Marston Bailiff Surprise

[Trumpton7]

Hi, just got in and found a removal notice from Marstons waiting, i've had no warning of this. The original traffic fine i knew nothing about as i had moved address and a court fined me without my attendence and knowledge. Also the offence was in another county far away!

 

What rights do i have as i dont have the £800 they are asking, i have read other threads saying how they charge extortionate amounts for letters etc.

 

Basically i have received a fine i didnt know about and then its been passed on to the bailiffs when unpaid. Now they have my new address but i only rent a furnished room and have few belongings.

 

Thanks in advance

[wonkeydonkey]

Check out threads by Tomtubby and you will see what you need to do, what she doesn't know about this subject isn't worth learning. Traffic is not my forte but others are very knowledgable and I am sure they will be along later to advise so hang in there for now.

 

WD

[Trumpton7]

Hi, so should i just wait? I will try and find tomtubby replies, new to this!! Thanks

[ploddertom]

If you have a read of this post you may get a flaour for what you need to do

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?312881-Clamped-and-forced-to-pay-now-looking-to-challenge

 

PT

[Trumpton7]

Thanks.

Looks like i need an 'out of time' declaration, i will call the TEC in the morning and get sent via email.!

 

Do i ring the bailiffs to notify them of this as i havent rang them yet (got in late and work away) and want to delay any further action.

 

Just to clarify they delivered a 'removal notice' yesterday where it states they have used previous visits and notices but i havent had ANY to my knowledge!

 

Please help ASAP anyone, thanks

 

 

UPDATE...... Just found links for TE7 and 9 forms but they seems to be for parking tickets, mine is for a driving offence, help help help!!

 

Thanks in advance

Edited August 17, 2011 by Trumpton7

[ploddertom]

Try this one

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?165753-MAGISTRATE-COURT-FINES.-Template-of-a-Statutory-Declaration.

 

PT

[tomtubby]

Hi, just got in and found a removal notice from Marstons waiting, i've had no warning of this. The original traffic fine i knew nothing about as i had moved address and a court fined me without my attendence and knowledge. Also the offence was in another county far away!

 

What rights do i have as i dont have the £800 they are asking, i have read other threads saying how they charge extortionate amounts for letters etc.

 

Basically i have received a fine i didnt know about and then its been passed on to the bailiffs when unpaid. Now they have my new address but i only rent a furnished room and have few belongings.

.

.

.

As many people on here are aware, I have a commercial business advising the public with regards to a bailiff visit and the matter of court fines is a most frequent enquiry.

 

I am providing below a more detailed response than normal so that regular posters on here ( who provide excellent assistance) can save this reply for future use.

 

Your query is actually pretty simple to resolve. However, it is important to be aware that you may have a more serious problem with your driving licence !!

 

Firstly, you need to find out which court issued the fine (this MIGHT be on the letter from Marston Group). It should say something like: HMCS (Thames Valley, Liverpool, Manchester etc).

 

You are legally entitled to file a Statutory Declaration and details with a template can be found in the STICKY section:

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?165753-MAGISTRATE-COURT-FINES.-Template-of-a-Statutory-Declaration.

 

 

You have 21 days from becoming aware of the fact so make sure that you deal with this today.

 

The Stat Dec can be faxed, posted, emailed or delivered in person to the court that issued the fine. You do NOT have to attend court in person to swear the Stat Dec. A valid stat dec will REVOKE the Distress Warrant. Bailiff fees will also be removed.

 

The relevant Constabulary ( assuming that this is a speeding/motoring offence) can then issue a NEW summons to you at your CURRENT address where you will then be given an opportunity to enter a plea and to pay a fine which is normally around £100-£150. It is normal for your driving licence to also be endorsed with approx 3 penalty points.

 

At present, you have been fined in your absence as you did not receive a summons. You have therefore been unable to enter a plea, complete a Means Enquiry Form or attend court (if you wished to defend the action).

 

Without a plea, and your non attendance in court, the Magistrates would have no other option other than to fine you at the higher end of the sentencing guidelines (which is demonstrated by the large fine).

 

HOWEVER, most serious is the fact that without an admission of guilt, and your non attendance, the court regullary impose 6 penalty points on the driving licence instead of the average 3 points.

 

If this is not bad enough, after the fine is imposed, DVLA will write a letter to you (which would have gone to a previous address) to request that you return your licence for the points to be added. You would not have received this.

 

If you fail to return the licence, then DVLA will SUSPEND your driving licence. THIS IS SO COMMON AT THE MOMENT!!!! You need to be very careful indeed of this as this will have serious consequences on you vehicle insurance.

 

HOWEVER, once you have filed a valid Statutory Declaration the fine will be revoked, and the points returned back onto your licence.

 

If you have problems with contacting the court please respond back as I do have many contact numbers.

 

When contacting the court, you need to ask them to confirm the following:

 

Date of conviction

Reference number

Amount of fine

Details of endorsements on the licence

Fax and address details of where to send the sworn Statutory Declaration.

Edited August 18, 2011 by tomtubby

[Mrs E Blackadder]

As you didn't find out about this until you got home, presumably you didn't have your car parked on the driveway/outside your house? If this is the case, can I suggest to you that you now park it away from your home if possible, otherwise if/when they come back it will be something that they won't hesitate to levy on. They won't even care if you don't actually own it (company car, belongs to other half etc). I talk from personal experience, as they tried to levy on my car, but it is leased.

[Trumpton7]

Many many thanks for the reply.

 

I have the number but apparently only two work at the Fines payment office for devon and cornwall and the fixed penalty dept cant help! The number i have is 01579 325300.

 

I have copied the stat dec from the link above and im currently changing the wording to suit (i.e rent arrears, on employment and support allowance for 5 months feb-jul and working nw but only 2 days!) but cant add the above details yet as cant get through!

 

How long after a removal notice do they return, at what stage am i at and do i ring them to state im filing a Stat dec? Also do i ring the main office or the mobile on the notice?

 

thanks again Tomtubby

[Trumpton7]

Thanks

 

I live with 3 others who all have a car here and i dont own one and use a mates (which i will park away). Also offence was for a m/c i suspect which isnt here also!

 

Do they have power to clamp a car that resides at the address regardless of owner?

 

thanks for your help

[wonkeydonkey]

Thanks

 

I live with 3 others who all have a car here and i dont own one and use a mates (which i will park away). Also offence was for a m/c i suspect which isnt here also!

 

Do they have power to clamp a car that resides at the address regardless of owner? They think they have but in reality if they intend to remove the vehicle clamped and levied upon they are supposed to check with the DVLA first.

thanks for your help

 

They usually just place the onus on the debtor to prove they are not the true owner often to the ridiculous end whereby, if the car they clamp just happens to belong to a total stranger merely visiting within the vicinity of your home they will then expect you to locate that owner and get them to prove it is infact their vehicle. Confused??????...thats what they want you to be, it gives them time to invent further charges they want to try their luck at.

[Trumpton7]

Hi Tomtubby, just managed to get through and lady advised me a little different;

 

To obtain all details i need a cert of conviction. She gave me the Account number (Ref) and date of offence and conviction but declined to say if i had penalty points and quoted i would have to pay for the cert of conv at £25

 

'She said' To do a 'stat dec' i must contact my local court who will obtain all details and book a hearing. I CANNOT send via email, post or fax etc and therefore she did not give me any contact details to send.

 

She also stated that as i was stopped at the road side that i couldnt even go this down this route but i explained i didnt really expect it to be taken any further as i produced my licence and they checked my insurance and thought the ticking off for this menial offence was probably enough to scare me. She then said i could got through with it but would have limited results. I.E fine/points imposed and no new summons.

 

Will wait for your advise before i go further as not sure whats what now as you state i do NOT need to go to court to do it!!!!

 

Many thanks again for your help

Edited August 18, 2011 by Trumpton7

[wonkeydonkey]

Reading your post above are you saying you were not "cautioned" to having commited an offence merely stopped checked out a given a verbal warning ??

 

WD

[Trumpton7]

Hi again, i think i was cautioned as a matter of procedure to get a statement so they then can decide whether to take it further. I've had a clean licence for nearly 20 years so i havent been stopped much and as i say it was such a trivial offence i didnt expect further action.

 

thanks

[wonkeydonkey]

have a good read through this http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/police/powers/road-traffic/

[Trumpton7]

thanks, i wasnt given a fixed penalty and documents were confirmed at the time

[tomtubby]

I have sent you a pm.

[Trumpton7]

Hi, just got in and found a removal notice from Marstons waiting, i've had no warning of this. The original traffic fine i knew nothing about as i had moved address and a court fined me without my attendence and knowledge. Also the offence was in another county far away!

 

What rights do i have as i dont have the £800 they are asking, i have read other threads saying how they charge extortionate amounts for letters etc.

 

Basically i have received a fine i didnt know about and then its been passed on to the bailiffs when unpaid. Now they have my new address but i only rent a furnished room and have few belongings.

.

.

.

As many people on here are aware, I have a commercial business advising the public with regards to a bailiff visit and the matter of court fines is a most frequent enquiry.

 

I am providing below a more detailed response than normal so that regular posters on here ( who provide excellent assistance) can save this reply for future use.

 

Your query is actually pretty simple to resolve. However, it is important to be aware that you may have a more serious problem with your driving licence !!

 

Firstly, you need to find out which court issued the fine (this MIGHT be on the letter from Marston Group). It should say something like: HMCS (Thames Valley, Liverpool, Manchester etc).

 

You are legally entitled to file a Statutory Declaration and details with a template can be found in the STICKY section:

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?165753-MAGISTRATE-COURT-FINES.-Template-of-a-Statutory-Declaration.

 

 

You have 21 days from becoming aware of the fact so make sure that you deal with this today.

 

The Stat Dec can be faxed, posted, emailed or delivered in person to the court that issued the fine. You do NOT have to attend court in person to swear the Stat Dec. A valid stat dec will REVOKE the Distress Warrant. Bailiff fees will also be removed.

 

The relevant Constabulary ( assuming that this is a speeding/motoring offence) can then issue a NEW summons to you at your CURRENT address where you will then be given an opportunity to enter a plea and to pay a fine which is normally around £100-£150. It is normal for your driving licence to also be endorsed with approx 3 penalty points.

 

At present, you have been fined in your absence as you did not receive a summons. You have therefore been unable to enter a plea, complete a Means Enquiry Form or attend court (if you wished to defend the action).

 

Without a plea, and your non attendance in court, the Magistrates would have no other option other than to fine you at the higher end of the sentencing guidelines (which is demonstrated by the large fine).

 

HOWEVER, most serious is the fact that without an admission of guilt, and your non attendance, the court regullary impose 6 penalty points on the driving licence instead of the average 3 points.

 

If this is not bad enough, after the fine is imposed, DVLA will write a letter to you (which would have gone to a previous address) to request that you return your licence for the points to be added. You would not have received this.

 

If you fail to return the licence, then DVLA will SUSPEND your driving licence. THIS IS SO COMMON AT THE MOMENT!!!! You need to be very careful indeed of this as this will have serious consequences on you vehicle insurance.

 

HOWEVER, once you have filed a valid Statutory Declaration the fine will be revoked, and the points returned back onto your licence.

 

If you have problems with contacting the court please respond back as I do have many contact numbers.

 

When contacting the court, you need to ask them to confirm the following:

 

Date of conviction

Reference number

Amount of fine

Details of endorsements on the licence

Fax and address details of where to send the sworn Statutory Declaration.

 

Hi again, just spoke to the local courts and they can book me in and it doesnt cost the £5-6 from a solocitor, they say its free and i dont have to pay the £25 for the cert of conviction. (stated by issuing police HQ)

 

As soon as im booked in they say i can inform the bailiff and freeze any action.

 

They also said I CAN get a solicitor to witness a statement and then just send it to the issuing magistrate courts BUT the they may not accept it and request i go to court to do it!!

 

Let me know your thoughts ASAP as i need to ring them this afternoon to freeze any more action.

 

Also when a new summons is issued i can give them my financial details then as only stating that this is my 1st knowledge of the fine is used!!

 

Thanks again

Edited August 18, 2011 by Trumpton7

[tomtubby]

I can honestly say that I have NEVER heard of the requirement for a copy of the Certificate of Conviction!!

 

Also, to my knowledge , such a document is aplicable to the Crown Court and NOT the Magistrates Court. The one for the Magistrtaes Court is referred to as a Memorandum of Conviction. But yet again, is a rare requirement.

 

It is correct that you do not have to attened court in person and can send the completed Stat Dec by post etc. If it is rejected, then you could attend in person.

 

The decision is yours. If you are happy to attend at the local court, that this fine.

 

You need to ask the court to ensure that a hearing is made asap. Almost always the court hear such applications before court business starts (before 10am)

 

PS: I will not be around this afternoon to respond to any further queries. I can respond this evening.

[Trumpton7]

Hi and thanks again.

 

I have no problem going to court as i only work 2 days and will just have to take my daughter thats all. Then the issuing magistraight court cant deny my efforts and then i'd have to go anyway.

 

Yeah gunna give then a ring and book, many thanks again for your help and will update on my progress for others