Courier Business Stuff

It’s www.ufindus.com and it seems a bit dodgy to me.

I don’t know what it was like in your region but they blitzed the North West with television advertising last year (or maybe early this year). At the same time we received loads of sales calls from them explaining what a fantastic service it was, how it had generated such fantastic brand-awareness with their television advertising etc.

I’ve not seen one of their adverts for at least 6 months now and their sales calls (thankfully) seem to have dried up. A cynical person might believe that they’re targetting each TV region in turn, and hassling companies into signing up with them on the strength of their TV advertising. Once they’ve attracted their target number of mug punters in the region they could then move on to the next region.

The thing is everyone knows Yell & Thomson – but the fact that you couldn’t even spell ufindus demonstrates that they have some way to go to generate the level of brand-awareness that they would like you to believe they possess.
 

Posted under Advertising, Courier Scams

It’s just a notice of charge issued on behalf of whatever shonky private company controls the car park at Oxford services.

I think they’ve got long-term and short-term parking at Oxford? If you park in the long term you’re meant to buy a pay and display ticket.

Send the solicitors a letter – “According to my records I could not have been at that location at that time. If you have evidence that I was and that I had agreed to this charge please send it to me and I will assess your claim. If you fail to do so I will assume that your claim is entirely spurious.”

Nobody’s going to jump through hoops, provide all the details requested within a reasonable time and take you small claims court 150 miles from where they’re based for the vague chance of gaining £80.

Posted under Courier Scams, Parking Tickets, Tolls, Charges & Fines

What law’s that then? The ‘Bloke In The Pub Told Me Act 2007′?

Posted under Courier Financial Issues, Insurance for Couriers, Legal Issues

Actually parking tickets aren’t a tax deductable expense Simon. Even if they were do you think it’s any more palatable to know that by paying £60 to the council you’ve cut your tax bill by £15? Anyone invoicing their customers extra to cover a parking ticket should be aware that while their charge to the customer is taxable income, the parking ticket isn’t a deductable expense. So if you get a parking ticket for £60 and charge your customer £60 you’re deemed to have made an extra £60 taxable profit.

What’s even more bizarre is that if an employee is HANDED a ticket for a company owned vehicle and the company subsequently pays the ticket then the company has to include the parking ticket payment in the employee’s gross pay as taxable income subject to NI & PAYE. If the same ticket is attached to the vehicle then the company can pay it without accruing any further liability.

Posted under Courier Basics, Courier Financial Issues, Legal Issues, Parking Tickets, Uncategorized

Depends on the situation Ali. Easy case where they recover their costs from late-payment or court charges and you’ll pay nothing.

If you haven’t got an email from me about something else inm the next couple of days then remind me – forgot all about you, sorry.

Posted under Courier Financial Issues, Late Payment, Legal Issues

I told you not to tell anyone about that Chris – they’ll all be expecting it now.

Anyone needing paying quickly please note: We’re working from a remote location for the next few days so we won’t receive any posted invoices until Friday (or possibly Thursday if the weather’s bad) at the earliest. Anything received by email, fax or ‘Network’ will be paid by BACS within a couple of days as usual. any new suppliers please make sure you SEND US YOUR BANK DETAILS if you actually want paying.
 

Posted under Late Payment, Uncategorized

So you want someone to help you break the law? Fucking cowboy.

Posted under Courier Basics, Insurance for Couriers, Legal Issues

A confidentiality agreement will stand up in court EVERY TIME, if you can demonstrate ‘in the balance of probability’ that a party to the agreement has used confidential information to your detriment. It’s likely to be a long drawn-out process though and it’s not likely to be worth going to court over it unless the guilty party has very deep pockets.

What will normally never be enforceable is an agreement not to compete – ‘can’t be employed in the same industry within an 50 mile radius of XYXtown’ etc – unless a very significant sum has been paid in order to compensate for the inability to carry out their trade in their chosen area.

It’s much easier to tie your customers to ‘introduction fees’ if they decide to cut out the middle man and approach your suppliers or employees direct, or to accept their approaches.
 

Posted under Employment, Legal Issues