Hi,

I have recieved a couple of undated letters from Philips requesting originally £515, but has since increased to £715 after they say a bailiff visited my property.

I phoned them a couple of times but they are rude, tell lies (they told me the police would arrest me!), and don't let me speak or hang up.

After reading many posts here I am not going to phone them again.

However I did email them twice in the last 2 weeks and have recieved no reply (apart from automated email saying they recieved my msg) regarding setting up a payment plan.

I never recieved any messages from the magistrate court (I have moved 3 times in 2 years).

But after phoning 'west midlands magistrates' I am aware that the fine is for driving without insurance in 2003.

I can not afford to pay £715 in full and have read a few posts about a statutary declaration, but I am not entirely sure what one of these is.

Also I phoned the National Debt helpline and they adviced me that Philips have 6 months to collect the debt, after which it is returned to the court.

So another question is: Shall I ignore Philips ofr 6 months until the debt is returned to the court?

And would the debt go back to the original £515 or would it be the debt plus the bailiff fees?

Any advice on what I could/should do please. And how on earth are Philips legal when they intentionally send out undated letters and are rude and abusive to anyone who attempts to contact them.

Thanks for the replies

8yrs on...

something i dont think is right here.

the troops will be here in a mo.

there is a lot of this going on

you need to fill out a statutory declaration

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

this thread relates to marstons it will help you read tomtubby post 9

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?305605-trying-to-contact-marston-group

Looks like they have got info on a debt which will now be dead and buried , As far as im aware any debt over 7 years can not be collected and i think this also applies to mag fines .

The bit you mentioned about them putting the phone down on you that does not suprise me when we 1st got involved with philips i dont think we had a conversation with them lasting more than 30 seconds because everytime you try to talk if you are not giving them bank details for payment they put the phone down on you .

I cant beleive these people are allowed to operate !!!

Hallowitch...

You are very good are keeping info of my previous posts. Thank you.

With Magistrates Court FINES, HMCS are still sending very old cases to their appointed bailiff companies. From so many that I have seen, the summons had gone to a previous address. This would appear to also be the case in this instance.

I will try to be brief and hopefully Hallowitch can also save this answer for future use. The following is a TRUE example.

Mr H worked abroad for 5 years but used to return to the UK on home leave every 6 months. Approx 2 years ago it would appear that during his home leave, he hired a car and was detected by a speed camera on the M4 driving in excess of the speed limit. He did not receive a summons at his previous address as he had returned back to the US and in addition, he had also purchased a flat in a different part of the country.

A few months ago , he returned back to the UK to live and updated his Driving Licence only to find that his licence has been suspended. This is VERY COMMON INDEED.

From enquiries made, the summons had been sent to his old address and in any event, he had returned back to the US. Therefore, he FAILED to return the summons with either a guilty or not guilty plea and he also failed to complete a Means Enquiry Form (this is only required if a NO GUILTY plea is entered). Of course, he also failed to turn up in the court when the matter was being heard.

In such cases, and in the absence of any response, the court have to assume that the person accused is simply ignoring the summons and therefore, they will impose a LARGER FINE and the MAXIMUM points on the licence. The court cannot change this. In this particular case, the gentleman was given 6 points on his licence and fined £525.

Once fined, a letter is then sent to the person from DVLA asking them to RETURN their licence to them to have the points added to the licence. Naturally, this person did not receive the letter from DVLA and therefore DVLA SUSPENDED his licence.

All of this only came to light when he received notification of a Distress Warrant from a bailiff company and the amount had increased by a further £275 ( to cover the bailiff companies admin fee of £75 and visit fee of £200). Straight away he completed a Statutory Declaration which cancelled the Fine entirely and the bailiff company returned the warrant.

A new summons was then sent to his CURRENT address by the relevant constabulary together with photographic evidence of the alledged speeding offence. He returned the form back to the court with a GUILTY plea and within the past 2 weeks he has received notification that he has been fined £55 (instead of £525) and given just THREE points on his licence (instead of the previous 6 points).

A Statutory Declaration should be completed within 21 days of being aware of the summons etc.

thread saved for future reference

thanks tomtubby