Christmas week over and done. Mad Friday certainly lived up to it’s name. I had a few general bits to do and was plodding on when the phone went at around 2pm. By the time I’d gotten halfway into the city centre I had a fully booked day. Our legal clients had decided they wanted all manner of documents serving before the festivities began, and as always we were happy to oblige. 9pm and some 300 miles later I was done.
Monday was simply signing off all the paperwork from Friday, then relax! I managed 2 days off for Christmas before Thursday meant back at it.
The two serves I had in for this Friday couldn’t have been more different. Inform a father who had never seen his children for years that they had been removed from the mother and were subject to care proceedings. And serve a notice to vacate land on some travellers.
First job was a smart semi in a nicer part of town, respondent was a pleasant enough chap, however one of the other occupiers took exception to my calling after 5 and let me know, in no uncertain terms, what his opinion of me was. Once the respondent had calmed him and explained why i was there he mellowed and left the now rather embarrassed respondent to apologise. Then North up the M6 to serve the travellers. Despite their reputation and the horror stories I’ve heard about serves gone wrong, I’ve always managed to deal with the travelling community in an amicable way. There was no worries in this case though as they’d left the site before i got there.
Well, despite the recession, Leveson enquiry, legal Aid cutbacks, doomsday predictions etc we’ve made it to the end of 2012. It’s been a tough year and one where every penny has had to be hard earned. Despite no pay rise in 10 years, the Legal Service commission cut back their rates for private investigators in Blackpool and other areas as well as process servers. Work has also been lost as a few of our solicitor clients have stopped working on legal aid.
The Leveson enquiry brought the issue of Licensing PI’s into the public domain, meaning it is now imminent. There are some concerns within the industry, one of mine being that any licensing needs to work properly, and ensure higher standards, not just be a cash cow for the SIA.
Going into 2013 there seems be be a lot of optimism that things will be better all round, and on that note I wish all our clients, old and new, our followers, Facebook fans, Blog readers and any other contact a happy, and very prosperous New Year!
If you need our assistance in the new year find us at www.ejminvestigations.co.uk