Further Steps Notice -> Distress Warrant -> Final Notice - Marston/Collectica

[NewB]

Hello everyone at the CAG forum, this is my first post here.

 

I'm hoping to get some advice with Marston / Collectica after a bailiff visit today.

I wasn't home but they left a hand delivered Final Notice.

 

 

Let me give some more information;

 

I have a Further Steps Notice from London Collection and Compliance Centre dated 18th November, amount owed £580.

I did not open and read this letter until yesterday.

 

Around two weeks ago I received a Notice of Enforcement Distress Warrant from Her Majesty's Courts & Tribunals Service, it stated the debt was £580 but now £660.

 

I did open and read this letter,

I thought it was due to a recent CCJ from an unsecured Vanquis debt from over 3 years ago.

 

 

Based on this thought,

I believed this was just a normal scare tactic letter taken to the next level

(bearing in mind at this point in time I had not opened or read the Further Steps Notice letter) with the belief that this was from an unsecured debt

 

 

I also believed that if anything they would just send a standard bailiff to which I could just politely refuse to open to door and ask to leave, having no vehicle or property outside that they could take.

 

The due date of this Distress warrant was 16/02/2017, 14 days after the issue date.

 

Today (well yesterday now) 17th Feb,

I arrived home to find the bailiff Final Notice letter, with an added fee of £235.

 

At this point I decided to reread the last letter I received, the Distress Warrant.

This is where I started to worry and have doubts that this was actually the debt from Vanquis.

 

 

I had a look around and found some unopened letters,

one of them was the Further Steps Notice.

 

Upon reading this I soon realized it was unlikely that this was the Vanquis debt.

Reading about deductions from my salary

(I work myself so don't think they could apply this?),

 

 

but more worrying 'issuing a warrant for your arrest'

surely Vanquis can't get a warrant for my arrest issued due to unpaid debt with them?

This must have come from the Magistrate's court?

 

I got thinking,

last year

(I'm not sure exactly when, but now I'm guessing around April or just after)

I received a council tax letter out of the blue saying I owed £200 or £300 for unpaid council tax.

 

I live at my Mums house,

and for over 15 years the council tax has be debited from her bank every month.

 

 

I mentioned to her that I received a council tax bill in my name and she said it has always been in her name there must be a mistake, she said she will talk to them about it.

 

She has always paid the council tax and never missed a payment, it comes out of her account automatically.

 

 

We both thought it was strange a letter arrived in my name, she was adamant it should still be in her name and they must have sent it in error.

 

Unfortunately she forgot to call them to speak about it,

I think due to the fact she was sure it was just an error and still in her name,

also a very close family member became very ill and sadly passed away late last year.

 

 

I also forgot about it and did not remind her at anytime about it.

 

Since receiving that letter I have never received another letter from the council or anyone regarding any council tax bills/debts.

 

After all this thinking I call her and ask if she ever spoke to the council about the letter in my name and she doesn't remember it, and says its in her name always has been.

 

 

I ask if she can check her bank statements to make sure because I can't figure out what this debt is for, it can only possibly be due to this. She calls me back and is unhappy, the council stopped taking payments from her around April last year.

 

Now I am pretty sure this must be due to unpaid council tax,

even though I haven't received any other letters,

I know that unpaid council tax can go through the Magistrate's court and a warrant for arrest issued if it came to it, also that these bailiffs could actually enter my home.

 

After doing some research online I have read of people receiving the same letters but due to DVLA fines where someone has used their name and DOB.

Now I am not sure if it is council tax or something worse?

 

In the morning I plan to call bailiff on the mobile phone number he left on the Final Notice and ask him who the debt is from and hopefully find out if it is due to council tax or something else.

 

 

Also no one will be home now until Tuesday or Wednesday and I will let the bailiff know this and that as soon I get back we can sort the issue out.

 

Does he have to tell me who the debt is from, and is there anyway he can come back and enter the house whilst no one is home?

 

Obviously we are going to call the council first thing Monday to sort out the council tax problem,

we have no problem paying the back taxes that we owe,

and have only realized tonight that they stopped taking payment last year.

 

If this is due to council tax,

is there anyway we could contest the added fines/payments?

Neither of us received any other letters regarding council tax since the one last year in my name,

no other arrears or court letters until the Further Steps Notice.

 

If it turns out it is due to DVLA or something else what would be my next steps?

I have not received any parking tickets or traffic offences other than a parking ticket on 10th October from Civil Enforcement LTD which I contested and they sent me a Confirmation of Cancellation letter confirming it had been cancelled.

 

If its council tax there is no issue paying,

I can afford to pay it but I would rather not pay the excess as I did not receive any other letters about it.

 

 

In this case should I try to contest first then pay the council or courts directly, or pay the bailiff inc the excess and try to contest after?

 

I am now worried the bailiff will not tell me who the creditor is but just try to get me to pay,

then I will have to wait until Monday to contact the council or courts to find out.

 

Thanks for reading and any advice anyone can give.

Edited February 18, 2017 by NewB

[dx100uk]

its magistrates...court

 

so it wont be a ccj re vanquis

 

it wont be ctax either.

 

it wont be the private parking speculative invoice

 

its either

a speeding fine

or

its a council pcn

or

its a tv licence fine.

or

its a train fare fine

 

go ring the bailiff

[NewB]

Thanks for the reply.

 

What do you mean by 'its magistrates...court'? I thought the magistrates was the court? Sorry if I am missing something obvious, its quite late and still have this worry on my mind.

 

I'm with you on it not being CCJ or private parking related but why are you so sure its not council tax related?

 

I haven't committed/received any traffic offences, I'm sure I would have realized at the time and I haven't received any letters. No council pcn or tv license fine either and I haven't been on a train in years.

 

Now I'm worried even more. I will call the bailiff first thing tomorrow, does he have to tell me who debt is from?

 

Assuming its not council tax related and I have to contact the relevant dvla/council or possibly even tv licensing / train operator, what is my next steps with the bailiff once I have found out where the debt has come from? Will I have any ground to contest or will I have to pay them now it has reached this stage and contest after?

 

Thanks again

[Bailiff Advice]

Hello everyone at the CAG forum, this is my first post here.

 

I'm hoping to get some advice with Marston / Collectica after a bailiff visit today. I wasn't home but they left a hand delivered Final Notice.

 

I have a Further Steps Notice from London Collection and Compliance Centre dated 18th November, amount owed £580. I did not open and read this letter until yesterday.

 

Around two weeks ago I received a Notice of Enforcement Distress Warrant from Her Majesty's Courts & Tribunals Service, it stated the debt was £580 but now £660. I did open and read this letter, I thought it was due to a recent CCJ from an unsecured Vanquis debt from over 3 years ago.

 

The due date of this Distress warrant was 16/02/2017, 14 days after the issue date.

 

Today (well yesterday now) 17th Feb, I arrived home to find the bailiff Final Notice letter, with an added fee of £235.

 

I had a look around and found some unopened letters, one of them was the Further Steps Notice. This must have come from the Magistrate's court?

 

After doing some research online I have read of people receiving the same letters but due to DVLA fines where someone has used their name and DOB. Now I am not sure if it is council tax or something worse?

 

In the morning I plan to call bailiff on the mobile phone number he left on the Final Notice and ask him who the debt is from and hopefully find out if it is due to council tax or something else.

 

Thanks for reading and any advice anyone can give.

 

I have shortened your question down so that we concentrate on the correspondence that you have received etc.

 

The debt and the paperwork that you have been ignoring relates to a Magistrates Court criminal FINE. It has nothing whatsoever to do with arrears of council tax.

 

The most common fines are TV Licence fines and motoring convictions.

 

Can you remember at any times in the past year or so receiving a personal visit from a TV Licence Enquiry Agent regarding a TV Licence?

 

I am assuming that you have a car.....if so, I would suggest that you visit the DVLA website (I've provided a link below) to check your Driving Licence to see whether there have been any speeding convictions registered.

 

https://www.gov.uk/view-driving-licence

 

PS: As you had clearly received correspondence from the court, it would be a good idea to check for further unopened post. There should be a letter regarding a summons and most importantly, a letter from the court called a Notice of Fine/Collection Order. On this notice you will find full details of what the fine relates to and date of conviction etc.

[NewB]

Hello again and thanks for the reply,

I have spoken to the bailiff today and have an update.

 

The bailiff has said the debt is from a un-taxed vehicle on 2 Nov,

he couldn't tell me the registration number

he said he didn't have that information but gave me the details of the court who issued it and advised me to call them asap and that they will be able to tell me the registration.

 

It turns out I actually know who the bailiff is and he knows me too so I feel a bit better knowing he should be straight up with me.

 

The court isn't open until Monday now so I will have to wait until then for more info from them,

I did call the DVLA to try and get some more info but they said without the registration they can't do anything.

 

The lady did check my vehicle to make sure there wasn't any tax due, and there wasn't I pay by direct debit monthly.

 

I assume if there were any speeding or related offences she would have mentioned these?

I will check the driving license link you have supplied anyway.

 

(EDIT, I just checked this and no offences showing, I have 0 penalty points and have never even received any points before.)

 

Yes I do have a vehicle but I park it on a friends drive around the corner so had no worries of them taking it or clamping it.

 

I agree about checking further unopened post,

which I did yesterday,

 

I opened all unopened mail that's when I found the Further Steps Notice.

 

I have not received any other letters about this matter or debt other than the 3 mentioned in the OP.

No Notice of Fine/Collection Order or anything at all.

 

At the moment I am pretty sure this offence has nothing to do with me or my vehicle,

 

having come across the following thread yesterday before I created an account here

(it won't let me post a URL, but there is a thread in 'Speeding and Motoring Offences' dated 17th July 2016 by member 'slick132' titled 'someone used my details' see post #22,

 

I have a strong feeling that the same could be happening to me?

 

I guess I just have to wait until Monday now to contact the court to find out the vehicle registration and offence/offences.

 

I really appreciate you guys taking the time to read my post, even more so for replying.

 

Thank you.

 

I will check back in a bit and over the weekend to see if anyone else has replied,

 

if someone has then I will reply,

 

other than that I will wait until Monday when I have more details and update the thread then.

Edited February 18, 2017 by NewB

[dx100uk]

you mean this thread

 

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?467248-someone-used-by-details-Further-steps-Notice-unknown-fine-s-help/page2

[Bailiff Advice]

Please do post back once you have spoken with the court.