Chris S

Are offers and deals provided by retailers etc illegal? I'm sitting on the train and there's a poster advertising discounted rail fares for +55's only. Similarly, Orange offer an under 24's contract which costs less than the equivalent contract if you're over 24. There's loads of these type of offers out there and I was just wondering if they've ever been challenged in court.

I have a raised bed in my garden full of good compost which has been growing strawberries for the last few seasons. I need to move the bed to another part of the garden and so I've built another timber bed and I'd really like to reuse the compost mostly because if I don't I've not got anywhere to get rid of it.

This time I'd like to grow vegetables instead so I've removed all of the strawberry plants plus the main 'root ball' at the base of the plant but while digging up the compost I've noticed loads of small fine thread like roots which I can't get rid of. Will it be ok to use this again or am I going to find that my veg crop is overrun with strawberries?.

thanks.

I've worked for the same company for the last 9 years and they operate a 37.5 hour flexible working week which gives mandatory core hours of 10am - midday and 2pm - 4pm. This allows employees to come in early or late as needed and even allows for a late start and an early finish if necessary as long as you are in the office for the core times and your time for the week adds up to 37.5 hours.

We were recently bought by an American company who operate a 40 hour week - which is no problem but they also work a 9am - 6pm working day with an hour for lunch between 12:30 and 1:30. For lots of staff who commute in the morning, getting into work for 9am is a real problem because of congestion, additionally for those of us who are parents, finishing at 6pm means we'll not be able to pick our children up from nursery and after school clubs.

As far as I can tell, there's no reasonable business case to say that not working 9am - 6pm would be detrimental to the company's operation. We're an office based consultancy who don't have a shift handover and typically our competitors/ business partners all work a range of hours.

Can anyone tell me if an employer can refuse to allow employees to regularly amend their working hours to avoid busy commutes, meet childcare commitements etc. I'm in Scotland if that makes a difference.

I've not run now for about three weeks because the last few times i did i got a really sore knee that lasted for several days afterwards.It affects my right knee and starts with a niggling pain at the back of my knee towards the outside of my leg and quickly escalates and becomes sore and stiff. I've been running for a while and wasn't going any faster or longer than usual. I'm reluctant to get back to running too quickly but I'm really starting to miss it and my beer belly's coming back!

I've read a bit about Iliotibial Band Syndrome but I'm not sure that's the problem.

Any ideas what it might be or how i can avoid it. I've got decent running shoes so i don't think it's that ?

I'm hiring a car in California this summer and wan't to know if there are any major differences in their rules of the road. I understand the turning right on a red light rule but is there anything else I should be aware of?

I'm going traveling to the west of south america and want to learn spanish. i've noticed that you can buy european and latin american spanish coursebooks but the one i like the look of is only available in european spanish. if i learn european spanish will i be ok in south america?

I recieve all other channels except Ftn and have checked online for signal strength in my area which is fine. Retuning the box hasn't worked.