Hi all, I'll try to keep this as short as possible, last september (30/9/12) the tax expired on my car which was due to be scrapped, the car was parked in a car park outside my house, up on axle stands as I was in the process of fixing it but ran out of time due to the tax expiry so arranged for a local scrapper to come and collect (it wasnt worth much, but if i could keep it going then i'd have taxed it and kept it going for another 6 months). On the 4/10/12 a notification was placed on the windscreen from a PCSO regarding the out of date tax, the car was then moved to a friends driveway until a few days later the car was collected and scrapped. Today (5 months later) I have received a court summons regarding the 4 days overdue tax amounting to £18.34 with also the notice of penalties and legal costs. Whilst I don't dispute the fact the tax was overdue by 4 days and I'm more than happy to pay the £18.34 for the 4 days that the car was in the car park, this court summons in the very first I have heard anything other than the PCSO notification on the windscreen. No other communication was received to my address from the DVLA regarding the matter despite in the summons it saying: " On 8/11/12 a notice under 46 of the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994 was sent to the defendant requesting name and address of the person responsible for this vehicle on 4/10/12. A written reply has not been received nor has the letter been returned by the postal authority" I absolutely did not get this letter! If I had I would have been completely willing to pay the £18.34 overdue and the likely fine which i assume would have been attached as its completely my responsibility that the car was on the road albeit for just 4 days. However now it seems I must appear in court and pay a much likely larger fine and court costs?! Is it worth ringing the DVLA and trying to get this sorted without going to court? It just seems like such a petty exercise for such a small amount of money that I'm willing to pay? Any help appreciated! And apologise for the length of the question!

Does anyone know if I receive a council tax summons, does it mean I have to go to court and have a record?

I have recieved a court summons to Inverness Sheriff Court in Scotland. The pursuer is Marlin Europe. Return Date is 13/3/2013 hearing 27/3/2013 Statement of Claim states " On or about 13th July 1990 Clydesdale Bank plc suppied the Defender with an overdraft facility in respect of account number 12981775. The amount overdrawn was repayable on demand. I have several letters over the years relating to a debt of £2252 to Clydesdale Bank and then to Marlin. I have to the best of my knowledge never aknowledged the debt or payed anything towards it since the joint account this debt was on was withdrawn by the Clydesdale Bank on 23/5/2007 as a result of my wife's sequestration (the other party on the joint account). Interestingly and key I think is the fact that I did not marry my wife until 1999 was not on this account as a joint signatory until around then. So I definately did not take out a overdraft with the Clydsdale in 1990. I banked with TSB until I married. I think I have a defence here a) that I did not take overdraft being pursued in 1990. I didnt bank with Clydesdale at this time. b) The CAB suggested that as I have not acknowledged or payed anything to this debt since 23/5/2007 this debt under Scottish law is Time Barred. But that's not quite 6 years.. ?? What are my chances of winning? . How best do I present this evidence to court, what evidence do I need to gather and how do I defend myself ?. If I lose how much more than £2250 is this going to cost me.? Any advice gratefully received. Thankyou.

Hello first post. Just after a bit of advice for a friend (genuinely). I wont give specifics as this is a live case, and this is not a sympathy thread, far from it. Before I go through the chain of events, this person is a career professional who had religiously paid for rail season tickets prior to this day which ultimately consisted of a number of poor / stupid decisions regarding fare evasion. The person is also someone who is typically extremely honest and has never been in trouble in their lives. They know their actions were ridiculous and are prepared for the consequences whatever they may be. 1) Friend was stopped at station D in Summer 2012, after saying they got on at station C which turned out to have been a spike day for TOC. (first stupid). Reason was not good enough but funds were an issue on that day and they decided to take a risk. 2) Stupidly (second stupid) panic set in when told it was impossible to have come from that station, so friend then gave name of another station, station B (still not the correct one) but a station one further back in journey. 3) More panic (third stupid) set in and friend then lied about name / address before at the last minute gave correct name/address to officer. This was due to overwhelming horror that this could mean they lose their job. 4) Realising what a monumental twit they had been, friend wrote a letter to TOC explaining the whole situation when a letter arrived from TOC asking for version of events. The letter from TOC did not have the correct the name but the address was correct. The letter documented the entire truth and remorse for what was/is a grossly embarrassing situation on that day. Also attached copies of all rail documents for the last few months showing them to be a regularly paying customer and apologising for actions very sincerely. 5) TOC sent out a court summons and have refused to budge from prosecution stance. Friend is worried to bits because their only misdemeanour may seriously cost them their job, and career they have worked for years to achieve. Whilst they know they are guilty and have no desire to pursue otherwise, the prospect of a criminal record is worrying them to the extreme and its hard to sit back and watch. Aside from not knowing what they should do about TOC stating that wrong name was given, despite friend confessing their real name to officer and at the end of the conversation. I guess its my friends word against TOC? In cases such as these, are conditional discharges ever brought to penalise the guilty party but not to the full extent of the law? Not trying to get away from the fact that what this friend did was illegal and wrong, but I'm hoping their career and life wont suffer from here on in, directly as a result of one morning.

I have recently received a summons for a debt to EE which has purportedly been assigned to a third party. I have asked them for the following information - copy of assignment notice between third party and EE, copy of contract between myself and EE, and breakdown of debt to EE. I have spoken to their representatives and asked for the above information again and was told that they are not obliged to provide the contract as they are not bound by the CCA. Is what I have been told correct or are they telling porkies in order to get me to pay. What might my chances be of defending this claim on the basis that they will not provide this information. Any help greatly appreciated!

If this post serves no other purpose, it may at least include some useful links It seems Local Authorities, for their own advantage, are selectively implementing the law under the 1992 Council Tax regulations. Council's recovery policies reveal how they're circumventing regulations and using the threat of a Liability Order as bargaining power to negotiate take-up of Direct Debit. After recovery action has commenced, it seems council tax payers who agree terms laid down by their respective councils are having recovery action reversed. Concessions differ from one authority to another but include: i) Summons and costs being withdrawn, ii) Reinstatement of instalments, and, iii) The Authority agreeing NOT to apply for a liability order Generally, the condition is that the account holder switches to Direct Debit – the council's preferred payment method. West Lindsey District Council, for example state: The London Borough of Hillingdon offer this: Rutland County Council this: Wandsworth Borough Council Eastbourne Borough Council..... North East Lincolnshire, Ashford Borough, South Kesteven and Rother District Council, all offer some variation on a theme of this... There is of course an ulterior motive for this generosity in that the authorities secure more Direct Debit payers through their deals. However, it must be questioned whether or not it is lawful. The penalties, or court costs charged to the individual are based (or should be) on how many orders are applied for by the council. There are therefore far greater implications for the alleged debtor than simply whether or not a concession is given for the take-up of Direct Debit. Because of these concessions, the total costs are being split between fewer account payers, thus (theoretically) larger penalties are being charged to householders as a direct consequence of councils campaigning for a greater take-up of Direct Debit. As well as the added imposed burden this has on the rate payer, unless a specific clause in the legislation provides for the council to apply regulations discretionally, then the authority will almost certainly be breaching the Council Tax regulations. All councils have to adhere to set procedures laid down in statute whilst obtaining liability orders for council tax arrears through the court. The Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations state under regulation 34 exactly what steps the authority must take. These regulations are devised so meticulously that invariably when a householder appeals an unfavourable action, councils simply state their hands are tied and play their "procedures are laid down in statute” card. Interestingly though, if the authority is able to benefit by bending the rules (securing additional Direct Debit payers in this instance), it seems they view the law as optional. So to summarise, these penalties or court costs are being made higher because fewer householders are paying them as a direct consequence of our council's campaign for greater take-up of Direct Debit (the council's preferred payment method). And, unless a specific clause in the legislation provides for the council to apply regulations discretionally then the authority will almost certainly be breaking the law.

Any advice very welcome. Like many others I try and keep up to date with my council tax but fell foul of missing some payments this year by the date they weere due. However, I never missed dates by very much and it only happened a couple of months. Anyhow as at the end of November I was ahead of my payments so I only owed the final installment for this year. I should have paid that in January but my Mum was ill and I visited her at same time that last payment was due in Jan. Tbh I totally forgot about it. When I logged on line at start of this week to pay I saw I had been awarded 'Costs' of £136!! I contacted the council and dealt with a very un-pleasantlittle upstart. After pointing out I had now cleared all I owed and asked for an explaination of said charges all I was told was they had only been added in last 48hrs and I had to pay them there and then. I pointed out that I had recieved no communication since October from the Council so could they explain what these charges were for? I was advised they are for owing us council tax. After going away to check I was told a summons was 'in the' post, Charges are just that charges and was I going to pay now or what? Again I asked for an explaination and breakdown of charges and was told 'they are just charges' you have to pay. For the umpteenth time I pointed out I owed nothin and was then told 'you cant escape em' and if you dont pay now the court will let us send in the bayliffs. When I pointed out they never needed to go to cout as I was upto date I was told 'It dont work like that' and charges are no different to owed tax! Subsequently I have been told that in actual fact the 'charges' they would never break down are made up of three elements - cost of summons, cost of liability order and councils costs. If that is so are they not comitting fraud by demanding money that is not due before any summons hearing? Additionally are they allowed to get a liability order when I am up to date with what is owed upto April 2013? I have heard some councils dont persue liability orders if no tax is owing by date of the hearing? Can anything be done about these costs?

Hey all On 3rd Dec 2012, I had to travel from Enfield Chase to Southend Central. I had never done this journey before so asked at the ticket desk the best route. He told me which way to go and so I bought a ticket using a 16-25 railcard which was not checked. Turns out the railcard was a few days out of date and a RPI pointed this out when inspecting my ticket. My issue is that I could barely understand a word she said and had very little knowledge on what to do in the situation. I gave her my details after she pointed to 'name' etc on her pad. I handed over my driving licence to make it easy to take the details. Following this she put out her hand as if awaiting payment for something and so I asked her what she wanted and what for. She said 20£ and I couldnt make out anything else. I did ask her to explain what she was doing and why but she just handed me a slip saying i could travel between enfield chase and i think highbury and walked off. I did follow her and ask what the slip was for and what happens now because she had taken my other ticket. she ignored me and carried on. I got a letter of NIP asking for details of what happened to be sent back on an attached form but there was no form attached. I sent an email to first capital connect customer relations saying that there was no form and saying that i was happy to pay for any charges that i owed but wanted to know how to go about doing so. they did reply saying i needed to contact the prosecutions department directly to which i replied asking for an email address. they didnt reply for several weeks and when they did, no details were given. I also asked in the previous email for what i said to be passed on to those who could deal with the situation. i come home today and find i have summons for the 15th feb although it has a date saying 14th jan sent. i cant understand why it would take from the 14th until now to arrive but i guess thats not important... what im curious about is where it says on the witness statement that i said yes to 'caution understood' which certainly wasnt the case.. and the fare outstanding is £3.60. There is no signature for me because i wasnt given a chance to sign anything... 1) if i knew it was only 3.60 instead of the 20£ she was asking for i wouldntve cared at all and just given her some money. 2) why does it say caution understood if i never said it was? 3) does it change anything that its not signed by me? also please advise on what best to do from now as i really dont want to have to pay the 120£ fees they are asking for on a fare of 3.60 also.. i ended up having to buy another ticket anyway to get to where i wanted to because the slip she gave only took me part way and she took the other ticket... is this relevant at all? thank you

Hi I got myself into a bit of a mess with pay day loans and defaulted on them and have attempted to set up payment agreements with the lenders. I am at various stages with them. Safe loans chose to take me to court despite paying an agreed amount for about a year. They then agreed the same payment against the judgement. However they persisted in writing harassing letters requesting considerably larger payments which I could not afford and were not as the court agreed. I continued to pay the agreed amounts. Just before Christmas I received a summons to a hearing. I emailed them pointing out that I had been paying as agreed. They however emailed back stating that they were seeking an increase in my payment, but this did just seem like a computer generated letter. The court has only allowed 15 mins for the hearing which I have to travel 70 miles to attend. What is likely to happen at this hearing? I am paying as agreed following a budget sheet so don't see what they can gain. Any help or advice would be appreciated. Thanks

Hi, Having read through various other situations on this forum I have decided to write an apologetic and begging letter to FCC (I was caught with no ticket and gave a false address before giving them the correct one) and offer them an out of court settlement. I work with children and a court appearance would be disastrous. I have yet to receive any letter from them but I would like to write to them immediately as it is making me horribly anxious. I cannot find the address for the relevant department anywhere on the internet, can anybody help? Also, what is an appropriate amount to offer - I was thinking £250 + penalty fare but could pay more if that will make it more likely to be accepted Thanks EF

Hello, I recently returned from a holiday in Poland to find a delayed letter from the FCC wanting to prosecute me for an unpaid fare. I was travelling from Hatfield towards Kings Cross and before the stop at Kings Cross the ticket inspector arrived in my carriage. I was in possession of a 16-25 Young Persons Rail Card but I lost it on earlier on that day which I told the inspector. The ticket Inspector wrote me a ticket, i provided all the necessary details and told him that I could prove my Young Persons card from the receipt i received when i was originally issued it. He said that he will still have to write a ticket and you can write a letter in appeal once i receive a copy of the penalty. However, a week later I was due to leave for Poland and the penalty still didn't come and when I returned it still did not arrive in my mail. Only today I found a letter with my name on it regarding the FCC prosecution written to the wrong address. I am clueless as to what i can do. I attempted to contact them but no response. I am an 18 year old student wanting to become a teacher and a criminal record is the last thing I would want especially before my career has even started. Any help to avoid getting a criminal record even if it means paying an extra fine i would gladly take. Many Thanks, Szymon

Hi I'm looking for advice due to receiving a actual court summons today. I am going to see advice from citizens advice and legal aid, but I thought it might be wise to see if anyone else had experience or knowledge in this area. I received a visit on the 13/9/12 from an inspection officer. Sadly believing I had nothing to hide, I let him in the flat to view what I had and explained I watched no live broadcasts. I don't think he could physically see as a big shelving unit is in front of the aerial socket, but it was not plugged in, and neither did he ask for the tv to be turned on. He seemed quite happy to believe me, asked me a few questions and said I didn't need a TV license as long as I didn't watch live broadcasts. I also got a phone call stating there was no license at my property, and once again I explained my situation was said to be okay. So I have to admit I was surprised when I received the summons. The exact offenses I am being accused of are Between 01/08/12 and 14/09/12 used a color television receiver without a license at the above address. The summons has a statement with it which I presume is what is going to be used as evidence against me seeing as I have signed it. But to prove my point about me not using it to watch TV (I only game on it with my xbox 360) under the inspection section, TV, digital box and DVD player are circled. Yet none of the following are circled.. Power/Aerial plugged in and Brought into use. The freeview box was not even plugged in in any way shape or form Something else which doesn't sit well with me is the fact I don't have a DVD player, I guess my xbox could be counted as one? But that isnt it's primary function and I don't believe it's illegal to watch dvd's without a license anyway? So I'm quite confused how they can charge me when the statement doesn't indicate the TV could even receive (as it couldn't with no Aerial) Also there is a section which asks when the last time you used the set for watching TV programs which I replied to by saying 3 months ago. 3 Months covers the period they are trying to prosecute me for. Under the section where it asks when did you first use this set to watch TV programs without a license and I answer May of 2012. But I later covered that period of time in direct debits.. and the actual offenses I'm being charged for are from 01/08/2012 to 14/09/2012 I suffer from multiple anxiety disorders and this is causing me a lot of stress I could do without, I am even tempted to plead guilty by post so I don't have to physically turn up. But I honestly believe I amnot in the wrong here and I was led to believe by the TV licensing company themselves that I did not require a license. I have made late payments in the past because sometimes my mental health deteriorates to a point I struggle to keep on op of such things, but I always made every effort to get back on track with payments and paid off arrears. I would of done the same in this situation but there was no indication I had to. They told me they would drop the court case if I paid for a full year there and then.. but I don;t have that sort of money, I pointed out that II was told I didn't need one and thy simply told me to bring my evidence to court. I have renewed my tv license on a monthly scheme despite the fact I still don't watch TV at all because I'm scared they could send me to court again if they have done it once already. I also offered to pay off any arrears they believe I owed from last year but they told me that wasnt possible, much like you cant go back and pay car tax which is fair enough I suppose.

Hi everyone, A few months ago i received a visit from a TV licensing officer and agreed to sign up for a payment card as well as signing their paperwork saying i was unlicensed.(stupid I know ) On saturday just gone I received a summons for not having a TV licence between the dates 21/08/2012 - 29/08/2012. I have tried logging onto my tv licence online and the only information i can get is that my licence expires on 31/07/2013. Counting back from the end of July this year it seems to me that my license should be valid for the period they are trying to charge me. I phoned up TV licensing and the guy on the phone said I still had to goto court, when i asked about the dates he said licenses only last for 11.5 months!! This can't be right surely!! I really don't know what to do here, have I got a leg to stand on or should i just plead guilty by post? Thanks in advance for your help

Hi, After dealing with an ex-council for months and months they have issued a court summons for both myself and hubby. How do I make a posting in the correct thread as I am totally stumped Cheers

Hi, All I need some urgent advice on a court summons I have tomorrow. I had ccj's in 2009 and I never ended up paying them and now I have to go court for it. The debt is various but it is mostly water bills. I think it is for failure to give work details at my new job, but I already have a ccj and attachment of earnings for water and thought it was all together. My worry is can i go prison for this ? Thanks

Hi all back in sept i had a summons from uncle bryan on behalf of arrow i acknowledged service online then requested cpr 31.14 got the usaual responce bulk court so they dont have to comply but that they will send the papers but not within 7 days as requsted, time went on i put in a defence stating i knew nothing of the so called debt etc (template made to fit from here) as the POC where vague and didnt state who the debt was for and that i had broke an agreement (ive never paid them a penny) the debt is around £450 £530 with court costs. Now i have had an without predudice letter offering me to pay with monthly instalments and to reply within 7 days or they will apply to strike out my defence at hearing. i am unsure how to proceed they have still not sent any of the paperwork for the CPR 31.14 request to date and in the beginning week of december the default carter has put on my callcredit file only is due to fall off would this still happen if i took him up on his repayment plan or should i proceed different really dont want a ccj as this is the last bad thing on any of my files. Any help much appreciated thanks alot.

Hello all, A friend of mine has a summons to attend court for Questioning on Thursday, its for a debt of £5250 to an individual, she does not dispute the debt but has been through a really rough time of late- was subject to an attack etc which left her out of work She is starting a new job and can afford to pay the claimant at a rate of £500 per month starting from December ( 1st pay ) She wants to make the offer in writing today before the court appearance in the hope that she does not have to go, if she does this is there a template letter of what she should put? Also should she hand deliver that to the court today as well? If the offer is accepted should she still have to go to court? Also does she need to get a solicitor? Many thanks

I found this forum via a Google search when looking for advice regarding my daughters case, and there seemed to be plenty of knowledgeable replies so I hope you don't mind me trying to gather your opinions. Basically, my teenage daughter was travelling from our local train station to a larger town a few stops away to do some shopping with a friend. This is now just under 6 months ago. She purchased her ticket, and having not used the railway before, stupidly disposed of her ticket after going through the barriers and boarding her train. She was later stopped by an RPI and was unable to produce a ticket. The RPI issued her with a penalty notice and took her name & address (but did not ask to see any photo ID to verify the information given). The penalty notice was for over 4x the amount of the original fare, and my daughter explained her situation to the RPI. The RPI did not appear very sympathetic but said the penalty notice would be cancelled if it later transpired that a ticket had been purchased. She was not given the chance to buy another ticket despite having the cash on her. My daughter didn't say anything to me at the time for fear of getting into trouble, and ignored the penalty notice thinking that the RPI would check with the original station and confirm a ticket was issued. She heard nothing for 5 months and presumed the matter had been resolved internally. She has now had a letter from the Magistrates Court out of the blue, summonsing her to appear in court next month with an offence under '18 (2) Railway Byelaws 2005' for failing to hand over a ticket for inspection when required to do so by an authorised person. Inside the envelope is a formal court summons, RPI witness statement, Prosecutions Manager's witness statement, and a copy of the original penalty notice (albeit illegible). The witness statement from the prosecutions manager states that my daughter was sent 2x written reminders prior to a summons being lodged, and that they received no reply, therefore he/she feels it was my daughters intention to travel and evade payment. Neither of the 2x reminder letters have ever been received. We often have problems receiving mail as the post office confuse our post code and street name, which means we get other peoples mail and they get ours. I don't know whether the 2x letters were lost in the post or whether they just weren't sent at all. The witness statement does not refer to recorded delivery being used to prove receipt. From my initial research on here, 18 (2) is a strict liability offence and my daughter has no defence whatsoever. She has not yet returned the slip indicating plea, so I feel we have 3 options (please let me know which one you would recommend): 1) Plead guilty by post, and submit written mitigation explaining daughters previous good character (no previous convictions/cautions and no history of fare dodging) and youthful naivety of the railway system, in addition to situation regarding not receiving any penalty notice reminders in the post. And then hope the Magistrates show some leniency. 2) Plead guilty and appear in person, read out a prepared statement apologising for wasting the courts time and outline the same mitigation as above. And then hope the Magistrates are more lenient having received a remorseful apology in person. 3) Contact the TOC Prosecutions Manager and request to settle the matter out of court ASAP. In the summons, the prosecution are requesting £120 contribution to costs and payment for the original fare. Just a few questions: 1) My daughter only works 10 hours a week at minimum wage, earning no more than £65 a week. Out of that she has to pay for her mobile phone bill and £35 a week 'keep' to her mother and I. She has no savings. She has been asked to complete a means testing form sent in the summons pack in case she is given a heavy fine. The prosecution are seeking £120 costs + original fare, and I presume she will be fined on top of this, as well as a £15 victim surcharge and court courts? What kind of figure can she expect to be paying in total if she pleads guilty? Will she be allowed to pay the figure in installments given her low salary? 2) Are the TOC likely to settle out of court given they have now started proceedings in the Magistrates Court? If so, what would be a reasonable figure? Will they perhaps accept an offer of the original fare and/or the penalty fare? Or will she be expected to pay a similar amount to the final judgement in court, and if so, will the TOC accept installments? 3) Would anybody with significant experience of railway byelaw cases in the magistrates courts be willing to view the summons and witness statements via PM and see whether there are any technical errors or irregularities which could invalidate the TOC's case? I don't normally look favourably on people trying to avoid justice on a technicality but it seems only fair to pull the TOC up on minor mistakes when they did the same to a young girl who hadn't been on a train since she was 7 years old and who tried to explain the lost ticket to the RPI. Thank you in advance for any help with this matter. WorriedFather!

hi all, some help and advice sought. my daughter has today received a court summons issued by dtm legal in the northampton county court. all the papers enclosed are photocopies, including the supposed summons, there is a ordinary blank envelope enclose with no return address. there is a claim number stuck onto a couple of the enclosed documents. is this normal practice? the claim is in relation to an overpayment of wages paid to her from a previous employer back in 2008/09. she admits that there was an overpayment but not to the amount they are demanding, they have also added interest from april 2010 till sep 2012 at 8% per annum and a daily rate of 26p from then on and contiuing till judgement day. any thoughts/advice/ help as to where she stands and what to do from here would be greatly appreciated

I have been served with a County Court Claim from the above for a payday loan from 1st Stop for 250.00. When this was due to be paid the amount also included an extra 87.50 for rolling over. I could not at the time afford to pay this ad subsequently ended up putting this into a debt management along with other debts. 1st stop received their share after 3 months that I had to wait while the DM was set up. After some 5 months of paying into a DM I realised that interest/charges were not been frozen and that most of the companies had not agreed to my DM plan so I cancelled by DMP and one by one as the creditors have contact me I have made new arrangements and got charges/interest frozen. I emailed 1st Stop to offer them the same as they were getting on my DMP and ever heard anything from them and now some3 months later I receive a Court Claim for 402.00 plus 35.00 Court Fee. I intend to challenge this along the lines of amount owed plus 1 months interest less previously paid when in DMP. I have read many postings on this site and it appears to me that they are going to use the Court as a form of debt collecting. I have to counterclaim by the 10th October so any advise you can give would be appreciated as I really have no clue what to do after counterclaim has been done.

hi, this is my first post! iv recieved a court summons for a car i sold on the 14/4/12, stating you were the registered keeper of the vehicle on the 24/4/12 and the vehicle was uninsured!! What can i do, i had sold the car 10 days prior! i have a court summons stating to appear in court on 7/11/12 WTH! it says on the top of the letter: "No ASN Required" and requisition dont knw what that means lol. pls can someone kindly advise me what to do, i have a plead guilty or not guilty form, which ovcourse il reply as not guily but is there anything else i can do?? Oh yh i rang dvla they state and confirm iv sold the car but cant give me a date of sale!! i said surely you can pass the info over the the dvla enforcemnt ppl. they sed no! thanks in advance

hi I have received a court summons today to appear in court at the end of this month. I need advice on wether or not it is worth seeing a solicitor or not.as I am going to plead guilty. this is my story..I attended an IUC in march 2011 for benefit/council tax fraud ,as I had not informed them that I had savings in excess of the allowed ammount ,I had come into an inheritence which took my savings over the ammount and foolishly I did not inform them as I knew I would be spending the money on house improvements and replacing my old car, well the money was in the bank for about 2 years while I got things sorted but by the time I attended the interview I had spent most of it and I was under the allowed limit. anyway to cut a long story I was told I had committed fraud and I owed the council tax £1600 and income support £7300,I had no means of repaying this other than to sell my house and buy a smaller house which I did and I have now repaid all the money in full.I was fully aware that I would still have to face court proceedings as I have committed an offence. this court summons is for the council tax and I still expect to be summoned for the income support overpayment. any advice on wether or not to use a solicitor would be appreciated..thanks in advance

I need some advice. Had a visit from a TV Licensing Officer last night - I signed the form (I know, I know ). I haven't had a summons yet. Needless to say, I have spent the last 12 hours reading thread after thread on this subject, and it doesn't seem to matter what I DID say to him (he lied, there are omissions, and he summarised), it only matters what is recorded on the form. So, so here is the information that appears on the visit form I signed. I should note, he DID gave me a copy of the form. + TV LICENCE Do you have a television here? - YES Do you have a TV Licence? - NO TV SET SEEN May I come in and inspect the set? - NO The bits about Programmes seen/heard, Channels tested, Other? - BLANK (nothing filled in) ADMISSIONS Colour, digital box, power plugged in, aerial plugged in TV Make: TOSHIBA When was the set installed / Obtained? - JAN/FEB 2012 When did you first use the set at this address without an appropriate licence? - I DON'T KNOW. I WAS LIVING WITH MY MUM. When did you last use the set for watching TV programmes here? - SOME POINT TODAY Is the set owned, borrowed, rented? - IT'S MY MOM'S Do you have either satellite, cable or digital (Freeview)? - NO Contact details - phone number given How long have you lived here? - JAN/FEB 2012 Date of birth? - given Occupation? - DON'T WORK National Insurance Number - I DON'T KNOW IT I have to tell you that you may be prosecuted for an offence under The Communications Act 2003. Is there anything else you want to say? - NO Signed and dated (yesterday) + Needless to say, I purchased a TV Licence over the phone and had it backdated to Jan 1, 2012 (to Dec 31, 2012), as I don't know when I moved in and want to be covered, but I am now doubting whether I actually needed it. My questions are these: - All the people who have reported receiving court summons seem to be people whose set was inspected and channels tested, or people who didn't get a copy of the form and the Officer lied about seeing/testing the set. Does this seem to be the trend? Mine was NOT inspected or tested and I have a copy of the form showing that. I have read that not everyone receives a summons ... are there any examples of the reasons this doesn't not happen? - Everyone seems to say that you should plead guilty, but I do not believe that any witness statement he could conjure up would hold up, as he would have to lie and say he inspected/tested the set, which would not match the interview record (he he gave me a copy). - what the TV Licensing website says you need and what the Communications Act 2003 says seem to be 2 different things. can this not be argued? Thanks for any advice.

Post here; http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/forumdisplay.php?377-Payday-Loan-Company-claims-and-litigation

Hello all - I've been having a look over posts in this forum for about the last hour and there's a lot of useful stuff so thanks to everyone involved. the situation; it involves my girlfriend and happened about 4 months ago. I wanted to post just to get a feel of things because at the moment I don't have all the exact details and she's worried. She got the train from a station into London. She bought a return ticket from a machine at the station that included a ‘zones 1-6 day travelcard’ (or whatever it's called). However, she bought that ticket thinking that she had her 16-25 railcard with her. When she got into London someone official asked to see her ticket and when she couldn't produce the railcard (because she'd left it at home) he confiscated her ticket, took her details (which she gave) and told her she couldn't continue her journey and would have to go back. She didn't have any money on her (only card) so he gave her a signed note to allow her make the journey back to the station that she had come from. He must have made mention of the possibility of prosecution as I got a phone call at this point with her in floods of tears being worried about being sent to prison. She made the journey back again without further problem. This is where the plot thickens though - when she got home and found her railcard it turned out that it had expired so it wouldn't have been valid even if she'd remembered it (she has since bought a new railcard and continues to use it whenever we use the train). She then received a letter a couple of months ago summoning her to court at the beginning of September. She rang a solicitor on the strength of a friend’s referral and they weren't interested, saying that it wasn't their area of expertise and she should contact someone local to the magistrates court. She's now terrified that she's going to have a criminal record for fraud and lose her job. This sounds unlikely to me but I have absolutely no experience of this sort situation so I can't offer any concrete advice. Any thoughts on what I've said and how to proceed would be greatly appreciated. Sorry for the slightly hazy specifics - she's just told me over the phone that she's due in court in a couple of weeks and doesn't have any idea what to do next. I’ll get more from her asap and get them on here. Cheers, drmac