A Brighton Boy Blogs

Parking Tribunal Victory over Brighton & Hove City Council

Jon — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 06:00:47 +0000

For anyone fighting an unfair, unjustified or illegal PCN from Brighton & Hove City Council’s illustrious parking department, you may be interested to know that my appeal with the Parking Tribunal (now properly named the Traffic Penalty Tribunal) won by default because the Council didn’t even bother to present any evidence to the Tribunal. Mine [...]

London Riots = democracy in trouble

Jon — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 11:34:48 +0000

The so-called riots in London are of course just theft, looting, arson and vandalism on a large organised scale. Disgusting and offensive as this may be, we have to ask ourselves why it has happened, and what we can do about it. I’ve been claiming for years that our government leadership is weak, and it [...]

Graham White Solicitors, parking companies and the law

Jon — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 10:12:37 +0000

Got a "fine" from a private parking company? Being intimidated and threatened by solicitors and debt collectors? Don't pay it. This is why.

Tomato and Boursin Pasta Sauce

Jon — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 10:52:43 +0000

Tomato & marscapone sauce is one of our family favourites, as is the soft garlic cream cheese known as Boursin, so when we noticed we had a large surplus of Boursin in the fridge, the solution was obvious… let’s see if we can make a nice creamy pasta sauce out of it! So my sons [...]

Another Brighton & Hove City Council Parking Cockup

Jon — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 20:17:14 +0000

Today is Sunday. The parking restrictions on my road are clearly displayed as Mon-Fri noon-1pm. There are very faded, patchy single & double yellow lines which haven’t been repainted for years, and a few months ago there were Council notices tied to lamp posts about lifting parking restrictions to allow more parking locally. So what [...]

Testing the Parking Tribunal

Jon — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 19:56:28 +0000

After I reported my parking ticket woes in my post entitled Brighton & Hove Parking – A Criminal Racket in Disguise, I appealed the PCN and got a rejection notice from the Council. No surprise there – after all they have to earn their money from somewhere, even if it’s from fraud. Well, my fellow [...]

Food for Friends – a fallen, failing flop

Jon — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 22:25:53 +0000

As an old ex vegetarian I’m still probably more of an omnivore than any of my friends, and as open to good vegetarian fayre as any other cuisine. Terre a Terre, with its mad menus and gourmet dishes of diverse ingredients lovingly assembled with perfect balances of flavours and textures, is a favourite purveyor. Food [...]

Achieving Greatness is a Thing of the Past

Jon — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 12:39:28 +0000

All we were promised for the future... and what have we actually achieved in the last forty years? Are you one of the disappointed generation?

Internet marketing scams

Jon — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 10:18:31 +0000

Every new technology attracts scammers and fraudsters – it’s been happening since the dawn of time. The internet is no different of course. Not a week (or indeed a day, usually) goes by without someone calling me claining they’re in some way related to Google or Facebook, calling on behalf of Google or Facebook, or [...]

Brighton & Hove Parking – criminal racket in disguise

Jon — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 12:34:31 +0000

In a week when my car was unceremoniously seriously injured by a motorist (thanks, Mr Farmer) who blamed me (the oncoming traffic) after he thought it’d be ok to execute a right turn across the carriageway from a stationary, parked position without indication or regard for oncoming traffic, I thought things couldn’t get much worse. [...]

People, Politics and The State of Britain

Jon — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 13:22:58 +0000

People are always bemoaning the state of the country. They always have been, for as long as I can remember. “It’s not like it used to be, is it?” they say. They’re right of course, and perhaps it’s also right that a country shouldn’t be static, but should be progressively marching forward into a new [...]

One Hour’s Parking for the Price of Two

Jon — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 10:19:18 +0000

This unadvertised special offer from Brighton & Hove City Council occurred on… yes you guessed it, April 1st. So how many others received PCNs (Penalty Charge Notices) erroneously? How much has it all cost to sort out? Just to explain, for some reason some Brighton parking ticket machines were issuing one-hour tickets when they should [...]

Monarch Airlines: smashed luggage, customer care vacuum & derisory compensation

Jon — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 08:52:00 +0000

When an airline destroys your suitcase on your outbound flight, you’d like to expect that they’d be not only apologetic but also perhaps actively help you find a replacement for the journey home. Alas in Monarch’s case they failed on every step of the way to customer service satisfaction. We reported the completely smashed International [...]

Why the Royal Mail Deserves to Die

Jon — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 17:53:34 +0000

I’m finally turning away from Royal Mail for most of my business carriage. I’ve tried to remain loyal, after all it’s one of those Great British Institutions, isn’t it? But when it’s this painful, you’ve got to wonder… are Royal Mail management really trying to commit commercial suicide? It certainly looks that way from here. [...]

Transport Solutions in a Flash of Inspiration

Jon — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 10:29:05 +0000

Sometimes, just occasionally, inspiration comes along and in a flash you have the answer to a whole raft of problems, all at once. It was a bit like that for me one morning as I fought my way up the A23/A27 slip road trying desperately to move from the right hand lane across three lanes [...]

ScrewFix Direct: no-show kitchens & belligerent staff

Jon — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 09:51:18 +0000

I took the advice of my builder & in November bought a selection of ScrewFix Direct ready-assembled kitchen units for my house renovation; then I waited, and waited, and despite three delivery dates being quoted, none was satisfied. When I was told it would be December 20th, I cancelled the order. The staff member who [...]

Esporta Brighton – unfair notice periods and forged signatures

Jon — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:08:47 +0000

Since we decided to leave Esporta Brighton, we’ve had no end of threatening behaviour from the company and its debt collector ARC Europe. This isn’t anything unusual, they’ve done it to lots of people – just try a Google search. Esporta’s membership contract says that they can terminate a membership with one month’s notice, but [...]

If SatNav was Royal Mail, we’d all be lost forever

Jon — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:47:02 +0000

The Royal Mail is the arbiter of all addresses. If it’s not on their database, it doesn’t exist. Thankfully my studio is on the database. So are quite a few other businesses in the local area. However it doesn’t stop the Royal Mail’s employees from deciding that they’re all based here, despite a very clear [...]

London to Brighton Bike Ride turns bad

Jon — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 06:14:28 +0000

Years ago – in 1981 – when I was a mere fourteen years of age, I started doing the London to Brighton Bike Ride. Living in Brighton, we’d get up very early, catch one of the special trains to Clapham Junction, and proudly start the ride. Depending on the mood of our little group of [...]

Belkin – probably the worst brand in the world

Jon — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 20:32:10 +0000

Just a quick public information notice: Belkin makes the most unreliable, poorly designed, unmitigated rubbish in the world. It’s true. I have owned several items by Belkin, none of which has ever worked properly, and have always given them the benefit of the doubt. But the Belkin Vision N1 router is the last Belkin device [...]