$_POST form data not received by Template is it php 5 issue?

I’ve seen a few posts RE: $_POST form data not being received but none seem to give a definitive answer as to why.

I have a wp site running on apache server that’s php4 configured. The contact form works perfectly well, form data is sent to a local custom template evaluation page – it also works where sent to a non wp php script.

I am trying to develop a site with the same set up. I am using the same format and pretty much the same scripts. The only difference being that the server runs on php5.

The $_POST form data is not being picked up by the evaluation template page. It is definitely being sent because it can be seen to be received by a local non wp php script AND it works when I target/action the other website’s evaluation page. So as far as I can tell, it must be a something to do with the way wp templates handle the $_POST variable on servers running php5.

this is driving me nuts – grateful for any suggestions.