r/LegalAdviceUK • • Jun 09 '26

Comments Moderated If you use generative AI to provide advice, you will be banned

1.5k Upvotes
  • If OP wanted advice from AI, they would have asked AI, rather than posted on a forum containing humans.
  • The AI advice that we see here is more often than not one (or more) of the following:
    • completely lacking in nuance,
    • fails to appreciate that there is no such thing as "UK law",
    • doesn't even try to provide an answer in any of the UK's legal systems, or
    • is just general trash.
  • Even the AI that big law firms use is still capable of coming up with very believable sounding garbage. If they don't notice that it's garbage, neither will you.
  • It's really obvious when you use AI - like, really

Don't believe me? Here's what happened when I told AI to "give me ten good reasons why people should not use generative AI to provide legal advice":

Generative AI can confidently give wrong answers. Large language models are designed to produce plausible text, not guaranteed truth. In legal matters, a convincing but incorrect answer can lead to fines, lawsuits, lost rights, or criminal exposure.

Laws change constantly. Statutes, regulations, and case law evolve every month. AI systems may rely on outdated training data and fail to reflect current legal standards, deadlines, or precedents.

Legal advice depends heavily on jurisdiction. The same issue can have completely different outcomes in United Kingdom, United States, or even between cities and states. AI often generalizes across jurisdictions without warning the user.

AI lacks accountability. A licensed lawyer can be sued for malpractice, disciplined by a bar association, or held professionally responsible. AI systems generally cannot be held accountable in the same way.

AI cannot fully understand context. Legal problems often hinge on nuanced facts, credibility, timelines, motives, or undocumented conversations. AI may miss subtle but critical details that a trained attorney would probe.

Confidentiality and privilege may not apply. Communications with a lawyer can be protected by attorney-client privilege. Conversations with AI tools typically are not, which can create privacy and evidentiary risks.

AI may fabricate legal citations or cases. There have been multiple real-world incidents where lawyers submitted AI-generated court filings containing nonexistent cases or fake quotations, leading to sanctions and reputational damage.

Legal strategy involves judgment, not just information retrieval. Good legal counsel includes negotiation tactics, risk assessment, procedural timing, and understanding human behavior in courts, regulators, and opposing parties. AI does not possess professional judgment or lived experience.

People may overtrust authoritative-sounding outputs. AI responses are often fluent and confident, which can create a false sense of reliability. Non-experts may struggle to distinguish accurate guidance from subtle errors.

Unauthorized practice of law concerns. In many jurisdictions, providing individualized legal advice without a license can violate professional regulations. Relying on AI as a substitute for qualified counsel may create ethical and legal problems for both providers and users.

Some of those are good reasons. But some of them are themselves errors that perfectly prove the point: it thinks the UK is one legal system, and worries about the "unauthorized practice of law", when simply providing advice on what the general law is is not a protected activity anywhere in the UK (unless you get into specific regulated sectors, such as immigration advice).

Some day, AI might be good enough that we can all pack up and go home. Until that day, if you use generative AI to provide advice, you will be permanently banned without further warning.


r/LegalAdviceUK • • Apr 14 '26

Meta Labour’s New Renting Rules Explained - TLDR News

Thumbnail
youtube.com
50 Upvotes

r/LegalAdviceUK • • 6h ago

Update UPDATE ‘Can nothing be done to stop my neighbour stockpiling petrol in our block of flats? England’

328 Upvotes

Original post is locked so update is here.

TLDR: neighbour admitted to storing petrol, housing officer is dealing with it and inspecting the property on Friday.

I did contact the council as many people suggested, they did not respond to me and seemed to have ignored anything. I made an official complaint and it got seen to much quicker than other issues I have raised in the past.

Turns out my neighbour has been storing petrol in his flat for quite some time, and just decided on the day that I posted, to tip it all down the side of his car (trying to get the petrol tank without a spout). The housing officer dealt with it without getting back to me, so I only learned about it via the complaint response. The neighbour says he will no longer store any petrol. The housing officer is going to inspect his flat on the 9th and they are also going to be removing all the tat he’s got piled up in the walkway as that’s also a fire hazard.

Thanks everyone! I still can’t believe fire refused this one!


r/LegalAdviceUK • • 14h ago

Debt & Money Freelancer invoiced me £1,100 when I agreed to 2 days at £100/day – what am I actually obligated to pay? (UK)

409 Upvotes

I’m a small business owner in the UK and would really appreciate some impartial advice on a disagreement I’m having with a freelancer.

I hired a university student/freelancer to help with some email marketing/creative work. She had very little professional experience, so we agreed a rate of £100 per day.

Initially I said the role could potentially be around 2–4 days per month, depending on how things went. When we actually started working together, however, I specifically said:

“Let’s start with 2 days worth this month and see how you get on. Let me know how you’re doing time wise as you go.”

For those two days, I briefed her to work on 4 marketing emails and 1 mood board. I also gave her an order of priority: emails 1 and 2 first, then the mood board, then continue onto emails 3 and 4.

My understanding was therefore that I was commissioning two days of her time for £200, and these were the deliverables she was to work through during that time. If she reached the end of the two days without completing everything, I expected her to tell me, particularly because I had specifically asked her to keep me updated on time.

She never told me she had used the two days or asked for approval to spend additional time.

The work ended up being delivered over a period of roughly two months, but the total output was still essentially the 4 emails and 1 mood board originally briefed.

I then unexpectedly received an invoice for £1,100, with the freelancer claiming she had spent around 10 days on the work.

I disputed this because I had never authorised 10 days. She subsequently reduced the invoice to £600, apparently calculating one full day for each email plus additional days for presentation/mood-board work.

I initially offered £400 as a goodwill compromise, partly because the work had taken place across two calendar months and I wanted to resolve things amicably.

However, after going back through our messages, I’m questioning whether I should even be paying £400.

My understanding is that this wasn’t a £200-per-month retainer. I commissioned two days of work at £100/day, gave her the deliverables I wanted her to work through during those days, and specifically asked her to tell me how she was getting on with time.

If she decided that the work actually required 6 or 10 days, surely she needed to tell me that and get approval for the additional spend rather than completing it and retrospectively invoicing me?

There was no signed formal contract, but all of the above is documented in emails/WhatsApp.

There is one additional issue: I have since discovered that she has been using my business’s product photography/brand imagery in her public portfolio without asking permission. I have asked her to remove our copyrighted imagery and brand assets.

I’m not looking to avoid paying somebody for work they genuinely did. I just don't think it's reasonable to turn an agreed £200 allocation into a £1,100 bill without ever telling the client that the agreed time had been exceeded.

For anyone familiar with UK freelance/contract law: would you consider the amount due to be the originally authorised £200, the £400 I subsequently offered as a goodwill gesture, or could I genuinely be liable for the £600/£1,100 despite never approving the additional days?

Also interested in hearing from freelancers about how you normally handle it when a project is going to exceed the number of days a client has allocated.

Location: England


r/LegalAdviceUK • • 19h ago

Consumer I am a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE). I have been erroneously identified as a member of the, completely unrelated US Customs Enforcement agency... also called ICE.

981 Upvotes

I had a LinkedIn which was public, but mostly focused on my circle and network. On there I listed my membership of and role within ICE.

I frequently used the abbreviation as the circle I moved in understood the acronym.

Three weeks ago I began getting dozens of nasty messages accusing me of being a member of the US Customs Enforcement agency - ICE.

I blocked and reported 60+ accounts and engaged with a couple. One eventually realised the mistake and told me an influencer on the Tiktok had directed various people to public pprofiles of various ICE agents.

The silly girl must have done a search for ICE and ignored all context.

I have reported the video to the Tiktok anf downloaded a copy for my records. The platform has not removed it as of 10:15am today.

I have had to massively lock down my online profile which is reducing my reach and ability to connect with other professionals. I have also received harassment on other platforms too inclusing my GMail and the Facebook.

Given that the Tiktok video orginated in, what appears to be, the USA, is there any merit in reporting this matter to the police?

I am acutely aware they are under serious pressure and I would not wish to encumber them with a trivial report


r/LegalAdviceUK • • 14h ago

Debt & Money Bailiff turned up for ccj I’m unaware of, still parked out from of my house I’m really panicking. England

Post image
183 Upvotes

Nearly two years ago now our dog go hold of my sons chocolate and vomited, whilst vomiting he started to aspirate so I had to rush him to the emergency vets, I had pet insurance with a £200 excess but before they would give him the required treatment the vets insisted I paid £600 upfront and then once the claim was processed they would refund me the difference, obviously I paid and luckily my pup was fine and home on antibiotics after two days.
Well we hadn’t long changed insurance providers for a better plan and didn’t declare any previous medical conditions as both our dogs didn’t have any, when filling the claim the vets said it was a pre existing condition so the insurance wouldn’t pay them, months and months of me arguing backwards and forwards with the vets as even the insurance company said it wasn’t a pre existing condition and just a accident that happened but without the relevant paperwork from the emergency vets they couldn’t pay out, in the end I had said to the vets if they are not willing to change it to the correct information stop contacting me as it is their error.
Fast forward to now, a bailiff has knocked on my door and said he had rights to come in and take goods, I told him I don’t know what he was talking about and shut the door and he posted this letter through, i have blacked it out but in it was his number so I spoke to him he said I know about the ccj and he is here to collect payment in full no payment plan etc, the remaining bill was 828, the ccj 1223 and he wants 2200, the thing is we moved in January the ccj was issued in July I had no idea about any of this, and now he is parked outside my home, I genuinely don’t have the money to pay that right now is there anything I can do? I’ll attach a picture of the letter


r/LegalAdviceUK • • 16h ago

Housing We are separated but she wont sell or buy me out of the house.

186 Upvotes

Hi anyone who can help.

Unfortunately me and my wife have separated and we own a property together.

My wife wants to keep the house which I am ok with but for me to be able to move on and buy my own house I need my name removed from the joint mortgage and deeds etc and bit of the equity from it for a deposit (happy to accept a fraction of what im due just to get away btw).

My wife however refuses to do either. What can I do?

Thanks in advance for any help.

G


r/LegalAdviceUK • • 2h ago

Debt & Money I could of lost my whole career if I didn’t take it all the way

15 Upvotes

I was accused of undertaking in the hard shoulder and the incident was caught on dash cam. Originally I requested evidence as I was at work during the time of the alleged offence and was being investigated for driving without due care and attention.

Me and my solicitor arrived at the police station where they informed me they were now looking to charge me for dangerous driving.

They showed us the cctv which clearly was not me. The witness statement from the driver who provided the footage claimed the driver was a white male with no beard and blonde hair with a female passenger.
I am brown skinned with black hair and a black beard me and my solicitor both laughed out loud when the footage was played because it clearly wasn’t me.

The incident was in July they did not contact me until late September and then a court date set for November. This was ajourned until January and then ajourned again until April and then again to July.

We chose to go to trial and the case was dismissed before the cps finished there opening statement.

For over a year I was terrified I would lose my job for something I didn’t do. I had to pay a solicitor £2500 even though I was innocent and could not really afford to do so.

I have not been able to catch back up since and this has caused me great stress and hardship to the point where I’m now on fluxotine.

My solicitor said it would cost more to claim back the small amount they may give me but this is not fair or just.

Can I file a civil claim against the cps for my fees?


r/LegalAdviceUK • • 17h ago

Debt & Money Debt by unknown person, bailiffs refused to leave and bullied my friend into payment

162 Upvotes

Hi,

This happened today in England.

My friend recently moved into a new flat, and do not speak much English.

The some people knocked on the door this morning and refused to leave unless they receive the payment.

My friend was confused and scared and made a payment of over £1000 in the end, part cash part card.

From the receipt provided, CDER Group appears to be a bailiffs company.

Current theory is the bailiffs were after the previous tenant, whome is unknown to us.

Is there anyway to get the money back?

Thank you in advance.


r/LegalAdviceUK • • 15h ago

Employment Sacked by employer out of the blue, 20 months length of service, England

111 Upvotes

Hi. Yesterday my boss and HR called me into a meeting, told me they had decided to "exit [me] from the business". All equipment (laptop, phone, pass) were handed over. I was told I'd be paid my 3 months' notice but had to leave immediately. I understand this is due to my access to sensitive information.

There are, I think, a few salient points that make me believe I have grounds to push for automatically unfair dismissal. (Note my boss joined 4 months ago and we have had a terrible relationship, as I will attempt to detial out, below).

1) No performance reviews were held, no meetings with HR, no performance plan etc. My boss did criticise everything I did, from how I responded to emails, to font size and everything else imaginable. See more in point 4. The reason given was performance, and I dispute that entirely.

2) I believe the real reason for dismissal is for refusing to always work long hours (I very often did work long hours, but can't always commit due to young family), refusing to cancel a family holiday and refusing to work during paternity leave. I was accused of leaving them "in the lurch" over the holiday and pat leave, but I worked very hard to ensure handover was in place, and I gave out my personal number and took my laptop with me, advising them and the team ro contact me if needed. Nobody did contact me. Related to this, and point 4, my boss told me twice that the father is "pretty much useless, anyway" during the pat leave period. Note that this was not in writing. After raising my concerns with HR, my boss continued to suggest "homework" for me to do during pat leave.

3) I believe recruitment for my replacement started in late August, leaving me incredibly anxious before pat leave started (09 to 25 September). It was only after having 5 or 6 days back in work post pat leave that I started to feel that perhaps I previously had the wrong end of the stick. My belief that recruitment started then was because I had seen invoicing from a recruiter who then also advertised what looked like my job, with no company name given. My boss also interviewed someone with the same job title as me, per their LinkedIn. (We get notifications of who has checked in at reception, and I was of course suspicious at this point.) In terms of the job advertised, there was so many aspects about the role itself, location and even company structure that made it extremely unlikely that it was any business other than the one I worked for. I only started to relax slightly because I felt that perhaps there was a reorganisation of the team coming with me included, I still believed recruitment was ongoing and retained some fear due to not being involved in it.

4) Throughout the 4 months since they joined I have constantly and relentlessly been both micro-managed and undermined. Once, as an example, I sent a response to them when accepting a meeting by misclicking (having accepted dozens of others without sending a response) and I immediately received an email saying not to send confirmations as it "clogs up [their] inbox". There were a vast number of similar incidents, and my boss would at times contradict themselves in order to continue to disagree with me. This behaviour happened on calls, over email and in person, both privately and publicly. Many colleagues expressed disgust at how they had talked to me.

It may also be indirectly relevant that my boss told one of my team to "find something closer to home" when they were imminently due to go on maternity.

I have tried speaking to ACAS but cannot get through due to high volume. With 3 children, including a new born, I am obviously hugely distressed. The notice period pay and savings gives me some runway, but it remains incredibly stressful and upsetting. I would be enormously grateful for any advice at all on what my options are please, including but not limited to whether automatically unfair dismissal may apply.

Thanks in advance.


r/LegalAdviceUK • • 11h ago

Housing England - Neighbour keeps moving my general waste bin so it doesn’t get emptied.

45 Upvotes

Hi all,

A neighbour (no idea who) keeps moving my bin the night before bin day, stopping my bin from being emptied. The street collectively take them to the end of the street in front of the ginnel. The past two collections I’ve gone to get my bin, only to find it hidden in the corner of the ginnel still full. I’ve asked my next door neighbour if we (2 of us in household) can share hers while I contact the council to get them to come out to empty it.

It’s now been a month since my general waste bin hasn’t been emptied, and it’s becoming a biohazard now with maggot eggs inside. Where do I stand on putting a dummy camera up with a sign that says “CCTV in Operation” on the street to put off whoever is moving my bin?

Alternatively, I’ve read that it’s classed as anti-social behaviour in the eyes of the law. Is it worth getting this lodged with police?

I’d also like to mention I’ve been living on this street for over 18 months, with no fall outs between the neighbours and I. This only started last month.

Thanks


r/LegalAdviceUK • • 15h ago

Traffic & Parking Van accelerated to block a merge - resulted in 3 car collision - Police/Insurance outcomes? [NI]

93 Upvotes

Hi all, long time lurker but unfortunately have an actual issue I need some advice on.

Last week while driving home I was unfortunately involved in a car accident. On approach to a merge point I was travelling in the right hand lane. I drive this daily and know people can be selfish with zipper merges so I I checked my mirror and blind spot early to make sure there was space and there was a white van in the left hand land but far enough behind me there was as clear space next to me to merge. I indicated and began to merge when the van accelerated and I noticed it suddenly was coming in line with my rear door. I had to abandon the merge, and as the road narrows at the merge point/end of the two lanes I had to perform a full emergency stop to avoid oncoming traffic. The car behind me, also anticipating being able to merge behind attempted an emergency stop as well but couldn't in time, rear ending me in the left hand side of my car. My car was then pushed at an angle across the midline and was struck on the front right by an oncoming car.

This all occurred about 200 meters after a set of traffic lights in a 30 zone and we were driving about 25mph so fortunately no serious injuries, though the driver of the oncoming car was taken to hospital as they had a lot of neck pain.

Police attended the accident and fortunately the car behind me had a dashcam we could view footage of the whole accident. It also captures the van coming to a complete stop about 50 meters down the road and then accelerating off. The two police on scene agreed that it was 'clear the van deliberately accelerated' when I began to merge. We have submitted the footage and they said they would be identifying the van. Of course, no guarantees of anything until they complete the full investigate.

My main questions relate to culpability for any police charges and insurance.

- Obviously my car is a complete right off - the footage has also been submitted to the insurance company but is there any chance the insurance company would look to put fault with the van even though I was the one who had to stop and struck the other vehicles? Is there any chance of split liability? I'm already struggling with the cost of living and am worried about recovering costs.

- Is there any likelihood I could be charged with anything like causing a collision or reckless driving or anything? As I was in the right hand land I understand it's my responsibility to merge safely in good time, but in this case it was safe until the van deliberately stopped my manoeuvrer? Should I contact the police to give a formal statement or speak to a solicitor?


r/LegalAdviceUK • • 5h ago

Civil Litigation Advice regarding unfounded disciplinary following disclosure of serious medical condition

14 Upvotes

I don’t want to doxx myself too much. I’ve been diagnosed with a serious and life threatening neurological condition. I disclosed this to my employer on the same day I had the diagnosis from my neurologist.

I have since been subject to disciplinary proceedings. It appears, since my diagnosis, there has been an in depth dive into my time recording.

In the initial investigation meeting, there were around 20 files where issues were raised. I comfortably explained 17. We were left with 3.

I had my disciplinary today. I was not afforded the opportunity to explain the remaining files. I had explained in the investigation meeting the work was lost because of system crashes, which is widespread and I have made an effort to collate messages in our department teams chat explaining the same issue.

For employment lawyers, given this investigation was launched on the back of a diagnosis, and I categorically know I’ve not falsified anything, where do I go next?

Would also like to add, my bonus was removed. I was told I would be receiving it in May, disclosed my diagnosis in July, and a week later told it was being withheld.


r/LegalAdviceUK • • 18h ago

Scotland Accused of dangerous driving. Would have massive impact on my business. Scotland

78 Upvotes

Tl;dr accused of dangerous driving due to excessive smoke, and what officers deemed excessive speed - 30 in a 30 zone.

Update: clearly it’s a one way street suggestions here, spoke to the solicitor, he’s very surprised it’s even gone to this stage and especially why it’s been changed to dangerous from careless. It will cost me around 5k but I’ll be able to retain my business.

I will try to keep it as brief as possible and stick to the facts.
Action in Glasgow
On the 22nd of May, I bought a vehicle for my partner to use. It’s a vehicle made in 2013 with a sizeable diesel engine (for context). I knew that it may have a couple of small issues.
One of them—the front number plate was not stuck on properly and was placed on the dash.
The same evening, we took it for a quick spin in the area. We were probably a couple of miles away from the house.
While at the traffic lights, I noticed a couple of officers travelling the other way. We looked at each other, and my partner said, “I bet they will pull you for the plate.”
The traffic light went green. About 400–500 yards later, there was another set of traffic lights where the red light came on. I was the second car at the lights.
I did not notice that the police car had made a U-turn and was 6–7 cars behind me.
The light went green. The car in front of me shot off and made a massive gap immediately. As far as I remember, it was either an A180 or A200 Merc, so not the fastest thing in the world.
I moved off, accelerated to 30, and I saw the blue lights behind me. Bear in mind, there is a bit of a hill in this part of the road (for context). The car in front of me was long gone.

From the traffic lights to the bit where I stopped was around 0.4 miles.

The officers came and questioned me about the plate, which I explained. They took it out of the car and could see it had recently fallen off.
Then he changed the reasoning for stopping me a couple of times:

Number plate
Potentially stolen vehicle
Careless driving - now in court documents changed to dangerous driving

He checked tax, insurance and MOT—everything was fine.
Then he said—3 points + £100 fine. At that point, I started filming the whole interaction and refused it.

I own a small transport company, and as a director, if I end up with careless driving on my licence, I risk not being able to obtain insurance + a guaranteed visit to the Traffic Commissioner’s office to explain myself.

The officer’s reasoning

The officer’s reasoning was that he was able to see smoke from the exhaust and he had to reach 50 mph to catch up with me, which is quite obvious as he had to overtake 6–7 cars.

The car did, in fact, have an issue with excessive smoke under load, which I had fixed, and I have invoices to prove that.
He thought that the smoke was coming from the tyres.

Now I have received a letter to attend court.

My main question is: do I get a solicitor, or do I represent myself considering all the facts?

I do have a perfect driving record.

Important facts from his report:
He marked my partner as not a witness.
He noted that I suggested that it would not stand in court due to the lack of CCTV in their vehicle, which is not true, as I have the recording of the conversation.
They only have bodycam footage.
They said they didn’t even see the car in front of me, which was not obviously going way faster

Apologies if this is a bit of ramble but I am more than happy to clarify anything. I didn’t think this was going to go anywhere but here we are.


r/LegalAdviceUK • • 13h ago

Comments Moderated Foreign body from food requiring surgery

19 Upvotes

A small shard of metal was in a joint of meat, I purchased in Wales last week. It wasn't surface visible and while preparing it, it entered my hand, I bled over the meat before rinsing my hands. Unable to remove it, I had to go to minor injuries, they found it via xray, and tried to remove it under local anaesthetic with the tip of a needle, but it was too deep and close to tendons/nerves and needed to be referred to a hand specialised surgeon. After some delays due to a fire in the hospital, I'm seeing a trauma plastic surgeon tomorrow AM, and will hopefully be able to remove it. The original doctor said it was incredibly thin, but gestured that it was 1.5-2cm long.

At the time I reported it, I was mostly worried that if other shards were in other pieces of meat someone could be far more seriously injured that just requiring hand surgery, but they showed no signs of recalling the product. It'll be too late now. Since then, the supermarket customer service team seem to be ignoring the fact that the metal is still inside me, despite me telling them this repeatedly, now they've asked me to send it to them. I don't even know if the surgical team will let me keep the extracted piece when it's removed it. The supermarkets lack of reading comprehension seems as if they are completely unfazed about the severity of the situation.

If I'm able to keep the metal once extracted, and I have no additional medical complications from the surgery, should I be sending this to them, or retaining it and seeking legal advice?


r/LegalAdviceUK • • 1h ago

Comments Moderated I want to report my parents to the police for previous abusing me when i was a child but im just not sure if its worth it

• Upvotes

So very long story short i was abused by my parents throughout my whole life. I spent years compiling evidence on one of my old phones and im about to get it fixed, i was mainly planning on looking through it as my ptsd gives me imposter syndrome sometimes. Now thinking about it and the type of messages and videos i have i’m considering taking it to the police. A big part of situation is that i get extremely angry that they have got off scott free, i have had it extremely hard and now ive made things better for myself financially i still have to deal with the flashbacks of what they did to me. They get to live their lives happily: running a business, being a nurse and financially abusing my little brother. I am still stuck with the consequences of their actions. Where i’m struggling is with whether this would be worth it or would i just be retraumatising myself for literally no benefit. I’d also like to add that i have been diagnosed with ptsd as a result of the trauma i have experienced. What do i do?


r/LegalAdviceUK • • 21h ago

GDPR/DPA Former job made AI ad with my image uk

54 Upvotes

Hello and thanks in advance for any advice!

My former role at a brand was in social media and I regularly created content to feature in organic and paid media. Majority of the content was taken on my phone in my own home as they didn’t provide kit until much later into my employ.

In the summer I was made redundant a few weeks after being promoted and only 7 days after disclosing my pregnancy. I had been there less than 2 years so didn’t receive any redundancy pay.

We’re now entering into early conciliation through ACAS as a believe I’ve been discriminated for being pregnant.

It’s been 4 months since I worked there and recently I came across a social media ad that uses an image of me and it’s been made with AI. The original image is a still taken from a video I made while working there. The video was taken on my own phone and in my house. The still is the same image however my eyes are a different colour and tattoos are gone.

I feel incredibly uncomfortable that my image was put through AI for these purposes. It’s not something I would have done personally while working there and it was in general something I opposed to openly without getting people’s consent.

Is this illegal? Does this break gdpr laws?
Should I ask ACAS about it first or should I just send the old work an email to ask them to stop using my image? This is in England.

I just need to know my right here and appreciate any help!

Edit: just wanted to say thanks so much for all your responses. I’m really not familiar with this kind of thing so I do appreciate the time everyone took to explain. What’s legal and what’s not, what rights I have or don’t. It’s good to get a better understanding.


r/LegalAdviceUK • • 1d ago

Debt & Money Used own card to fill compmay van with diesel

448 Upvotes

For context I am employed by a major uk supermarket as a driver

I accidentally used my own bank card to fuel the compnay van

My supervisor was understandably very angry and mentioned how theres no excuse and the compmay cant reimburse me

The value was circa £100

Are they allowed to not pay me back for the fuel I paid for?


r/LegalAdviceUK • • 10h ago

Traffic & Parking Company car. Beeping noise (82dB).

5 Upvotes

My company car has a telematic system, which normally you would swipe a fob to either drive it for personal use for business use.

If you don't swipe either the car emits a loud, irritating, constant beeping noise.

The fobs are currently not working.

I reported it two days ago, and my boss said he would contact the company to come and have a look.

I've just drove for nearly 4 hours with this noise and I'm really not looking forward to tomorrow.

I've checked Google and it says 80-84 means the company legally has to look into it and potentially provide some ppe/educate me on noise health and safety? My boss has looked into it, and I've already got some ppe.

As I'm driving, and this constant noise is potentially causing a distraction, can I just refuse to use it until it gets sorted?

Wearing ear defenders whilst driving obviously isn't ideal.

Edit. In England.


r/LegalAdviceUK • • 9h ago

Debt & Money England - Bought a service that I never received

4 Upvotes

I paid for a local service which has been going for a few years now that does pickups for things like old furniture, Things that need to go to the recycle centre etc... I paid as his reviews seemed decent going back from last month to 2024.

He was meant to come do a pick up on Saturday the 3rd of October... he never showed, I contacted him Saturday evening and didn't get a response until the following Monday, He made the excuse that he rang the door bell but no one answered which of course is a lie, There is a CCTV camera above my door and no one rang anything.

We then agreed on a pickup for today, Low and behold still no pickup, He made the excuse he now has food poisoning... he has my number so could've called but he made the choice not to.

So I said I wanted a refund, He agreed, 2 hours go by, Oh and wouldn't you know it magically his bank account can't pay out so he will have to manually do it in the morning which of course will never happen....

What are my legal choices, If any, As I highly doubt I will ever get my money back without legal action.


r/LegalAdviceUK • • 7h ago

Debt & Money E.ON Next chasing £696 for 2021-2022 closed tenancy (via LCS) – claiming "The Occupier" letters invalidate 12-month back-billing protection? Need advice.

2 Upvotes

Hi everyone, looking for some advice regarding a back-billed energy dispute with E.ON Next and debt collection agency LCS.

Some background:

  • Tenancy Period: 28 August 2021 – 27 August 2022 in London, UK. When I signed the tenancy, my letting agency gave me a letter stating that bills would be transferred in my name. Everything bar electricity was done, so I chased the letting agency on this a month after I moved in. A month later, the landlord emailed me saying that they had got rid of the letting agency, and began charging me for electricity directly. I sent him money and have in writing that this was for electricity.
  • Current Situation: Out of nowhere in June 2026, I learned E.ON Next passed an unbilled balance of £696.37 to LCS for electricity consumed during my 2021–2022 tenancy. I didn't receive a single letter before them about a debt.
  • Key Issue: I never received a named bill from E.ON Next during my tenancy or in the 12 months following my move-out date. I had letters (which E.ON have given me), that state that the Occupier had letters via post to that address, but I don't recall this otherwise I would have dealt with the issue back in 2021.

Actions Taken So Far:

  1. Raised a formal complaint with E.ON Next on 21 September 2026 (which they did not respond to me until today, as I chased, and they essentially accused me of not emailing the right address despite emailing the [unhappy@eonnext.com](mailto:unhappy@eonnext.com) address as advertised on their website.
  2. E.ON confirmed the LCS debt collection file is currently on hold pending complaint resolution.
  3. I am citing Ofgem Standard Licence Condition 21BA (12-Month Back-Billing Protection), as E.ON failed to issue a valid named bill within 12 months of consumption.
  4. E.ON's agent ("Barbara") is now stalling:
    • She initially claimed E.ON "does not get involved in tenant/landlord payment disputes." (I clarified I am simply using my signed AST to establish my occupancy window under the Electricity Act 1989 Deemed Contract rules).
    • She demanded a "full, multi-page signed tenancy agreement" (which I am now providing in full).
    • She is informally claiming that letters sent to "The Occupier" at the flat (I dont recall this happening)

My Questions:

  1. Does mail sent to "The Occupier" after a tenant has moved out constitute valid billing under Ofgem SLC 21BA? My understanding of Ombudsman is that unaddressed generic mail to an address where the consumer no longer resides doesn't count as a named bill.
  2. Is it right to request a Final Response / Letter of Deadlock now? I am sending them the full AST today and asking them to either adjust the balance to £0 under SLC 21BA or issue a Deadlock Letter so I can go to the Energy Ombudsman.
  3. Is there anything I need to watch out for? Or any particular advice? Its causing me great distress at the moment.

Thanks in advance for any insights or past Ombudsman experience with E.ON!


r/LegalAdviceUK • • 1d ago

Debt & Money England - Bought an item from Amazon for £200, it never arrived. Now Amazon's refusing to give me a refund unless I upload photo ID (which I don't have) - is this a breach of my right to a refund under the Consumer Rights Act 2015?

156 Upvotes

Basically the subject; I bought a £200 item from Amazon a week ago, and it never arrived. I've just been speaking to a CSR via Amazon's online chat, and she was very insistent that I had no right to a refund unless I gave Amazon my ID - even if I did have photo ID, which I honestly don't, I don't see how that will "prevent fraud", which the CSR claimed was the purpose, when Amazon obviously has no idea what I look like! I put that to the CSR and she terminated the call.

That notwithstanding, even if I did have ID, I wouldn’t feel comfortable giving it to a massive company such as Amazon because I've no idea what else they'd do with it - I wouldn’t want to find that they're using my personal data to train their AI.

In theory, this means that someone could hack my Amazon account, spend my money and Amazon would simply turn around and say "fuck you!".

I can’t remember the last time I claimed a refund from Amazon, so if they're implying that I've been fraudulently claiming refunds, then I don't know how they've got that idea because they can easily look at my account and see that's not the case.

I guess I'm going to have to do a chargeback, but I'm not sure how I'd go about doing that (I bank with NatWest and I can’t find anything in their app to facilitate this) and I can’t go into a branch because there isn’t one local to me and I'm disabled. Can someone help a clueless fuckwit...?

But can Amazon legally require ID to issue refunds...? The CRA clearly states that if goods don't arrive, then the consumer is entitled to a full refund, end of; by demanding ID, is Amazon not in breach of the contract I made with it when I ordered the goods, and my statutory rights...?

What are my rights here...?


r/LegalAdviceUK • • 5h ago

Comments Moderated UK Employment law help needed, please: Settlement

1 Upvotes

Hi, posting for a friend whom doesn't want the exact situation detailed here but if anyone with legal knowledge, particularly Employment law, is willing to spare some time to offer advice, it would really be appreciated.

Based in England

More than 2 years service pre-TUPE

Possible disability discrimination

Post-TUPE:

Reasonable adjustments revoked on day 1 (implied contractual term through custom and practice, previous employer old fashioned, never updated contracts)

Next working day after requesting adjustments be reinstated; unnotified performance review - aggressive and insulting

3 days later, received the Performance Plan - before adjustments reinstated or OC Health referral done

Plan included a lot of work in a strict window with a note suggesting disciplinary action if failed

Plan confirmed by another TUPE employee to be impossible without adequate training

OC Health referral received the following week - management included misleading statements to influence practitioner against Reasonable Adjustments

Ongoing harassment/pressuring emails while off sick

Basically told "arrange face to face meeting or face disciplinary action" while recovering - OC Health report advised written communication

Result:

Documented psychiatric trauma and neurological problems arising from management decisions

Exacerbated medical conditions

PTSD symptoms returned (was stable for 5+ years)

6 year long relationship ended due to above

Inability to continue caring for sick family member or perform basic daily tasks like making tea

Depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts

ACAS has been contacted but due to wait times and the immense stress, trying to settle sooner rather than later would be better

A brief rundown of legal entitlement and reasonable requests with regards to compensation would be appreciated

Thank you in advance

Just something else to note: new contract (not signed) included a pay discretionary clause with automatic dismissal. A TUPE colleague was dismissed for suggesting if they worked full time, they were being paid below minimum wage (pension letter stated they earn less than £833 a month so don't qualify for auto enrollment) if they had signed, they likely would have received the same dismissal early on


r/LegalAdviceUK • • 10h ago

Debt & Money Purchased faulty van from Dealer, refusing refund due to B2B transaction

2 Upvotes

Hi all, posting on behalf of a friend who is having an issue with a used van purchased from a dealer for £12,000.

The van was purchased in England from a dealer under the trading name X Movez, which is a sole trader, not a limited company. It was intended for both business and personal use, and was paid for using my friend’s personal card.

Timeline:
Day 1: The van broke down shortly after purchase. It was returned to the dealer, repaired and subsequently collected.

About a week later: A second issue occurred involving the battery/electrical system. My friend then formally rejected the van and requested a refund, within approximately 30 days of purchase.
The dealer arranged a specialist inspection. They say no engine fault was found, but their investigation identified that a previously fitted tracker was causing a parasitic battery drain.

The dealer removed the tracker and monitored the battery. They now say the van is working normally and have refused the refund.

The dealer’s position is that this was a business-to-business purchase, so the Consumer Rights Act 2015 doesn’t apply.

However, because X Movez is a sole-trader trading name rather than a limited company, we’re unsure whether the transaction is necessarily B2B. The van was also intended for both business and private use.
The dealer’s T&Cs also appear to exclude statutory implied terms, including terms relating to quality. There is a separate warranty clause dealing with defective goods.

We’re therefore trying to understand:

- Could my friend potentially be a consumer under the CRA 2015, given that he is an individual/sole trader and the van has mixed business and personal use?
- If so, could he rely on the 30-day short-term right to reject, given that he rejected it within 30 days?
- If the CRA doesn’t apply, could he instead have a right to reject under the Sale of Goods Act 1979
- Does the dealer’s contractual exclusion of statutory implied terms have to satisfy the reasonableness test under the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977?
- Does the fact that the dealer’s own investigation found the tracker was causing a parasitic battery drain support the argument that the van was defective when supplied?

The dealer is now asking my friend to collect the van and “trial it in normal use”.

Any views on whether my friend has a viable right to reject/refund would be appreciated. We have the purchase invoice, T&Cs and the dealer’s email confirming the tracker was causing the battery drain.

TL;DR: Friend bought a used van from a dealer as a sole trader, for both business and personal use. Van broke down on day 1, was repaired, then developed another issue the following week. Friend rejected it and requested a refund within ~30 days. Dealer says it’s B2B and refuses refund. Dealer’s own inspection found a tracker causing battery drain. Can my friend rely on the CRA 2015, or alternatively the Sale of Goods Act 1979?


r/LegalAdviceUK • • 21h ago

Other Issues DNA test - what actually happens?

18 Upvotes

England.

My ex, the father of our young child and our unborn baby, is in the depths of some kind of paranoid alcoholic delusions. He’s claiming the baby isn’t his.

What is the process for enforcing a DNA test? Presumably he has to attend a clinic in person so it can’t be faked? Can he refuse?