I dont know for sure but I believe the difference is that one relates to criminal law and one to civil law, e.g. you couldn't involve the police in suing the bank because no crime has been committed. What they are doing is unlawful not illegal EDITED TO ADD: I just looked this up, the first answer I found was this. Q. Whats the difference between unlawful and illegal? A. Unlawful is against the law, illegal is a sick bird

They write to the debtor first asking them to fill in a statement of means and the employer details, then they send a couple of reminders. Then if that fails they send a bailiff to serve this paperwork personally. This is the point we're at now, everything completely ignored. THEN, they write to the employer - assuming the claimant can provide this information, which we could luckily. Then I think the judge decides an amount and forces the employer directly to deduct it from the salary.

Phoned enforcements office at Preston County Court today. Asked for a progress report off the bailiff, he said hes "on with it and he thinks they'll have a drive down there sometime this week"

Your lucky Vix I didn't even get a standard letter or a leaflet. They just completely ignored preliminary letter and letter before action. They didn't ignore the good news though! They filed acknowledgment of service and then settled in full about a week later.

Agreed, I know a couple of people with badges who have absolutely nothing wrong with them.

I've been paid, twice ! Take a look at my threads.

Well it finally happened, i've been roped into helping family members with claims. First up my Uncle Alan, he reckons he must be due thousands from HSBC. I've done him a DPA letter and he has hand delivered it to local branch today. Spoke to him earlier he said receptionist read letter and said, if you want copy statements they're £10 each :o He said he played it cool and said i'm sorry but I think you'll find whats written there is the law. She went in the back and came back to say, this has to go to a "specialist department" and that they would be in touch "in due course"

I can prove payment of the previous invoices, I was thinking that must count for something as it shows some agreement must have been in place between us in the past. Let you know what happens.

In a way its good for the court from a revenue point of view, all those court fees coming in and very few actually needing the district judges time.

The firms which say this really get up my nose. Had one knocking on my door the other day. I asked him how isn't it strange how insurance has shot up over the last few years. He wasn't there long I started thinking though about how it works, presumably if you fall down a pothole in the road you can sue the council, or these firms do it on your behalf. But what legislation do they use against the council, and how do they decide how much to sue for ?

Couple of questions about issuing against 2 defendants, lets say for example the claim is for £100 Once its issued does it in effect become 2 claims, i.e. a claim pack goes to both and they fill it in individually, i.e. 2 defences, 2 acknowlegment of services etc. Or do they both have to collabarate on one claim pack? What happens if one admits and one denys or if they both ignore it completely, does the claim get split 50/50 i.e. both have to pay £50 and half the court fee? Thanks

Claim filed...

I think it would be better on the right.

Take a look at Monkeys thread, my particulars were the same also. Both got the result you are looking for!

They ignored all mine too, then suddenly when I sent a claim form they decided its good to talk

It appears there is not much they could do, after all they can't re-write the law no matter how big their legal depts are.

Okay thanks, will get on with it tomorrow. Keep you all posted.

Well from my experience with them they dont rush, my firm sued an individual a couple of years ago for a debt, it was very similar to this they completely ignored everything, we got the warrant, after a couple of weeks heard nothing. I phoned the bailiffs office, he said yes aware of it but we've a lot on at moment call back in a couple of weeks, called back he said he'd been but no-one in, call back in a couple of weeks, called back he said he'd spoken to her but she's a scrote and everything in her house is on HP, next thing we got something through post from court basically saying the bailiff was unable to find anything of value so was giving up. We're still chasing two years down the line with an attachment of earnings order, but she's ignored that as well I hope this one will be quicker.

You could definitely add the 8% to your claim, but whether parking fines are covered under DPA i'm not sure. I suppose it is personal data in a relevent filing system, name, address, dates etc. Someone more up to speed with the DPA could probably answer, mods?

This is quite bizarre, bear in mind I have a judgement and warrant regarding this claim. Imagine my surprise this morning when I got this letter, I think it must be a reply to my LBA. ??????????????

I can tell you from experience that you will get the money regardless of whether or not you sign the confidentiality thing at the bottom. My advice, and again from experience, tell them to stick it.

Hi Bookworm, thanks for response. No written contract was in place, everything was verbal. 8 previous invoices were paid without a problem and I always had a fantastic relationship with the staff there. They are definetely still trading, but I believe they have new management. What has probably happened is the cheque books have been confiscated. Any advice?

Thanks to inspiration from this site I have decided to go after a company I did some work for last year who will not pay, they have ignored me completely and not responded to polite letters, statements, telephone calls etc, have sent letter before action, that was ignored as well. These are my particulars: Claimant carried out work during 2004/2005 for the Defendant in respect of IT consultancy services. Claimant is claiming payment of outstanding invoice 407 dated 31/08/2005 in the sum of £164.50 and outstanding invoice 414 dated 23/09/2005 in the sum of £287.88. Claimant has ignored repeated requests for payment and has not offered any explaination as to failure to pay. The claimant claims interest under section 69 of the County Courts Act 1984 at the rate of 8% a year from 31/08/2005 to 16/05/06 of £24.22 and also interest at the same rate up to the date of judgment or earlier payment at a daily rate of £0.10 Just one question, I haven't included here any legal basis upon which the claim relies, do I need to do this, if so is owing someone money contrary to common law or some statute. Please advise.

If you just ignore it it will progress to judgement, then warrant of execution, ultimately the bailiff will come but he can only touch propery belonging to the defendant, you could just say no-one here by that name and there wouldn't be much he could do. Sooner or later though they will probably realise the mistake and re-serve you, is it worth the hassle? How much is the claim?

Nice one Monkey, I wont bother emailing you them letters now as you've got your own! Sorry about that, i'm moving jobs, well setting up a new business and its just been mad. Who are you going after next?