What a mess

[TREES57]

If this is the case Skippy i'm going to give my boys hell when i'm old....er!LOL
On a more serious note i hope your mum is ok,she must feel awful.x

[angela18]

I think our parents probably think along the lines of:- WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND!![:I]

[Skippy]

I'm sure my mum does bless her!

Not having any kids I don't know who I'm going to annoy when I'm old!

[buttercup]

Skippy

I can hardly beleive what has happened. I Think it is the owner who should be getting the punishment after all they were in his shop. He should not have them in there to start with. Plus lets face it girls look far older than they appear and your mum would not have even thought twice about asking her age. I expect she is rushed off her feet most of the time to have even realised what she had done was wrong.

Big hug & lots of TCL & reassurance for your mum xx

[aguise]

I hope mum is ok too skippy. Rotten bunch they are. I do feel the shop owner is responsible for not training her.

Ang

[dcl]

Oh Skippy things like this really annoy me, i hope your Mum is OK and gets off with a warning. My Mum who's 67 has just found out she's being investigated for benefit fraud because she helped her best friends daughter out in her shop 2 days a week and was paid £10 a week that wasn't on the books and she's absolutely terrified and what annoys me even more is my next door neighbours were being investigated for £40k of benefit fraud and got away with it because the council say its too expensive to prosecute them even though they know they did it and the neighbours just think its funny, it makes my blood boil sometimes!!!!!

[lily]

Skippy

I cannot understand any human being putting the scary talk on to an lady of this age, the mind boggles. Its such a shame that she is left to worry like this for doing a couple of hours of honest work. It shouldnt come to anything regardless of the seriousness of kids carrying knives (oh sorry I forgot, not allowed to call them kids anymore are we??? I wonder what the punishment is for that?).

Write to them on her behalf stating that the worrying is really bad for moms health (and it is) and tell them to sort it out like...right now. Believe me, I would.

Good luck and give your mom a hug from me, I would be seriously pissed if she is left to worry.

There are soooo many evil companies and individuals out there maggoting on innocent people to keep trading standards busy.

My blood is fairly hot too, its so unhelpful to scapegoat a poor pensioner of a symptom of society. Its the wanting to buy the knife thats the real issue. This child was er, told to buy a knife. I would so go to town on this.

[Skippy]

Thanks Lily. Don't worry, if anything comes of it I'll be kicking up a the biggest fuss imagineable!

All it would have taken is a warning, not threats of prison etc.

[tracy.h]

Hi Skippy
Must be terrible for you and your mum to have to worry about the injustice that has been thrust upon her.
You would think tradeing standards had better things to do than set up a defenceless old lady,bless her.
Hopefully it will be the owner of the shop that will take the blame,after all i shouldnt think being as its cash in hand they can prove that your mum works there on a regular basis,as far as she is concerned she just helps out now and again.
Also she wasnt given any formal training as to what age restrictions would apply,i shouldnt think they have a leg to stand on.
I hope it will be sorted out as soon as its unfair to put pressure on yor mum,and your family,as i said hopefully sense will prevail and this situation will get sorted.

Tracy xx

[Skippy]

I saw my mum last night and she is still in a state. She is having problems sleeping as she is thinking about it all the time. I phoned Trading Standards this morning to ask how long they have to build a case and was basically told how long is a piece of string! They have no time limit as there has to be proof given, and then legal opinion of the proof. It's so unfair that people have to hang on like this.

Shortly after I made the phone call (which I didn't tell my mum about in case it worried her even more) mum rang me - she has received a letter from Trading Standards with a lot of questions to answer. I haven't see the letter yet but I get the impression that once she has returned the form they will then decide what to do next as it warns her she may have to attend an inquiry.

I'm letting my uncle deal with this at the moment - I have a tendancy to jump in with both feet and say exactly what I think and I don't want to make things worse for her.

[emma_t]

What a horrible situation skippy you must be so worried.

Working in a shop on your own (if thats the case) is not a job for a lady of that age as in the times we live in it can be a dangerous occupation.
Many years ago I used to help out at an older persons day centre which used to be such fun as it was a sociable place with so much to do like bingo, sewing, knitting, games, etc and they were all fed lunch. As I said this was a long time ago and was social services run, might be worth checking out if they still have things like this in your area?
It also sounds like she is being exploited in terms of wages by the owner and surely she could manage without, or maybe she is entitled to some extra benefit she isn't claiming for at present or doesn't know about.


Surely the shop owner is negligent in not training her and not displaying signs with age limits for alcohol, cigs and knives?

Good luck in sorting this out and give her an extra hug on mothers day
Emma x

[Dominic]

hope all goes well with your mum skippy.

[anfieldbabe]

why is everything wrong in this country louts are allowed to roam streets and nothins done this poor lady is at her wits end and bein threatened of prison or a fine