#WeAreCitizensAdvice – changing lives every day
This #WeAreCitizensAdvice week (Sep 1-7, 2025) we’re taking the chance to shout loud and proud about the difference we make for our communities across Hull and the East Riding of Yorkshire.
We support people face-to-face, by phone, and online, and we use evidence from our clients’ experiences to influence policy and improve services locally and nationally. Last year, every £10 donated to Citizens Advice Hull & East Riding created an incredible £114 of financial outcomes for our clients.
We don’t just advise our clients – we stand by them every step of the way until their issue is resolved. Here, one of our clients tells how we helped her win a difficult court case against a company that wanted thousands from her despite having provided no services. And read on for some feedback from people we’ve helped!
Binta’s story
When she bought her house in Hull after many years of renting, Binta just wanted to invest in green energy and save money on bills.
But her interest in having solar panels installed went disastrously wrong when she was pressurised into signing a contract she couldn’t afford by a company which then took her to court demanding more than £5,000.
Unable to afford a solicitor and with nowhere else to turn, Binta came to Citizens Advice Hull & East Riding, where an amazing team effort from several of our dedicated advisers ended with the case being thrown out of court.
Binta told our Debt Caseworker Jon Wilson, who provides outreach support at Hull County Court: “You took the time to listen to me, provide advice and your willingness to help without asking for a penny amazed me, from the first time I met you.
“I appreciate your patience, professionalism and kindness. You made the journey so easy for me, releasing the stress, pressure, concerns and worries for me and my family.”
‘I wasn’t sleeping… it was affecting my health’
Binta’s ordeal started when she saw an advert on the internet about a Government grant for solar power. She wanted to improve her home and save money on her energy bills for years to come, so she made enquiries and was contacted by a firm which arranged for someone to visit her at home.
Keen to press ahead with her green dream, she agreed to take out a five-year finance deal on a solar panel package worth more than £8,000. However, she was unable to find an affordable finance plan due to an unpaid energy bill for her house, dating to before she bought it, being wrongly placed on her record.
When she tried to cancel, the firm claimed she had signed a waiver agreeing to pay 60 per cent of the contract and began court proceedings to force her to pay more than £5,500, all while pressuring her to give them money despite having provided no services.
English is a second language from Binta, who is orginally from Gambia, and she found the documentation provided by the firm confusing. But the phonecalls were worse.
She explained: “Different people were calling me every day with threats – I have to pay this, I have to pay that, I have to do this, I have to do that, several times a day.
“I wasn’t sleeping, my family wasn’t sleeping – it was affecting my health, my family and my work. It was traumatising. It was a horrible experience. They were calling me asking me to pay money and I said ‘I’m not paying the money’. They said ‘you need to talk to us, we need to come to a mutual agreement’.”
But Binta, who works as a housing adviser in Hull, stood her ground. “I said ‘you are not going to get the better of me because you did not provide me with any service, you didn’t send anyone to do a survey at my property’.”
She contacted some solicitors, spending £150 on one 20-minute consultation. She was unable to pay more, so a solicitor suggested she contact Citizens Advice.
‘I don’t know what I would have done’
Binta was supported at our Generalist Advice Unit at our office at The Wilson Centre in Hull, where her initial online defence was submitted, and was then referred to Jon’s outreach service at court.
She said: “Jon told me he wasn’t a lawyer but he would help me, which I appreciated so much. He asked for all the information, which I gave him. He said ‘just tell me everything that happened’.”
Jon put together a 41-paragraph Witness Statement plus Exhibits with help from another colleague back at the office, who dug into the depths of The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations.
Jon and Binta then attended a court hearing lasting two hours and 45 minutes, which resulted in the District Judge ordering that every aspect of the claim made against her be dismissed in full.
Binta said: “We wanted to have our own house so we could improve it, and save money on our bills with solar panels, but I don’t think I would do anything like this again because they have caused me and my family so much trauma. I’m glad it’s over because it was a difficult time and I was spending money and taking time off work.
“When you’ve got your own place you want to develop it, you want to change it and protect it. I just wanted to make it better for my family and everything went so wrong.
“People like me, people who don’t have much, who work hard for their families, are suffering at the hands of these rich people. They’re taking advantage of people like myself and getting away with it. They would have taken me to court, put me on the blacklist and they would have made me pay thousands of pounds which I don’t have.
“I don’t know what I would have done without Jon. I am so grateful to Citizens Advice and the people who fund it.”
