From securing the best school for your child to booking a seat in a trendy new restaurant or legitimately avoiding estate agents' fees and dodging tax bills, this book shows you how to beat the system before the system beats you. Subjects include education, health, tax and banking, travel, and houses and house-buying. Each section contains practical information, explaining the systems themselves and your rights within them using straightforward language, uncluttered by jargon, and bullet-point simplicity. It will explain the loopholes, get-outs, and short cuts, illustrated by the best and the most amusing real-life examples. Most importantly, it will unpick the bureaucratic small print to tell you what the people who run the systems often won't. Also included are all the contact numbers you'll ever need for consumer groups and complaints bodies, a comprehensive, cross-referenced index, and a guide to what to say and what to write when you do confront the system.