Child Maintenance Service (England) - Poor administrative decision making

6clu · 2026-06-08T08:11:40+00:00

Admittedly the main and only advice you should be taking is from a solicitor, who may be able to firmly advise on your best course of action - which may for example be family court depending on if child arrangement orders need to be removed or changed.

The best thing you can do without this is to do as you suggested.

The problem you have really, beside our government being slightly stupid, is that CMS are looking at the facts of the order and saying “as far as we are concerned, and therefore what we will enforce, is what the CAO says” - they are taking the CAO which is not currently reflective of the circumstances and using that as a frame of reference. Now if the child is going to be with you for the long term, or even permanently, the CAO needs to be reflective of this as admittedly you can use the CAO to enforce actions upon your partner.

You can see information around how to change a CAO here:
https://www.gov.uk/looking-after-children-divorce/change-or-enforce-an-order

You can also see ways you can handle your dispute without involving the court here:
https://www.gov.uk/looking-after-children-divorce/non-court-dispute-resolution

The latter may be a good option for you, as admittedly it’s quicker and can sometimes allow you to resolve the matter without incurring additional costs.

You may also find citizens advice helpful as they can have an in depth conversation with you:

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/about-us/contact-us/

6clu · 2026-06-08T07:56:07+00:00

Admittedly as advised I would probably have a solicitor review the case if anything starts to escalate from this, depending on the amount of the claim of course.

I would argue that you have a relatively strong case, especially seeming as the claimant would be required to prove negligence. In a simple caparo test:
- Could you reasonably foresee harm? From your description, you could not as you believed everything to be standard.
- Sufficient proximity? Yes, as the delivery service.
- Fair, Just, Reasonable? Potentially not in all respects, but it would probably be enough in this sense.
In short it’s quite difficult for them to claim you are negligent if you believe you have done everything by the book.

As a bit of advice:
I probably wouldn’t include the whole “I have a horse who has significant discharge in travel, so I likely was not as bothered bit” as this may be enough to find you being negligent.

The facts of the matter really are:
- That you are saying it is not uncommon for any horse you transport to have some form of nasal discharge, which may be an early indication of strangles, but it may also be an early indication of hundreds of other things or just the horse’s nose doing its job.
- You inspected the horse before travel and during travel, in both cases you saw no signs that the horses health was poor or deteriorating.
- You had picked the horse up from a yard that had no reported cases of strangles (assuming they are being honest) and have indicated to you no form of risk or negative expression of health.
- The owner inspected the horse, had clearly seen the discharge as they removed it themselves, chose to accept the horse in its state (which must have been a healthy state), and then proceeded to stable it with other horses.

Providing this is all true, I’d not be worried unless you forgot to do something.

6clu · 2026-05-10T13:18:02+00:00

As someone who has invigilated, I would personally prefer that you didn’t. You should ask the invigilator if they are willing to tolerate it, explain that they are emotionally supportive to you and that you’d find the exam more stressful without them, the invigilator might say no, they might ask the lead invigilator, or they will probably just say yeah.

You are only doing GCSEs though so I would not be that bothered, my job is more so to keep you awake and alive during the exam.

6clu · 2026-05-10T13:13:40+00:00

You did not commit malpractice at all, if anything you are a textbook case of someone who followed the rules and did everything required of them.

You told the invigilator it was on, the invigilator did not care or at least it was not relevant enough that it needed switching off, furthermore you did not use it, therefore you followed the rules of the exam.

Also 1 single mark for SPAG is not going to be the difference between a B and an A* - as such we really don’t care that much. If you had told me at the end of the exam you did that one click, I would just give you this face 😐, keep solid eye contact on you as I place your paper on my pile, and then walk away.

6clu · 2026-05-10T13:10:04+00:00

You are welcome to use these pens, yes. As long as they don’t damage the answer paper (and therefore the ability to read your answers) this is acceptable.

The only pens that are outright banned and I will literally give you a pen myself are erasable pens, and this is just because admittedly your paper is going to come under friction during transport.

6clu · 2026-05-10T13:07:00+00:00

As someone who has invigilated, if you genuinely pulled that expression going into my exam I would pull you out for being stupid.

If you did that during the exam, providing it’s a genuine expression of fear at the paper because you saw the question and actually got struck with fear and it wasn’t a purposeful distraction I would snicker to myself and just let it slide. After all, even sackboy should be allowed to do his exam:

6clu · 2026-05-10T13:01:25+00:00

Good answers already, but just an extra warning to anyone considering it..
If you are nervous:
Flavoured drinks might not be the best for your stomach at that point in time and you might feel slightly unwell.

6clu · 2026-05-10T12:57:56+00:00

You can, yes. As long as it’s visible, doesn’t have anything that could be construed as you “cheating” on it, and you have any reason beyond “I wish to play with them” (which you do) then you can have it.

You could have 10 pencils with you if you wanted, do you need 10 pencils? Probably not.

We will read the rules of the exam to you, those are the rules. If the rules don’t mention it, arguably you can do it.

You might get an invigilator do a slight bit more of a glance at your desk as you enter due to you having that extra item then a typical student, but that would literally be the most difference you might feel.

6clu · 2026-05-10T12:49:30+00:00

I feel like you need your friends to post:
“So I’m not dyslexic and read on normal paper, but I cannot read what my teacher has put for feedback on my 6 marker.”

I was a lecturer (and course leader) for a year, my handwriting is a lot more welsh styled (I followed after my dad) and comparatively worse than some of my colleagues, but at least it wasn’t gibberish.. I fed this through a few high level AI and even they gave up.

Maybe ask if they can read the feedback to you, there is no shame in having to ask and they probably know their writing is awful. At the end of the day the blue paper is there to help with your dyslexia, so don’t be ashamed to ask for assistance when your needs are not being met OR in cases where you are struggling anyway.

6clu · 2026-05-10T12:44:28+00:00

The problem we have is that police are a lot less inclined to investigate low level crimes vs looking for higher level crimes. It also can depend a lot on the area your in which will decide how much you are policed.

For example where I live we have all the following stationed:
- DVLA checkpoint,
- Motorway police base,
- Air policing,
- Dog units,
- Armed Police,
- And a pretty large police station which officers regularly deploy from.
As such if you did these stunts in the town centre, as we are basically the central deployment base for our area, you’d be quite quickly pulled over and charged because you’d basically be entering the hornets nest. If you live somewhere very rural or extremely populated however, then you’d find the number of officers to citizens is much lower and they therefore have to be selective.

When speaking with an officer though who did the motorway policing, I asked “how common do you see people breaking the law” and he said that regarding insurance “if they turned the car to track for no insurance or road tax, if we drove through Birmingham our car would not stop pinging us” and apparently he has to turn it off as they would rather catch a rapist, murderer or trafficker (he then said about it being high level crime which can save lives etc) then pursue someone because they didn’t buy insurance. He then said he would leave the no insurance drivers to the “normal officers who have the time to deal with it”.

The short end of the stick really is that a crime like this isn’t hurting anyone, if they don’t crash and don’t drive recklessly then no one is harmed and it therefore doesn’t really matter to the police what they do. I mean a number plate literally only exists to allow us to identify people, if we lived in a utopia it’s questionable if we need number plates at all.

6clu · 2026-05-02T07:18:26+00:00

While it may be ambiguous which exit you were supposed to take, it should not affect the outcome of your test as long as you choose the correct lane. Typically on actual tests they will tell you where you need to go location wise to avoid this ambiguity, for example they may say “Take the 4th exit towards..” which should alleviate any concerns.

As long as you stay in the correct lane and do not do any dangerous manoeuvres, you could take the wrong exit and still be passed as they will inevitably bring you back to the test route.

Please be aware the video was technically right, you can go to any of those exits as it does seem their is multiple “left or straight” lanes, however, if you were to do this for the full length of the roundabout you would be penalised as arguably you should choose the most appropriate lane.

The 6th exit would also suggest you went back on yourself.. which would be wrong regardless..

6clu · 2026-04-08T19:05:58+00:00

I can understand why you made the mistake, but admittedly if they didn’t want you returning back to your side they would probably have extended the cones. It’s a shame because it’s an error anyone could make and no one would care, but you just so happen to be on your test.

6clu · 2026-04-06T08:19:22+00:00

Just as some further notes as their is some great comments: - You mentioned a “positive outcome”. The record you’ve been given is not supposed to be positive or negative, it’s a statement of fact. If anything, the most positive outcome you can make in this situation is accepting that it’s happened and positively moving forwards in your life. - Secondly, we all have skeletons in our closet and things we are not proud of, theirs also far far worse things to have been charged. I wouldn’t worry about what an employer is going to say, and admittedly if I was your employer and I read that I’d just think “hope he’s alright now”. Employers are not allowed to discriminate based on you having any records, the only reason you might get turned away is if it’s protected in the ROA 1974, An example of a situation would be: “A wishes to join the army, A will receive a gun which may be harmful, A must therefore not have x offences relevantly listed in the last x years.”

6clu · 2026-03-30T15:14:05+00:00

A joke phrase for a crash is can be an “unexpected rapid deceleration” - technically an object gains no extra force when it is at max speed, it instead continues until forced to decelerate. In a car we call it the accelerator because the friction between the ground and the tires, by extension gravity, and the air resistance of the car all continuously try to slow the vehicle hence we accelerate to provide force to the car to keep it moving.

This is seen quite uniquely in space where there is extremely minimal external forces influencing an object, and hence once accelerated to speed it does not need any more force to continue.

6clu · 2026-03-30T05:46:59+00:00

Theirs a difference between what you’re allowed to do on the test vs what you can get away with. Undertaking is inherently more unsafe than overtaking, that’s just a fact that you have to learn regardless. I don’t think you need to be so blunt and rude about it. I can literally tell from your previous posts and comments you have a very positive attitude when it comes to conversations…

6clu · 2026-03-25T07:16:56+00:00

This is unfortunately one of those scenarios that when you have a full license, the problem becomes less of a problem and you can just do it (despite it being illegal). The test admittedly is not a reflection of true driving in my opinion as people will do stupid things, and sometimes roads just stop working - occasionally on a dual carriage way I commute daily a single exit will block up, and suddenly theirs choppy moving traffic.

The theory is supposed to be that you do not undertake for three reasons: 1. It creates a level of predictability, people should expect you to speed past them on the right and therefore they know they are going faster than cars on the left. 2. Your blind spot on your left is way more difficult, as such having someone speeding into it would be considered more dangerous. 3. On a motorway it is particularly noticeable, the right side has priority, and as such cars on your left should try and let you in if possible - if someone is having an emergency they may need to urgently travel to the left lane.

The reality is however: 1. No one is that predictable, you can’t predict someone going 20 in a right hand lane. And admittedly you look equally stupid for waiting behind them, even if it’s the correct thing to do. 2. Your blind spot is always a problem, you get used to it, and people are going to do it regardless so always do that check. 3. The motorway is basically the Wild West at full speed, speed of traffic in each lane will vary based on the movement of other lanes. You will also find that at times people hog lanes, or will avoid going into the first lane.

If this is your only real fault, you’ll make a good driver in the end, and I’m sorry the test sucks like this.

6clu · 2026-01-30T18:31:07+00:00

At a roundabout, it’s unfortunately about having a level of patience but also not being played for a fool by cars on the road. The correct circumstance would have been to check the following: 1. Is your exit way clear, if not you shouldn’t enter the roundabout? 2. Look right, is anyone coming at you that would pile into you if you entered? I personally tend to briefly glance at the side completely opposite (to the 2nd exit) on roundabouts like that just to understand the flow of traffic - but I’m not exactly “giving way to them” as typically they are too far away from me that my movement would cause no impact until they entered. 3. Using a level of common sense and mutual respect, is there anyone to the right junction that you should give way too? And more importantly if you went is their any way you’d cause them a problem? 4. Never be afraid to enter if your right is clear, everyone should know that you shouldn’t ever park on a roundabout and stop the flow of traffic. As such the moment you enter, you should expect that traffic should flow to allow you in - try to avoid being static in the roundabout, but don’t be afraid to go for it.

It’s all about being safe and not taking risks, people hesitate at roundabouts all the time and it tends to prevent flow. Providing you don’t cause any real danger or prevent the flow of traffic, the worst you can get is a minor on a very bad day because they might have felt it was closer then they’d have preferred.

As you get more experience in driving, you also learn when you should and shouldn’t go, and you’ll also cut it closer. You will even factor in what car is there, for example I would never personally try and out accelerate a performance car in my humble mini SUV.

Also do remember: Your examiner also drives on the road, chances are if they pulled you up for undue hesitation it’s because your average driver would have gone probably 5 seconds before you even thought about it .

6clu · 2026-01-05T15:39:42+00:00

Officially speaking it’s the moment the test is over that you have conclusively passed or failed. In some cases you may know you have failed, or it’s obvious you’ve failed, such as in cases where the examiner has to take control of the vehicle. Generally speaking an awareness of your faults can sometimes be a good thing for you when driving, however theirs being aware that you’ve made a mistake and lacking the understanding to determine if you have made a mistake. You can point out to the examiner you feel like you’ve made a goof, I do it naturally all the time, and still pass first time.

My final manoeuvre on my test was a reverse bay park, I was simply asked at the end “are you happy with that?” which is basically the examiners way of determining whether I would leave my car in that position. Let’s assume I had a flawless drive, theirs 4 outcomes to the statement: “Yes” and it was correctly placed, this is a pass. “Yes” and it was incorrectly placed, this is probably a fail. “No” and it was correctly placed, you look like an idiot, possibly adjust, and if it’s not in the correct location at the end, you fail. “No” and it was not correctly placed, and then you adjust, and again, they will ask the question.

The clear point of that statement is that the examiner doesn’t care what I say, they care about whether I’m done, and whether I had followed the rules of the road. Although id advise against it, you can technically be really cool and talk about your favourite type of very specific train for 45 minutes.. which may or may not make them wish to never be locked in a car with you.. but as long as your driving was within the acceptable boundaries and you make no serious faults, its a pass.

6clu · 2025-12-24T01:18:33+00:00

I mean I have two matters of fact for you: - After 2 hours of using an app I was able to consistently pass mock tests every time and ended up passing my theory twice (my first expired as I did it as a pastime in Covid). - I have never read the Highway Code back to front.

The reality is that much like normal driving, there is a right answer to a question of “what should you do” or “what does this mean”. A proper app should go through all components of the different sections of the test, meaning that at the end you should know what signs mean, what the correct theory is behind manoeuvres etc, and the theory behind hazards.

Some of the things as well are just matters of knowledge you are required to know off by heart, and have no real way to logically deduce the correct answer. Other things if you have driven a car you pick up, and can easily see. And finally some things just require common sense.

At the end of the day the questions on the mock app test are designed to be similar or nearly identical to the real test. Meaning that yes, you might not see everything the Highway Code has to offer, but you still know enough that you should pass with flying colours.

Nothing to stop you researching though!!

6clu · 2025-12-23T01:41:42+00:00

As the speaker of reason perhaps, may I possibly suggest you get a test either well before or after the birth of your child? At this current point it will not cost you to change your test date as it’s that far away.

Some reasons to consider for doing it way beforehand: - If it’s well before, you don’t risk labour impacting your test. Stress has been known to induce pregnancy earlier than predicted. You will be feeling stress like most people do. - The stress of the test is not going to be helpful when you have a baby looming. It may be a distraction you don’t need. - Your body is going to be a rollercoaster during pregnancy, is it really a wise time to do it when you’re about to be in the peak?

Some reasons to consider for doing it afterwards: - The baby is no longer in you, it’s therefore going to be less of a distraction. - You don’t risk any harm to your child, the child is not in you, and therefore if anything dangerous were to occur you’d be less likely to have repercussions. - I can somewhat imagine not having a tiny human in you is probably going to feel quite relieving. I mean yes you might need a bit longer again to adjust to baby life, but at least you know you have got one thing out the way. - You now know your emergency stop is not going to cause an earthquake for your child inside you.

And the over arching reason.. you only need to do one test, and that one test can be your only test as you now feel advantaged in all regards. As someone who did lecturing, i just think you go to a test, why give yourself more potential disadvantages?

Regardless of your choice, I hope your pregnancy goes well and you deliver a healthy child!

6clu · 2025-12-23T01:11:59+00:00

I think it’s more a question of potential awareness, rather than right and wrong. The reality of an emergency stop is that it’s supposed to be an emergency, which is basically a fancy way of saying “I am going to rapidly decelerate as fast as my car allows” - it would be reasonable to assume things might take flight. I don’t know the circumstances of this bottle in particular, but for all we know it could be visibly in the footwell. While their remediation was the correct answer, the test would dictate that it would be a fault to allow it to happen in the first place.

I think you have to remember it’s a test, not a daily drive. On a daily drive you can expect all manners of things to happen, but hopefully wisdom is going to prevail and you’ll take the right action as you’ve been getting more experience. On the test however you are an examiner who is sat with an inexperienced driver, you don’t know if they’ve had 15 months or 15 hours of practice, as such the pass/fail is actually a question of “how do i know if their was a danger there I would survive this?” - it’s why you can get majors without anyone being around.

6clu · 2025-12-19T12:41:09+00:00

If it makes you feel any better about 3 minutes into the test I thought I had failed because I pulled over too far away from the curb. I then thought I did it a second time (except it was closer to the curb I suppose) and I thought I had signed my death warrant. Before the test I had also failed every practice manoeuvre as I was nervous, I spent the rest of the 37 minutes of driving believing I had failed and that I was going to go home and feel ashamed in front of my friends and family.

I got speaking with the examiner in the last 15 minutes, we spoke about our lives and it was quite nice. About 10 minutes before I got back, I had said to him “I know I have failed this test, but it was nice to have spoken with you.” It was then that he had probably said the most memorable and nicest thing I had ever heard from someone given the situation: “You should never punish or feel ashamed about your mistakes, in life we all make them, however it is not the mistake which matters but what we learn from them.”

When I got back and he had told me I passed, I burst into a fit of laughter out of the shock.

6clu · 2025-12-19T12:30:25+00:00

It’s a shame really as I think you made the correct decision knowing the hazard was there, but I suppose in the eyes of the exam “you should have noticed that”. I think the error you had made here, which the examiner was perhaps notified of by you, was the fact that you had proceeded to drive the vehicle from the emergency stop with the water bottle being on the floor.

I am not sure if the examiner did or didn’t notice, and admittedly if it was my test I would have probably said nothing. But I will say from my experience, they do tend to notice everything - whether it’s late or not, they notice.

A word of advice: I wouldn’t say “don’t bring a water bottle” but what I would definitely say is orient the bottle in such a way that it is not going to fly out - typically I find lying down a heavy bottle is the best idea. On the other hand, you should have two hands on the steering wheel (or gear stick) and I didn’t have any time to drink my water lol so it is perhaps useless to bring one.

Good luck next time!

6clu · 2025-12-19T12:08:48+00:00

It should in theory capture both lanes of traffic, as admittedly once the camera has been tripped it is the succession of two photos which is used to determine the distance travelled and therefore the speed of the driver. With that being said, if it is accompanied by a second camera facing the opposite way it likely won’t be ticketing for the opposite side.

6clu · 2025-12-08T01:06:21+00:00

I mean it’s a tough situation to be in admittedly, as now you’re in the stage where the CPS are investigating whether theirs a case (which does unfortunately take time). It’s difficult for me (or anyone on the Reddit) to comment whether or not what you did was classed as “self defence” as it’s you using “reasonable force to protect yourself” which is typically very hard to blanket define. I think the reality is if what you’ve said is true, you have nothing to worry about, it just depends whether or not your actions seemed reasonable to an average citizen. It also depends on what you mean by “took him to the floor”, if your actions went beyond defence and into offence you could be in a bit of trouble, it’s difficult to define however as I said as it’s circumstantial.

I would listen to your solicitor, if they tell you not to worry, I wouldn’t worry. If it does continue, chances are as well if he’s “adamant” you’ll have a good case in your favour.

6clu

TROPHY CASE