“ I refuse to give you my postcode and house number ! “

I was shopping some time back at a local electrical retailer and after spending some time browsing around the isles I finally decide to finish up and head for the checkout.

The checkout operator was a naturally happy young lady and it was good to see. I put my item to be purchased on the counter and proceeded to extract some Mickey Mouse money from my wallet. The young lady scanned my item and then asked me for my postcode and house number. I hastily stopped her in her tracks and demanded a reason as to why I must give her my details. “What’s it got to do with you “ I asked in a stern voice. Before she could reply I had decided to throw my usual wobbly ( these happen daily between 0915 hrs and 1445 hrs ). I didn’t give the poor girl a chance and basically started bleating on about how society is so like a Big Brother world and how I wasn’t prepared to be part of their system and I wanted to be heard – and the whole shop heard me too !.

After having my usual rant, the young lady at the checkout finally explained to me why she needed my details.

I forgot that when you buy televisions and signal receiving equipment you need a tv licence and as part of the control over tv licencing laws in the UK everyone who buys equipment that is under the tv licensing laws has to surrender their details to the seller so they can be checked for a tv licence.

Did I feel stupid or what ? I am very aware of the licensing laws too but didn’t give the lady a chance to shut me up quick. That’ll teach me.

Whether or not you think I’m a mass buyer of televisions or not, I also bought a small portable colour tv from a local supermarket for £49. Because I was in a rush and the queues weren’t small, I used the automated checkout for my purchase. It took a little manoeuvring to get the barcode to scan but every thing went through fine. I didn’t have to give my postcode and house number then though……….let’s pause for thought shall we and contemplate…….

Sounds like a slight loophole methinks.

Simon from Bath

Pensionage says......mmmmm....ok so there are lots of rules about and it seems lots of ways to get around them. The more we know the more we can tackle life and defend ourselves against the supposed Big Brother feel around the collar. If anyone has any similar stories then please get in touch. HERE

Ed

RAISE THE UK STATE PENSION

This was sent in by 'Jill' - she has commented about how the basic UK pension is so low compared to other countries and what we can do about it. We think the basic state pension here in the UK is 'pants' and it's a disgrace that the full basic state pension of £90.70 is actually lower than the minimum pension credit amount of £124.05. Anyway, read on to see what Jill has sent us.....

Please urge your members to sign the Downing Street petition which urges the government to raise the State Pension to levels enjoyed in other EU countries. This is the link: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/pensionpoverty/

The UKs Basic Pension is 17% of the National Average Wage. Most European pensioners receive a Basic Pension of at least 60% of their countries Average wage. Only Estonia (33%),Ireland (31%),Holland (30%)and the UK(17%) pays a Basic Pension of under 40% of its Average Wage. A Political consensus was reached by the EU Nations at the Laeken Summit 2001. that each Member State would attempt to attain a Basic Pension of 40% of its Average Wage by 2007 and then work towards 60%.

The UK provides the worst Basic Pension by far. In fact , taking the Pension as a percentage of each countries Average Wage you will note that Pensioners in Greece, Luxembourg, Spain and Italy receive over 5 times our basic pension. Those in Portugal, Malta , Hungary and France receive over 4 times as much and those in Poland ,Czech Republic ,Latvia ,Finland and Sweden receive 3 times as much. Slovakia ,Cyprus ,Denmark, Germany ,Lithuania and Belgium receive over double ,whist finally Estonia Ireland and Holland have almost twice our basic pension.

Disabled parking and double yellow lines    by John from Tamworth

This is a slightly sensitive area to touch upon but I need something cleared up.

Disabled badge holders have the right to use double yellow lines to park on ok.

Double yellow lines are placed on the roads because parking on them can be dangerous and cause traffic congestion this is why they are there ok.

Isn't this then dangerous to a disabled badge holder who parks on them?

When the road is designed, do they take into consideration that disabled badge holders may park on these double yellow lines therefore they don't put them in danger or are the disabled supposed to make the decision whether or not they should park on them?

Over the years I've seen many use of this permission granted to disabled badge holders and sometimes seen it abused too. I've seen on various occasions, a disabled badge holder parked on double yellow lines in very dangerous positions which not only threaten their own lives but also endangers the lives of other road users and pedestrians.

Like I said earlier, I'm not quite sure what the rule is here and how cloudy it is but I'm trying to open up other peoples' eyes to this problem, especially those who use double yellows to park on.

Think before you ‘misuse’ your disabled badge right. Consider others also.

John from Tamworth

If you have any comments email the editor steve@pensionage.co.uk or go to our feedback page and fill in the required online form. Have your say with us here at pensionage and tell the world what you really think. Everything is kept anonymous and names are changed for legal purposes.

Disclaimer : Although we make every effort to ensure everything is correct on this website prior to publishing, we have no guarantees that the information given on this site is 100% accurate but we do ensure that the information that we do use is correct at the time of publishing. Any information should be treated as guidance only. Your rights are not affected.