Can the issue of those "awareness" letters be interpreted as a form of intimidation? The letter mentions the Marston Group's authority to enter by force is backed by the County Court warrant. I was fined by the Magistrates Court. Also, I wrote this to them; "Please be advised that aside from writing this letter to you (in form of e-mail) - I will also be pursuing legal aid, - will be contacting the courts requesting the disclosure of their warrants and, since I received the threatening letter from you very recently, I consider my household to be under immediate threat of illegal and unwarranted entry - I will be contacting the Police as a matter of urgency to request their advice, assistance, protection and if need be, complaint against you. With this letter I request you to cease all visits to the property by yourselves, your agents and other representatives." Can this be interpreted as an example of wilful non-cooperation? I remind you, I decided not the call the number of a man who hand delivered the letters via the "no knock" method because according to records available online he was not a certified bailiff. To my understanding I was not paid a visit by a bailiff.

Does a complaint (to Marstons, still) temporarily suspends the enforcement? I simply need a day to go to the Courts, obviously I will not be available in the house on that occasion. How can I check if the PO has been cashed? What if it was? What if it was not?

I do understand that because this was in their original letter requesting me to pay them GBP 10. Yet days after they received the payment they sent me a threatening letter alleging forceful entry. Is this ok and is this in compliance with the SAR policy? Can they claim they did not receive the letter? Even after I provided them with a copy? (I also have a slip from a post office where I purchased the 10 GBP cheque) I do understand where I failed with the courts and that I really handled this matter extremely badly and that these are just the consequences. But dwelling on it now, as I am sitting and looking out the window checking if they are coming all the time is very nerve wrecking. Do I have any right at this time, or can they come and do what they want to this at the moment?

Unclebulgaria67 thank you very much for the post and i agree you make a lot of sense. Yes, there is a subculture of people in the UK who do not claim anything from the councils i will check the website you recommended as well, but it will be ironic if the only way to solve this problem will be to get attached to the system.

Marston may have the authority to break down the amount to installments to be paid over 6 months period. But the 6 months since the initial contact is about to expire more less now. They failed to react to my letter issued almost immediately for 5 months. Why? And do they have indefinite time to pursue me?

I am unaware of the fact that i can contact the bailiffs and set the payment plan. I am happy to email them to check this out. The letters I have been receiving indicate they demand the payment (now more than doubled) to be made immediately and i full. they allege that they have the power of entry and seizing the goods that are in this house regardless of my consent or lack of thereof. There was a visit, oobviously, but not by a bailiff. Can they do that if the sar request remains unanswered? To my understanding i need to find the full amount as soon as possible, or they will not go away.

I was found guilty of fare evasion by the Court and in the letter to the Court I admitted it. I did receive the Further Steps Notice and and I complete, send the Means Enquiry Form and another form requesting to break the payments into installments to the Court's Clerk. Despite providing Court with appropriate documents the Court declined my request and said in a response letter that the issue has been passed on to the bailiffs and I should enter into agreement with them regarding the fee and pay the bailiffs fees as well. I would like to do that, but the reality is I do not have this kind of money. My bad is that despite having almost no income for the past few months I did not apply for any benefits; my bank statements certify that I am indeed broke for the time being, tax returns, everything; but I am not on any benefits and I never applied even for unemployment benefit. I wouldnt even know how to, I dont care, I dont do that and I do not want to do that. I am capable of earning money, but so my life turned out for the time being that I have them in extremely limited amount. I can pay my debt, I just need some time to do that, I simply need to break them into instalments and not to be afraid of someone breaking into my house or being afraid of some strange things bailiff can do to me. I decided to follow internet advice and only contact Marston Group in writing. Really, I am just trying to deal with them, I want to pay what I owe, and I want to go on with my life

Unclebulgaria67, the offence was failure to pay a bus fare: I was not allowed to pay the fine to the Transport Authority, as they chose to treat the offence as fare evasion and I ended up with a Magistrates Court imposed fine of 250 GBP. The process took very long time and by the time everything was over I lost my job and was unable to pay the requested amount in due time. The Court passed the fine on to the bailiff to recover. What happened later is what I described in my original post. I requested the SAR as I wanted to know what exactly am I prosecuted for, what are the fines I will be obliged to pay and who will be pursuing me. I received not only no answer to my SAR request; to this day I have no idea who is the bailiff allegedly pursuing me. I do not know his name. I received no details of the levy, just a general threatening letter (which was not even signed) exactly ten days after I posted the compulsory SAR fee. The letter, in short, says is aimed at "raising my awareness" about Marston Group and reads as follows: "You need to be aware that Marston group has the court authority to remove your goods and impose fees and charges (...) you need to be aware that if the outstanding amount is in relation to a warrant issued by Her Majesty's Court the powers of entry granted to the Marston Group permit the use of locksmiths to allow entry to your home even in your absence." No signature. Adressed to me with a reference number of my case. The problem is that I have no idea if I fall under this category. The letter is incredibly threatening and very vague in the same time. It does not state that I do fall under the category of a criminal whose house will be broken into. I was not issued with a response to my SAR request. After reading some forums I composed the letter of complaint, e-mail it and sent it to Marston Complaint Office following the guidelines on their website. They have 14 days to respond. But dos this letter stop potential visits? Delays them? Are they required to answer? Have they broken any rules? How can I defend myself? It goes without saying I am absolutely willing and eager to pay my original fine, but in installments.

November 2012; received a letter from Marston Bailiffs informing me that they have been authorised by Magistrates Court to collect an unpaid ticket fine. Two days after receiving this letter I poster a SAR request, but without the statutory GBP 10. April 1 2013 - a letter from the bailiff (Marston) acknowledging that they received the SAR request and asking for 10 GBP fee. two days later - "no knock" visit with a letter escalating the fine to GBP 600. A representative claims in a letter that he attended the premises but I was unavailable and as a consequence my fine has escalated. The man who signed the letter and left his mobile number is a representative of the bailiff, obviously, but not a bailiff himself according to justice.gov website. The man who signed the hand delivered letter was never contacted. Three days later after the visit, another attempted "no knock" visit, but accidentally disturbed; someone opened the door and was handed the letter to pass on to me. Similar message, but no further escalation of the fee. April 11; SAR request resent + GBP 10 (in form of a postal thing, as instructed) + letter received from Marston on April 1 sent. The documents were scanned before sending. April 21 - a letter from the bailiff stamped "removal division" beginning with "You need to be aware that Marston have Court Authority to remove your goods and to impose fees and charges." Day later, after investigating the issue of complaint on Marston website an e-mail I followed their complaint procedure and wrote them an e-mail as follows; to whom it may concern; Please open and read the copies of documents I received from Marston Group (attachments); The correspondence regarding my SAR request (Scan.Pdf) My response to it. I would like to remind you that the amount of GBP was issued and sent to Marston Group on April 17th, as instructed by you. I did not receive a response to it, yet I received a letter threatening illegal entry and seizure of goods (Scan 2.pdf). Please be advised that since I was unable to receive any response from you regarding the basis of your action, I am left with no other choice but to complain. Please be advised that aside from writing this letter to you (in form of e-mail) - I will also be pursuing legal aid, - will be contacting the courts requesting the disclosure of their warrants and, since I received the threatening letter from you very recently, I consider my household to be under immediate threat of illegal and unwarranted entry - I will be contacting the Police as a matter of urgency to request their advice, assistance, protection and if need be, complaint against you. With this letter I request you to cease all visits to the property by yourselves, your agents and other representatives. I reserve the right to present the copy of this letter to the Police, solicitor and the Courts if the situation escalates. This document was also sent to their complaints office, as instructed. Received no answer yet; but was it an appropriate course of action? Whats rights do they have? Can they claim they never received the GBP 10 check and thus have the right not to acknowledge my SAR request? Does the fact that they just received the proof that it was posted change matters? Can the letter stop their immediate visits? Have they broken their code of conduct in pursuit of the fine and do I have grounds to complain? Please advise, and I would be incredibly grateful. I am dealing with the matter myself and I really, really need support. Is it