cupcake_girl

alas, they have rejected my appeal and apparently they don't need photographic evidence of the actual ticket, rather the photo of the van committing the parking violation with the pocket (albeit empty!) is sufficient. the rejection included an explanation to say that i was creating a hazard for pedestrians - if so, surely i should have been issued the "ticket" in person and have been asked to move. i'm not disputing the parking violation, but would rather southwark acknowledge that it was nothing to do with safety / enhancing community life and everything to do with raising a few bob. hats off to the chap in the you-tube clip. yours sixty quid down

it was Southwark. They are 'considering' my appeal. we'll see.

Thanks Dubluke and DJKilla Queen. Yes I was over the white line so technicially a violation. Over zealous is an understatement, and I'm annoyed they snuck the envelope on the far side without speaking to us as it was clear what we were doing. I will definitely ask them for the photographic evidence of the notice and not just the envelope. I've sent the letter off (their on-line appeals system is down...!) and will let you all know how it goes.

exactly! Knowing how sneaky they are, I called them today to check if they had anything on their system and they gave me a reference number and confirmed there was a fine due (and that whilst they're not required by law to speak to you if you are there they are supposed to draw any violation to your attention, I was told they should speak to you as part of 'customer service'!!) I've no idea how I prove that there wasn't anything in there but there definitely wasn't! (I'm not disputing the mild parking violation but the lack of an actual fine notice I hope means it was not valid). Hopefully mine will be cancelled for a'technical reason' too.

I was moving house on Saturday and when were loading up, the lovely parking people slapped a penalty notice pocket on the other side of the van (sneakily so we didn't see them doing it when we were coming in /out to load up) but the pocket was empty - ie there was no actual penalty notice in there. (We were parked in a lane but slightly over a white line as this was the only place we could park up without obstructing anyone - we couldn't have done the move otherwise). Anyone got any experience of empty penalty pockets and appealing these? Is this valid ground for appeal?

Thank you all for your suggestions which are really helpful. It is good to get other people's perspectives. I was always quite good at most things at school, but never excelled in one thing so it's hard to work out what I could do. It's proving quite difficult to think of what I could do well and where the good days / fun bits are in higher proportion to the bad days / dull bits. My dream would be to do something cake related (and have been going to cake dec classes and trying to develop skills and experience in that area) but I can't see how that could be anything other than pocket money to subsidise a hobby. I've booked a week off at the end of the month to focus on all this and aim to get a proper plan in place. felt-tip - good guess, you're not far off! Nero- I completely agree with you that there is no such thing as the best job in the world, I just need to find a better fit than I have at the moment. I'll give the Guardian a go. woman-of-dulwich - yes, there are some right "mood hoovers" where I am! thank you for the suggestions. thank you everyone! appreciated.

hopefully I'm posting this in the right section (my first thread.) Can anyone recommend a good career consultant? I am 7 years into the career I went straight into after university and I am really not enjoying my job. There are lots of consultancies out there who offer the pyschometric testing and give advice on alternative careers and work environments, but I'm not sure how to tell any of them apart. I've read different books and done on-line tests, etc, but think it would be useful to talk to an impartial third party. I have tried "life coaching" but it is not really me - I want to talk to someone who can give me practical advice and suggestions.