User:Bubblyian/Ian Tyes draft

Ian Tyes (born 27 November 1958 in Walthamstow, London) stood as an Independent candidate to become Member of the European Parliament for the Jury Team for the East of England in the 2009 elections.

Ian has over 3800 'friends' on Facebook and his page is available here. He is currently a self-employed Specialist Legal Adviser for Housing in Cambridge and a Parish Councillor for Milton (until May 2015). Ian is also chair of Milton Action 4 Youth and the local branch of Families Need Fathers. Ian regularly attends Arbury Road Baptist Church, helps with the Toddlers Plus on a Wednesday morning (term-time) and until Christmas 2014 co-ordinated the Friday evening Youth Group and hosted the Young Adults group on the 2nd and 4th Sunday mornings during the service.

In early 2015, Ian volunteered for three charities - Cambridge Dial-a-ride, Camsight and also started appearing as a guest legal adviser on Cambridge105 Community Radio. Ian's first program was broadcast at 11:30am on Thursday 29th January 2015 and is scheduled for the same time on the last Thursday of each month.

Background
Ian lived initially in 40 Heriot Avenue Chingford, London and moved to Clacton-on-Sea, Essex in September 1964. He attended Holland Park Primary School and Clacton County High School at the same time as pop singer Sade, before studying Electrical Engineering at Imperial College from 1978 until 1981, graduating with an Upper Second Class Honours Degree. Whilst there, Ian briefly hosted a radio show on Imperial College Radio.

Ian moved to Cambridge, Cambridgeshire in 1982 to work for Grundy Business Systems on the Science Park and from 1983 to 1986 worked for Laser-Scan (also on the Science Park). Whilst working there, he started his own Computer Hardware business, Tyepro Limited, providing customised solutions for networking problems. Ian passed the Post Graduate Diploma in Management Studies from the Cambridgeshire College of Art and Technology, now part of Anglia Ruskin University, in 1985.

In 2002, Ian decided to retrain as a Solicitor and studied part-time at London Metropolitan University, passing the Common Professional Examination in 2004 and then the Legal Practice Course at Anglia Ruskin University in 2006. Following a Training Contract in Northampton, specialising in the areas of family and crime, Ian qualified as a Solicitor in October 2008. He then worked in Cambridge, providing specialist advice in the areas of housing and discrimination, until March/April 2012 at Cambridge Citizens Advice Bureau and then as a freelance consultant for Peters & Company Solicitors until December 2014. Ian decided to cease being a Solicitor in January 2015 in order to set up his own legal advice business, TLC Legal Help, to provide legal advice and support on-line and to local Cambridge clients as a McKenzie Friend from 1st March 2015.

Ian also provides voluntary support to separated parents at regular twice-monthly evening drop-ins for Families Need Fathers at the Arbury Community Centre (2nd and 4th Wednesdays), having chaired the Newmarket group since 2005 and restarted the Cambridge group in 2006.

Since 2009, Ian has made over 100 Freedom of Information Act requests via the 'what do they know' website.

In addition, until 2011, Ian assisted with an older people's campaign and their research group on an occasional voluntary basis.

In his spare time, Ian supports his local football teams, in particular Colchester United F.C., where he has attended games since winning a free ticket through his employment as a newspaper delivery boy to Colchester United 3 Crewe Alexandra 2 on 1st September 1973 in Division 4. Ian also supports Cambridge United F.C. and was at Old Trafford to watch the FA Cup 4th round replay against Manchester United F.C. on Tuesday 3rd February 2015.

Political and Community activity
Ian was involved with the Arbury Community Centre and the Campkin Residents Association in the 1990s and has continued his local involvement in a lower key way ever since, for example by having a stall at the Arbury carnival each year for one of the charities with which he is involved.

Ian was successful on behalf of the Campkin Residents Association with a bid for £50,000 from Cambridge City Council and £3000 from Kings Hedges Neighbourhood Partnership to redevelop the 'Piazza' at Campkin Road shops to coincide with the Millennium in 2000. Unfortunately, the Piazza was laid badly by the Cambridge City Council contractors and had to be relaid in 2010.

Ian was successful with a £5000 grant bid to improve the street environment in Campkin Road. , although the wrong flower bed was initially dug up, apparently due to 'Human Error' (p10)

In 2012, Ian was successful on behalf of Arbury Community Centre in a competition for 4-days worth of free consultancy from James Baddeley consulting in connection with grant applications and fundraising skills. .

Ian was chairman and league organiser for the Cambridge Science Park Squash Club for many years through the 1990s until 2005. . In 2003, he successfully organised a protest against the plans to demolish the courts and build a hotel on the site. although after he left, planning permission was successful on a later attempt in 2011.

Ian was interviewed for the Guardian newspaper as a working parent and discussed the lack of flexibility for dads in trying to work and be a parent.

An article that Ian wrote on anti-male discrimination was posted on the Doctors 4 Justice website.

Ian summarised the anti-male discrimination in the UK as at February 2010 for Wikipedia under the title 'Winner Takes All', but it was deleted, but can still be located here and is occasionally updated.

Ian stood as an Independent candidate for the Jury Team in the East of England in the European Elections on 4 June 2009, was second name on the list, but the party came last polling 6354 votes (0.4%).

Ian joined the United People's Party in summer 2010 and was involved in drafting the party manifesto, which was accepted by the UPP at the end of 2010, and confirmed in a news article dated 10th January 2011. On 29th March, the UPP announced that Ian had been appointed as Regional Co-ordinator for the east of England.

Ian put his name forward to be co-opted into a vacant position as UPP representative on Impington Parish Council, which was considered at the Council Meeting on 21st February 2011. In spite of 3 vacancies, the existing Council decided not to propose/second him and hence he was not co-opted.

Ian put his name forward as an Independent candidate for the City Council elections on 5th May 2011 for King's Hedges ward in Cambridge and also for the Milton Parish Council, adjacent to where he lives in Kings Hedges, in the Local Authority area of South Cambridgeshire District Council. He was allowed to stand in two elections at the same time as they are in different Local Authority areas.

Ian's comments on a questionnaire by Cambridge Cycling Campaign, which was sent to all candidates, can be found here:

Update: 4th April 2011. Nominations closed at 12 noon and only 14 applied for 15 spaces on Milton Parish Council so there was no need for an election and hence Ian was elected as Parish Councillor for Milton. Announcement confirmed in the Milton News.

Ian's article was cut short by the Cambridge Evening News on their website summary for the Local elections (bottom of page).

ELECTION 2011 RESULTS: 6th May 2011 - Ian received 138 votes - 6.1% of the vote, 4th place out of 5 candidates, beating the Cambridge Socialists' candidate!

Ian also wrote an article for Emmaus under the heading of 'the day that changed my life', referring to 9th May 2008, the day when Ian's son moved to live with him as primary carer.

Ian has written numerous fictitious articles for The Spoof website.

From summer 2011 to summer 2015, Ian was involved with Milton Action for Youth and trying to improve the usage and facilities, particularly for young people, at the Milton Youth Club at the Sycamores Recreation Ground in Milton.

Ian was successful with 2 bids to the Milton Parish Council - one for funding for 1 night of Youth Club during term time on a Tuesday night from 6:30pm to 8:30pm; and secondly a sum of around £500 for equipment for the Youth Club.

Ian also successfully applied for funding to Awards for All (part of the National Lottery), for around £7000 of funding to cover three training courses for young people - bicycle maintenance, baby-sitting and arts/crafts, to be run consecutively in the Youth club starting in September 2012.

Ian put his name forward as a United Peoples Party candidate for the City Council elections on 3rd May 2012 for King's Hedges ward in Cambridge and is the only one of the four candidates who actually lives in Kings Hedges ward.

Ian's comments on a questionnaire by Cambridge Cycling Campaign, which was sent to all candidates, can be found here:

Ian's article for the Cambridge Evening News on their website summary for the Local elections can be found here: and here:

ELECTION 2012 RESULTS: 4th May 2012 - Ian received 105 votes - 6.2% of the vote and only 94 behind the Conservative candidate!

Ian volunteered to be a 'games maker' for the London 2012 Olympics, attended for interview and was successful at being offered a position as a 'Bus Team Member'. After the final venue training at the International Business and Media Centre on the Olympic Park on 23rd June, he discovered that the job consisted of standing in the bus station for 8 hours at one of three bus stops, greeting media reps as they got off the buses and count them as they got on the buses. Travelling expenses to the three interviews and training sessions were not refunded and no food provided at any of the visits. Neither overnight accommodation nor travelling expenses were offered for any of the shifts (4 days/week, alternate days and most shifts started at 7am until 3pm), although a complete uniform and food vouchers were provided for the shifts. Ian politely declined to take up the position.

Ian put his name forward as an Independent candidate for the Cambridgeshire County Council elections on 2nd May 2013 for King's Hedges Division in Cambridge. and is briefly mentioned in a Cambridge Evening News article here:

Ian's comments on a questionnaire by Cambridge Cycling Campaign, which was sent to all candidates, can be found here:

Ian's comments for the Cambridge Evening News pre-election article can be found here:

ELECTION 2013 RESULTS: 3rd May 2013 - Ian received 243 votes and finished third, narrowly behind the Lib-Dem candidate (281) with 16.6% of the vote and pushing the Conservative candidate (224) into 4th place! Labour won with 716 votes on a reduced turnout of just 23.5%.

Ian appeared with another MRA, Brian Robertson, on Huntingdon Community Radio for an hour long program talking about the discrimination against men in general and dads in particular (8th May 2013).

Ian was interviewed on 18th June 2013 as the only male victim of domestic abuse by a former female partner on channel 4 television during a week of programmes on domestic abuse in the five minute slot '4Thought',.

Ian resigned from the UPP in October 2013 as a result of the changes, which led to the merger on 1st January 2014, with the 'Patriotic Socialist Party', although many of his policies were included in their manifesto.

As representative of Milton Parish Council, Ian worked with Milton Primary School to encourage the children to become interested and involved in the democratic process leading to all pupils voting on their favourite 'short-term' and 'long-term' village improvements (p8).

Ian put his name forward as an Independent candidate for the City Council elections on 22nd May 2014 for King's Hedges ward in Cambridge as one of five candidates. Besides the main three parties, this time a Green Party candidate is also standing. ,

Details of all candidates' policies for Kings Hedges as printed in CEN here:

Ian's comments on a questionnaire by Cambridge Cycling Campaign, which was sent to all candidates, can be found here:

ELECTION 2014 RESULTS: 22nd May 2014 - Ian received 287 votes and finished 3rd beating Conservative and Green Party candidates, but slightly further away from the Lib-Dem candidate(106 votes - 5%) than last year on a slightly reduced percentage (14.2%)!

On Fathers Day 2014 (June 15th), Ian jointly-led the Sunday-morning service at the Arbury Road Baptist Church, based around 'The Return of the Prodigal Son' and focussing on broken families, separation from dads and the joy of reconciliation, just two years after being Baptised.

During 2014, Ian contributed to discussions leading to the formation of policies for the manifesto of the Justice for Men and Boys Party (J4MB)

Ian put his name forward as an Independent candidate for the City Council elections on 7th May 2015 for King's Hedges ward in Cambridge.

Ian's comments on a questionnaire by Cambridge Cycling Campaign, which was sent to all candidates, can be found here:

Results on May 8th 2015 - Ian came last of the six candidates with just 87 votes.

Since February 2015, Ian has been appearing as a guest on the Mike Prior Show on Cambridge105 community Radio on the last Thursday of each month to talk about a range of legal issues.

Since February 2015, Ian has been volunteering as a tandem rider and guide for blind and partially sighted people with a local charity called Camsight who specialise in this area.

In March 2015, Ian passed his minibus driving test and is now one of the volunteer drivers for a local charity, Cambridge Dial-a-ride, providing a transport service for disabled people and others unable to use conventional public bus services.

Legal Casework activity as a Solicitor
1) During 2011, Ian represented a separated dad who had an agreed 'shared care' arrangement with his ex. However, the dad only had a 1-bedroom flat and applied to Cambridge City Council Home-Link scheme to be rehoused into a 3-bedroom property as a parent. The children's mother wrote a letter of support to CCC stating that 'if he had suitable accommodation, she would agree to shared care in alternate weeks'. CCC ruled that since he was not a primary carer, he had no additional housing needs and a 1-bedroom property was adequate for his needs. Ian challenged the policy in the basis that since 90% of secondary carers were men, this policy was indirect discrimination on grounds of gender. CCC tried to justify this discrimination on the basis of shortage of available property in Cambridge. The father was successful at applying for public funding for judicial review, but the case was struck out at the 'leave' stage (on the papers). Whilst the barrister was happy to do the oral hearing on a pro bono basis, the risk of costs against the father, if he lost, was enough to persuade the father to drop the action. Ian now has another similar case where there is a Court Order for shared residence giving the father 45% of the week. It is hoped that this case will be more successful.

2) During 2011, Ian represented an unmarried father who was not named on the birth certificate and hence did not have parental responsibility (PR) for his child. Unmarried mothers automatically acquire PR on the birth of a child, whilst unmarried fathers do not. This is direct gender discrimination.

The father made an application for public funding to the Legal Services Commission (LSC) to challenge this gender discrimination by way of judicial review, but funding was refused on the bizarre basis that the father could apply to the family courts for PR. Whilst the father, of course, had applied for PR, the fact that he had to take this action whilst an unmarried mother did not was the whole basis for the claim. Needless to say, the LSC refused legal aid on appeal. However, the father did get PR via the family courts (eventually) so there was a 'happy' ending.

3) Ian represented a father at the Cambridge Magistrates Court in a long running dispute against the Norwegian csa (NAV) on the basis of challenging their jurisdiction. Unlike the UK csa, when a primary carer (normally a mother) applies for 'child' support, NAV make the assessment and pay the primary carer and then try and claim the money back from the secondary carer (normally the father). In this case, however, the 'child' was over 18 and living in Norway with her mother. NAV made an internal bureaucratic decision and then tried to use the Lugano Convention to require the Cambridge Magistrates Court to enforce the Order for recovery of advanced 'child' support from the father. Ian challenged jurisdiction on the basis that the article 5 (2) exemptions from the normal rule that enforcement must be started in the defendant's home country only applied to an application for maintenance by a 'weaker' party (a woman), not to a government department. Ian supported this with a German case, which had asked this specific question to be determined by the European Court of Justice.

At the adjourned hearing on 21st March 2012, in spite of a European Court of Justice precedent, the District Judge dismissed all arguments against jurisdiction and made an Order for the full amount to be paid by 30th June 2012. Owing to the risks of costs being awarded against him if he lost, the father decided not to appeal this decision.

4) Ian assisted Tom Martin in the hearing on 13th March 2012 at the Central London County Court at the end of his long running case against the London School of Economics for breach of contract, misrepresentation, harassment and anti-male discrimination in their M Sc Gender Studies course.

Unfortunately, the Judge struck out Mr Martin's application for damages on the basis that there was no realistic prospect of success. He also refused a 28 day adjournment to allow the particulars of claim to be redrafted in a more conventional basis.

Unfortunately, the Judge refused to allow Ian to represent Mr Martin at the hearing in spite of Ian having a legitimate practising certificate, but on the basis that he had no Professional Indemnity Insurance as Ian was between jobs and acting on a pro bono basis.

5) Ian assisted a man who was involved with a long-running dispute with a gym that operated women-only sessions. Men and women were charged the same membership fee, but men only had access to the gym for 90% of the opening hours. The suggested alternatives that men be charged 10% less, women be given the choice whether they wanted the women-only sessions or a refund of 10% of the fee were all refused. Small claims court action was commenced for a return of 10% of the fee plus costs. The gym tried to justify the discrimination on the grounds that some women needed extra incentives to exercise and some women were uncomfortable about exercising when men might be around. The gym refused mediation and just before the initial court date, a confidential settlement was reached.

6) Ian assisted a separated parent of one child who was involved in a long-running battle with Cambridge City Council (CCC) in connection with her homeless application. In June 2013, she commenced an assured shorthold tenancy of a 2-bedroom flat in Cambridge. In September 2013, CCC informed her that this was a council flat and her landlady had illegally sub-let the flat and hence she was homeless and should apply to CCC as a homeless person. However, when she approached the homeless team at CCC, they said she was not homeless until CCC evicted her through the court process. As is normal in Cambridge, she was offered emergency accommodation in Peterborough, which she refused as it was entirely unsuitable. She then became a victim of threats, harassment and an assault by people associated with the landlady. Eventually, in January 2014, CCC commenced legal proceedings to evict her landlady (on the basis of rent arrears!) and she was finally allowed to make a homeless application. She was successful at bidding through Home-Link and no decision was ever made on the homeless application. She complained through CCC's complaints procedure about the delay in handling her homeless application without success and complained to the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) who upheld her complaint and ruled that CCC should have accepted her written homeless application in September 2013 and had no grounds for the unreasonable delay. The LGO, however, refused to treat this as a systematic failure on behalf of CCC to take written homeless applications from anyone who may be homeless (a 'gateway') system, which based on Ian's frequent cases, it clearly is.

7) Ian has been offering support in a potential Judicial Review of the Violence Against Women Act, proposed by the Welsh Assembly. It is to be hoped that a successful challenge to this discriminatory and inflammatory piece of legislation would raise awareness of the fact that both men and women are equally likely to be victims of domestic abuse.

On 13th June 2013, Ian applied to the Solicitors Regulation Authority for permission to set up as a sole practitioner. After over 4 months, he had heard nothing so formally raised a complaint. The whole process of registering new firms was shown to be pointless by the following Freedom of information act request, where only one in 220 sole practitioner applications had been rejected in the last 12 months.

After 5 months, the SRA finally appointed a caseworker to Ian's case, but then asked a long list of additional questions, which were not on the original 32 page application form, at which point Ian withdrew his application and obtained a full refund.

For 2 years, (April 2012 to March 2014) Ian operated a free drop-in at FLACK Cambridge on a Thursday between 12 and 2 and helped over 250 people, until they unfortunately closed. Ian continued the drop-in on Thursdays between 11am and 1pm at Jimmy's on East Road until December 2014. He hopes to resume the drop-in shortly.

On 31st December 2014, Ian submitted an application to be removed from the role of Solicitors. The SRA website stated that 95% of applications are processed in 30 days. Ian's application was not completed until 26th February 2015 (57 days). From 1st March 2015, he then continued to provide legal advice as a non-Solicitor through his own business, www.tlclegal.help and can be emailed via TLCLegalHelp@gmail.com.