ceedoubleu Welcome to the site.I will start your thread for you.Hopefully you will get some good advice and support here.Theres certainly no shortage of others who have been there !!

I opened a letter addressed to my 14 year old daughter from RLP, which alleges that on 13 March she "committed a wrongful act" in Boots the Chemist in London (which rather narrows it down). In short they are charging her £168.02 for goods and management time. They have kindly offered to accept £35 because of her age, just as long as she sends them a copy of her Birth Certificate.

No personal experience with RLP myself but wanted to comment after reading that, as the part that leaps out at me is why are a debt collection agency writing to an underage girl demanding money and personal information?!

That's so not right.

You've probably read the other thread in this forum referring to these jokers in particular the post by 'sidewinder':

"Retail Loss Prevention are making a fortune out of claims such as this and the Forum has many similar examples of their levying 'fines' and such like under the guise of recovering the costs associated with shoplifting or employee theft."

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/retail-loss-prevention/176393-rlp-subcontractor-cleaner-180-a.html

Surely if this alleged 'wrong act' had occurred, as the parent and guardian, you would have been informed by the Police no less, in the first instance?

I would reply to them that they have no right to communicate with a person under the age of 16 in such a way, that you want a break down of the costs and detail of the alleged incident and what it involved as well as any Police reference number associated with this alleged incident.

I would then write a scathing letter to Boots asking why they are instructing a debt collection agency to communicate directly with a 14 year old girl without your permission and consent, (thereby bypassing the parents), why they are attempting to groom a child for the purposes of obtaining money and personal information without the parents knowledge or authorisation. And i would use the word 'groom' as well. (Should get the attention of Boots!) And ask if this is Boots company policy?!

I would ask Boots for clarification of what this alleged incident refers to, dates, times, action taken, Police ref number etc etc. Give them 10 days to reply.

Boots Customer Care

PO Box 5300

Nottingham

NG90 1AA

ceedoubleu Welcome to the site.I will start your thread for you.Hopefully you will get some good advice and support here.Theres certainly no shortage of others who have been there !!

Martin, thank you for posting this. My daughter is fragile and I am very concerned that these people will start to harass her, hence the reason I am seeking advice.

Ok in the first instance,do as suggested and write to Boots demanding an explanation.

I see no reasons as to why you cannot use power of attourney here and request that all correspondence is dealt with by yourself.

You have no obligations to send any birth certificate,or any other documents which they request-you know this already.

You cannot send a section 10 notice at this point since it will give them excuse to opt out (co operate further with their clients questions.)

But a section 10 notice should be considered further down the line.

I am glad to see that you were able to join us here.

As an update, I have spoken to Boots Head Office and they seem to be very concerned to learn that a 14 year old girl was detained in an office by a man and that neither parents or police were informed. I appreciate that this is not the solution to RLP but I will deal with them one at a time.

Thats a positive response.

Dont worry about the supposed penalty fine as they cannot sue anybody under the age of 18. May try to do it through you but would have to prove you were negligent or new what they were up to. Also anything an under age signs is not legal.

Can you post the circumstances of her alleged offence and what happened to her.

Nobody has power to detain anyone, let alone a minor UNLESS they are excercising a citizens arrest under s24a(1) PACE

Even if you accept that he had a powe of arrest (which I dont) the arrest was not carried out in the correct manner under s28 PACE

Far from defending this from RLP I would be considering hitting them with a lawsuit.

Agreed, when writting to Boots/RLP for info. say you are seeking legal advice as to the unlawful detention and wrongful procedures.

Yes I think something strongly worded that leaves them in no doubts as to how serious this is.

Yep. The more people do this, the sooner they realise that this is one problem which is not going away.

Bookie do you fancy doing a temp that can be sent to RLPs clients ?

It's not a question of: "do I fancy" (you know the answer to that ), it's a question of: "do I have the time"... and right now the answer is: hell no. :-|

I have so much stuff to do that I have moved the printer to the dining-room table, you should see me as I type this, lol: I have to my left a treble in-tray overflowing, closer to me, a pile of letters ready to go, laptop in front of me, printer to the right, then to be filed pile. This is the picture of a woman sinking under the weight of paperwork. :-|

But if JC hasn't come back to you by the time either the pile has killed me or I have killed the pile, then happy to help.

Ok-cant be any worse than the papers here-I have not seen the carpet for weeks...The other day-I thought to myself...hmn will have to get a filing cabinet-then I realised theres 2 already in the other bedroom.So Cag has taken over 2 of my bedrooms

Looks like your sleeping in the 'Eastwing' Martin

Lol yes-and I am just about to start my Barclays Bundle:eek:

Ok-cant be any worse than the papers here-I have not seen the carpet for weeks...The other day-I thought to myself...hmn will have to get a filing cabinet-then I realised theres 2 already in the other bedroom.So Cag has taken over 2 of my bedrooms

As for CAG taking over 2 of your bedrooms, well it took over my life 3 yrs ago and I have been trying to re-find it ever since!

Boots Charitable Trust

Boots may need to be reminding that stopping 14 year old girls in these circumstances is not compatible with their corporate social responsibility, particularly as they fund groups like the cab.Perhaps the cab- type groups should be told too.

I think that Boots Head Office/Security Department should be urged, in writing, to instruct their Staff that juveniles should ONLY ever be released to an adult forthwith (whether that be Police or parent), and that not doing so is a disciplinary offence. Not doing so can not be justified in any way, as the protection and wellbeing of the young person is paramount, and the first way you can get retailers to concede some ground in this fight.

I think the local Police here would also be in agreement to this.

Boots should be asked to confirm or deny if they are aware of the existance of any RLP "league tables " being circulated by RLP that might be causing undue competativeness or pressure to contracting staff?

Thanks for your replies, I'm happy to say that this matter is now concluded, thanks to Boots.

Ooo, are you going to tell us more ??

Lex

Fantastic news,common sense has prevailed!

Have they told you not to speak about it?

I think that Boots Head Office/Security Department should be urged, in writing, to instruct their Staff that juveniles should ONLY ever be released to an adult forthwith (whether that be Police or parent),

Procedure following a citizens arrest

If you are arrested by anyone other than a constable, then the arrestor must either (i) hand you over to a constable, (ii) take you to a police station, or (iii) bring you before a magistrate to answer charges. The arrestor should do one of these things within a `reasonable' time, but the law does not require that it be done immediately (John Lewis v Timms (1952), where a one-hour delay was held to be acceptable).

Handing you over to your parents surely then nullifies the arrest as lawful and therefore leaves the security guard open to a claim for unlawful imprisonment.

Thanks for your replies, I'm happy to say that this matter is now concluded, thanks to Boots.

Pleased to hear it.. well done.

Ooo, are you going to tell us more ??

 

Lex

Yes, a full apology has been made by Boots and RLP have been told by them not to take any action.

Procedure following a citizens arrest

 

If you are arrested by anyone other than a constable, then the arrestor must either (i) hand you over to a constable, (ii) take you to a police station, or (iii) bring you before a magistrate to answer charges. The arrestor should do one of these things within a `reasonable' time, but the law does not require that it be done immediately (John Lewis v Timms (1952), where a one-hour delay was held to be acceptable).

 

Handing you over to your parents surely then nullifies the arrest as lawful and therefore leaves the security guard open to a claim for unlawful imprisonment.

It then becomes debatable whether the young person has actually been arrested, or just "spoken to " about the offence,then released,.It also calls into question when the the Police themselves say " release them,we are too busy to come and get them", or "Don't call us unless they have stolen over £10 worth " for example.

Yes,though,it can leave Security open to claims,whether a child or adult,if they have been arrested. That's their problem if they choose to do it.

As soon as practicable, the Police should be called, unless they have been released.That takes away all discretion ( not sure some of them mentioned here could be trusted to use it though).