u/Unique-Afternoon9281

I’m looking for my first car. On a very limited budget, and something family friendly is a must as I’ve a baby so need something to comfortably fit a car seat and pushchair in the boot. Everything seems out of my price range in the bigger garages and I don’t know any independent smaller dealers. Won’t be doing any crazy mileage either, just a runaround for now till I can get back to work, earn more and get a better car. Any recommendations on who to contact or look out for would be wonderful and very much appreciated.

Just to add: I have looked on done deal and although some look great to me, I’ve zero car knowledge and don’t know anyone who does and don’t want to end up with something I can’t afford to fix.

It’s a bit of a long story that I don’t want to go into too much here but last year I had a baby in the UK while I was living and working there. I was in an abuse relationship (although I wasn’t aware of the severity until it ended). I did a Claire’s law when I started to question the behaviour and it turned out my ex partner was using a false identity, age and had been released from prison halfway into his sentence and had certain conditions he had to follow which he broke and therefore was then found out because of this and returned to prison. I was left with no money, no family support etc. CPS didn’t move forward with a DV charge unfortunately due to lack of evidence.

I returned home to Ireland with my baby to live with my parents. I quickly put in an application for legal aid in Ireland as the UK would not help me as I no longer lived there. Obviously before leaving the UK I contacted my local children’s services and they agreed the best thing for my baby and me would be to move home. He’s due to be released in February and I am absolutely terrified he’s going to come after us. I’m doing everything I can to restart our lives here and give him the best possible upbringing after feeling like I’ve already failed him.

Does anybody know of any solicitors I can reach out to that would perhaps even allow me to talk to them for an hour to see if I can just represent myself and what I have to do? I cannot afford to pay a solicitor myself. I’ve looked into trying to take out loans to do so but without a steady income as of yet, this just isn’t possible. It will have to all be done through the UK courts. I am aware I have taken my son out of the county illegally however if I stayed in the UK, I genuinely don’t believe I would have coped being left homeless and without any family to turn to whilst less than two month postpartum. His father is on the birth certificate stupidly and has his father’s fake surname.

And please refrain from giving judgement. I’m educated and would deem myself intelligent and have beaten myself up enough about getting into such a situation however I am proud of myself that once my child was born I quickly recognised that something wasn’t right and acted quickly to keep my baby safe and to get us out of that situation.