Marstons/Distress Warrant/Fine already paid

[dnpbutler]

on 18th march 2011 we received letter from hmcs dated 16th march 2011 requesting us to pay the remaining balance (£45) of a car tax fine. the letter stated that we must pay within 10 days of the date of the letter or a distress warrant will be issued and we will be charged bailiffs fees etc. we paid the £45 by online transfer on the 18th march.

 

then we received a letter dated 16th april 2011 from marstons saying that we owe £45 plus £75 costs. rang to say that we had already paid the £45 back in march within the 10 day timescale and sent in a copy of the bank statement proving the payment was made. had confirmation from them that they received the bank statement and that were contacting the court.

 

fast forward to yesterday a bailiff from marstons turned up on doorstep with distress warrant now saying we have to pay £320 - £45 for the original fine, £75 compliance costs and £200 attendance fee.

 

we ended up paying in full despite our protests. showed him the paperwork we had proving that we had already paid which he agreed that the additional costs should never have been applied but his hands were tied. he even rang the court on the doorstep and the court confirmed we did pay on the 18th but still had to pay the fee. bailiff told us to take all the paperwork down to the local magistrates court and appeal. been down to our local one but they said it has to done at the issuing court which is 300 miles away. tried ringing them and we have just been passed from pillar to post round different courts and still have no answers.

 

can anyone help please

Edited July 19, 2011 by dnpbutler
entered wrong date

[Bartok]

This is a DVLA fine, and there are no bailiffs fees for collecting them, well, no statutory bailiffs fees.

 

You need to make a formal complaint to the DVLA - ask in the motoring section for the address of the complaints department, and ask they settle the complaint by refunding you the money the bailiff forced you to pay.

 

If your complaint gets nowhere, then make a written complaint to the parliamentary ombudsman as the DVLA has exposed you to an unlawful pecuniary loss through no fault of your own, and you ask that your loss is made good by the organisation responsible.

[brassnecked]

And if it is DVLA, contact Watchdog at the BBC, as they have the DVLA under investigation, due to their dubious fines charges and unaccountable practices.

[Bartok]

Dont pin your hopes on the BBC doing anything.

 

The Beeb is a government entity and therefore a property of the Queen. It wont do anything proactive against another government department or other agent of the Queen because its considered disloyal to matters of state and to the Queen. Join the funneh handshake club.

 

Some government extremists might call this "treason"

[dnpbutler]

thanks for your replies. not sure whether it makes a difference but the case is already with the magistrates court. initially it was the dvla who issued the fine for having no car tax. car was in husbands name even though he couldnt drive. his step father was at the time paying the running costs etc for the car. his step father was meant to pay the fine but obviously didnt and it went to magistrates court in my husbands name. we werent aware of this until we had letter from the court demanding payment which we were happy enough to do. it was afterall in my husbands name and his mum and step father are in the middle of a messy divorce atm so we didnt want to add fuel to the fire so to speak.

its the magistrates court which has instructed the bailiffs not the dvla. but the court has got the bailiffs involved AFTER the fine had been paid. we paid within the time scale the court set so we are at a loss now what to do. also been on the phone to marstons this morning and they send they had only been instructed to enforce the distress warrant on the 14th april. when clearly or at least it should be that the court could see we had already paid several weeks prior to this.

[brassnecked]

There seems to be something seriously amiss with HMCS and their bailffs, if the fine has already been paid, within the timescale provided, and a distress notice issued when the liability has been discharged. therei s a bone of contention regarding the bailiffs adding fees payable by a debtor on top of the fine regarding a contract with HMCS. perhaps tomtubby and Fork-it could comment on this one.

[dnpbutler]

just to claify, heres the entire content of initial letter sent from court.

 

Value: £45

 

16 March 2011

 

Dear xxxxx

 

A distress warrant will be issued because you have not paid the money you owe. This means you will be liable for bailiff fees.

 

The distress warrant will authorise a Bailiff to collect the money owed by you to the court and any Bailiff fees. If you do not have the money, the Bailiff may seize and sell goods to pay the court and Bailiff fees.

 

To avoid having to pay these Bailiff fees and the risk of your goods being seized and sold, you must take actionwithin 10 days from the date of this letter.

 

(gives details of how to pay)

 

Failure to make contact or pay the amount in full within 10 days from the date of this letter will mean you will be liable for any Bailiff fees in addition to the amount owed to the court.

 

xxxxx

Area Enforcement Business Manager

[dnpbutler]

Value: £45

 

16 March 2011

 

Dear xxxxx

 

A distress warrant will be issued because you have not paid the money you owe. This means you will be liable for bailiff fees.

 

The distress warrant will authorise a Bailiff to collect the money owed by you to the court and any Bailiff fees. If you do not have the money, the Bailiff may seize and sell goods to pay the court and Bailiff fees.

 

To avoid having to pay these Bailiff fees and the risk of your goods being seized and sold, you must take actionwithin 10 days from the date of this letter. Action was taken within 10 days - the action being payment in full on the 18th march. therefore bailiff fees are avoided???

 

(gives details of how to pay)

 

Failure to make contact or pay the amount in full within 10 days from the date of this letter will mean you will be liable for any Bailiff fees in addition to the amount owed to the court.

We did not fail to pay the amount in full within 10 days. We paid within 2. So why are we still liable for Bailiff fees???

xxxxx

Area Enforcement Business Manager

[brassnecked]

send a letter of complaint by email backed up with a hard copy by a signed for service with copies of receipts/proof of payment to the court manager of the court that issued the fine, copied to Marstons imho

 

Others will know more

[ploddertom]

And of course some suitable recompense you charge for all the hassle, grief and interest lost.

 

PT

[tomtubby]

What you had received from the Court was a "Further Steps Notice" and it is simply a notification to advise you of the further steps that can be taken by the court if you do not pay the fine within 14 days of the date of the letter.

 

You paid well within the date and payment was made to the central accounting office and CLEARLY they have failed to properly update or advise the issuing court and the result of THEIR ERROR was that a Distress Warrant was issued to Marston Group.

 

I am very concerned indeed to hear that when you provided CLEAR PROOF to the bailiff that you had paid the fine he called the court who CONFIRMED that payment had indeed been made long before the warrant was issued and YET...... still instructed him to pursue the debt. If this is true, then this also must form part of your FORMAL COMPLAINT to the court.

 

I can assure you that I have come across MANY cases where the courts are making these awful errors and this MUST be bought to the attention of the COURT MANAGER at the court that issued the fine.

 

The problem that is happening at this moment is that many courts are now closing and the fines are being administered in central locations.

 

If you know the issuing court could you either post here or PM me and I will try to get the contact details for you.

 

PS: You are due a refund.....and an apology!!

[dnpbutler]

thanks for your reply. ive drafted a letter to send to the court although amended it slightly after reading your post. im still unsure where to send it to as ive got a few different addresses/court names. on my bank statement the payments show as hmcs portsmouth (thats who we were told to make payments payable to when setting up the bank transfer). The further steps notice letter say Dorset, Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Wiltshire, Area Enforcement, The Law Courts, Park Road, Poole, BH15 2NS. But on the distress warrant form which the bailiffs gave us it says under client name HMCS Hampshire and IOW. Searched on the court finder for this address but says fixed penalty office. are you able to clarify which one i should send to or should i just send it to all of them lol. We tried ringing the no on the fsn to find out which court issued but they are still not picking up The bailiffs phone call to the court was true although i dont know which court /office/ dept he spoke to. and the bailiff saw the prooof of payment himself in black and white

[tomtubby]

Personally, I would send the letter to ALL of them and make sure that you include a copy of the Further Steps Notice.

 

I have sent you a PM

[dnpbutler]

havent received your pm. also tried pm you but wouldnt let me. said your inbox was full lol. rang court again and finally got through. the court issuing the fine was aldershot court. would it be them who also issued the distress warrant or would it be the name on the distress warrant form??? sorry for bombarding with all the questions. really appreciate your help

[dnpbutler]

right, just a bit of an update and hopefully a little bit more of advice would be appreciated.

 

ive sent complaint/appeal letter to the court and have received a reply back from them. they confirmed that the payment made on the 18th march was credited to my account on the 23rd march so still in the 10 day deadline. they have said they are contacting marston asking them to refund the bailiffs fees (the court will be returning the initial fine amount) but the court has said its at marstons discretion whether they do or not. the court have asked us to contact marston aswell directly to ask for the refund (just posted a letter to them). the court have also said in the letter that they are investigating the confirmation that marston say they received to continue and enforce the distress warrant.

 

at first i thought this was good news, but is it really? could the court just be saying that to pass the blame onto marstons? (after all it was the courts fault the case was passed to marston anyway) or could it have been marstons not contacting and ringing the court when we provided proof in the hope that we would just pay up? (when we initially provided proof, they stopped asking for £120 and just asked for their £75)

If marstons dont refund the fees how do we find out who is responsible? is it poss to take either of them to court to get the money back which imo was illegally taken.

[brassnecked]

Copy your MP into the complaint, HMCS are still liable for Marstons, but I don't know if you can actually take HMCS to the small claims court, if you could HMCS , whichever court and Marstons would be joint defendants imho. but others will know more