dragonrouge

I have this morning let us say applied some pressure on the Tribunal Service and indicated that in my professional opinion the legislation allows them to set up a Tribunal and where we can all test the law Indeed I have also suggested to them that as they bat for the same team that it is quite a simple exercise so to do. I have quoted the law and delays and simply pointed out that the law has considered days and weeks and perhaps a few months as acceptable as in delays but never jamais nineteen months. I am trying to clear my diary for this one.

Hi this is not for me have too much on both legally and with three gardens. However I may know someone who lives in 79. However my geography is particularly bad where is your nearest town Niort or are you towards say Parthenay or that direction. kind regards

Dear Hoddy we have now booked our holiday in St Cyprien staying in the middle of the village. We arrive on the 11th of June. How please and not knowing the area do we find our way to the garden centre, Yes I know main planting finished by then but would still love to call in. kind regards

Tony just going out for say 30 minutes will send you an email a bit later. rdgs

Hi I have done some work on the retrospective nature of both ED judgments and our common law approach in the UK. I have sent this to Tina for I believe rather than a fragmented approach it is better to store it centrally. I also suggest we do not disclose what we find until we hear as to the date of the first tribunal. As to Tribunals in my view it is unlikely that we will see any dates (sorry) until this autumn. If anyone does want this Sunday to do some heavy reading then please just pm me. kind regards

Also I think Tina has something about delays in mail from the UK and through European hubs mail wise.

You just have to keep on to their case and repeat everything by recorded delivery. Pressure pressure not daily. Also do you have family friends in the UK? If so I would send them a letter for the Export team and get them to obtain a signature. Indeed within the letter tell them that the letter is being posting within the UK and a signature has been obtained.,

No but the English common law does. There must be finality to any process. I say anything over 28 days is illegal.

Our local office phoned this afternoon and the rate they quoted is less than the one that you see. I am so messed up on this that I will apply the monthly rate and then at least I can sleep at nights.

thanks Hoddy

We are going to install some seven units here at our home in the Vendee and very near to Fontenay le Comte. To date and without exception we have always used the local artisan in the village. This time we think in view of the capital cost to have three quotations. Has anyone please had any experience of artisans near Fontenay or Foussais in 85. many thanks

Dear Tony I have just received some very unusual basil seeds from the UK. Do you need any more. Also and I have forgotten the name but I have bought some sort of snap dragon plants but climbers from a specialist nursery on the Isle of Brehat. Finally the same nursery has supplied me with a geranium from Madeira. Has anyone had experience with it before? I think its called geranium madernse or something like that. Now that I have them and I am not too sure what to do with them. Saw a photograph of them and had to have them!

If all goes well on Monday and my wife's resin cast comes off we are renting a moyen age town house in St Cyprien in June. Please can someone confirm that the weekly Sarlat market takes place on Saturdays and the St Cyprien much smaller one on Wednesdays kind regards

Tony lets see if the reasons for refusal tie in with other letters of refusal and thus we can see if it is a common approach or changes with the circumstances. Please keep in touch

We live in a protected village and with lots of hedges belonging to the commune. Our local service de technique do a wonderful job looking after the hedges and I have to admit that it is a work of art once they have finished. However my problem in all of this is that there are nesting birds in the hedges and I know in the UK that say until July one cannot disturb nesting birds. Is there please any such protection here in France. I try to be eco friendly in everything and this is a point of high importance as far as I am concerned.

Of course but in this life there is nothing like a free lunch. Someone somewhere will argue this guy was wrong you pay.

The Head Guy here in Fontenay this afternoon was let us say less than helpful especially when I pointed out to him that not all the forms that are needed were sent to me. Indeed 2047 was missing. He then obtained a not very good 2047 and then when we started upon exchange rates he said that he would be personally looking at mine to make sure that I used 1.11. More than happy so to do and he has equally just sent me an email to that effect. How he will ever find out my income is beyond me but please believe me every penny or sous that I earn the guys see it. I do some work in another life for HMG so I try to obey the rules even though there are some in HMG and the Opposition who do not. C I really do prefer the deduction at source why should we all be spending an inordinate amount of time on this vexed and vexing question.

Ok I now understand Ron. I truly did not understand that process. Indeed I have a retired Senior Police Officer as a very good friend and he builds up his tax paid pension and then deposits it by a UK cheque with CA on his sterling account. But he only xfers it into euros when he is happy with the rate. So I suppose until that happens then he does not have to declare it However I have enough problems of my own. rdgs

Dear Ron have followed your postings for some considerable time and have equally welcomed sound advice. Here I think I have to live with myself so whatever the guy tells me to do this afternoon I will do so. He should know better than I. However looking at your email I am not sure with respect that I agree 100% with the posting. In the UK we received regular monthly income then a small annuity twice yearly then income on a monthly basis for a house which is rented and then annual interest from a BS. 99% of the income is paid gross. If I declare all of that income here in France and pay tax on it then what is left in bank accounts in the UK has been accounted for and thus to my non-accountants mind every time I withdraw money for day to day living expenses is exactly that and if I were to disclose that as well it would be more than double entry book keeping. We xfer every month from the UK a set some to pay all of our overheads here such as tax habitation water electricity insurances on the house and cars and the like. You are surely not saying that as these are the only amounts that are coming into France on a regular basis that these are the only sums I should declare. The posting in relation to cash withdrawals has unfortunately confused me but that is not unusual!

Hi I really do not wish to add to this continuing Whitehall farce (sorry that is unappropriate in todays circumstances) but today from my Controler of Impots whom I am seeing tomorrow I have received an email saying to use 1.11. Where this comes from I do not know so please no arrows to come my way. I am no angel but in my business as in the law and equally having had drummed into me by my late Welsh miner Father the differences between right and wrong I truly do not know which way to go. I will not go 1.04 that is for sure. Tonight I will try to sleep on it and then report back tomorrow and following my meeting.

Please bear in mind that their mail in my experience goes to Sweden or Denmark before it comes to us. Obviously they are supporting the good old fashioned UK post office. I would insist that all mail eminating from them comes with a signature being required for one can point to their system of going to Nordic states then goodness knows where before coming here to France. It is also wise to point out to them that there is in reality no competition here in the Postal market and indeed Unions here take a dim view of what they see as competition so unless a signature is received then it can be argued the letter never arrived. I have just received a letter today that was posted five weeks ago from Newcastle. Add to this the news we see from Westminster as to expenses of MP's then my faith in both human nature and indeed the system has given away to dispair. Some of you will know that I am let us say involved in the law. I say when you mind tells you to push the system to its extremes then you really are just about breaking the law. One of the least claiming MP's is Dennis Skinner he being an ex miner and somewhat direct in his approach. But that is to deviate from what is before us.

Hi Stew Ellie my reading of some documents which I do not think you may have seen is that the DLA say they cannot change a decision of a Tribunal if that decision came before the judgment. Thus they cannot interfere. However UK laws must be in harmony as much as they do not conflict with EC laws. But is ECJ a judgment or a law and is it binding on HMG. That is essentially where all this is taking us. Will keep you in touch with things as I think them through. rdgs

Ali-cat your mind is just about telling you that something is wrong and that morally you have considerable doubts. It is your decision and yours alone and something that you will have to live with. I have an appointment with our tax guys next Tuesday and I want them and in writing to confirm the rate to use. Then its all off to the Accountant and for him to complete and be happy. He is a consultant to the Appeal type Court in Caen and I will follow him and not some shifting rate which seems to be one mans meat and anothers poison. rdgs

Tony I am trying to dig out the law here not DLA law but old fashioned Common Law. Briefly if a civil or public wrong has taken place and you have suffered a hurt or a loss the Common Law tries to take you back to the situation you found yourself in prior to the hurt or loss. It does not however provide you with betterment and indeed you have to try to liquidate or limit your loss. Thus if you say the hurt or loss occured in say 2005 the law will strive if its Common Law to take you back to that date and in this case DLA for the elapsed period should be paid but not interest on your money., However what the DLA guys are saying is that ok they now accept since the judgment that the law is as found in the ECJ but until then (unless you appealed) the law was good so the starting point in all of this is the date of your application. I do not say new I say a continuation of what went before. Also where the law is silent one of the tools of the law in such matter is the Law of Equity and without going into a lecture it basically evolves from Lord Denning and essentially is about fairness. So I am trying to put a legal positioning document together. This is now the interpretation of the ECJ judgment and whether HMG are applying the strict letter of the law and acting in good faith et al. I am finding it difficult to comprehend the argument yes the ECJ gives you DLA but of course you have to comply with 26/52 so you cannot have it. That is perverse and illogical and we now have to see in black and white an argument from them and ahead of a live Tribunal Appeal and then we can take that apart.

We have some capital left in the UK but our BS will not pay gross in t hat they say that HMG terms for so doing are onerous and costly. Indeed Nottingham say more and more banks and BS are moving to paying net. Every year on the anniversary of the account I ring the BS they let me have the figures I then download the form to claim it back then send it to Nottingham or wherever they send it back to me six months later and then I send it back to the BS. Being resident in France I cannot open an account with any other institution in the UK. Indeed I wonder if there is now any benefit of keeping money in the UK.