Tony F Dordogne
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Posts posted by Tony F Dordogne
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Hi DR, not sure about the exact address yet, waiting for an update from Campaigners.
By coincidence I'll be back in the Uk then also and intend on being there!
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Just to bump this and update.
There are now well over 350 cases pending Lower Tribunal hearings, all of which have been bundled by the DWP to be decided by 4 test cases, currently slated for 4 March 2010 in London. This is, of course, after the DWP have refused to implement previous Upper Tribunal decisions on the same reasons to refuse benefits, which are now case law, telling claimants that every case is individual and that they can't be linked.
There is a rumour going round that the DWP have also said if they loose in March. they will appeal to the Upper Tribunal - where they have lost the only two cases to be heard and have withdrawn from the others slated at the UT, thereby admitting defeat - and if they loose there, they will go to the Supreme Court.
This is not, at this stage, even a remote possibility because the DWP do not know if they have grounds to appeal, especially as the EU has started infringement proceedings on one of the two main arguments being used by HMG, having already stated that what HMG is doing is unlawful.
All of this evasion and prevaracation is, unfortunately and very sadly, too late for some of the people involved in the campaign because they have died or are very close to death.
However, the fight continues and HMG should remember that the claims of those who die remain part of their estate so even after they've gone, they can still be around to bite them!
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Just want to wish everybody a happy, healthy and prosperous 2010.
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[quote user="AnOther"]
'Stunned' is the only word I can find to describe my feelings on seeing the carnage that vehicle has suffered. I know even small trees are unforgiving but that Jeep is utterly utterly destroyed. How can that man live with himself.
Here's a sickening thought, has he collected any insurance there was on his wife's life or would an insurance company refuse to pay out in the circumstances ?
[/quote]
I saw the vehicle at the scene with the bodies still inside it and yes, it was mangled before the Pompier got to work on it. He actually hit two trees, one when he - literally - flew off the road which bounced him into another tree which stopped the vehicle.
As for the insurance payouts, I understand from the driver that he has received several substantial payouts, as has the other adult survivor who has supported him throughout. One of the payouts was from a French insurance company which is a party to the civil cases against the driver who, of course, has no assets in France so he won't be required to repay the insurance company. He has covered all the angles.
As for his good name, the more publicity his actions receive, the better people not directly involved are able to make their own judgement over his conduct.
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I made the Xmas puds and mincemeat here but instead of soaking the dried fruit I soak it in the alcohol, usually armagnac or brandy, overnight and then add 50% of the recipe alcohol when I make the mix. The alcohol is driven off in the cooking of the puds tho it's around a bit in the mincemeat.
I made a figgy pud, different recipe tho, from a recipe in the Good Food mags Veggie magazine and that's turned out fine - we had to eat the small tester one you understand, just to make sure it wasn't poisonous and we're test driving a small Xmas pud today before taking the big one to chums on Boxing Day.
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[quote user="Russethouse"] I think Tony mentioned it earlier in the thread[/quote]
That is correct and that is what he told J and I he was going to do. The Maire confirmed the sale of the house on the day before the Tribunal to me.
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[quote user="Cathy"]Does the driver still live in France? [/quote]
No Cathy, again he has been able to manipulate the system. He finally sold his home the day before the original trial. We bumped into him some weeks ago - before the UK Inquest - and he told us he would be selling before the trial so he would have no assets in France.
Therefore, even when the civil cases are heard next April, he will not have any money in France that can be used to pay compensation to the others involved. Interestingly, the woman whose husband and daughter were killed and his wife's family are not making a claim against him, tho the other families involved are as are his insurance company and CPAM - but guess what, he'll get away with this too.
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John, your incredulity is shared by many people here. What sort of message does that give to others who may be foolish enough to do something similar? The fine is risible, so for loading 8 people into your car and having two (now deceased) children in the boot of your car warrants only a €200 fine. What didn't come out in the trial but did in the Inquest was that the car was being use 'en ensemble' in this manner for the week previously tho usually with three children in the boot so perhaps the injuries were reduced by ONLY having two in the boot.
I have been with the families of those killed who have been ignored, viz. the families who do not subscribe to the driver's supporters club (his wife's family and the wife of the man killed in the accident and that really IS a bizarre situation) who lost brothers, a son and grandchildren in this accident, who have never received even an apology from the driver and who are seething over the punishment.
And the natural father of the driver's step-daughter has heard nothing from the driver, nor has his other step-son tho during the trial the step-son did receive a box of jewellery from the driver, a total jumble, no note as to whether it was his mother's or sister's, nothing and he is as devastated as he can be.
The driver has let it be known that he is angry that he has lost his good name in his local area in the UK. I make no comment!
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What always surprises me is that people of a certain age still drink too much and feel off the day after.
Not a criticism, just an observation.
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Well, if it's any consolation, it's fairly deep and crisp and even here in the SW of France. The snow on the trees in the woods just looks magical even tho we're probably snowed in because of where we live. Still freezers full, loads of fresh veggies, gas citern has plenty of fuel and the emergency wood supply/torches, batteries, portable radio are all ready to go if needed so have no problem on that front.
Going to get wrapped up warm and go out to salt the paths and drive.
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[quote user="Boiling a frog"] [As you appear to ""be in the know": how did he take steps to reduce the reading. Normally in these types of cases the offender consumes alcohol after the event"" to calm the nerves"" [/quote]
I'm "in the know" because my wife and a couple of neighbours cleared up the house whilst the accident was being dealt with and then for the following week. What he did doesn't matter now but suffice to say it didn't work too well and it wasn't having another drink.
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[quote user="AnOther"]
I'm must admit though that I'm rather surprised at the relatively low blood alcohol reading, 1.01 is not so dramatically over the UK limit of 0.8 and would seem broadly consistent with the claimed consumption,
Was there any evidence to support the claim that a vehicle fault contributed to the loss of control I wonder. [/quote]
One of the problems with the reporting of this case is that - of necessity - it has ommitted a great deal of detail and there are a good number of factors that were never introduced in evidence in France tho some did feature in the UK Inquest. The French case was a 'done deal' from the first moments of the investigation and searching or appropriate questions were never asked because of the driver's evident culpability.
Ernie, the blood tests were taken several hours after the accident by which time the French Court and UK Inquest accepted the blood alcohol level would have reduced, at the Inquest it was accepted that the count back method would have shown a higher reading. In addition, there was a good deal of evidence which the UK Coroner was aware of, of the steps that the driver took in his home to reduce the reading prior to the Gendarmes arriving. Interestingly, it was only during his final summation that the defending Maitre try to query the validity of the blood test which the Judges cave pretty short shrift.
There were 3 experts examinations and reports carried out on the vehicle in France, the second and third at the request of the driver. They could fine no evidence of the fault in the vehicle and it was given at the Trial and Inquest that the fault the driver had alleged (a) did not ever effect this model of Jeep (b) that the previously reported fault had been designed out some 5 years before this vehicle was manufactured (c) that there had never been a report of this type of fault previously and (d) that the previously reported, designed out fault had only effected vehicles when they were being started and put into drive.
His claims were dismissed by the Court and the Coroner in the UK after Police evidence (one of the driver's previous colleagues in the UK) totally rubbished his claims and told the Inquest there was no reason for his conduct other than the fact that the driver was over the drink/drive limit.
Hope this clarifies things for you Ernie.
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I think the DLA Campaign will eventually go the same way Coops, we're a one issue campaign and once we have a result, we'll shut up shop.
As for the socialism argument, I've made my feelings known already but agree, my dear old Grandad must be whirring in his box by now!
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[quote user="Quillan"]
[quote user="tj" I apologise to the other posters for my length of post but these sort of ill thought, stupid, ignorant and unresearched comments made by TJ make me very, very, angry. [:@][:@] [/quote]
Thank goodness it not just me that feels like that Quillan - I am proud proud proud to be married to an intellectual, beautiful woman (who several users here have met) whose mother and uncles were immigrants all of whom, including my wife and her siblings, suffered the abuse meted out to people of a difference racial or ethnic background which, unfortunately, is still going on in some areas of the Uk and even manages to pervade this Forum.
It's worse here because in the Uk you can see the racists on the street and can confront their filth face to face. Here people can suggest, hint and hide in the anonymity of a Forum but it doesn't make them less of a racist. Just a coward who can post comments, not justify their comments with evidence and then retreat into their hateful worlds - which of course, they justify but they're over here, taking work from the French, working (I guess) mainly for other immigrants, hankering for a world long gone when their nation was a Nationalistic master race.
I'm done with this thread or I'll start to get really angry!
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You're happy to be called a Nationalist then, another little Englander but don't have the nuts to stay in the Uk and fight for what you believe in?
So you're 'evidence' is conversations with other little Englander Nationalists who hold similar views to you based on race and ethnicity?
Why is it a long stretch? Immigrant is immigrant, the only difference is that you are a better educated immigrant but if we're to believe what you say, you prefer to live in France than the UK because the UK is full of people that you don't like but can't or won't describe or quantify.
Typical Nationist coward, come on, put up or shut up as you've already been asked to do.
Where is your evidence apart from your unproved chats with other people?
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Who strips us of our heritage? I think, no matter how you try to avoid saying it TJ, it's the same old BNP arguments, almost the same terms that they use.
Perhaps you mean people like my wife's family who although not ever having been in the UK, fought for the 'Empire' in WW1 and WW2 and although brown people from the Indian sub-continent, were actually British citizens.
Perhaps you can validate your previous comment on it being the reason that people are leaving the Uk and that many more want to?
And remember that you're an immigrant also, tho it's ok, because France is white - except for the Algerians, Moroccans etc.
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Who is it occupied by then TJ, if you feel that strongly, have the courage of your beliefs and tell us all.
And exactly what is the reason that so many have left and so many want to?
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New information to bump the thread.
The final date for the UK to make their case on the EU's infringement proceedings is tomorrow and from what we can gather, no reponse as yet.
The CPAG and ACE have taken the test cases and the DWP have agreed to use them, they will go to the Tribunal in January (we hope). In the meantime and without any consultation with the claimants, the DWP have applied to have the other 340 + cases held in abeyance until the outcome is known. But, the test cases may not even be heard if the UK looses the Infringement case because one of their main arguments will automatically fall and the other be totally undermined.
MP, Lords, MEPs, lots of committees, official organisations dealing with complaints in the EU and against UK government are swamped with emails, letters and calls from the claimants.
So, the battles continue and the war progresses. Major mistake by HMG taking on a load of baby boomers with years of organisational, business and professional lives behind them - still, something to do though a wet winter for the claimants I suppose.
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For those who may be interested, ACIP is showing 'La Regle du Jeu' as part of it's film appreciation series on Monday 14 December at it's room in Le Bugue (24), followed by a discussion on the film, neo-realism and Jean Renoir.
If you're intertested in modern or classic films and live within striking distance of Le Bugue, you can get details of membership etc from the web site at http://acip24.com
Hope it helps.
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I use a Gordon Ramsey recipe from a BBC Good Food mag which is now a couple of years old, substituting Light (veggie) suet for the meaty type. Luckily, the local UK BIO market stall carries a range of UK goods including suet and muscavado sugar and they're much cheaper than the stuff on the British shelves in the local supermarkets.
And J bought the BBC veggie Xmas mag back from the UK which has a great recipe for mincemeat and eccles cakes :)
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So pleased it's not just me then! Can't stand her, paint drying for sure but if you've got no cookery skills I think her books are good but fairly unadventurous.
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[quote user="jack9"]Can't because I am in UK. Also just tried phoning USSAF but would'nt listen, said there was no such thing a phoning anonymously[/quote]
That's true, even reporting animal cruelty cannot be done anonymously round here.
Is the car on French or British plates? If it's on Brit plates, report it to your local constabulary but if it's on French plates you have no option but to report it to the French authorities. If French isn't your strong point, have a word with the Consular Office in Bordeaux which covers 47, they may well be able to help you.
Just as a matter of interest, how did your friend actually get the van because that may have some bearing on the best way to proceed with this issue?
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For goodness sake, go to the local Gendarme brigade office and report the vehicle as stolen and from there, everything will fall into place.
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Both J and I get the 'punch on the arm' side effect with the 'normal' flu jab so nothing different where that would be concerned.
Wife-beating and no, this ain't no joke!
in The Complete France Post Bag
Posted
There was a big campaign against wife beating a couple of years ago in rural areas and the G men have leaflets, posters and similar points of information, details of organisations that can help etc in all the brigade offices.
I was bought up in a house where domestic violence - both ways - was, unfortunately, a regular tho infrequent occurrence and was also on the receiving end of it until I was about 17. It was then I decided I was too big to be beaten any more, especially as I was a Police Cadet and the final straw was when I was being beaten when home for lunch one day in uniform.
I finally ducked and my mother punched the wall so hard she broke her wrist, father then started in on me and suffice to say on this last occassion, I walked away from it and he didn't.
When I was a young policeman in uniform back in the 60s there was a much more direct way of dealing with wife beaters and calls to domestic violence of women on men were - virtually - unheard of. I do not condone the practice of direct action but bullies being bullied back by people they dare not respond to often made the point tho, of course, there was always the issue of whether the wife beater just got more 'careful' but the word usually got round he was at it again and they seriously didn't want a second visit from the Constabulary so it had some deterent value.