thanks thats done the trick... it was the :

rs12.ActiveConnection.CommandTimeout = 45

line that made it happen where as before i had simply appended the COmmadTimeout to the connection vars like...

thanks, yes this is only a dev server and so there is no password. I can get the command to work if i simplify the query so it returns...

I've found this to be the case.  I'd guessed that it was filtering but it doesn't seem to work 100%.

Could you give me a push in the right direction please...