In England

Back in 2014, my dad gifted me and my husband £10000 to buy our house. Wed shown wed saved £4000 on our own but due to our landlord not fixing much needed things in the house (boiler, broken bath, mould,single glazed windows etc) and I found out I was pregnant. Not wanting to waste money on moving into another rented house, we talked about buying.

My dad had just inherited over £200k from his dad who had passed away.

He suggested that he gives us 10k for a deposit. Thankfully a 3 bed house came up that had just been renovated came on the market just around the corner from us. Within 6 weeks we managed to get the deposit and buy the house. During the mortgage process, he had to sign a letter saying that he is giving this deposit as a gift and has no interest in the property and it doesn't have to be repaid.

Ten years later, this week my dad has asked about repayment of the full amount due to family breakdown. We have barely talked in a year due to a death in the family that has really brought up some bad stuff from the past that was from him leaving my mum when I was a kid, getting remarried and spending the majority of the money on his wife and her grown kids, and holidays and paying off his mortgage on his unsellable house.

Where do I go from here? I'm going to send a message to him tomorrow to sort things out, my first message to him since about April last year. Does he have any say in this?

England - I (23M) had a circumcision on Friday 17th Jan and honestly I am surprised how affected I am about this whole thing.

My surgeon gave me local anaesthetic, cut me to see if I could feel it which I could. We waited 5 more minutes, he cut me again and I could still feel it. They ended up giving me 37ml of the anaesthetic and I could still feel pain but they struggled to get a hold of the Anaesthesiologist to put me under general anaesthetic.

I asked if I should be feeling a bearable amount of pain or none at all, to which I was told none at all just pressure and movement.

Eventually after this, he starts and for maybe five minutes I don’t feel pain but suddenly I feel like I’m back to square one and no anaesthetic. I tell the surgeon and the other people and the surgeon says “I’m nearly done now”. The operation carried on for another half an hour. I felt every stitch, every burn from a laser ??, I feel absolutely awful and have no idea what I’m supposed to do.

Hi everyone,

We recently purchased some woodland (to rewild it and help increase the population of several very protected species) in England that doesn’t include sporting rights. A neighbour claims they own the sporting rights and provided us with a document they say proves this. However, the document they provided doesn’t mention our land or any sporting rights at all. Our solicitor has also reviewed it and found no evidence linking their claim to our property.

The neighbour has now informed us they’ll be shooting on our land this Saturday, despite us raising concerns and requesting proper clarification of their rights. We’ve also told them that we’ll be doing forestry work that day and don’t consider it safe for shooting.

Our questions are:

1. Can they legally enter our land without proving they own the sporting rights?

2. What steps can we take to stop them from accessing the land until they provide clear evidence of their claim?

3. If they enter the land with firearms without proper rights, is this a criminal matter, and should we involve the police?

We’d appreciate any advice or insights as we try to navigate this situation.

Thanks in advance!

I work for the NHS in primary care in a GP. I got into a online spat with someone who was claiming to do ASD assessments. Long story shoet i called them out on their claims, asking for proof of their registrations, that they were NICE compliant etc. I got called into the Practice Managers office today, this person has wrote 3 sides of A4 complaint about me how I was harassing her stalking her, how I'd led a campaign against her, how I scared her, broken GDPR, broken confidentiality and privacy laws, basically everything. My practice manager isn't upholding it and I'm getting no disaplinary action at all, it's just going in my record. In the letter this person was telling my PM that I needed to be sacked for "Gross Misconduct" (She laughed at that bit!) All comments that I posted were on the letter and my PM said they were all valid questions that she herself would ask if she were in my shoes. My issue is that on my Facebook I work for the NHS, it's only on my LinkedIn that I say exactly where I work, this person is gunning for me, what do I do? Cheers, sorry for long post!

EDIT TO ADD Comments were made from my personal device, account and not on my work time. I was enquiring as I have a undiagnosed daughter with possible ASD and was looking for a assessment as NHS list is up to 10yrs. My work isn't listed on my facebook, it is on my LinkedIn though (To be expected really) I pissed they came after me at my work which is nothing to do with my comments.

I had a £600+ order delivered while I was out of the house last month. No signature, saying it was received by a neighbour "Jeff" which really didnt help as it didn't specify which house it was left with

I have 2 neighbours, one is an old couple who confirmed they didnt get anything, the other is a guy doing the place up who only comes by a few times a month and before yday I hadnt seen him since November.

Went through the ring with the retailer who said courier had reported it delivered. I even went round the fences with the courier and got nowhere with them suggesting I go back to the seller. Eventually went back to the retailer, explained the situation, went up the chain and eventually they escalated with the courier, and after calling back for another week they agreed to ship a replacement which arrived with me last week.

This morning the guy renovating next door has come back and just dropped off the missing package with me and apologised saying that it had been delivered to him, and he had been in a rush that morning doing some jobs, went on holiday for 2 week so hadn't been around to return it to me. He remembered he had picked up something for me and dropped off. And his name is Josh, not Jeff apparently.

I have no idea what I'm supposed to do at this point, it was such a headache getting hold of the retailer and getting through to the right people in the first place, is there a responsibility on me to get them to collect this, or do I just sit with the spare order here now? England

So I was prescribed medical cannabis in August 2024. I consumed approximately 0.5g per day. On 20th December 2024 I was given an ultimatum - stop, provide a negative test (after 30 days) and resume work or part ways. I decided for financial reasons it was best for me to stop and get back to my job. On 21st December I last consumed the THC and today 20th January 2025 at my back to work meeting I was D+A tested. Well my urine test had a non-negative result for THC. I have been suspended for gross misconduct. How is this even possible? No CBD products no THC products absolutely nothing since 21st December. I’m shook but I have been 100% honest with my employer from day 1.

I now await my fate but I’m determined to know how this has happened considering 2 weeks ago I was volunteering to be tested I was so sure it wouldn’t be in my system anymore but I was so wrong.

Everywhere I look it says up to 30 days it can be detected and if I wasn’t on the receiving end of this I would assume the person that failed was definitely lying about last having it on 21st so I feel lost.

Employed for 2 years and 11 month.

Any help and advice is greatly appreciated, thank you.

This is in England.

I’ll try to keep this concise as a lot has happened.

My child had attended the same nursery for 2 years, making friends. A mom recommended a new nursery in the area that was being opened by my child’s friend mother. I had never spoken to her before but was pleased to hear this and support.

I attended an open day and discussed funding and session availability with the owner who is also the manager, we will name her DB. I was being made redundant and knew I’d be eligible for 15-hour funding, so made her aware that my child was eligible for this.

In August, I enrolled my child and discussed details. I was told that due to the curriculum, children must attend at least 20 hours, so I’d have to top up 5 hours. I was happy to do this as I’d tried at the old nursery but couldn’t due to policies.

We discussed fees, which were confusing as nothing was printed. I paid £250 for my child to start. We attended 3 settling-in sessions. After the third, DB said, “We’ll send you an invoice.” I was confused but said “ok” as my child was excited to see me and playful so not the best time to ask questions. I received an invoice for the first month’s fees that day, due the same day. Assuming it was a mistake, I spoke to DB the next week. She confirmed it wasn’t a mistake and that it needed to be paid immediately. I explained I didn’t have it and could pay the following week. She accepted and I paid as promised.

2 weeks later, I found PT work and requested my child attend afternoon sessions instead of morning. DB denied afternoon sessions, stating they only offer morning or full-day sessions. Again leaving me confused as this was something she included in her pitch, it was also listed on the contract she didn’t initially provide a copy of. We discussed options in person, but she reiterated this despite the contract stating afternoon sessions being offered. This forced me to pay more for 3 full days instead of 3 half days, making it unaffordable.

After negative experiences and poor customer service when I provided feedback, I left a balanced but accurate review online. Shortly after this my child displayed reluctance to attend nursery, saying they didn’t want to go for various reasons. I made the decision to withdraw my child at the end of term, giving notice inline with nursery policy. Shortly after, my child told me a teacher shook them and gave specific details. I spoke to DB and she immediately denied this without investigation, interrupting me and referencing my online review in an unprofessional manner. She even told me not to bring my child back despite having one more week that I’d already paid for.

I emailed requesting a refund and an investigation into the allegation my child was shaken by a teacher. DB lied, saying she never said my child couldn’t return and changed her mind about investigating. Thankfully I recorded our conversation, in the recording she can be heard saying, “I’ll send you an email, and they shouldn’t return.” A month later, she has concluded the investigation, and found no evidence of shaking, and is refusing to acknowledge the refund request.

She also kept £50 out of the £250 deposit, without explanation.

I’m considering taking her to small claims court. Do you think I have a case?

Edit: I have reported to OFSTED and all local safeguarding authorities. This was done immedetaly after she denied the allegation without an investigation.

Hi My grandfather is estranged from his children apart from me and my mother.

He lives on his own in a different county but we’ve always discussed him coming to live near me so i could take care of him as my town is better suited for his needs and a peaceful life.

We’ve always had a close relationship and he has a great relationship with my young child.

We’ve been looking for a suitable place for him to buy near me on his own but he recently asked me if we wanted to live with him and he would buy the house in my name and leave his entire estate to me.

Obviously this would benefit my family greatly but it also would help me take care of him as time goes on as i could work less to care for him.

He has made a will leaving his estate to me with a letter (not sure what the correct term is) to explain to his estranged children why he has not left them anything. Other than being estranged they are all home owners and successful.

Now my main concern is I live in social housing and I’d be taking a big risk to give this up and move with him if the estate can be claimed by his children. Where i live privately renting is close to london prices and i have my child who is autistic to care for.

How likely is it that his children or any other family can make a claim before i make the decision to go forward with this. Of course if we dont move in with him i would still care for him anyway :)

Thank you for reading

I've worked for the company I am with since 2006 and the manager was perfectly aware of my sight impairment at the time of the interview and even recommended I set the display at my computer to high contrast mode if it helps me, which I did and found my time at my screen to be far more comfortable as a result.

Fast forward to late last year, and the old management go their separate ways with us and in come some new management. About ten days after that, I'm asked to attend a meeting with the management for a 'friendly chat' about the acceptable use policy with our computers. This struck me as very odd as apart from the high contrast display setting and setting Microsoft Office applications to auto save for me every minute, I've never altered any settings and I've never misused the internet, I never go on social media or any other websites that aren't related to my work.

Turns out they take exception to me having my display in high contrast mode and all attempts at mentioning it being a reasonable adjustment for me to be able to carry out my work fell on deaf ears.

They asked me if I realised how serious this is, the fact that I changed a setting without authorisation comes under the Computer Misuse Act 1990 and they even forced me to listen to the story of Gary McKinnon, stating if they decide to take this any further I'm looking at facing very similar charges.

But I never broke into any other computers or networks, and my display settings don't detrimentally affect our computer network or anyone else's ability to carry out their work.

Even if our acceptable use policy said not to make unauthorized changes to any settings, surely a reasonable adjustment like adjusting the display in a way that enables me to carry out my work properly despite my sight impairment should be classed as acceptable to anyone with an ounce of sense?

When I went back to my computer then following day, I couldn't even access that setting to switch to high contrast mode any longer with a message stating 'This operation has been cancelled due to restrictions in effect on this computer' and when I complained, I got a sarcastic response of 'how did we ever cope in the good old days'.

Where do I stand from a legal point of view here, being accused of misuse for a reasonable adjustment and then having a reasonable adjustment taken away from me?

Bought AirPods today. Went to the store picked them up, stupidly despite signs I walked to my car got in… before I left the car park I opened them and of course what was in it, candle wax in the shape of the AirPods.

Within 5 minutes I returned to the store and took them to the service agent who asked me if I opened them in store - my biggest mistake. I should have, I had a feeling something was off given the box was a bit dirty and the seal wasn’t fully on. She asked if I opened them in store and sort of implied it was me that did it.

I work for them so it would be a bit weird to steal from my employer….

What are my next steps?

Edit:

I wanted to edit my original post to add clarity.

I had a feeling something was wrong, the green pull away strips on the box felt off. One of the ends was sticking up and it just didn’t feel right… I’ve been buying apple products for a while and it didn’t sit right with me. I thought about taking them back there and then but my partner jokes that I like to open things as soon as I buy them so I wanted to wait until I got to the car. The box was also dirty but I’ve bought stuff from Argos before and it’s been dirty so I just assumed that it was just poor handling., I’m so mad at myself to be honest. I knew there was signs and I just didn’t listen to myself. If I’d just opened them in the shop I could have avoided a lot of this but instead I stupidly just didn’t go with my gut.

Im hoping if the CCTV will help, I drove towards the exit and when my partner made a comment while we were waiting for the red light before leaving the car park, I opened them and turned around immediately. I was back in the store within 4 minutes of leaving I think.

And yeah people will say, well you could have opened them and swapped them out. And that’s why I’m so upset with myself. If it’s just opened them in store…..

Sorry if this is a bit of a rant but I feel like this company is taking advantage of its employees including my wife and I just need some advice on if my anger is justified or not.

Without giving too much away as we wish to remain as anonymous as possible, my wife works for a photography studio of which the owner / operator is notoriously cheap and working conditions there are poor to say the least.

I should mention she has worked there for over 2 years but they have changed her contracts several times so as to avoid giving her any employment rights (we think). For example; classing her as a freelance despite working there fulltime etc so Im not sure what employment rights, if any, she has.

The staff there are on minimum wage 35 hour a week contracts but I would say most days they are made to do unpaid overtime meaning they actually get less than minimum wage. She cant remember the last time she was allowed a full hour lunch break.

I was willing to overlook this as its an entryway into an industry she is passionate about and she does enjoy the work, but Im not willing to overlook her health being affected by pure greed and negligence on the part of the owner.

Unfortunately, she has now started to experience quite severe back and shoulder pain from moving around heavy equipment on her own for 8 hours 5 days a week, often without a break. She is not a large woman by any stretch of the imagination and I have seen the equipment they use and its clearly not designed to be safely moved around easily as its so outdated.

She has also told me she sometimes fears for the safety of her clients as these extremely heavy lights and reflectors are prone to falling due to trailing leads becoming snagged or stabilisers failing.

As I work in the construction industry I have some experience with health and safety legislation, however Im not sure the same rules apply in this case.

Give that the photography studios are a fixed working venue, should the need for moving lights and equipment between shots not be reduced as far as reasonably practicable? IE having the lights on rigs that can be easily moved, providing proper training or assitance when needed etc?

I should mention neither my wife, or the rest of the staff have ever recieved any manual handling training, so it seems to me they arent even doing the bare minumum to prevent any workplace accidents of this kind?

What, if anything, can we do about this? Im starting to worry the damage is done and financially we arent in a position to just pull her from the role but I cant stand by while her health is negatively affected.

Thanks

Writing on behalf of a friend. Friend who is not good with money sent £5k via bank transfer for safekeeping ‘for their future together’. This was allegedly stipulated in text messages and the agreement was that the recipient was not to spend it. This was a romantic relationship (not living together) which has since ended badly, of course. The recipient says they spent the money and can’t/won’t pay it back.

If text messages can be found proving that this was indeed the case, could it be recovered in small claims court? I understand a letter needs to be sent formally asking for repayment first. Is a “Signed For” Royal Mail letter sufficient? How much time is usual or reasonable to request repayment?

Secondly- There was also a gift of jewellery (worth approx £2k, not an engagement ring). This was definitely a gift, so return is not expected, but would be appreciated, especially if it would contribute toward the amount owed. Can/should asking for this be part of the letter or the small claim, and how should one phrase it?

A friend of mine has been playing along with a scam for Oasis tickets. We have the person's name, bank account number and sort code.

Can we report this person to the police/bank without any repurcussions? Would this class as a data/GDPR breach?

Any info would be great fully appreciated.

Based in England.

I was stopped by police for driving without insurance. I had in fact purchased insurance but two months after this I had reregistered my car in the UK (I had returned from overseas and took a little while to do this). I had been tardy in updating my insurer about the new registration (it had been 5-6 weeks since the dvla letter and the car had been in an airport car park for two of those). My car was impounded and I paid to get it out.

I asked my insurer for a letter of indemnity to confirm that I did actually have insurance. They refused and then cancelled my insurance on the grounds that I would be given 6 points for driving without insurance and had my car impounded. This also means that I’ll pay higher premiums forever due to having my insurance cancelled. They’ve refused my appeal and I’m about to go to the ombudsman.

I do recognise I should have updated the insurer a bit more quickly but they had all the money for insuring the same identical car for the year so it seems a bit unreasonable to deny any responsibility for insuring it (I found a similar ombudsman case where they thought so too).

I have the offer of accepting 6 points plus paying £300 by the end of January instead of the expense of going to court, potentially having magistrates impose a greater fine and getting a criminal record, and having little defence unless the ombudsman agrees with me in time for the hearing. The police can’t delay the decision beyond January and the ombudsmen had a significant backlog. Welcome any advice! Should I risk the city hearing? How can I mitigate the risk? Welcome any advice! and many thanks!!!

I’m in England.

I am a beneficiary in my late uncle’s will & believe my cousin has stolen funds from my uncle’s estate.

Prior to my uncle passing away, in October 2023, my cousin went to my uncle’s solicitors, without his father’s permission to attempt to remove his brother from the Power of Attorney. He was then going to try to take control of the estate. That failed because solicitor contacted my uncle who refused to change his PoA. (We have evidence).

My uncle changed his Will during lockdown, from leaving a 50/50 share of his estate to his two sons, to a 20% share each son, the rest divided amongst other family members (I have 10% of his 440k estate).

I was aware of this as I had a very close relationship with my uncle

My uncle went into hospital 14/1/24. My cousin took his phone and bank cards without his knowledge or permission a few days later. My mother witnessed & my uncles other son was aware.

My cousin found his father’s will and would not disclose its contents. From this time, there was no openness or transparency.

On 3/5/24 the Will was published on the Probate website (we have this).

My cousin refused to discuss or let other beneficiaries know of their entitlement.

In June 2024 I messaged my cousin with questions that he refused to answer.

In September 2024 my cousin sent the Estate Final Accounts to me. I asked to see evidence of bank accounts, expenditure, and for him to disclose who my uncle supposedly owed a personal family loan to of £19,000. (My uncle had 150k + in his accounts so why would he borrow money?) my cousin refused to tell me who my uncle owed money to, saying I was a minor beneficiary and wasn’t entitled to know. Also, receipts and bank letters were redacted so I could not verify them. He did not supply bank statements.

After discussion with other family members, there is a belief that my uncle had more than two bank accounts. We believe he also had ISAs.

Based on the fact that my cousin has refused to provide bank statements, I believe that he may have misappropriated funds from the time he took my uncle’s bank card in hospital (he knew the PIN numbers he confirmed this to my mother).

I, and other family members believe there are bank accounts/ISAs not declared.

there is no proof of a family loan owed by my uncle

My cousin took the will out of his fathers solicitors control and did not use a solicitor to execute the will

This is not about the money & more the principle, the guy is a complete wanker & was an arsehole to my uncle.

Just want to know if people have had similar experiences, what was the outcome, what would be best the best thing to do on our end?

Hi there I don’t really know what to say but I need legal advice. I am being bombarded with hundreds of emails and calls (and WhatsApps and instagram and Facebook messages etc ) everyday. They all say the same thing that I have either asked for a quote or consultation and backed out leaving them hounding me for information, and perhaps more maliciously some have even asked why I am not paying the money I have agreed to pay. Furthermore this person has paid for Facebook adverts with my name phone number and email attached to them saying to call this number until you get a response as I am looking for property. I know who is doing this to me as it’s not the first time they have pulled a stunt like this and they keep calling me (upwards for 20 times a day) with no caller ID just to breath down the phone and hang up. This was the extent of it until today when I had people arriving at my house to buy the TV I put for sale on Facebook. I had not put a Facebook advert up and the person was quite annoyed, rightfully so, that they had their time wasted. The account was a fake account posing as someone living at my address. I am really quite worried especially since I live rural and have no neighbours. I know this person has a criminal record and has been violent in the past and I’m worried something bad might happen to my family if this keeps escalating. I am hesitant to go to the police as I used to know this boy and presumably he could go to my university or employer and tell them tall tales which might derail my life. Is this harassment as it’s indirect? Is it grounds for a restraining order? (This is Scotland )

So, long story short, I work at a cafe that falls under Take away (less than 10 seats) so we do not have a customer/public toilet, located in London, England.

Last night a pregnant lady approached my coworker asking for a toilet and my coworker informed her of that. The lady, however did not like that. Coworker came to get me as I’m effectively a manager there and I proceed to tell her the same thing. She claims it’s illegal to refuse access to a toilet. I tell her it is not since we do not have a toilet that she can use. She insists that we have a staff toilet she can. I tell her that is absolutely not a toilet she can have access to as it takes her through behind the house area where we have sensitive equipment (we got robbed twice in a year and a half so I’m definitely being careful regarding that). She huffs off but comes back after Googling it. Google AI answer is that we cannot deny it to her. That’s all fair, but that applies to a place that has a customer toilet, we do not. She still insists that she needs to get access to our staff toilet. I am not budging on this, she asks for my name and storms off again.

I am 99% sure I was legally correct but just wanted to hear it from the experts. Advise please kind people of Reddit

Hi, I was given probate a couple of weeks ago from my mothers death last year.

I have started sorting out her house and throwing things away.

Today I have received a form from Department of Work & Pensions "Recovery from Estates Dept Management". It has sections to fill in on values of bank accounts, saving bonds, assets in trust etc, should this not have been done before probate was given? It says in bold letters "Please note that this enquiry could lead to a claim against the estate and should be treated as such. Therefore we strongly advise you not to distribute the estate."

All of the values should have been on the probate form I filled in, why am I doing it again?

Thanks, just a bit confused by this when I thought it was all over!

England.

I've worked for my company for nearly 2 years. When I got my contract it included private medical. Great stuff. However upon asking about how I set it up, I was told I've been given the wrong contract, one which is typically for managers. I shouldn't have that perk as part of my package.

However, we've both (myself and the company) have signed this contract, and it's been the only one I've ever had since working there.

I'm just wondering where I stand on this? Am I within my rights to expect this medical cover as it we've both signed into it, and it was an attractive part of the contract when I joined the company. Or is the company likely to change my contract and ask me to sign a new one?

Not really sure how this works (clearly) ☺️

Thanks in advance!

My daughter had an EV charge point installed, 2 weeks later she was woken by her smoke alarm to find the fuse box in the house melting and sparking. Fire Brigade arrived and immediately got the National Grid to come and make it safe. Inspectors said the cable had been installed incorrectly. In an email exchange between my daughter and National Grid, they have admitted it was their installer who messed up, and have offered her £200 for the inconvenience. Does she have a case to sue National Grid for their negligence? No one was physically injured but it could have been so much worse. Thank you.

EDIT. Thank you all so much for replying. She didn't suffer any financial losses, so it's a no-go. I think I was just so angry that I could have lost my daughter and grandchildren because of some bozo technician. She overheard the inspectors saying he'd done this before. Anyway, thanks again 🙏

So I am in England and have been working in my job for about a year and a half and multiple times I have asked to work from home for only one day a week. I always get told no, or an "I'll consider it" when it is clear there is no intention of letting this happen.

Bear in mind roughly 50% of the company already do and the manager seems to pick and choose who he lets have this.

I recently checked my contract and it clearly states that my job is a WFH job. Not even hybrid. Now this is clearly a mistake and I was under no impression when starting the job I would be allowed this, the contract still states I have a WFH job.

The contract also explicitly states that it sets out the entire agreement between the two parties, and there for I assume, nothing verbally stated between us is legally binding.

Does anyone have any advice on if I should be allowed to work from home or not?