declaration you made to the TEC as it's not in the interests of the bailiff's firm to refund you your money.

In my case Southwark are working hand in hand with the bailiffs. Yet when the bailiffs have done things that clearly breach government legislation and council ombudsman guidlines, the council claim it is nothing to do with them and only the council has to follow these guidlines - not the bailiffs. Therefore they can pretty much get away with whatever they want.

You will probably get the form rejected by the council. Don't expect to hear anything for MONTHS. It's a really dodgy situation and I can't believe they are getting away with it.

Hi,

I still don't have my money back but I'm still fighting for it.

The first thing you need to do is to file what is called an out of time statutory declaration to the traffic enforcement centre at Northampton. It sounds complicated but it's not. You need to fill in a form that you find on the internet. You have to have somebody witness it. I got a solicitor to do it and it cost ?5 but you can get it done at any County Court. This then needs to be posted or faxed to the Northampton TEC. Basically you are saying legally that you never received a parking ticket and the traffic enforcement centre decides whether to force the council to go back to the original ticket.

2): Write to the council and find out what the ticket was for and ask them to send you true copies of everything they have sent out to your address (supposedly). Write to the head of parking [email protected] and cc in [email protected]

3): I assume it was a bailiff company that came round and forced you to pay the cash. That's what happened to me. Write to them and ask them for exact details of everything they sent you and to which address. Ask also for screen grabs of their account that they have on you. They have to disclose this information. From this I discovered that they knew that I didn't live at my old address as they had received a phone call from the new resident informing them.

4): Contact Sheila Harding from bailiffadviceonline.com. She is really helpful and has numerous cases, mainly against Southwark, that she is working on. She is part of the House of Lords Law Reform Group or something like that. Her email is [email protected]

5) Write to Tessa Jowell, our MP. [email protected]. She started off helping me. I think this is a huge issue in this area.

It's going to be a difficult fight. It's taken me three months of constant fighting and I still haven't got my cash back. I'm waiting to hear from the Northampton centre but I'm taking this all the way so stay in touch and let me know how it goes with you.

My neighbour had her car stolen last night from Belvoir Road - thought I'd post this so everyone can keep an eye open and watch your own cars if you live nearby. It was a very very old car and quite easy to get in to.

I wasn't going to reply as I didn't want more abuse sent my way when I'm already feeling quite fragile.

I still don't know what my ticket is for. It's not for parking. Someone suggested it's for going in a bus lane but when I requested the information off the council, they said they didn't have any bus lane cameras. The council will not give me any more details about it other than the road where the contravention took place and a picture of my car on the road. It says Heaton Road/ Rye Lane but they say they have no bus lane cameras there so who knows????

If I was such a bad driver I wouldn't be on here moaning about it. I'm moaning because I have been driving for eleven years all across the country and I have never ever had anything like this before. I don't get parking tickets. I'm moaning as I feel that their policies and procedures are wrong. I've been fined ?650 because they have outsourced their PCN collections to bailiff's firms who hike up the fees and use questionable methods. I have made a mistake not changing my address immediately - I admit that - but when you are in the process of moving house, sometimes you forget things. I do however think this amount of money is unjustifiable and unaffordable. If I have done something wrong on the road - I'd firstly like to know what before I pay up. Secondly I don't like being extorted to pay huge sums of money (which I can't actually afford) by heavy men that come round your house and threaten to take your car away if you don't.

And before I get loads of abuse because I drive a car and it's now socially unacceptable to drive, some of us have no choice. We have bills to pay and work necessitates it.

Long drawn out process. I'm still waiting.

Because I was in the process of moving house when I got the ticket so it went to my old address, the council passed it on to bailiffs who hiked up the price. They came round clamped my car and told me to pay ?650 or it would be towed.

Actually I have only ever had one parking ticket EVER in ten years of driving and it has cost me ?650. That is why I have posted on it a lot.

ttt

I made a huge mistake on the figure I gave you.

Southwark Council made ?1,521,430.63 from parking, bus lane and traffic cameras in 2007/2008.

Since they started using cameras and fining people they have generated ?8,439,648.52.

Shocking !!!!

I'm in a huge fight with Southwark Council over a ?650 fine for a parking ticket I was forced to pay. I've done a freedom of information request and Southwark Council raised over ?16,000 last year through parking fines.

Write to the parking manager Nick Costin - [email protected]. Also let your MP Tessa Jowell know as she is helping me with my case, [email protected]. There is also a good website http://www.bailiffadviceonline.co.uk/. The woman who runs it is brilliant and is part of a house of lords group dealing with reform. It tells you what the bailiffs need to do before they two your car.

It is true that councils should only clamp persistent offenders under new legislation.

You need to appeal the parking ticket with the council, if they reject your appeal you need to take it to: http://www.parkingandtrafficappeals.gov.uk/

I'm not an expert in any way but I have spent two months living and breathing this fight to get my money back.

Who gave you the parking ticket?

I put little logs in between my plants and big stones (not rubble as that is obviously similar to cat litter and they like it even more) and they find it awkward to dig and poo. It works with my two cats.

They love fresh soil that is easy to dig and that is quite dry. Also if they have been to the loo there before, they can smell it and will return to the same place, so make sure you clear the old stuff off.

They hate tinfoil if you can be bothered to stick that down.

I know you don't want them in your garden at all but if you want them to leave the plants alone it might be worth making a little area that you don't use for plants, easily diggable for them so they go to that instead when they do come in your garden. That's another thing I do to keep them away from my herb garden. I leave some fresh soil next to it so that is easier than my herbs...

or chilli powder. Another way to stop them coming in is to cover the soil with wood and stones.

Put old lemons and old limes in the garden. They hate it. I have two cats.

Put old lemons and old limes in the garden. They hate it. I have two cats.

Does anyone know what the noise is? Is it firweorks?

Southwark Council are clearly using this point as a cash cow.