EXCLUSIVE This is how you can beat a private parking ticket: Retired judge reveals the defences you need to know as fines rocket to 40,000 a day
Private parking companies issued a record-breaking 14.4million tickets in Britain last year, or 40,000 a day as we exclusively revealed earlier this month.
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BBC News
4 minutes ago
- BBC News
Newport: Accountant stole £2.4m to fund gambling addiction
An accountant stole more than £2.4m from companies she worked for in order to fund her gambling Lewis, 40, who was on a £200,000 salary, stole money from five businesses within the same family of companies, Newport Crown Court heard. Her actions caused considerable stress to other members of staff, causing one director to leave, another to lose out on his salary, and one woman unable to access her pension. Lewis, of Wolverhampton, pleaded guilty to five counts of fraud by abuse of position and was sentenced to five years in prison, with each charge to run concurrently. Her actions also meant that the companies, owned by James Davies, did not contribute enough Davies said Lewis was like a daughter to him, and felt like five companies she committed fraud against included Daisy Vale Limited, Charnwood Accounts, Edward Davies Construction and Fastnet Properties Orndal, prosecuting, told the court that Lewis began working for Mr Davies in 2007, first holding a role as a 2017 she was the accountant for the group of companies after she had her accountancy training funded by the company. However, when the company moved over to an online banking system financial problems began to arise. For the first time, the company began to see a substantial and unexplained downturn in suspicions were raised over an increase in third party payments, Lewis officially resigned in 2023 and a new accountant took Lewis contacted Mr Davies about her severance payment he noticed a link between her account details and a number of other payments on the account. 'Crypto companies' Mr Orndal said: "Instead of paying third party people she had been paying herself and disguising them as proper payments."Between 2018 and 2023, the total payments to her account exceeded £3.6m, with the total being more than £2.4m after her salary and other legitimate payments had been deducted. Mr Orndal said that £1.4m of this was sent to known gambling companies but this figure is likely to be higher as it is difficult to identify all gambling also spent £67,000 on crypto companies and £9,000 on FairFX, a bank which accepts payments in different already fraudulently stealing millions from the businesses, Lewis also asked Mr Davies to loan her £163,000 to help her buy a house, but the money was eventually repaid by her mother and a victim impact statement, Mr Davies said Lewis's crimes had "affected the lives of countless people" and she had also taken money from the Davies said one member of staff had been unable to withdraw her pension, despite working at the company for many years, because Lewis did not fund it a victim impact statement, former director Mark Cotter said that the stress on him had led to his GP making him take four to six weeks off work. "I felt forced to leave the company that I had spent a lot of my life trying to build," he added."I'm in disbelief that all of this happened because of Jemma Lewis."Neil Corre, for the defendant, said she was in this position due to her gambling said she did not gamble to win but to continue gambling, adding she had now been free of the addiction for more than a Corre said she hoped to use her experience to help others. "She has lost her job, her home and she may lose her liberty, but her moral compass has been restored," he Lewis, Judge Daniel Williams said: "You have been a gambler for years, since you were 18 and long before you were employed by James Davies. "Your upbringing was privileged but also blighted by trauma and sadness."
The Independent
34 minutes ago
- The Independent
Labour urged to overhaul crucial pension-age benefit claimed by millions
The government has been told it needs to make major changes to a pension-age benefit claimed by millions if it is to effectively tackle pensioner poverty in the UK. Claimed by 1.3 million individuals, Pension Credit is designed to bring low-income pensioners' funds up to a liveable level. Under current entitlement, claimants will see their incomes topped up to at least £227.10 a week. But more must be done to improve take-up of the benefit, the cross-party Work and Pensions Committee has warned, as well as changes to make it fairer. Despite being worth up to £4,000 a year, the take-up of pension credit has hovered between 61 and 66 per cent for a decade, with an estimated 700,000 households being eligible but not claiming, the committee found in its report on pensioner poverty. A taper to pension credit should also be considered to 'mitigate the cliff-edge effect' for those who currently miss out, it added. Under current rules, some pensioners just above income thresholds could end up worse off than those with slightly lower incomes. This is because Pension Credit can 'passport' recipients to other benefits such as housing benefit, council tax support, the warm home discount, a free TV licence, and help with dental treatment. In winter last year, it was also linked to the winter fuel payment, resulting in around around 60,000 extra awards of the benefit. But there is 'still a long way to go,' the committee report says. It also urged the Government to commit to a UK-wide, cross-government strategy for an ageing society to better target support and tackle pensioner poverty. The number of pensioners in relative low income began rising again in the 2010s, the cross-party group notes, reversing a decline from the 2000s. This was exacerbated by the recent cost of living crisis, with 1.9 million pensioners (16 per cent) now living in relative poverty. Committee chairwoman Debbie Abrahams said: 'To boost incomes, the Government needs to come up with a strategy to increase pension credit take-up. It's a scandal that so many have missed out for so many years, often through an aversion to claiming benefits altogether, or lack of support. 'The fairness of the pensions credit eligibility criteria where if you are a penny above the threshold, you miss out on thousands of pounds, also needs to be looked at. 'Ultimately, the Government should decide what it thinks is enough for a dignified retirement, and then work to ensure that all pensioners are on at least that level. A government spokesperson said: 'Supporting pensioners is a top priority, and thanks to our commitment to the Triple Lock, millions will see their yearly State Pension rise by £1,900 this parliament. We have also run the biggest-ever campaign to boost Pension Credit take-up, with nearly 60,000 extra pensioner households being awarded the benefit, worth on average around £4,300 a year. 'But we know there is a real risk that tomorrow's pensioners will be poorer than today's, which is why we are reviving the Pension Commission, to tackle the barriers that stop too many people from saving.'
The Independent
34 minutes ago
- The Independent
Self-driving Tesla tackles the UK's most confusing roundabout
Elon Musk 's self-driving Tesla car has taken on one of it's biggest challenges yet - Swindon 's notorious 'Magic Roundabout'. The M4 roadway, composed of five mini roundabouts orbiting one central island, has earned itself the reputation as one of Britain's most confusing junctions. In a post on the company's European X account, Tesla posted footage of one of their cars in a driver-supervised self-driving mode, navigating the roundabout with ease. Tesla's 'Full Self-Driving'-capable cars have not yet been given full approval in UK, despite the government fast-tracking test pilots of self-driving taxi and private hire cars from 2026.
