The Tribunal.

Considering how quick I was to set this Tribunal thing in motion.......ever since the date had been set I have been absolutely dreading it.Part of it was the unknown but mostly it was because I have watched too much 'The Good Wife' and know how sneaky lawyers and legal people can be.When the Tribunal people sent me the information they had received from Centrelink, it did not contain all the information Centrelink had sent me when rejecting my first appeal. It also contained parts of forms that I had filled in that were completely irrelevant and loads of transcripts of phone calls and contact I have made to Centerlink, in a very small font, that I could not be bothered to wade through.I couldn't bring myself to look through the documentation for ages and then feared that I should be telling the Tribunal people that I have evidence of my own.....but nowhere in the letter about the Tribunal did it ask me for documents.It has loomed large the last week or so and has stood blocking my view of the holiday to come.We spent last night at the cinema and saw 'Far From The Madding Crowd', which is where we will be once we get away.It was a lovely film and made us both miss home ('Go see it!') but it took my mind off the Tribunal until I got into bed.I think I got about 2 hours sleep....as I tried hard not to go through what I was going to say.We were up at 8.00 and ready and all set up by 8.45 am. Those last few minutes were very tense and I was actually trembling!The phone rang dead on 9.00 am.The guy on the other end was called Pat, he said he was on his own in a 'sealed room' (?).He began by stating what he understood the problem to be and he had a good grasp of the situation.....'Centrelink have mispaid the Carer's Pension after reading $225 as £225. They admit that mistake.'He mentioned a few times that he was bound by law and I could infer from what he was saying that from the evidence he had available he was pretty sure I didn't have a case......because letters were sent to me containing evidence of the mistake that I had not picked up upon and reported within the legal 13 week requirement.It was then that I explained to him that it was only after the Centrelink appeal was rejected the first time that I realised Centrelink had sent these important letters to the wrong address (Frogknot) and as such I had never received them and therefore was unable to correct and, in fact, was unaware of any mistake until March this year. We directed him to a part of the (irrelevant) completed form that stated my 'Permanent address' was Celtis St but pointed out on one letter that he did have a copy of that the address was Glen Aplin (Frogknot)."Ah!" he exclaimed, "That puts everything in a new light!" He actually sounded quite pleased for us.The upshot is.........he thinks he can help us and that 'there is provision in the law' that will be on our side but made it clear that if not there was another, further channel we could go down to try and get some of the money I am owed back. He will report back to us in within 14 days but he wanted us to send him scans of the documents Centrelink sent me after the first rejection, to prove their case but which  show they were sent to the wrong address.It ain't over until 'Elaine' sings!