Letter received from Marston Bailiffs with respect to outstanding court fine

[blackmogu]

I'm at a bit of a loss with how to proceed with this letter that I received today from Marstons. The history behind it is that I had a Magistrates Court fine for a car without tax that wasn't even my car ! (someone else registered it in my name and forged my signature).

 

I accepted the fine for £448.34, and set up a standing order from my account to pay monthly amounts of £50.

 

The payments finished April this year, and I never heard anything about it until this letter today, that claimed the amount outstanding is £323.34 !!

 

So I phoned up Marstons, and explained that the court fine was paid off, to no avail.

 

I checked my bank account for proof, and saw that every payment for £50 was taken out, but the final payment of £48.34 wasn't, why I don't know since I set up the standing order correctly.

 

So in effect, I still owe £48.34, which is fine, i'm happy to pay what I ought to.

 

Marstons seem to have added a compliance fee of £75, and an Attendance fee of £200 !!!! Can they demand this of me ??

 

I have never had a visit, call or letter or any communication until today, via a letter.

 

I would like to know the best way to approach this - I cannot afford almost 3/4 of the original fine for "fees" again !! If I was just contacted by someone, i'd have paid the outstanding £48.34 which was the last and only payment missed BTW !

[fork-it]

I'm at a bit of a loss with how to proceed with this letter that I received today from Marstons. The history behind it is that I had a Magistrates Court fine for a car without tax that wasn't even my car ! (someone else registered it in my name and forged my signature).

 

I accepted the fine for £448.34, and set up a standing order from my account to pay monthly amounts of £50.

 

Why are you paying the fine?

 

You can just before the magistrate and tell him the car is nothiong to do with you and your signature was forged. The case is dismissed.

[blackmogu]

To answer your question as to why :-

 

I am self employed, and had already lost 2 days work in dealing with this case. When I went to the Magistrates Court and explained that the car wasn't mine etc., they explained another hearing would have to be arranged. I wasn't prepared to lose any more money over the matter.

 

Secondly, I knew who had forged my signature (I used to share a flat with him). I wasn't prepared to deal with the grief to myself and my family that I knew would come if I 'grassed him up'.

 

It's not an ideal world, and I had little faith in the police being proactive in dealing with my situation then.

 

It was a whole lot easier just to swallow the fine.