Firstly, however, I had to pop into the post office in BEDMINSTER ARCADE, Bedminster, Bristol, to return a mail order item for my sister. Up to this point I was calm. I walked up to the counter and put my gloves in my hat on it and handed over the package (about 17x 10cms). "Good morning. How are you? I'd like to return this item and need a proof of posting, please."
Man looks down at package. Rubs his finger over label and asks "You want to return this?" So I say "Yes, please." He points to the label with the company name and "Returns Department" printed on it but he wants to know WHAT is in it. "That's not the right label" he tells me. So I say "I'm sorry? It's the name and address of the company it is being returned to why is it not 'right'? And the woman before me was not asked what was in the chunky square box she posted off to another mail order company" He tells me he has to go check so opens the door to enter the enclosed counter area where the two women who have worked there for years and accepted all sizes of packages from me were serving others.
He returns. "It's not the right label. What's in it?" I point out that I do not know. It is being returned on my sister's behalf. He then says that the label is not a "Mail pre-paid label" and I point out that I know this which is why I asked for a proof of posting AND a cash receipt. "We'll need to open it and examine it" he tells me. "It's security regulations"
Imagine how angry I am getting but staying calm.
I point out that it is being returned for my sister to the mail order company she buys from. "We will take it so long as you are happy for us to open and examine the contents." Obviously niggly customers behind me in the queue. So I ask WHY the woman before me had not been asked to open the big square box but I am? "Security regulations" he says again. I point out that there might (or might not) be something in the package my sister might find embarassing to have lifted up and examined in public. "It's security regulations" he moronically repeats.
Now I need to point out that I have been posting packages and mail to the UK and all around the world since 1975. Because of "previous work" I know the regulations and what makes a suspicious package. There are things you cannot send via Royal Mail -batteries, pressurised containers etc (your local PO will have a sign showing you). In almost 40 years I have NEVER EVER been refused the right to post an item by any post office and that includes BFPO.
Were I asked by a police or security official who stated the regulation and WHY they suspected the package I might have said "go ahead but not in front of anyone else -privacy" But when I asked "Under what security regulation -can you quote me the regulation number and sub-paragraph, please?" And..."Its security regulations"...next to me one of the female staff was accepting a long rectangular returns package from a woman and just gave the receipt.
"Can I speak to the manager, please?" and I get "No. No one is here." I look at the two female (senior) counter staff and ask "Can you help me sort this out, please?" They turn away quickly.
Once again I was told that the package could not be posted unless it was first "opened and examined". So, I take out my business card and hold it up to the security CCTV camera. I then show it to the moron. I then take out two photo IDs and do the same and I need to point out one used to be okay to get me past military security guards. Not good enough. "The package has to be opened and examined".
I helped these people once by clearing out a rather aggressive drunk from their premises. They were happy then.
So, I state that unless there is a Post Office security officer present then, NO, he as a counter staff would not be allowed to open and examine a private package (which, apparently, I would then need to reseal at the counter).
I thought ***** it. So I took a book out I was going to post -name and address on the pack. "I'll just post this then...please." ta-daaaaa! "What is in the package?"
No. Just no.
It seems I am plain and obviously a security risk.
But then we have TV Licensing.
In the UK if you own and use a TV set you pay an extortionate licence fee. This is the important highly legal stuff: if you DO NOT have a TV set then you do NOT need a TV licence.
People who know me know I do not watch TV -there is absolutely nothing I'm interested in and I tend to work all day. So, in May, I had no TV set and no TV licence. Someone from TV Licensing called and I explained this to him. I denied him his perceived 'right' to enter and search my property (even the police need a warrant). So he wrote down that I had no TV set and no TV license. Read it back to me. No problem. I signed the statement.
MY BIG MISTAKE
Every day, morning, afternoon and evening 3-4 calls every day up until August telling me I had no TV licence. Now,by July I HAD gotten a small portable TV set and I HAD a licence. I contacted TV Licensing and asked for an explanation because I was getting what was harassment -phone calls every day and doorstep callers.
Apparently, their caller "must have forgotten to process" the documents. So, to up-date things I did as requested and sent a copy of my new TV license to them.
Nothing. Must be sorted then.
October I receive a court summons as I am being prosecuted by TV Licensing for operating a TV set without a license. WHAT???
I try to sort this out. December 2013-May 2014 no, I had no TV set and no TV licence. Sooo? Well, it seems that my doorstep caller falsified and added to the signed statement. "You admitted to have been using a TV set which was plugged-in to a freeview box and had been using this for up to six weeks" I thought "What??" I NEVER said any such thing and I still DO NOT have a freeview box (in fact I do not currently have a TV!) and I have pointed this out in writing and on the form and the response? "You signed the form" -it does not matter if it was added to, falsified later (after THREE MONTHS) it is their "agents" word against mine and he has a signed form.
I explain to the courts. "That might be correct BUT you signed the form. You can't prove anything was added to it because you never had a copy of the document you signed. The court will go by the signed statement." Solicitors....ditto. Oh, and then the great advice "NEVER EVER EVER signed a document on the doorstep -even if you are given a carbon copy there and then. You are not legally obliged to do any such thing."
And then I was told: "You seem a very honest person. Intelligent but honest. Honest people are always the ones who get screwed over in these cases"
There are other things but I'm not going into those here. I just want the maximum number of people to know what goes on and also, for the Post Office, to cause the maximum amount of embarassment. I've not really started yet but about 5-6000 people being "made aware" is a start.
I've always been fair, honest and stuck to the law. This is what I get.
In case you cannot tell -I am very VERY pissed off. I now await my County Court fine for not having a TV set...nor a TV licence.
**** the UK
'Gob-smacker' for such lunacy is an understatement. I used to work in my local library many years ago. Not long after I left, I applied to join their record department - and was told by someone I'd worked with that I needed proof of identity. "But you know who I am!" I replied wearily. "My name and address are still on file and you know who I am. Surely ID is only required from those whom you don't know to prevent theft of records by people joining under a false name?" "You need proof of identity!" I was told, flatly. Where do these morons come from?
ReplyDeleteWhat I wrote is the tip of the ice berg but its just getting worse -including in comics. It's now just getting your bonus for prosecutions (TVL) and this seems common practice or morons who were not even born when I was using the PO in the 1970s. Just too much. Bearded anarchists.....we need more of them....
ReplyDeleteWell, if you are done with England don´t come to Germany because it´s not much better here.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who worked as a postman I know that the GEZ ( German Company that collects the money for tv licenses ) has a habit of trying to get money from dead people. And a dog in one case.
I have mentioned on my blog that I had some problems with my health care company. They told me to get my unemployed papers in order so the unemployment office would pay for my health care. Last month around the 7th or 8th I finally got the letter from the unemployment office that everything was green lit, they didn´t even make me go to court and they pay social security and health care and etc.
So the next day I went to my health care company and showed them the letter and they told me that as soon as the money arrived I would be officially in the health care system again. One week later I called my health care company to ask if it was now official because I have to get this operation to get my knee fixed. Because without this operation I can´t work again. And this is what the unemployment office wants. To get me working again as quickly as possible so they don´t have to pay for me any more.
I wasn´t in the system. According to the computer I last had health care in 2012. But they told me it would take some time until the money was transfered. Okay, no big deal.
One week later I called again. Same answer. They hadn´t received any money and according to the computer 2012 was still when I lost health care. Sometimes these thing take more than one week. Okay, I can wait. The important thing is that it gets fixed.
Third week later I called again. Same answer and I called on Monday and on Friday. No news. Can it really take that long ?
To make it short, after almost four weeks I went to the unemployment office to ask if there had been some problem and as it turns out somebody forgot to put all the data into the computer so my application wasn´t processed. I got a paper from the woman who fixed that and I went to my health care company the next day. They need to send me a new card but I have a signed form that I´m now officially getting health care benefits again.
According to the signed form my health care started in August this year ( for some strange reason your registration with health care has to be uninterrupted according to law although in my case that didn´t work ) but I haven´t been able to go to the doctor before Yesterday.
Which I find unjust because I have to pay a lot of money for a treatment I got when I was not health insured from my own pocket and here the health care company has gotten money for four month without having to do anything for it. I know it´s not their fault but the fault of the unemployment office but still.....I have to pay for everything and they just got a free ride for four month.
Life´s a bitch.
Subzero: trouble is bureaucracies always attract the lazy or corrupt. I could tell you some stories about the UK benefits from people I know working in it! And too lazy to tap a few keys...! Hopefully you'll get your leg sorted soon!
ReplyDelete