Weston Super Saint

I was given a Garmin Vivofit last year for my birthday - I was also on a 'fitness drive' at the time after several years of not doing a great deal and turning into a fat bastad - and have found it to be a little bit limited. Great for tracking steps and sleep and calculating calories burned to some extent, but I've always found it a little bit lacking and have had to use separate apps for tracking bike rides and another app combined with a chest strap for heart rate monitoring. I've just - literally, just! - ordered a Garmin Forerunner 225 as that has pretty much everything I need in one neat little package, and not to mention it is less than £170 falling from it's launch price last summer of close to £250. It has built in GPS and built in HR monitor so now I don't need the separate apps on the phone, plus it has all the functionality of the activity tracker as it will count steps, calculate calories used etc etc. So far, the activity tracker has helped to keep me motivated and lose 2 stone last year with another 2 stone planned for this year....

The burning question is whether you got to eat your sandwich yesterday - alongside the question as to what type of sandwich it was....

Hi Benji. Many thanks for your reply. As you have mentioned, I will 'win' in respect of having the redundancy declared an unfair dismissal. However, my question around Polkey was concerning the amount of the compensation that will be paid - the basic award would be exactly the same as the statutory redundancy that they have said they will pay - so the compensation element is the bit I am more concerned about. So, the question around that is that they would have to 'prove' that the redundancy would still have happened even if they followed the correct procedure. However, they have now given TWO reasons for the redundancy which are polar opposites - one refers to putting money in to the business, the other to taking it out! - so would they have to 'prove' the first reason that they gave or can they just pick and choose between the two they have given.... My suspicion is that they would have to prove the first but I can't find anything to substantiate that....

Hi All. Apologies in advance for the long winded post, but it's probably important to get enough info here as possible to elicit the correct advice!!! So, I was employed [full time] by a company for 3 yrs and 2mths up until December 2nd 2015. On that date, I was told to go to the meeting room and meet with the head of HR - I was given no notice of this meeting before the 2nd and on that date I was given about 15 minutes notice that she was turning up!! During that meeting - which I recorded on my phone - I was told that the company I worked for was 'no longer financially viable' [as the parent company was no longer willing to fund the company's activities which it had been doing for the past 12 months]. The company situation : I worked for a small company - let's call it company A - which was a part of a larger company - let's call it company B [over 150 employees]. Company A was 76% owned [by way of ordinary shares] by Company B. The two directors of company A each owned 12% of the remaining shares. They were also employees of the company and the only two other employees of the company at the time of my redundancy. Company A was subject to the same terms and conditions as Company B and all handbooks, policies etc were company B's. The Head of HR that carried out my dismissal was the Head of HR for company B. The handbook for company B states that company A is a part of the 'group' of companies. I have appealed against my dismissal for the following reasons : 1. There was no consultation period. 2. There was no procedure followed for the dismissal - I was summarily dismissed that day with an effective end date of the 2nd December. I was told to leave the office there and then. I was given no advance warning that the meeting would be taking place, nor was I offered the chance to have a witness present at the meeting. The dismissal was confirmed in a letter which was handed to me at the meeting and was on company B headed paper. 3. The reason for redundancy - the company is clearly not 'no longer financially viable' and continues to trade! The appeal was heard - by the two company directors that I had previously worked with and who had made the decision to make me redundant. They upheld their original decision to make me redundant! However, they acknowledged that the process was not carried out in the 'best way'. As a result they sent me an email asking me to check on company B's website for any roles they are advertising that I felt may be of interest and they would put me in touch with the relevant person. I did not respond to this email as it was sent about 12 days after I had been dismissed by the company. They then stated in the appeal outcome letter that they felt by sending me the email in the first place that they were satisfied that they had carried out a full and thorough consultation. They then stated that they would be changing my effective date of termination to the 22nd December as they believed it would have taken about 3 weeks to consult had they done so. I acknowledged receipt of the appeal outcome letter and stated that I did not agree to the change of date! They also stated in the appeal outcome letter that they had spoken to the Head of HR and she has stated that she did not in any way shape or form state that the company was no longer financially viable. They have now changed the reason for the redundancy and have stated that there are a number of costs associated with the business that company B are currently paying. They have stated that 'if these were to be applied, the company would be breaking even at best'. I had previously asked for evidence of the financial situation of the company and had received the P&L statement for the 12 months until July 2015 and the four months from August 2015 to October 2015. The annual P&L shows a net profit for the year of £110k and the four month P&L shows a current net profit for the period to date of £25k. Neither of these P&L's include the costs which they refer to and there has been no evidence supplied to show they will be applied!! We are currently at ACAS early conciliation stage and I have today been told that the company is not willing to negotiate further as they are relying on the 'Polkey' argument and therefore compensation will not be paid! So, one question I have is, in order for them to successfully defend using the Polkey Argument, they will have to prove the redundancy would have happened anyway had they followed the correct procedure and will they therefore have to prove the initial reason given for the redundancy - i.e. no longer financially viable! Or can they now rely on the second reason they have given - can they change their minds on the reason when one argument relies on the parent company withdrawing funding [which incidentally it has never actually given!] and the other relies on the parent company adding in costs to the business that it has never [in the past four trading years] applied! Bear in mind I still have the original reason recorded which they have subsequently stated was never said! Secondly, I believe I would be entitled to a 'protective award' due to the fact that they did not follow a consultation process. However, the ACAS expert has today informed me that this would not be an entitlement because there were not 20 or more people made redundant. She told me to look at their website for more info and all I could find was this : Protective awards for failure by an employer to consult In cases where employers have failed to consult with employee representatives over proposed redundancies, an employment tribunal can make a ‘protective award’. The employer is required to pay employees covered by a protective award their normal week’s pay for each week of a specified period, known as the protected period, regardless of whether or not they are still working. To be covered by an award, employees must: • belong to a group specified in the award • be employees whom the employer plans to dismiss or has already dismissed as redundant, and • be employees in whose case the employer has failed to comply with the information and consultation requirements. My own research has found that protective awards are covered by s188 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations act but this only mentions it in the context of 20 or more people being made redundant. I have tried to find the relevant law relating to less than 20 people but the best I can come up with is this - again from ACAS : When you are making fewer than 20 employees redundant you are legally required to have meaningful individual consultation. I cannot find the law which they are referring to as consultation only seems to be covered by s188 of the TU&LR Act. If that is the legislation they are referring to then it would stand to reason that the protective award would also apply! If anyone has the definitive answer for this it would be much appreciated... Apologies again for the long winded post, so far I have gone through this whole process and have not bothered with the expense of Legal Counsel - of to experience the delights of the Citizen's Advice bureau on Friday and I'm sure that will be delightful!

I'm mixing it up between the turbo in the garage and out on the roads. Since being made redundant a month ago it's a lot easier to go out on the road during the week - and thus waiting for a window of drier weather! If anyone has any suggestions for a 'winter' bike, then I'm all ears - budget will depend on how much compo I get once the redundancy is confirmed as an unfair dismissal [a matter of time but nothing moves quickly in the world of employment tribunals] but probably around the £700 mark. Already have a full carbon bike for the summer and will probably upgrade the components on that after Easter so looking for an aluminium frame for the winter bike with a decent set of components and mud guards - feel free to post links to anything you can think of

Any pictures of their pitch after this weekend's game? How is the new pitch 2.0 holding up to the weather?

Is Liam back?

I love the fact that the club are 'teasing' them with the refreshments

It's a bookshop in Portsmouth. 'How many' is probably an irrelevant question as I doubt the other books available in the shop are providing stiff competition in the race to be the best-selling.

Are you referring to this thread

Progress? They've got championship standard floodlights. That, right there, is progress.

Ridiculous statement! The bestest are still top, just like they were when they were second!

Someone should have brought this up right before they signed on the dotted line for their 'championship' standard floodlights...

That's exactly how I do it... Straight out of bed and on the bike without eating anything. I do get bloody hungry whilst on the bike but I don't take anything with me as I want every calorie I burn to be the excess that I'm carrying around! Even my three turbo sessions a week are done at 6am before I've had a chance to wake up, let alone eat anything!! The only thing I take with me on the bike is two 800ml bottles. On my Saturday [longer] ride, I take two 'electrolyte' drinks [high 5 zero] one tab in each bottle so pretty weak. On Sunday I take one with the tab in and one bottle with just blackcurrant juice in it. Being a gent of a 'larger' size, I tend to sweat a lot on the bike - even riding in 8-10 degrees! - so need to keep drinking to replace the lost fluids. Finding this an issue with how far I can ride as the drink runs out before the miles do sometimes but managed 45 miles this week... I don't over do it with the eating when I get home either sticking to a bowl of muesli to fill me up...

Some might suggest that that particular parrot is not 'sleeping' or just 'resting his eyes' but is in fact, dead.

Thanks VFTT - I think those sort of outputs are a long way off for me!!! My goal is pure and simple and that's to lose weight - lots of it!! Fortunately I enjoy riding so it's never a chore - although I've done a couple of rides in the rain and they weren't particularly pleasant, but I guess it's just a case of wearing the appropriate gear in the winter and getting on with it! We've got a decent club in Weston who are very active which I am planning to join next year - need to get a little faster and more consistent first though and quite enjoy riding on my own as I tend to go out early in the morning at the weekends to avoid as much traffic as I can! Completed my second run up Cheddar this morning [nine minutes spent in the red!] and whilst I won't be setting any strava records I did hit a lot of PBs and keep improving with every ride so I'm very pleased with the results - although I did drop the bike for the first time today when I got caught at a junction and was able to sprint across and just didn't get unclipped in time!! https://www.strava.com/activities/409856453/

Hmmmm. I'm new to all this cycling stuff - got a 'cheap' aluminium bike for just short of £200 back in May but got hooked and bought a nice carbon bike [thank you cycle to work scheme ] in August. For me a 2hr 20 min ride will usually see me in max (165bpm) for about 8-10 mins and anaerobic (141-160bpm) for about 46%, the rest of the time spent in aerobic. But to put that in context, I'm a fat bstard and took up cycling to aid weight loss - currently sitting at around 1.5 stone lost since January out of my target of 2 stone. Took up cycling because my knees and back are screwed so running or other impact sports are a no go and the cross trainer wasn't providing enough of a challenge after the first four months. I'm now averaging around 90-100 miles a week - three morning sessions before work in the garage on the turbo trainer which the old bike is attached to and two longer rides at the weekend, so far come rain, wind or shine but not sure if that will last through the depths of winter!! I'm planning my second ascent of Cheddar Gorge tomorrow - one of the [only] benefits of living in Weston Super Mare means I have that beauty on my doorstep, well ten miles to the foot of the gorge anyway! I've done four or five ascents of 'Burrington Combe' which is the 'backside' of Cheddar over the past couple of months and think that side may be harder than Cheddar - purely because the climbing is steeper for longer, whereas Cheddar is very steep but for not very long... Anyway, any hints or tips for a newbie like me will be gratefully received

I have to say, it was worth the wait. I, for one, am very impressed. Those lights look very 'special'.

Anyone got any shiny pictures of their championship standard floodlights?

Email, text message, phone call [remember them?], meeting down the pub / at footy / somewhere else - all good ways of keeping in contact with old friends. This way you get to speak to all the ones you like and don't have to listen to / read all their pointless diatribes when you really can't be bothered... After all, that is how we used to keep in touch with people before facebook was around....

Delete all links to facebook = problem solved!

So, where are the championship standard floodlights?

You seem to be forgetting the glorious car park - which was funded by the Tescos money. I assume they only tarmacked half of it because they ran out of money to finish the rest - one million pounds for half a car park is a bargain, non?

Just you wait!! One day they will finally get their championship standard floodlights. That, my friend, is the day this board will go in to meltdown!

Isn't Scott Maclachlane[sp?] also 'Pompey Scot' - one time member on here and also the admin on Pompey Online??? If so, with his past history of 'exclusions' on POL will there be any members of the Pompey Trust left after he's been on the board for a couple of months?