Reference your recent article about uninsured drivers. I thought they were supposed to be introducing a system of cameras and automatic number plate recognition technology. .......

Legislation setting up a new police database tied to automatic number plate ........

I’m old enough to remember the debate that took place before the abolition of the death penalty in 1965. Amongst the arguments that were put forward by the abolitionists .......

The suggestion that the sentencing of murderers should be changed has been ........

I am one of the partners of a small local company. We recently discovered that one of our employees has been spending hours and hours on the Internet. I was so angry I wanted .......

From the details you have given I think that your partners' approach was cor ........

A number of the clients of my web design company received an email from someone who claimed to be a student doing a research project into Grimsby-based design companies. It sa .......

It is possible that you could take action, although in this particular insta ........

In the discussion about the Home Secretary's White Paper I was surprised to read that 60,000 criminal cases a year are dropped or collapse before they get to court. What on ear .......

Cases are dropped for a whole variety of reasons. One of the most common cau ........

Could I ask you to clarify the situation concerning no-win-no-fee-cases. I see solicitors advertising that they take cases on this basis. 'Win or lose, it will not cost you a p .......

The position varies from law firm to law firm and, indeed, in some instances ........

Can a landlord evict a tenant just when he feels like it? Relations between my son and his landlord soured after he made a complaint about the condition of the communal hallway .......

The law relating to tenancies has in recent years swung towards landlords. Y ........

We are seeing a string of court cases reported in the newspapers in which people are being sent to prison for downloading pornographic images from the Internet.

My ques .......

You are quite right that peoples' views of what is or is not pornographic wi ........

Purely by accident my wife parked her car in a disabled bay in the car park at one of the local supermarkets. The markings were worn and she simply didn't realised the space w .......

No it is not. The car park is private land owned by the supermarket and whi ........

Having spent the last five years working in Spain, I was home recently in connection with a court case to recover money due to me. In three weeks of staying with friends, I no .......

I think you would have considerable difficulty in proving that the driver o ........

Almost every night in the Telegraph we read about car and motorcycle thefts, robberies, break-ins, arson, bullying and so on. However, because of their age the perpetrators ca .......

The reason that the law prohibits the publication of the names of young off ........

I read a report recently of a case where the seller of a property was ordered to pay damages to the buyer because of a failure to disclose that there were noisy neighbours.
.......

Whilst the situations may seem very similar, variations on a theme, they are ........

I wished to write and express my anger about the court case in which a retired teacher won libel damages of £1,250 for jokey remarks made about him on an internet website.
< .......

You are completely wrong if you think that the Internet is not subject to th ........

Wasn't it incredible to hear all the do-gooders squealing like hell about a woman getting sent to prison for a few days for not sending her children to school?

They sh .......

I do not imagine for a moment that the courts are now going to be putting a ........

I read that members of the Human Genetics Commission are urging the Government to bring in new laws concerning DNA databases and the circumstances in which DNA samples can be .......

As I understand it, the Commission's proposals concerning rules restrictin ........

The grass verges in the main thoroughfare of Tetney village are owned by East Lindsey District Council. Although these verges are not our legal responsibility the residents have, w .......

You may well have a moral argument against the town hall but, unfortunately, ........

In the summer of 1999 I had my yard concreted by a local building firm. I was left with pools of water on the yard each time we had any rain and they didn’t put a drain un .......

I’m sorry to hear about the trouble you have been experiencing in this ........

What's happened to the idea of the seller's pack to be supplied by people putting their houses on the market?

It was the hot topic a while back, all over the papers, .......

The idea has not, so far as I am aware, been dropped. The official position ........

I would be grateful if you could advise us about a flooding situation that we have been facing following the purchase of a house in one of the villages near Grimsby.
When we bo .......
The standard questions now put by solicitors acting for purchasers to vendors ab ........

Our home is situated on a private road, for which the residents have the responsibility of upkeep and repair. Unfortunately we also live close to a large senior school and our .......

If the road is actually owned by the residents . . . and there is no public ........

Recently whilst out walking locally I snagged my coat on a hedge that protruded beyond the boundary of a property. The hedge is very high and almost spans the footpath, making it d .......
In principle if someone does something which is negligent and that negligence re ........

I've been caught up in one of those nightmare leasehold situations. My parents never bought the freehold of their home. When my father died earlier this year, leaving the prope .......

One of the main effects of the new leasehold legislation - the Commonhold a ........

I am the beneficiary of a trust from one of my relations who left me some money which I cannot touch until I am 25.

I am unhappy about the investments that the truste .......

You do not say why you are unhappy about the investments that the trustees ........

We bought a television from a well-known store in January last year, paying £14-97 per month for 18 months, with a final payment of £439.

Six weeks before we were due .......

I think you need to write to the manager of the store where you bought the ........

Does it matter . . . so far as the law is concerned . . . if a couple are married or not these days?

I have been living with my partner for a number of years. Our relati .......

As you say, in modern society a large number of people choose to cohabit rat ........

I was concerned to read national reports which suggest that a very large number of law firms are considering dropping legal aid work, producing a situation in which, in some ar .......

All the evidence would suggest that there are many law firms that are taking ........

After being injured in an accident at work I contacted one of the claims companies which advertise on TV. I now find that solicitors in Birmingham are handling my case. Does it .......

This is the way that the large claims companies operate. I assume that you w ........

My son was made redundant eight months ago when the factory where he worked closed down. Despite dozens of applications he was unable to get work until a few weeks ago when he .......

From the information you have provided, I do not believe that he does have a ........

What a joke prison sentences have become when millionaire inmates sentenced to four years behind bars are within a matter of 12 months driving to their theatre jobs in their BM .......

Could I leave Lord Archer to one side for a moment and concentrate first on ........

As a retired journalist I have been very surprised by the huge amount of information which has been published about the two individuals who have been arrested in connection wit .......

As a former journalist you are clearly aware that there are strict rules to ........

Can a UK citizen hold two different surnames - and passports, bank accounts and credit cards? .......

Legally anyone can call themselves by whatever name they wish, provided tha ........

My daughter and her husband had a conservatory built by a local tradesman. He gave them a written guarantee of ten years. This was approximately five years ago. Two of the lar .......

It sounds very much as if your tradesman needs a little prodding to concent ........

Is it correct that the Government is planning to give the police greater powers to retain DNA samples from people, even if they are not convicted of an offence?

Whils .......

You are quite correct that the new Criminal Justice Bill means the police w ........

I am told that if a hunt saboteur were to encroach on private land he or she could be arrested for ‘aggravated trespass’ and could be prosecuted even if no damage had bee .......
Trespass has for long been a civil matter however the Criminal Justice and Publi ........

My mother has recently become unemployed at the age of 68. She has been informed that she is not entitled to any redundancy payment because she is over 65.

She worked o .......

The information your mother has been given is correct. Someone who works bey ........

In January 1992 my husband and I went to our bank to apply for an overdraft to have some repairs done to our car. We were 'persuaded' to apply for a loan instead and we were ac .......

Normally the terms of overdrafts or loans mean that the bank can call them i ........

My son has been involved in a split with his partner of the past five years. I will not go into the details of the break-up, beyond saying there is nothing very unusual about t .......

In this situation, it makes no difference these days whether they were marri ........

I suffered a broken leg when a car being driven by my husband was involved in a crash. Unfortunately the accident was his fault and I have been advised that I should make a cla .......

If you were injured as a result of someone else's negligence you are entitl ........

What is the point of increasing the fine which can be imposed on the parents of school truants from a thousand pounds to two and a half thousand?
The parents who end up before .......
Two and a half thousand pounds is the maximum amount of the penalty the courts c ........

I was delighted to read that amongst a large number of proposals to reform the law currently being looked at by the Government's legal advisers is a suggestion that the heinou .......

There are many people who will welcome the suggestion that television licen ........

My boss closed the shop where I work part time on the morning of the Queen Mother's funeral, which seemed a very nice gesture of respect. However, he later announced that I wou .......

The key issue is whether or not you working hours and days are specified in ........

Could I take your advice about the problems which my wife and I experienced on a fourteen day holiday in Turkey earlier this year.
The first difficulty arose as soon as we arri .......
There are a couple of things you could do to let the tour operators know you are ........

I cannot understand all the fuss about the law being changed so that the police can keep DNA samples taken from innocent members of the public during major crime investigations .......

I suspect that many people will be sympathetic to your point of view. There ........

I was amazed to read that the Home Secretary is seriously looking at the idea of part time prison sentences. In some instances people would only be in jail at weekends! In som .......

Initially the idea of part time prison sentences does seem a pretty way out ........

Despite numerous enquiries and expressions of concern, my daughter’s dentist allowed her to reach 17 years of age without losing her milk teeth. This resulted in her spending .......
The position is that where someone suffers an injury as a result of medical negl ........

My wife and I were guests at a large dinner at a local country house hotel. When they were serving the vegetables at our table they ran out and my wife and another of the people on .......
From what you have said it would seem that there could have been negligence in t ........

I am happily married and have no need to change my name but as my parents both died at fairly young ages I have been thinking about adding my original family name to my current sur .......
There is nothing legally to prevent you changing the name on your bank account o ........

My wife and myself are thinking of making our wills. We would rather like to take advantage of one of the schemes which benefit charities. Could you advise us which schemes are .......

So far as I am aware there is just one initiative running at the moment, inv ........

I have a friend who has no family beyond some distant relatives he hasn’t seen in years. From comments that he has made I have an idea that I may be a beneficiary of his will, .......
The short answer is no. A will is a strictly private and confidential document w ........

I recently came across a copy of my will which I made some years ago. The two executors are now deceased and also I noticed that it hasn't been signed or dated. What do you adv .......

The death of the executors before the person who made the will does not affe ........

In the case of someone dying without making a will, would a child long since adopted out have a claim on the estate? .......
No. The people who adopt the child become the legal parents of that child - and ........

My mother recently decided to make a new will and, to save money, she decided to use a will-writer rather than a solicitor. She was shocked to receive a bill for £350.
.......

Unless your mother's financial affairs are particularly complicated, or the ........

My aunt recently died. We know she made a will but we cannot find it. What can we do?
.......

First a word of caution: Sometimes elderly people lead members of their fami ........

During a discussion about jury trials, one of my colleagues claimed that there was a recent trial in which two members of the jury were jailed by the judge.
He could not rememb .......
I can confirm that he is absolutely right. The situation arose in 1997 and invol ........

Despite Government claims that they would help small firms by changing the appalling late payment culture in this country, it is clear that their efforts so far have been compl .......
I did see a report on the survey in the Business Telegraph and it makes interest ........

Several people I know have been sanctioned by the Benefits Agency. This means having your benefits withdrawn for six months.

The Government states you need £52.50 per .......

The Benefits Agency are legally entitled to withdraw benefits in certain cir ........

I wrote to you some weeks ago when the man who was buying my business by installments took refuge from his creditors in an Individual Voluntary Arrangement still owing me £20, .......

There is no doubt that the fees of insolvency practitioners can be high but ........

We're getting bombarded with junk faxes. Requests for them to stop sending us the things are ignored.

Is there anything we can do?
.......
I am aware of one instance in which a firm of solicitors became so annoyed about ........

My 80 year old mother is considering going into a residential home. She currently owns her own home and we have to face the decision about what to do with it.

Should sh .......

You are facing a situation which is now very common in a home owning society ........

Could I ask your advice about a motorway accident in which I was recently involved. I was travelling in the centre lane, the traffic was very heavy as we approached roadworks, nose .......
Normally of course drivers are not allowed to undertake on the motorway and if t ........

As you will be aware, there have been problems at companies around the country with people downloading pornographic material from the Internet.
At the firm I work for in North .......
This does appear to be a problem that many companies are facing. In one of the m ........

It would seem that a lot of money is to be spent on increasing the number of speed cameras but I cannot help thinking that the resources would be a great deal better spent on e .......

You are quite right that the number of speed cameras on the country’s r ........

I was shocked and disgusted to receive a glossy brochure through the post from a Surrey firm which sells detector devices which warn car drivers of the presence of speed camera .......

The use of devices which warn drivers as they approach speed cameras or poli ........

A couple of weeks ago a young businessman ran into the back of my wife’s car. The bump did not do a lot of damage to the car and whilst she was a little shaken, she was no .......

He sounds very obnoxious but he has . . . just about . . . stayed within the ........

Comment:
I wish to support the reader who wrote to your column expressing concern about the sale of devices, which warn drivers when they are approaching speed cameras, and .......

You obviously have very strong views on this matter and I am pleased that yo ........

My question concerns speed cameras. I have been told that the police cannot prosecute drivers if there are no markings on the road. Is that correct - or is it a myth?

.......

It depends on the type of camera that is being used. Currently the most com ........

Whilst at university my son shared a flat with three other students. The responsibility for paying both gas and electricity bills was ‘given’ to him by the others.
.......
It isn't clear from your letter who was directly responsible to the electricity ........

Through the help of column readers we have over the last year or 18 months highlighted a number of variants of a scam in which businessmen are being contacted by supposed civi .......

Anyone who is daft enough to respond - and I understand that around the coun ........