pleasantly surprised, a governent system came up trumps
 

A long time ago, before most of you were gleams in your daddies eyes, I started an apprenticeship with a local truck and bus manufacturer and left when I was 23.

As a condition of employment I had to join their pension scheme. But as the company I went to did not have their own scheme I had to leave my pot with Leyland Trucks. Shortly after I left, Leyland bus was acquired by Volvo and disappeared, the truck business was acquired by Daf and went bust. I had moved house several times and had no paperwork, the old pension address I knew of had gone out of existence etc.

I therefore assumed that whilst I had this old pension it would probably be worth sod all if anything at all.

Well recently the government had be advertising their pension tracing service on the radio. So I gave it a go. They suggested my old pension may have somehow ended up in BMW and gave me an address.

Well today, I have had a letter from BMW pensions and I do have a deferred pension with them. and should get 4 grand a year when I retire.

OK, not a great amount, and I have other pension schemes. But what the heck, an extra 4 grand in the annual pot, Thank you. I had assumed everything would have gone in the 80s when Leyland trucks went bust. Now it turns out only those who were current employees at the time got shafted. Deferred pensions stayed with Leyland, got acquired by BMW, never got put out to MG Rover etc.

happy happy happy, not a usually Wilky condition

Re: pleasantly surprised, a governent system came up trumps
 

Glad to hear that mate :) All this chopping and changing with providers does my head in at the moment. Places like Scottish Mutual, Scott Prov, Aberdeen have all merged into Phoenix, then they still give you the option to call about an old policy with whichever company.

Company pensions can be a real ar$e to deal with sometimes, I have dealt with 3 this year, 1 of which took me two whole days to resolve where the pension was been administered...

Re: pleasantly surprised, a governent system came up trumps
 

That'll keep you in beer all year! Nice one. The only bit i would resent is that you have to actively claim it. If you hadn't heard about it on the radio, someone else would be sitting on your money.

Re: pleasantly surprised, a governent system came up trumps
 

Wow... happy Timwilky... what even next. lol.

Good news mate, nice to hear a happy story.

Re: pleasantly surprised, a governent system came up trumps
 

Negative, most companies will send a standard letter out with about a year to retirement, however, it's not unknown for companies to forget...

Re: pleasantly surprised, a governent system came up trumps
 

i think hell has frozen over....

Re: pleasantly surprised, a governent system came up trumps
 

Whenever I get a 'bonus' or 'win' like this, I think it has to be spent on something fun. Think of it as your bike fund :thumbsup:

Time for a bigger garage? :smt040

Re: pleasantly surprised, a governent system came up trumps
 

great news and £4k play money a year buys plenty of track days and tyres dont it ;)

Enjoy it whatever you do with it. Tho i do worry that by the time you retire a loaf od bread may cost about £2k. D'oh!

Re: pleasantly surprised, a governent system came up trumps
 

Hey not bad! Would be good as a lump sum at the begining of the year, but hey if not £300 a month give or take ain't so bad.

Re: pleasantly surprised, a governent system came up trumps
 

Mr Happy,Does this apply to all the Leyland Group as I spent a fair bit of time with BMC Bathgate and Scammel, Watford?. Like yourself I thought it would be long gone since the demise of Leyland and never bothered with chasing it.