Thanks to anyone who replied but i just thought i'd update you as to what happened with my complaint to the bank;

After 2 weeks of phone calls with them they decided to settle the complaint by way of a £503.33 credit to my account + a hamper for their mistake

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if they say no be persistent and they will refund you

Used this service a few times, its really good, not quite as good as prime now but its good

From my experience argos put the prices up so they can knock them down...

Have a look at CIFAS.

 

On one hand the banks are in their rights to block your account but I'm not aware that it is written anywhere that they are allowed to deprive you of any information as to what is happening.

 

Frankly, I think that this kind of treatment - even under CIFAS conditions ought to be challenged, but it never has been.

 

Have your funds been released now?

Hey, sorry for the slow reply.

Yes they released my funds, When i phoned them up the following morning they told me that they was performing an investigation into my accounts. After 4-5 days I had access again and now the bank clam to have no knowledge of an investigation.

Hi CAG,

I'm wondering if you may be able to give me a little bit of advice .

Back in January natwest fraud team decided to put a block on all of my accounts for MY protection,

they didn't try to contact me

they didn't try to let me know and

the only way I found out was when I tried to check into my hotel at 6pm and my card was declined,

i went over to a ATM and my card was declined to get a balance, mobile and internet banking was also disabled.

That evening I spend a total of 112 minutes on the phone to the bank trying to regain access to my account

but time and time again I was told that i would need to speak to someone at 9am the following morning

as the department which put a block on my account was closed.

Because of not being able to access any funds, in turn i couldn't check into a hotel or access any funds

I had £4 in cash on me.

I was forced to spend the first half of the night until I was asked to leave at 4am in a 24 hour Mcdonalds

after I managed to take safe haven on a bench outside the train station

and from around 6am I walked the streets until 9am where I then phoned the bank and regained access to my funds,

checked into a hotel and went to sleep.

The sleepless night affected my ability to enjoy any of my further trip and in turn it left me unable to see the matinée I had booked for the following day.

My question to CAG is

what is a reasonable amount for me to ask from the bank as compensation,

what is a reasonable amount of money for me to request for the phone calls that i made.

Thanks guys

Matt

Many people consider that a custodial sentence (in relation to non payment of a court fine) is an 'either or' sentence (either you go to prison or you pay the fine....but not both).

 

As far as I am aware, the position is that a prison sentence is a punishment for not paying the fine, and the period of imprisonment is set for a specific period of time (as outlined in Schedule 4 of the Magistrates Courts Act 1980) that the court consider will likely result in payment being made.

 

If payment is made before the prison terms ends, the individual will be released.

I would like to say a huge thank you to Bailiff Advice for what she has done for me, I am so grateful that somebody would go out of there way to do this for me. I spoke to marstons many times speaking to superiors and managers and I was assured that there was nobody in the whole company who could change a payment date, and when I was first speaking to them I was in tears on the phone when they wouldn't give me until the end of Feb to pay as I knew exactly what was going to happen come mid Feb when I didn't have the money to pay.

But a huge huge thank you to Bailiff Advice, please let me know if there is anything I can do to repay you.

It is clear beyond any doubt that you are not refusing to pay and have made astonishing progress in paying back such a huge fine. In my opinion it would be a gross injustice for your account to be referred to an enforcement agent for a personal visit (and with it the debt increasing by £235.

 

I will approach one of the moderators later today to get a message to you with details of a person at Marston Group who should be able to accept your revised payment proposal.

 

Once again, well done for managing to pay such a large fine and turning your life around.

Thank-you very much i will look forward to the message this is greatly appreciated

I want to start out by saying this court fine refers back to an offence I was arrested and charged for in late 2012,

Back then I was up my head in debt and i was gambling every penny I had.

Step forward to 2016, I am now a gambler in recovery after attending rehab

and back on the straight and narrow working as a Web Developer.

Several years back when I was given my fine by oxford magistrates court

I was also given 50 hours worth of unpaid work which I had no intention of doing,

was breached and sent to 6 Months as Her Majesty's Pleasure,

While inside I managed to apply for a space in a rehab at the other side of a country

and when I was released I went directly to the residential rehab

and undergo treatment to get to me where i am today.

From the legal advice at the time I was advised that the court would be wiped when I was re-sentenced

and that was the last I heard of the fine until the 4th Jan this year.

I had received a letter from Marson's Group letting me know that I had until the 14th to either pay in full

or sign up onto there payment plan and with their fee's - the debt was now £4015.57

Given no choice I signed up to their (ONLY) payment plan

which consisted of a first payment of £1204.57

then 6 WEEKLY not monthly WEEKLY payments of £468.51,

I tried to get some advice and everything I was told was to pay it as quick as i could

and I needed to get it under the £1500 mark as they threatened to add £235 + 7.5% in fees

there is currently £1370 left to pay

the final payment on the 16th of feb which will turn out to be £430

i cannot afford until I next get paid on the last day of the month.

I've tried speaking to marstons regarding this and they tell me that if i don't keep to the plan

that they will move it to the enforcement stage and add fees,

I can't help but think these guys just want me to fail so they are able to collect more money off me.

I have no clue what to do or where I stand / how i can get an extra 10 days

between when my last payment is due and i can pay it.

Help me please CAG

Hi CAG,

Wondering if I could get a little bit of advice here on what I should do and where to start. I've been claiming income related ESA since the 8th of April 2014 and on the 26th September 2014 I had my ATOS assessment.

This week the DWP/ESA have decided and placed me in the Work Related Activity group (Yay - I think?). Well they have put me in the group from the 26th September 2014 and told me that I will be back paid from the 26th September not the 14th week of my ESA claim like it says on there website

If the assessment takes longer than 13 weeks your benefit will be backdated to the 14th week of the claim.

None of my circumstances have changed between the 8th of April and today so I see no reason why I should be penalised for the long wait time for my assessment.

Thanks CAG...