'm well aware that I need to tread carefully to avoid offending the moderators and I apologise if I have got it wrong.

I was upset (actually, more than upset) yesterday to receive through the post a Parking Charge Notice from a company employed by B & Q to manage one of its car parks, alleging my car was parked for 50 minutes over the allowed two hours of free parking. The company concerned is not unknown to the media for its sharp practice, failure to follow guidelines etc.

I got the Notice as the registered keeper of the vehicle, my name and address supplied by DVLA, an issue that has been well debated on this forum and elsewhere. Leaving this and the odious reputation of the company on side for the moment, I decided to concentrate on the validity of the PCN.

Research on this matter turned up a number of points. The demand for money hinges on an implied contract the parking management company claim was entered into by the vehicle being left in the car park. However, any such contract could only have been entered into by the driver of the car. As the keeper, I am not bound to reveal who this was – remember, we are dealing with a private company here, not the police or the local authority.

The company has not always clearly displayed properly worded notices and this may also affect the validity of the implied contract.

There is also the matter of the amount claimed – in my case, £125 for the 50 minutes it is alleged I am being charged for, or £75 for prompt payment. Not a reasonable amount, one might say.

Some advice I have seen suggests ignoring the notice, on the basis that the company will not want to see their case examined in court – which presumably would be the small claims court, as this is a civil matter.

However, the matter is now resolved, for me at least, though I wonder how many other motorists have meekly paid up, as indeed I first thought of doing. By chance I came upon a B & Q helpline dedicated to this issue. I phoned it, gave the details of the PCN and made further, carefully phrased remarks including some of the issues above, the effect on B & Q's reputation and so on. I was phoned back and the charge was waived on the basis that “we don’t want to lose customers – but don’t do it again.” The number is 0845 6024946 – mods, I hope there is no problem with putting this.

I hope my experience will give others in a similar position the means to challenge unreasonable parking charges on private land. I’m happy to give more info by e-mail. Read more

Unbelievable this one. The Picasso went into Autotrader this week, and as expected got the sales call this morning- usual carp we can match your car blah blah blah.

Having asked them numerous times not to call me in the past I was ready for them. Asked them to hold on for a moment, and put the mobile on my desk. Eventually he hung up- but kept calling back, so rejected the call. The last time he left a profanity laden abusive message on answerphone for me.

Have called Ofcom, Autotrader, Vodafone etc about this- but great way to do business. If they call again will demand to speak to a manager. If they don't call, well my trick worked- made me laugh out loud and obviously I wound them up instead of other way round. Read more

I've recently bought Peugeot 106 M plate 1.5D and so far its been Okish. Not very happy with the car after changing the drive shaft, radiator etc.. Now I've got another problem. Water is leaking somewhere inside the car. Every morning I've a bit of water on the mat at the driver's side. I've looked for source of leakage under the steering area but can't seem to figure it out. I'm sure somewhere here knows exactly where its leaking from and if its easy and cheap to repair? I'm really thinking of selling this car and buying a Polo. Read more

Friend has just bought a P plate facelift 306 which when driving feels like the steering wheel is tugging NOT juddering. She had the wheels balanced & tracked yesterday which made the steering much better but still tugs. When u let go of the wheel the car heads left towards the kerb, as the tracking has been done, where is the next best place to start to cure the tugging? TIA Read more

I'm in an odd situation at the moment. I bought a new Golf a little over a month ago. I flagged a bodywork defect to them the day after I bought it. They have attempted to repair a bodywork defect on several occations by means of so called 'adjustment', each time not successful. The only reason I have allowed the continual efforts to fix is on the proviso that no re-spraying happens. I backed this up previous to their efforts with a letter I sent to them saying, fix it, but no respraying. Everytime they said no respraying would be done.

I get the car back a couple of days ago and they have resprayed a large proportion of the car in order to repair the fault. NOT HAPPY. Initially they said that the repair is satisfactory and deny that respraying had been done. Shortly after I find out from another source that it was sprayed because of damage to it whilst at a bodyshop. (which I know is a lie)

A new car with just a smige over 1000miles on the clock and new it has been resprayed????

Where do I stand, I really don't want a car that is barely over a month old which has been repainted against my will. Especially sine I could spot the repair myself..... Read more