Hi Papasmurf, thanks for replying, now I am confused as the letter which was dated 12 may said it had to be paid by 12 may which is of course impossible as a) the letter was not posted to me until 13 may and b) i had no reference number to refer to until I got the ticket. As to my job, lets just say that if I get a criminal conviction (which I believe would happen if I ended up at court for not paying this if I have to pay it legally) then in my job that conviction could (yes I have changed the wording) cost me my job if they decided it was gross misconduct, though it appears it may only go down as misconduct.................therefore blackmarking me and stopping me applying for certain roles within my job and having to declare it forever more!Am thinking of just phoning the local council up and posing a hypothetical question to them to see if I can eliicit when the 14 days starts! Lets just see what answer that throws up! If it is from date of receipt of letter it would be better as I will have been paid by then and can afford the bloomin fine!Now wheres me ciggies.............................lolThanks:-) NB the relevant law appears to say that the fourteen days commences from date of issue of ticket as nothing can be done legally to take me to court etc until the 14 days have passed? or at least that is how I interpret the law.....................

anyone help on this...............................

Hi, not sure it I am on the right board, but hopefully this will be a quick and painless question. I was stopped on 28 April 2011 by a council enforcement officer for discarding a cigarette butt on the pavement and walking away. He checked my details out by phone having seen my work ID which clearly identifed me, and due to circumstances of where I was stopped and being at work at the time, he stated he would send by FPN for littering in the post. I had no problem with this as I had dropped the cig butt and was big enough to accept the fine. HOWEVER, I have today come home to find the notice and the accompanying letter. Now the date of offence was 28 April and by my reckoning the 14 days to pay expired on 12 May otherwise I could be taken to court! Now the FPN is dated 28/4, the letter with it is dated 12/5 (the fourteenth day) and the letter and FPN were posted from th council offices on 13/5 (day 15) 2nd class post and recieved by me today 16/5 (day 18). The biggest thing is the last line of the letter saying if I pay by 12/5 (14 days from date of issue) this will indicate my intentions (i.e. I have paid it without the prospect of court appearence)......................how the hell do I pay within the allowed 14 days (as shown on the FPN) if the letter sent to me is dated 12/5 enclosing the FPN dated 28/4, and the letter is not posted til day 15 and recieved by me on day 18? is the council out of time or is this a case of pay up regardless. Unforntunately I cannot risk a court appearence due to the work I do as this will be a criminal offence that could cost me my job, BUT if I do not have to pay due to the councils error, then I can keep the fine money of £75........................I might even put this towards giving up smoking! If anyone can advise I would be grateful Cheers

Hi Sorry forgot to add that the letter from the DCA asking for payment despite the fact that we are waiting on a response from the OC to the SAR is headed "LEGAL NOTIFICATION" and then goes on to say despite repeated requests blah de blah for payment it remains outstanding (no kidding sherlock) Accordingly documents can now be prepared for the issue of a claim against you in your local court, once judgement or decree has been granted the following can take place................it then goes on to say costs etc and interest can be added (lets just make the situation ten times worse while we are at it why dont we), name entered in the court records (probably there already with all the other debts) credit worthiness being affected (it cant get any worse!) and then if there is still non payment - attachment of earnings (they obviously want the whole £3 spare), seizure of assets (well a ten yr old tv and a held together with sticky tape PS1 (kids) is going to pay the debt I dont think) so call us NOW to make immediate payment. Are these guys for real FFS. You cannot get any lower than the place my daughter is in and if they want the spare £3 she has each month then take it, it means the other two outstanding debts that are non priority will get zilch. Sorry for the rant but am worried about the prospect of them doing the court thing whilst we wait on the OC answering the SAR - believe there is no time limit on that? Advice as to how to respond to DCA??

Hi Babybear sorry its been a while since I got back to you,sent the SAR to the OC but still being hounded by DCA? Also 2nd mobile phone debt Moorcroft have sent a letter back with the p.o. attached saying - and I quote - "Please note certain accounts are excluded from compliance with Part V of he CCA or are not in fact credit or hire agreements and WE BELIEVE that our client's account falls into one of these categories" Now if they dont actually know does this mean she can tell them to take a running jump? And for the record the 12+2 days was up on 19 Nov however their letter is dated 10 Nov recieved today, now I know 2nd class post can be slow but come on 1 day short of two weeks to get here!! So basically what do we tell the DCA that is hounding her whilst she waits on the OC responding to the SAR? What does she do about Moorcrofts response. FYI - She has spoken to CCCS and guess what after all priority bills (incl arrears) food and rent is paid she has the grand sum of £3 a month spare!!!!!!!!!!! Love to know how she is supposed to pay off the £2k non priority debts she has! Blood from a stone and all that I look forward to your guidance etc once again

Baby bear, what if the account is not in dispute but is actually owed but due to head burying in sand, has never been paid? surely the SAR would have to go to the DCA? This is my daughters debt (which I found amongst several others) and is one of two she has with O2! Are you saying it should to to O2? Also as the p.o. sent to the DCA was returned I take it she cannot get this money back by cashing the p.o (its crossed and payable to the DCA)(hey I know its only £1 but £1 is £1 after all when you aint got anything!) Cheers

Hi bh486, I too was looking for what letter to send them and having read several posts on here it appears as you say that a mobile contract is not covered by CCA and guess what I sent a CCA letter off to one particular DCA and have this morning got my postal order and a letter back saying just this. It appears that an SAR needs to be done so off to the post office to get another £9 worth of postal order to send with the SAR letter. Problem will then arise if they do not respond to this.................where do I go then??????? I hope that others on here will answer that SAR is the next move as that is how I read the advice??

Thanks Erika I did think they were dragging their heels, am gonna read up on the reg you mention then hotfoot it to the local office where no doubt we will sit for over an hour as usual to be seen!

Hi, I am posting this on behalf of my daughter and will keep it short and to the point. New owner taken over the shop she works in and hours have been cut from 40 - 24hrs a week, therefore she had to reapply for housing ben and c/tax ben due to cut in wages. this was in june 2010 and it has still not been sorted despite letter showing changes in hours sent in, new contract sent in and wage slips sent in. Is there an obligation on local authorities to sort this out sooner rather than later? Can the benefit be backdated? With Xmas approaching every penny counts as she is now living hand to mouth trying to keep up with paying her rent and c/t etc etc and is now sinking! Your thoughts appreciated as fed up banging head off a brick wall!

Hi, Sorry for delay, laptop problems, thanks for the answer and will be doing just that, funnily enough they seem to have taken the hint as the phone calls have ceased tho not trusting them cos no doubt they will find another number to call from, hurrah for caller display!

Evening good people I posted recently that I sent a CCA to IJ for a debt I had been paying off slowly but surely, but obviously not quick enough for them as they kept hassling me by phone despite being told not to, so as recommended I sent the CCA to them and yes, you guessed it, no response so sent the Acct in dispute letter.........................heard nothing until recently when I started to get calls from Apex Credit Management. First of all I was 'who the heck are you' and was told we wrote to you..............well actually you didn't or if you did I have never received any communications!! Well what a rude obnoxious bunch Apex are.............from the reading between the lines....miss **** you are a liar, to the downright sniggering in disbelief that I had not received mail from them...............well it took all my willpower to stop myself from brining myself down to their level and yelling down the phone at them. To cut it short, finally got them to divulge a prev address I lived at (i refused to answer any q's for them) and then realised that they were trying to collect the IJ debt............wtf............surely what is happening is wrong/illegal. How can IJ re-assign/sell a debt that is in dispute????????? Anyway, told Apex to bog off and remove my number and go back under their stone as acct in dispute. What now is my next step, who do I fire off a letter to now, I have told Apex that if they continue to hassle me by phone I will report them for harassment. Please send me your views/answers, I dont want to have to start the merry-go-round again if it can be helped. Cheers peeps Hev x ;-)

Hi Debt4Get and Mr Worried, Thanks for your swift replies and I will most certainly send them the letter you suggested. Do I send it to the OC as that is who sent me the letter/junk I received? I am desperately trying to borrow a friends scanner so I can upload the stuff they sent as I really do want to be sure what I have received is what I have written about in my long winded post! I hope to get my hands on the scanner sometime later today so will probably not post the letter until Monday afternoon...it also the quietest time to visit one of our remaining post offices! (I presume its best to do it Recorded?) Once again thanks for the replies H

Hi Howler and all the other helpful peeps on board here, I forgot about IJ's CCA letter to which they remarkably responded on the day my recorded delivery hit their dorrmat......amazing how quick they drop things back to the OC........................anyway, I forgot to write to them within the 12+2 days saying you aint replied so now crawl back under your rock, so may have done myself an injustice, however, todays mail brought news from the OC . It is along the lines of what Howler has received in as much as a one sided page of a application form clearly indicated as such by 'please complete your application form by answering all the questions below in block capitals, blah blah then in bold writing Credit Agreement Regulated by the Consumer Creidt Act 1974. The app form is duly completed and thats it. Separately they have sent several bits of paper titled credit agreement regulated by the consumer credit act 1974 which has my details and acct number on the top but is not signed anywhere by anyone let alone me! They also enclosed a photocopy of a notice of variation July 2008 effective sept 08 which means diddly squat to me and finally a summary dated march 2010 which just shows the remaining balance (obvioulsy overdue) which funnily enough has a giro payslip attached to it to pay the OC direct (not IJ). Their covering letter states 'we refer to your letter dated 16 march (their reply is dated 9 april received today 17 april) and enclose to comply with out obligations under 78(1) the following; 1 - copy of front page of original signed credit agreement (I believe what i have got from them is an app form?) 2 - a document containing the original terms and conditions of the credit agreement which applied at the time the agreement was entered (how the hell do i know if what they sent applied many years ago?) 3 - copy of the current prescribed terms of the agreement? 4 - copyof the current general terms adn conditions of the agreement (booklet form) I guess this is the document dated July 08 applicable from sept 08? 5 - a copy of the latest statement of account signed on behalf of the bank (guess this is the summary showing me the balance and last payment in march?) And thats it, we have now complied and you still owe us money so contact our Insovency and Client Support Dept (like heck) Oh and by the way we have not sold your account??? Thats not what IJ hint at?? Whew..............sorry its so long but my scanner is bust and am trying to borrow one, hence the long winded approach but I hope you get the picture, my main query is What do I do now/next? Keep up the good work and I have recently recommended a friend to your site to assist him in his hour of need as you have done for me Cheers H

Thanx debt4get, I think I will sit down in a few minutes and send them the cca letter and cancel my standing order so they can then go whistle in the wind! My main worry was the fact that they threatened court (which I know they can and sometimes do do this) although I think the court would look favourably cos I am paying them and intended on keeping on paying them but I think they have now shot themselves in the foot! One other question, I know that if they do not respond after the 12+2 days the acct is then in dispute that sometimes they pass it or the OC passes it to another pond feeder, if this were to happen would/could they then start adding interest to the o/s balance, (after all I cannot go down the statute barred route fiven they just had a payment from me)! and if they eventually turn up the agreement and I have to restart paying, I dont want to pay more than what is owed at this time. Cheers H x

Hi, I too had a strange experience with Abbey/Santander and Capquest starting with an out of the blue letter from telogram? It relates to me at an address not used for some 14 years and in an old name of mine, however, I never had an acct with abbey that many years ago. I did make the fatal mistake that when the telogram letter was followed up by a letter from abbey i called them (after all its who i bank with, I know peeps on here dont like them but they have been good to me through all my financial stresses so i stayed put), they told me the acct number i quoted them was not one ever linked to me and it was an invalid number? Is it just a phishing trip by a DCA for another debt long since forgotten? Strange thing is that the address they had me living at is not an address anyone ever had or was ever used on any documentation many moons ago? At this time it has been 6 months since either/any company has contacted me about this so I have just kept the paperwork and ignored it til now and will carry on ignoring it. Given the amount Abbey stated I owed it was a mere trifle (or one monthly payment to one of my DCAs) so I guess if push came to shove and they proved it was mine I guess I would say here you go chaps dont spend it all at once!