Marstons letter

[simonf1975]

Hi all,

 

I am after some advice, I have been paying off my court fines slowly but surely at £20 a month, I got in to 2 months arrears, but made a payment of £40 via the online payment services to bring it back up to date....but unknown to me, the courts had sent my account to Marston Ltd, and I have received a letter demanding the full payment within 7 days.

 

I have no means of paying it in full, and when i contacted the office to arrange a payment schedule or for it to get taken back to the courts, I was flatly told no and that a bailiff would attend within the next 7-14 days to place levy upon my goods.

 

The address I live at both Marston and the courts have down as my C/O address as when i first moved there that is how it was, the tenancy is in my partners name and 90% of the "assets" are hers but we have no way of proving they are hers and not mine.

 

Q. What should I expect and what should i do when the bailiff turns up?

Q. I have no way of paying in full, but i cannot see them accepting £20 a month like the court did, so on that basis what do i do? I am happy to continue paying the £20 a month?

 

Very worried as we have 4 young children between us.

 

Any help greatly appreciated.

[padja]

first thing was you made an error by not informing the court about missed payments and then again by paying £40 and not informing them it was the missed payments. However of course Marstons are going to demand the full payment within 7 days but if you can afford it you will have to enter into an arrangement. I dont know too much about court fines so someone with more experience will help. One piece of advice do not talk on the phone to bailiffs always in writing to them.

[wonkeydonkey]

Tell them it's £20 a month take it or leave it...if they choose to leave it then you can wait to be summoned to Court to explain why you have not paid the fine....and go armed with the telling, Court refused your payments, bailiff refused your payments and then ask how are you expected to pay please? Meanwhile make absolutely sure you open a savings account elsewhere and religiously put that £20 a month away so when the time comes you can offer all payments to date to the Court there and then.

 

WD

[simonf1975]

Tell them it's £20 a month take it or leave it...if they choose to leave it then you can wait to be summoned to Court to explain why you have not paid the fine....and go armed with the telling, Court refused your payments, bailiff refused your payments and then ask how are you expected to pay please? Meanwhile make absolutely sure you open a savings account elsewhere and religiously put that £20 a month away so when the time comes you can offer all payments to date to the Court there and then.

 

WD

when they refuse that amount and threaten to levy my belongings, what do i do?? just keep refusing to let them in my partners house?? the thing is with 4 young children it only takes one of them to let them in [i know they are not permitted to enter if a child is letting them in] but once they are in they are in...i am also wondering that if they were able to get in, could they take anything given it is my partners tenancy and her house and her belongings?

 

will the bailiff return it to the courts?

Edited August 8, 2011 by simonf1975

[wonkeydonkey]

Your partner can swear a stat declaration (any solicitor and costs approx £10) to the effect all the goods in the home were hers long before you arrived on the scene.

There a templates on here to show what you need to write.

 

Eventually it will go back to the Court and you will be asked to attend a hearing as to why you have not paid.

Keep the doors and windows locked at all times regardless of the inconvenience this will cause you.

[ploddertom]

Nothing stopping you selling your own things to someone.

 

PT

[simonf1975]

Nothing stopping you selling your own things to someone.

 

PT

 

so would i need to write her a receipt?? do you have a link to the template for the stat deceleration is?? prob best bet as in all honesty, 90-95% of the stuff is hers. Would we then just show that to the bailiff [outside of the property obviously]

[ploddertom]

STATUTORY DECLARATION

 

I,____________________________ ______________

 

address_________________________________________________

 

_______________________________________________________

 

make the following declaration under the Statutory Declarations Act 1835:

 

All items contained within the property at the above address and within it's boundaries, are owned by Mr XXX XXXX & Mrs XXX XXXX . There are no items within the property or it's boundaries belonging to any other person.

 

I understand that a person who intentionally makes a false statement in a statutory declaration is guilty of an offence under section 11 of the Statutory Declarations Act 1835, and I believe that the statements in this declaration are true in every particular.

 

Signed:

 

 

Declared at___________________on__________________of 20___

Before me,

 

 

Full Name___________________________Qualification____________

 

 

Address__________________________________________________

of person before whom the declaration is made (in printed letters)

 

You can have this done at just about any Solicitor - no appointment needed. Approx cost £5/£10 but you will need at least 3 copies. Just hand a copy to your new mate.

 

PT

[simonf1975]

excellent thanks, do you think any of these unscrupulous bailiff's will actually take any notice of it though??

 

in the mean time should i keep paying my court fine via the online facility at direct.gov.uk??

[simonf1975]

will the bailiff enter into an agreement with me for the money that is owed?? or will they just try and get it all at once?

[ploddertom]

Bailiff will no doubt tell you all has to be paid immediately. What he won't tell you is that apparently they have an agreement with HMCS to spread over 6 months I believe.

 

PT

[wonkeydonkey]

Hi

 

If you PM me with the following I will draft a letter for you to send to the Court.

 

Date of the Court Hearing

 

What the fines relate to Motoring/tv licence/criminal

 

1 What the Court ordered you to pay by way of payment

2 How many payments had been made prior to default

3 Date defaulted payments were "caught up with"

4. Date you contacted Marstons and were refused acceptance of installments.

 

Have Stat Dec ready to send a copy with the letter I will draft should you wish me to do so.

 

WD

[simonf1975]

Hi WonkeyDonkey,

 

Would like to say a big thank you for all your help and advice, and the encouragement to stay firm when they applied the pressure, on several occasions I nearly folded and agreed to meet their demands, but your words of advice really helped...Today I received a letter from the court demanding payment of my fines in full [Marstons have obviously had the account returned to them following my partners stat deceleration and my refusal to communicate with them] I phoned them up and explained my situation and they have agreed an affordable payment plan over the phone, They also recalled the other fine from Marstons as they said I had grounds for appeal and will be sending me out an appeal pack!! so happy happy days....another small victory over the thieving bailiffs!! and all the charges that Marston added were not on the account neither.

 

Would like to say thanks again to all those that helped and advised....and to other people facing bailiff problems, listen and follow the advice given and YOU CAN beat them.

 

Thank you so much for your help

[ploddertom]

Good to hear things are sorted, certainly takes the pressure off. Would suggest if the Court docs do not arrive in say 10 days then chase them as otherwise you could end up back in the same position.

 

PT

[wonkeydonkey]

Well done, it isn't easy to have steady nerves when dealing with a bailiff, I am sure caggers will be pleased to hear their support is appreciated.

Now you have got your life back...........enjoy it with your family.

 

WD

[tomtubby]

On the matter of the 2nd fine. What does the court means that you can appeal?

 

Can you post back when you get the "appeal pack"

[simonf1975]

I received the appeal pack today, I have been told I have grounds to appeal as i was unfairly fined for a speeding offence....I accepted the 3 points and £60 fine, sent off my licence etc next thing i know I get a court date...I contacted the court stating I had sent off payment etc with my licence...i spoke to the local speeding fines office who also had no record of it, but did say it might have got lost while they were moving offices...I spoke to the court explaining the situation, and they told me to put all the relevant info an email, which i did....yet on the day of the hearing they gave me a £270 fine!!! bit unfair as i had accepted the £60 fine and it wasn't my fault they didn't receive my documents and payment.

 

what i received is an application for leave to appeal out of time to the crown court...

 

seems a lot to fill in, quite long winded and complicated :s

Edited November 10, 2011 by simonf1975

[tomtubby]

I have seen plenty of similar queries like yours and in EVERY case the Magistrates Court have simply accepted a Statutory Declaration. I would certainly be interested in seeing a copy...