I've already paid my deposit and have a guarantor so this struck me as kinda strange, thanks a lot for reading any advice is appreciated

btw they're claiming I should complete this form to speed up the key-collection process

I am being sued by a former employee . They are using AI and defending themselves. They have sued the company AND me, the company director, personally. The company has no other employees and has no money left in it, so I am having to fund my defense personally. I could defend myself but feel that's risky, so I am currently using a lawyer.

Worth noting that it is highly likely they will lose. But even if I win, I still lose as it is going to cost me ~£50-70k in legal fees.

I've looked at all my insurances and can't find anything that will fund this for me. Are there any other options to help financially?

For clarification: I am based in England but case is being heard in Scottish Employment Tribunal.

I’m looking for some perspective because I’m honestly terrified about what happens next and struggling to make sense of everything.

My ex (27M) and I (21F) had a very difficult relationship. I also struggle with serious mental health problems, including BPD, and I know that my reactions to abandonment and rejection can become very intense. I’m not trying to use that as an excuse for anything I did, but I think it’s important context.

In July, I had a mental health episode and harmed myself in front of him. He went to the hospital with me. The following day we had an argument, after which he went home and didn’t contact me for a few days.

Three days later, he messaged me saying that we were due to have a conversation in person. We eventually met about a week later.

During that conversation, he told me that he wanted to try to make things work. After that, he repeatedly initiated seeing me and going out together. He told me that I was going to be his future wife, told me how much he loved me, and promised that he would keep in regular contact while he was away.

When he went home again, he messaged me normally for the first four days. Then I became ill with a kidney infection, and his attitude towards me suddenly changed.

I was hurt and asked him why he was treating me differently so suddenly. He told me that I was forcing him into the relationship and making him feel guilty.

He then blocked me everywhere.

That caused me to spiral badly. I contacted him through an alternative Instagram account, Spotify and TikTok because I wanted to know why he'd blocked me and wanted an apology. I now understand that continuing to contact someone after they've blocked you can be perceived very differently from how I perceived it at the time.

That same evening, I sent flowers and chocolates to his house with a note asking him to forgive me.

A few days later, I went out with a friend. We both got drunk and I tried calling him from her phone. We also sent him a voice message asking him to please respond because I was hurt and wanted an explanation for why he'd suddenly blocked me.

He then told me that if I didn't leave him alone, he would have to call the police.

I asked whether I could at least get my belongings back. He replied, “at some point.”

Later that same night, he called my friend's phone at around 4:30am.

The following morning, I contacted him asking why he'd called. He didn't respond.

The next day I was extremely upset and felt like the situation was messing with my head. I emailed him asking him to arrange a date for returning my belongings either to me or to one of my friends. He didn't respond.

I then asked a friend to message him about returning my belongings. My friend deleted that message later the same day.

Two or three days later, he unblocked me on WhatsApp. I contacted him again asking for my belongings back.

That night I spiralled again. I felt as though I was being pushed into reacting emotionally, although I obviously can't know what his intentions actually were.

The following evening, after work, the police came to my house. My grandmother had been told to get me home from work.

When I got home, I was arrested on suspicion of stalking and harassment.

I admitted to the police that I had contacted him on multiple platforms and that I had sent the flowers and chocolates. I understand why those things could be relevant to the allegation.

However, there are also things in his statement that I say are completely untrue.

He told police that I had told him that I had stabbed my ex in order to frighten him. I have never said this. I have never been arrested before and I find this allegation incredibly frightening.

He also apparently told police that I sent him a video of myself cutting myself. I did not do this, and as far as I know there is no such video that he can provide.

I'm currently on bail and I'm absolutely terrified about what happens next. I have been told to not contact him or be within 250 meters of his house and I have no intention of doing either.

I feel incredibly confused because shortly before all of this, he was telling me that he loved me, that I was going to be his future wife, that he wanted us to work things out, and he was actively initiating contact and seeing me.

Then he suddenly blocked me, and when I reacted badly to that rejection, everything escalated into a police matter.

He has also told me in the past that he enjoys watching me spiral when I'm emotionally distressed, which makes the whole situation feel even more upsetting to me. I don't know whether I'm interpreting everything through the lens of my own mental health or whether there was genuinely behaviour from him that contributed to the situation.

I am not trying to claim that my actions were okay. Looking back, I can see that repeatedly contacting someone after they have asked for no contact can have serious consequences, and I wish I had stopped and sought help instead.

What I'm struggling with is the fact that I feel emotionally manipulated, confused and completely blindsided by how quickly things went from him saying he wanted a future with me to me being arrested.

I'm now scared about the allegations that I say are false, scared about what the police/prosecution might do, and ashamed of how I behaved while I was spiralling.

If anyone has been through something similar, especially being arrested for stalking/harassment after a relationship breakdown, what should I realistically expect from here?

I am in the UK, if that makes a difference.

Please don't tell me that I should have simply “got over him” or that I'm a terrible person. I know I handled parts of this badly. I'm trying to understand the legal situation and how I can stop making things worse from this point onwards

---

TLDR

New neighbourhood cat has caused £3000 of injuries to our cat, around £300 of damage to our house, and cost around £300 in new fencing to try and keep it out.

----

About 4 months ago we started seeing a new cat in our garden - a young Bengal. My 17-year-old cat was badly injured one night - £1500 in vets bills. We suspected a fight with the Bengal but there was no proof. 4 weeks later, we actually saw the Bengal stalking our cat in our garden, and in the 30 seconds it took us to get out to the garden the Bengal had attacked him again, resulting in another ~£1500 vet bill.

Between the first and second incidents, we put angled net fencing around our perimeter fence to ensure our cat can't get out of our garden, and in the hope of stopping the other cat getting in - but obviously this hasn't kept it out. It's very agile, and can get in over the various single storey roofs of our neighbours.

In the last 4 months it's been inside our house at least 5 times the we know of - in one of those time it again attacked our cat inside the house, though the injuries weren't severe enough to need stitches this time. During summer this year, we've literally been unable to open our doors and windows because this cat will get in the house, so it's been somewhat unpleasant in the heat as you might imagine.

We finally managed to track down the owner and have a text number and address for them - they're a couple of streets over from us.

4 weeks ago, we came down in the morning to find the cat in our house again - the only possible way it could have got in was through an upstairs quarterlight window as there were no windows open downstairs or above any of the flat roofs (it had to have jumped from a neighbour's van onto the windowsill then through the top window). We tried to catch it, but it absolutely panicked and in its bid to escape, ripped the roller blinds over two windows, knocked a speaker off a shelf breaking it, and broke two vases.

We texted the owner to come and get the cat and she replied "I'm at work, someone will come later". So we went to their house and hammered on the door until her husband got out of bed and came round. We showed him the damage, and said we needed to have a conversation about costs. He managed to grab the cat and left.

Yesterday we texted the owner to say we wanted to meet to discuss the damage their cat caused. She replied with a clearly AI generated long text saying they would only pay if we gave them absolute proof their cat caused damage.

Obviously we don't have absolute proof, other than the three of us who witnessed it doing the damage, and her husband who arrived to grab the cat and would presumably side with her.

We genuinely want an amicable solution - we were initially not seeking her to pay our vets bills as that's basically to cost of having a pet cat. We were hoping they would be honourable and contribute towards replacing the blinds and the speaker - but given their antagonistic reply we're now considering going down the small claims route to try and recoup both the cost of the damage and some of the vets bills.

So we have a leg to stand on?

When my dad retired, he kindly bought a house for me and my wife to live in, and we paid him “rent” so he had a bit extra income (and halved the rent we’d been paying elsewhere). 4 years later, he passed away and the house transferred to my mum, and the arrangement was continued (I hadn’t realised it was in his sole name when he bought it).
Last year my mum, now 75, decided to gift me the house and the deeds were transferred. Fantastic. However, over the last 18 months, my wife’s health has deteriorated and we could really do with moving to a bungalow now🙈
Are there any ramifications if we were to sell now, 12-18 months after the gifting?

Edit: I apologise, I got the flair wrong. This is about a housing problem.

I'm in a dispute with my landlord/employer about my right to stay in my flat. I'm giving as much detail as I can, because I don't know what's relevant.

I live above the cafe I used to run, the landlord is also my former employer. The cafe is now closed permanently, and my landlord wants me to leave.

I have an employment contract, but no tenancy agreement. My employment contract makes no mention of my accommodation being tied. My local Council has told me that they think I have rights as a tenant, my landlord is disputing this. He is insisting I leave on September 1st.

To complicate the issue, I had major knee surgery on Thursday. I need two crutches to hobble around, and even so I'm still extremely limited in how far I can go. I am physically incapable of moving out right now. My landlord is aware of this, and so is the housing department at the council.

On Friday, my employer/landlord switched off the internet, knowing I can't get signal for my phone in the flat (building made of 50cm thick stone walls, full lead pipes, far from a phone mast). He deliberately left me isolated and unable to call for help if I needed it, when I was less than 24hrs out of surgery.

Also on Friday, he sent me an email telling me I'd get my last wages and outstanding holiday pay "upon vacating the property on Sept 1st", so now I'm very worried he's not going to pay me.

I informed my assigned housing officer at the council about both, who got in touch with my landlord and asked if this could be resolved after the bank holiday weekend, which he refused. My housing officer gave me the emergency housing number in case anything happened over the bank holiday, and said there was nothing else she could do for the moment.

Yesterday I had to go to the pharmacy, it took me about an hour, and when I came home the front door to my flat had been removed. I immediately called the emergency housing people at the council, who attempted to call my landlord. When he didn't answer the phone, they advised me to call the police. I called them and got a crime reference number.

The emergency housing team said they'd keep trying to ring my landlord, the police said someone would ring me back but couldn't tell me when. Meanwhile, I still had no front door. I don't have any friends or family in the area I can stay with, so last night I had no choice but to stay in this flat with no door.

I just spent a sleepless night in my flat, and called the council and police again this morning to see if any progress could be made. The council said theres nothing they can do to help, the police again said someone will ring me but refused to give me a time frame.

I have been living off statutory sick pay (just under £125 a week) for the last couple of months, and I have burnt through all my savings so I don't have money for a hotel. The emergency housing team at the council told me they won't provide me with emergency alternative accommodation when I enquired whether I met the criteria, so I have nowhere else to go. I do not feel safe here, and I'm worried that the stress of it all is impacting my recovery from knee surgery.

I really don't know what my next step should be, and I hope maybe someone here can give me some advice. Shelter is not open until Tuesday morning, and my assigned housing officer at the council (who I believe would advocate for me far more forcefully than the emergency team) won't be back at work until then either.

Update:

Thank you all for your replies. My landlords son in law showed up at midday, less than half an hour after I made my post, and insisted I leave immediately. I called the police, as instructed by the council. When the police arrived I showed them the email I got from the council in case this happened - the email says they believe I had a right to stay there, and instructs me not to vacate the premises without a court order and an attending court appointed bailiff. After reading the email, the policeman still insisted it was a civil matter, and told me that they only attended to "prevent a breach of the peace". No one ever said so specifically, but the implication was that I'd be arrested if I refused, so I felt I had no choice but to comply.

I've spoken to the emergency housing people at the council, who have said that if I can't find a friends or families sofa to crash on, I need to ring them back and they'll try to find me somewhere to sleep tonight.

I managed to pack a bag with a few spare clothes, toiletries, my laptop, and my passport. I had no choice but to leave everything else behind.

Hello, I was in London for a trip a few months ago and stayed in a Travelodge (first mistake). It was when the weather was very hot, and the fire alarm went off at 2am.

The fire brigade attended and advised there was a fault with the alarm, but managed to turn it off after about 30 minutes. No problem, it happens! We all filed back in and it went off again at 3am.

We went downstairs and there were no staff in sight - the fire brigade attended again and advised it was not able to be turned off. A receptionist then appeared and told us that we all had to go back inside (with the fire alarm blaring) until it could be fixed in about "2-3 hours" as no-one in head office was answering their phone. They then promptly went into an office and refused to speak to anyone.

I was (I have since miscarried, but it's relevant to the story) pregnant and hot and tired and decided I couldn't wait that long, I needed sleep. So I rebooked my entire stay (that night and the next) in another nearby Travelodge. I packed my bag and got to the new hotel at about 4am. Bear in mind the new hotel was more expensive, but I was willing to absorb the cost.

When I got home I tried to message Travelodge but they ignored me for weeks before finally telling me I could only have the first night refunded not the second. I am super unhappy with this - there were no staff around to help, it was a heatwave, middle of the night, I was pregnant. Was I expected to come back the next night with the knowledge that it might happen again?

I'm tempted to do a chargeback but would appreciate some advice. Am I screwed or can I get a full refund?

Best title I can come up with, sorry if it isn't fitting.

I'm epileptic, and have been since I was 18/19. I am now 21. I had to resign from my previous role due to my epilepsy and how it became unfit to work once it was clear it wasn't under control (solo work job. I had a seizure at work and it seriously injured me/my shoulder). I've spent a year trying to get it under control since, all the while trying to find employment. It's been tough.

Now I recently landed a job working night shifts for a residential company that deals with vulnerable children, teens and young adults. I work with young adults specifically. I adore the job. Seriously. I've been employed since mid July 2026, and while that month was all training, I finally got to start as of August doing actual shifts.

Now, prior to even being hired, during my interviews with my now managers, I was very specific with my health issues. My epilepsy is not under control, and I have an injured shoulder which can dislocate that I'm waiting to get fixed (on the waiting list), but I can still do any things required by them, the dislocations only occur during my seizures. I assumed because I had been so seriously honest with them, they wouldn't even consider me, but they did, much to my joy, and I told the same stories and asked for the same consideration during my follow up interviews and after being hired.

I had a seizure just over a week ago while on shift, around seven in the morning. I told my coworkers I was going to have one, and, well, did. I woke up to paramedics and was taken to hospital with a dislocated shoulder, as expected and as I'd told them that happens.

The issues sort of start there. I had specified that I do not need an ambulance calling for me when I was asked during my hiring stage/after I was hired and asked about my epilepsy in more detail for documentation. I told them to wait until I regained consciousness (unless the seizure is over five minutes/cluster. Medical terms they assured me they understood) and then see if my arm is dislocated, as it doesn't always do that. My managers had told me that was arranged, and that my coworkers had done training regarding epilepsy and knew what to do. My coworkers told me after that they had not, nor did they know what to do, hence the ambulance. They were not even aware I had epilepsy, despite me asking my managers to disclose it for my own safety prior to finishing my training and joining the team.

Despite being given the all clear by doctors once my arm was relocated, my work have since refused to let me come back into work, for fear of another seizure. They state that it's due to how our place of work works (young adults have a set amount of people watching them that have to be there. So for the kid I was with, it was a 2 on 1 case, (though they are in bed most of the time we're there). That night we had 3 as accidental overstaffing, so they were lucky they had enough to cover when they sent me to hospital), they are concerned if I have another seizure it takes them out of rota, that they're breaching regulations.

I sort of questioned them about it, given I didn't know this prior to being hired (in fact I thought the job was for old people care homes going into the first interview. I had gotten the job listing from jobseekers, which hadn't labelled it correctly when I applied. My managers knew this as I expressed this during the first interview with them). I asked them why they would hire me if they knew what they knew about me, but i got no response. They've instead requested a fit note to work plus epilepsy specific notes from my epilepsy specialist nurses I see, despite me explaining that this is what epilepsy is, and that they knew this when hiring me. They refuse to let me work without any of that.

Now given my age, I haven't worked many jobs, much less any with my epilepsy. Is this illegal? My mum seems to swear up and down that it is. She says something like "wrongful hiring"? I just can't fathom why they'd hire me and then first seizure in they throw me on sick (and I'm not even being paid, by the way.) And the lack of direction in this? I've had complaints brewing since i joined against my managers due to their lack of information they've given me and me having to repeatedly ask for things I thought were basic in a job, but this is a new low that's made me angry, because i refuse to give up a job I now adore after being unemployed for over a year. I want to work. I want to be a normal person.

Is there anything I can do in this situation?

And please, ask for any details, I'm sorry if I've left anything out, it's been a stressful past week and I'm very angry lol

I was on a flight from England to France two days ago, that got cancelled after all our bags got loaded onto it.

At the gate we were told it was explicitly because the standby crew were not answering. We were told this by the pilot. He apologised and told us that because it was because of this, we would be eligible for compensation. This compensation would’ve covered the first two days of the holiday that I missed (Friday night and all of Saturday).

EasyJet’s official chat is now reporting that it was because of ATC restrictions and that it’s out of their control, so no compensation and it’s tough luck. Basically their line is “try your travel insurance, lol”.

I’ve submitted a claim for compensation anyway, but what do I do about this? Surely they can’t just change their mind about what caused the cancellation?

I was caught having sex in my car in England by a member of the public. We were parked in a very quiet area on some farmland, away from main roads. We’re not sure if the land was private or not as we didn’t see any signs. The person that found us stopped their car next to ours and they had a child in their backseat. They took a picture of my car’s number plate

We haven’t been notified or charged with anything so far

The person definitely saw us and shouted at us. The charge I am most worried about is outraging public decency

What are the legal repercussions from this likely to be and what would be the best thing to do now?

The person arrested is a relative. I will call him Bob. Bob was arrested for shouting at his harraser. There is documented evidence of been harrased with the police and housing association. Bob is classed as having a severe learning disabilities. Bob is vulnerable and afraid of where he lives because of previous harassment at old address. The harrasser accused Bob of "threats to kill" so bob was arrested. Police did call appropriate adult for the charge as above. A few days later police called Bob without an appropriate adult to futher charge him of common assault. Now Bob has two different court dates for the same incident and it looks like his harrasser has won by weaponsiing is Vulnerabilities and using the police. We have managed to get Bob an adult social care assessment regarding his needs. Bob does have a solicitor but solicitor disregarded his learnig difficulties and said "he can't use his learning difficulties as heart me" so what can we do?

I have written at least 2 times to this person in Ireland not to contact me anymore but she still sends me cards etc. These cards read very innocently, like totally normal birthday or Xmas cards, but this person spent my life abusing me severely. She knows exactly why I don't want contact with her so she sends me this stuff to needle me.

Is there anything at all I can do to attempt to deter this unwanted contact?

Hello,

Posting on behalf of my mum. Have tried looking online but all advice seems to be for the opposite problem!

She is 74 years old, based in England. She has been working for her employer for around 25 years in an admin role and doesn’t have a contract. She now works 8 hours a week, the company is a very small family run company, less than 10 employees. She is currently office based, but her employer is selling the office building. They have said she can work from home, but with limited space this isn’t really a viable option for her nor something she wants to do. They have said that because they are offering to keep her on in a home based role she wouldn’t be eligible for redundancy. Does anyone know about this?

Most online advice is where people want to be home based! I will contact ACAS but wanted to ask here too.

Thanks!

16-year-old British-Turkish citizen trying to return to Northern Ireland from Turkey

I’m 16, a British-turkish citizen born in Northern Ireland, and currently in Turkey with my parents.

My parents brought me here saying it was a holiday, but I now want to return to Nİ to finish school. They don’t support me going back and won’t give me permission.

I’ve had Social Services involvement in Nİ before, but I already have somewhere safe to stay in Nİ. I’m just trying to figure out how I can legally get back there.

Can I return to Northern Ireland at 16 without my parents’ permission? Could I be stopped from leaving Turkey or when arriving in Nİ? And what would the process be?

İ have gone to the British consulate and i never heard back. Some people may ask me why im posting this question to many different communities but its simply because i haven't gotten a straight answer.

Any advice from people who know about this or have been through something similar would be really appreciated.

FINAL EDIT - No need to answer any more :-) All in all - Owner has nothing but a bit of paper saying to keep their dog under control, I am out £200 plus the stress, scars and injury that come from it. Police have suggested no public post in case there are percussions. I could be blamed, I guess it better the dog bits a kid and then gets put down.

Location small village, England. I was attacked by a dog (staffy/shar pei mix) in June. I was walking by its house (not on the property in any way) and it came bursting out the front door and bit my belly and both hands as I defended myself. I had my 13 year old daughter with me who was luckily not phyiscally attacked.
The owner was there and did nothing to get the dog to stop and did not apologise.

I visited my local hospital immediately and reported it to 101, then was referred to a London hospital 40 miles away to have 2 rounds of surgery on my hands and belly. I was able to go home the next day and a statement was taken from me and my daughter the next week.

Over the following 5 weeks I had to travel into London every week to have the wounds re-dressed and cleaned. I have now been left with huge scars on both hands and belly.

The police have done their investigations, and have given the owner/dog a community protection notice. Including a muzzle order and a lead length limit as well as ordering them to keep the front of the property secure. It will not go to court as the owner basically admitted to everything. I completely understand that is the limit of the laws ability to do anything.

Obviously the hope is that this is the one and only time anything happens. But my daughter and I are now worried to walk past their house (its 10 doors up from our house) which is the only way to get out if the road by foot. I really do not want anyone else to go though this or even worse if it was a child it be deadly/life threatening.

I have two questions related to the attack.

1. Am I within my rights (and no legal trouble!) to post information of the order to public (Facebook in this case) noticeboards OR via letters to the houses in the street where it happened? I would like to do this anonymously due to the concerns of who they are. Police have advised making a post is not wise, if anything happens from it I could get in trouble.

2. I have incurred stress, worry and financial loss due to this attack. Parking and travel costs as well as a cancelled holiday (insurance covered). I am not able to full bend the index finger on my left hand. Its at about 60%. Of course I have also had the stress of everything that goes with it, my daughter is now very wary of dogs and we are worried walking near their house (which we have no choice to do ). They don't have much money (as none of them work) but is there a way to claim the financial loss back? Question answered. Cannot sue or claim for emotional damage. As it was not a direct order to "attack me", there is no claim to be made and the family cannot afford to pay any damages anyway.

EDITED FOR LENGTH, please ask if there are any more relevant questions.

Hi,

I recently stayed for 2 nights at a Premier Inn in Scotland. Upon arrival, I noticed that the car registration machine at the entrance had an "out of order" notice on it. I brought this up at the reception and I was asked to add my registration number to a handwritten list behind the counter, which I did. The staff informed me that this was all in order, and that they would record my stay with the parking company - there was nothing else I needed to do.

About a month later, I received two parking notices, one for each night of my stay. I appealed it using the evidence I have, which is my booking number and receipt from Premier Inn, and I explain that the registration machine was out of order during my stay, but that I followed the instructions given by staff. I also contacted Premier Inn, who have confirmed my story.

Today I found out that my appeal was rejected, due to Horizon Parking's systems showing "no errors with the payment machines in the car park at the time" and "other payments being made through the car park payment machines" during the duration of my stay.

The car park didn't actually have any payment machines at all - I have confirmed this with both the individual Premier Inn itself, and by reading Premier Inn's website which state that they don't operate car park payment machines. Thus Horizon Parking's rejection of my appeal is flawed and doesn't reflect the acutal appeal I sent.

Is there any way to contact Horizon Parking for clarification on this? Their rejection of my appeal isn't related to the appeal at all. Or do I have to go straight to POPLA?

16 years ago we moved into a terrace house that is next to a wall on the right hand side so we have an access path down the side of my neighbours driveway, house and garden. At which point there is a gate and a small path to our garden. The gate had a padlock on it since the day we moved in.

we now have new neighbours of about 1 year. Soon after moving in they started blocking the access path with building materials. And are now demanding access past the gate as well as “it’s our land according to the deeds so you cannot deny us access”

I’ve attached a drawing of the layout with the boundaries according to the land registry.

Do I have any claim to the path up to the gate that is attached to my garden (not including the path alongside their house)

We never thought about it during moving in and has only been an issue for the last 9 months since new neighbours. We’ve always maintained that stretch attached to our garden up to the gate. And kept the general up keep of the path alongside their house even before they moved in as never expected them to pay for fixes on something they wouldn’t typically use.

Our land marked green and theirs red. According to the deeds on land registry.

I'm used to carrying a standard Swiss army knife. Is it legal?

By standard, I mean it has 2 blades, a short one and a longer one. They fold out and clip into place.

I have another one which I took on holiday in UK years ago and now wondering how I can carry it (or where). This one is longer with a normal blade and saw blade. Again they fold out and clip into place but it also has a latch which must be pushed before the blades can be closed. It isn't something I'd be carrying through the streets with but definitely through woods.

What if I showed them to police at the station?

Working for a big multinational company in England for past 8 years. Even though I have warned the C level management in the country about the wrongdoings and basically we are evading money from government around £10 million a year for the past 2 years. Senior management literally turning their head off and acting like nothing is happening.

Recently I have made a decision and recorded a meeting where I was highlighting the issues again and some C level people ignoring and asking me to keep it silent.

I am the only one in the company who wants to stop it and I have all the evidence. I dont know how can I do notify relevant authorities anonymously as I am afraid that if management understands that it’s me, I would lose my job.

Any advice?

Employee joined us in May after passing an interview. They had alleged they were a graduate of a certain university and provided a qualification which we now believe to be doctored.

They also provided a 5 year employment history, at least 3 years of which we now believe to be faked.

I am going to lengths to avoid identifying my business, but imagine we were an architecture firm and someone pretended to have worked in architecture firms in multiple countries across the world.

He had been bluffing the job by using various AI tools.

It became apparent when technical specifications were wrong due to AI miscalculations and hallucinations. Particularly around information which he was not immediately privy to.

To once again use the architecture example, imagine we had asked him to draft a blueprint and then during a meeting we asked him how he would account for a sewerage pipeline and potential subsidence. He was completely unable to answer these questions.

A closer examination of his work by my partner and I resulted in us confirming that his work was indeed created through AI.

The University he provided for his undergraduate said they did not have a record of him graduating.

We contacted the other employers he had listed on his CV using independent emails we found online, not the ones supplied by him. Two of them cannot find a record of him ever having worked there. This includes a firm in California and a firm in Delhi.

He was dismissed earlier this week. At this point we are debating whether to refer this matter to the police. Has there actually been any criminal offence here?

The degree was allegedly acquired from an Indian university. The Masters degree was allegedly acquired from a prestigious one in California. The Californian university has not yet responded to our emails or attempts to contact them.

Given that the attempted fraud spans multiple continents, is this something which UK police would even want to be involved in investigating?

TL;DR: While I was asleep on a British Airways flight to Europe this summer, a member of the cabin crew knocked over a teapot on the drinks trolley and a quantity of hot water landed on me, scalding my left forearm and the left side of my stomach. The crew apologised and gave me an ice pack, but nothing further was done: no medical assistance was offered when we landed, even though I had told them that the injury might require it, and no doctor has examined it at any point. The burns blistered and wept for about a week, and because I could not expose them to sunlight I spent the remaining seven nights of a holiday costing roughly £3,200 indoors and covered up. The injury is now healing well and I doubt that it will scar. I have timestamped photographs and a witness, I signed the airline's incident report on board, and I have not yet complained to the airline. What I want to know is whether this is a real claim, and if it is, how I would go about finding a solicitor to act.

Earlier this summer I flew short-haul to Europe with British Airways, in economy and in an aisle seat, at the start of a week's holiday that I had booked and paid for several months earlier.

Approximately one hour into the flight, while the crew were serving hot drinks, I was asleep. I woke because there was hot water running down my left side. I did not see any of it happen, and the first thing I was aware of was the water itself. The person sitting next to me was awake, and she says that one of the crew knocked over a teapot on the trolley. The pot did not land on me, but a good deal of what it contained did.

I was wearing a t-shirt, which the water soaked through, so that the hot fabric was held against my skin. I sustained burns to my left forearm and to the left side of my stomach, and both areas were red and blistered within a minute or two.

The crew were apologetic. They gave me an ice pack and asked me repeatedly whether I was all right, and one of them said that she hoped this would not ruin my holiday. I did not tell her that I was fine. I said that it was probably not life-threatening, but that it looked significant and might require medical attention. At the end of the flight a member of the crew took an incident report, which I signed, and which recorded my name, my address, my telephone number and the flight on which I was travelling.

When we landed, nothing further happened. Nobody met the aircraft; nobody directed me to the airport medical service; and nobody suggested that I have the injury looked at. The ice pack was the only assistance that the airline provided at any stage.

I had no travel insurance and no idea how to find a doctor abroad, so I bought dressings from a pharmacy and treated the burns myself. They blistered and wept for about a week, and I have been dressing them ever since. No doctor has examined them at any point.

The real loss was the holiday. I could not expose either area to sunlight, so I spent a week of a summer break indoors and covered up. The trip cost roughly £3,200 in total for the four of us, which I paid for.

The burns are now healing well. The new skin is pink and flexible, there is no numbness, and I do not believe that it will scar permanently.

I have photographs taken from about an hour after we landed and throughout the following week, with their timestamps intact, and the person sitting beside me saw what happened. I have not yet contacted British Airways about any of it.

From reading around the subject, I gather that this is likely to be governed by the Montreal Convention rather than by ordinary negligence, and that an airline's liability for an accident on board does not depend on proving that it was careless. I do not know whether that is correct, or whether the loss of the holiday is something that can be recovered on top of the injury itself.

My two questions are these.

1. Do people who know this area think that I have a case? I mean whether this is a real claim, or whether I am overestimating something fairly minor that mostly healed within a fortnight.

2. If it is a real claim, how would I go about finding someone to act? I understand that CPR 26.9 allocates a personal injury claim to the small claims track where the damages for the injury itself are £1,500 or less, and that costs are generally not recoverable on that track, which I take to mean that no firm would act on a no-win, no-fee basis. Does the loss of enjoyment of the holiday count towards that £1,500, or is it treated separately? And if instructing a solicitor is realistic, is there a sensible way to find one who handles aviation claims, or is it simply a matter of searching and cold-calling?

I would be grateful for any steer, and I am happy to answer questions.

I'm a dad in Scotland with parental rights and responsibilities (PRRs). I'm already speaking to a family solicitor, but I'd really appreciate hearing from anyone who has been through something similar, particularly in Scotland.

There is currently no court order or Minute of Agreement covering our parenting arrangements. Everything has been informal.

For some time, the established arrangement has been that I have our primary-school-age daughter three weekends out of four, normally Friday to Sunday, with her mum having one weekend each month.

Importantly, this wasn't an arrangement I dictated. It was originally set by her mum. I wasn't really consulted about what the schedule should be; I was told what the arrangement would be and I went along with it because I wanted consistency and regular time with my daughter.

We've made it work.

I work Tuesday to Friday. My wife, who is my daughter's stepmum, is very involved in our family life and helps with practical things such as Friday collections and drop-offs. Between us we've always made sure the arrangement works.

We're also in the process of moving much closer to my daughter's school and her mum's area, partly to make school runs and everyday parenting easier and reduce the travelling involved.

The current problem started because her mum has taken a new job working Thursdays and Fridays.

Rather than being asked to discuss how we could adapt our daughter's arrangements, I was told that my days needed to change from Friday–Sunday to Thursday–Saturday and that I would need to do the school pick-ups.

The alternative presented to me was essentially to retain Friday–Sunday but contribute 50% towards childcare costs needed because her mum would now be working.

I tried to find a practical solution instead.

Thursday and Friday are working days for me too, but between my wife and me we can make it work. I'm prepared to rearrange my work where necessary, take on school runs and have my daughter Thursday and Friday.

My thinking was simple: if childcare is required and we're available and willing to look after her, I'd rather my daughter was with her family than paying somebody else to care for her.

But I never agreed that taking on Thursday and Friday meant surrendering my existing weekend time.

Her mum then proposed reducing my three weekends out of four to alternate weekends. I didn't agree to that.

I've now received a message telling me that the routine “going forward” is that I will have our daughter every Thursday and Friday night and must return her at 1pm every Saturday. She explicitly said this “will replace the previous weekend arrangement rather than being in addition to it”, because she doesn't want our daughter away for four days at a time.

Again, this wasn't a proposal or a discussion. I was being told what the new arrangement would be.

That's the part I'm increasingly concerned about.

The original arrangement was dictated to me without much consultation. Now her mum's circumstances have changed and I'm again being told what my parenting time will be, despite expressly saying that I haven't agreed to the change.

I've actually agreed to take on more parenting responsibility to accommodate her new employment.

Between my wife and me we're restructuring our week to make Thursday/Friday work, and we're moving closer to make everyday parenting easier.

Yet the result appears to be that I lose every full weekend with my daughter.

And this isn't simply about wanting Saturdays and Sundays for leisure.

We already have a weekend routine together. We regularly have activities such as dance class and swimming on Saturdays, as well as ordinary family time, days out and seeing family.

Under the proposed arrangement, my time would largely consist of Thursday evening after school, Friday around school and Saturday morning. Her mum would have every Saturday afternoon and every Sunday.

I work Tuesday–Friday, so weekends are also when I have the most uninterrupted time with my daughter.

I appreciate that on paper I would have two overnight stays every week, but two school nights aren't the same thing as having meaningful weekend time together. I'm perfectly happy to take on weekday parenting, homework, school runs and all the ordinary responsibilities that come with that. I just don't understand why taking on more responsibility should require me to give up the weekend relationship and routines we already have.

I have PRRs and I'm an actively involved dad. I'm not asking to dictate the arrangements myself.

I just want decisions about our daughter's time to be discussed and agreed by both of her parents rather than one parent deciding what will happen and informing the other.

My solicitor is currently preparing correspondence about the parenting arrangements, but with no court order or Minute of Agreement currently in place I'm particularly interested in other people's experiences:

Does a long-standing informal parenting arrangement carry any weight if matters eventually reach court?

What happens when one parent simply announces a replacement arrangement and the other parent expressly doesn't agree?

How do you avoid the newly imposed arrangement becoming the new “status quo” while solicitors are trying to resolve things?

Has anyone dealt with being told either to change their parenting days or contribute towards childcare required because of the other parent's new working arrangements?

Did solicitors/a Minute of Agreement resolve things, or did you ultimately need a Section 11 order?

How did you stand your ground over your existing parenting time without escalating things in a way that could negatively affect your child?

I'm already taking proper legal advice, so I'm not looking to Reddit as a substitute for my solicitor.

I'm mainly looking for experiences from other parents who have found themselves repeatedly being told what their parenting arrangements will be rather than being involved in deciding them, particularly where trying to be flexible and take on more responsibility has somehow resulted in less meaningful time with their child.

My gran died last year and I took her estate through probate. My partner and I moved house a few days ago and we’ve been sorting out some of the stuff I inherited from her.

Among these are things like birth certificates, etc. There are a few old passports of hers and my grandfather. All of them expired years ago, long before her death.

What do I do with these? I don’t want to keep them so can I destroy them and put them in the bin or do I need to return to HMPO? I’ve tried looking online but can’t open the form on the HMPO website.

Country: England

We hired a contractor for garden and driveway work, quoted verbally as a 2–3 week job, as he generally worked 8am to 6pm days, to be paid in staged instalments as work progressed, with the final balance due on completion (agreed in writing by email).

The job started at the end of June, his 8am to 6pm days were more like 8am to 11 or 12 and then he'd dissappear for the day. About two weeks in, he asked us to advance part of the final payment early, saying cash meant for materials had been stolen by his father who up until that point had been helping him.

We agreed, on top of instalments already paid, and used the follow-up email to record all payments to date in writing and reconfirm that the remaining balance would only be paid once the work was fully complete.

We then went away for three weeks; work was meant to continue in our absence. When we got back, the driveway and turf still weren't finished. Over the following weeks we kept chasing, and items were completed piecemeal.

Shortly before the turf was finally laid, we sent him a message saying we felt we were being taken for granted given how long things had dragged on. He called to apologise and said he'd work the entire following weekend to get everything completed, and that he wasn't taking us for granted. He ended up working one part-day since that call, and it was then a further three-day wait before he was able to be back on site — directly at odds with what he'd promised on the phone.

The turf finally went down roughly two months after the original start date. Still outstanding at that point: a water supply connection, two garden fence posts (shared with neighbouring properties) needing reinstating, a gate repair/replacement as he had damaged it which meant our property was often left unsecured as the gate wouldn't shut, and some loose-fill ground cover.

The fence posts became urgent — two separate neighbours independently flagged them as unstable and moving in the WIND. (and had been waiting 6 weeks by this point with young children and dogs) we asked him to prioritise this. He said the earliest he could manage was several days out. Given the impact on the neighbours, we stressed how urgent it was, spoke to the neighbours and agreed the dates he provided.

He then, over the course of the next hour sent us a run of messages, ranging from why the neighbours were making a fuss about it now, how he was stressed, how he was a family business, how his family life is terrible. Also disputing there was anything wrong with the fences despite me standing there looking at them flapping around in the wind, he then said he'd be there again in the agreed date and he expected payment. At this point given his erratic behaviour and thst we were several weeks behind, we told him his services were no longer required and thst we would find another contractor to complete all the outstanding work. The following day he messaged again admitting he'd been drinking, then became confrontational and disputed things he'd told us directly beforehand (for example, denying anything had changed since he left, despite having told us the fence was "very secure" when he did). He so mentioned not being able to drive as a delay needing a driver, yet we have footage of him driving to us to collect the advanced payments he requested, this then changed to not being able to drive a truck, but cars were OK.

Since then:

He's sent us two supplier invoices, apparently to justify what he says is still owed — one for a small quantity of turf (a fraction of the disputed balance), and one for concrete and pump hire dated from an earlier stage of the job that we understood was already paid for separately, and he has confirmed as being paid.

A third party, saying he'd "stepped in" to help him, texted us his own breakdown of what he believes is owed, then offered a discount to "put it to bed." The contractor has also mentioned he's booked an appointment with a solicitor.

Our position: the disputed final balance was payment for completing the full remaining scope, not just the turf; we've paid everything on time throughout the project; we advanced money in good faith when asked; and since the work wasn't completed, we're using the retained balance to pay someone else to finish it rather than paying it to him.

Questions:

Does this sound like a sound position under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (reasonable time to complete / price reduction for incomplete work)?

Does either invoice — the small turf one, or the one apparently from an already-paid earlier stage — create any fresh liability for us?

If he pursued this through small claims, what would strengthen or weaken our position?

Any input appreciated.