Marston group - HELP!!

[becki2404]

Hi there this my first post on this site, i really need some advice, i had a letter this morning from Marston Group saying i have a fine with HMCS Greater Manchester to the amount of £525, they say they have a magistrates court order and i must pay the total sum within seven days of the letter.

I have absolutely no idea what they are talking about, this is the first ive heard of any fine, i cannot think what it could be for, ive never had any correspondence regarding a fine and this letter from Marston Group is the first one. In the letter it says they will send a bailiff to take my things, im beginning to panic, i have 3 small children at home with me and my husband works all day, the letter is in my name only not my husbands, what on earth do i do about this? thanks for reading and please reply with any advice.

[ShinySheen]

you need to ring the Court ASAP and ask what its for

did they leave any paperwork ....warrant numbers ect

[Bazooka Boo]

Does it have a reference number on it for the court? Does it have the court name on their? It is probably Northampton, and if you know nothing about it this will have been a judgement by default so can be set aside.

 

First you need to check with the court if there is and what this judgement is for.

 

Have you ever had any debts, unpaid council tax, fines??

[2ltr16valve]

Just a stab in the dark here, but dont suppose you had a visit from TV licensing have you before and not had a license ?

 

Reason for saying that, is we had TVL'ing turn up here and I refused to let them in or answer questions... 7 months later marstons on the door to collect a court fine in a completely wrong name etc.

[brassnecked]

Is this for TV Licence?, have you moved recently?

[whyme-agen]

Hi Becki,

 

Firstly Don't panic, your'e in good company here.

 

Have Marstons given you any details at all about this fine?

 

I think you need to get in touch with the court about this.

 

Last year, I had a letter from Avon and Somerset court, regarding an unpaid fine of £1000+

 

As I live on the east coast, I was somewhat surprised by this.

 

I contacted the court, and within 24 hours, job was sorted.

 

I was told that it was a case of mistaken identity, but how these people get it so wrong completely baffles me.

 

Chin up

[becki2404]

Hi everyone thanks for replying, its not tv license, we pay it by DD, its says its hmrc greater manchester, there's a client ref on it, and only says on it what I outlined above, there's no other paperwork attached just that 1 letter, my brother is currently sitting the bar exam and is applying to barristers chambers, I asked his advice and he said any of the debts we have would be dealt with in county court not magistrates, I simply don't have a clue about any fine, I just don't know what to do

[becki2404]

I should add that I lived in Manchester 18 months ago I now live in Glasgow.

[dx100uk]

it will be a parking fine / pcn/ speeding /

 

certainly not tv etc

 

dx

[josephbloggs]

Driving with no insurance

Driving with no valid tax disc

Not registering vehicle sorn

Not having a tv licence

Drunk and disorderly fine

Public order offence

Speeding fine.

All of the above are possible types of magistrate fines enforceable by a bailiff

[ploddertom]

Do you have a common name, not the first time they have chased an innocent person.

 

PT

[brassnecked]

Yes if they are after an A Jones, they may chase several A Joneses in the area they think they have moved to and hope they have the right one, but the A Jones they want may not even be there, unfortunately as pointed out by PT this isn't the first time they may have the wrong person, You need to find out monday using the court reference what the address in Manchester they sent all the correspondence to, if it isn't your old one then they (Marstons who will have done the search) have stuffed up. the problem will be getting rid of them as even with prima-facie proof you aren't the debtor, they are as hard to get rid of as herpes; unfortunately, they don't appear to care if they pressure an innocent into paying, so long as they get paid by someone.

[becki2404]

I'm going to ring the court on monday, I just don't have a clue what its for as everything everybody has said it could be doesn't apply to me, I'm not sure its mistaken identity as they have my middle name also, this really is the last thing I need right now :s

[Bazooka Boo]

Relax, please don't waste your time worrying over something as trivial as this......life is far too short to worry over something as trivial as money.

 

Give the court a bell on Monday, and I am sure you will be able to sort this out..

[brassnecked]

I'm going to ring the court on monday, I just don't have a clue what its for as everything everybody has said it could be doesn't apply to me, I'm not sure its mistaken identity as they have my middle name also, this really is the last thing I need right now :s

 

As has been posted by BB don't panic, relax sort it Monday, there are probably loads of people with your first and middle name, it is easier for bailiff and debt collection agencies to target the wrong person than you think, Chill out it can be sorted and Caggers are there to help

[becki2404]

Thanks everyone, I will post back when I know what's going on!

[seanamarts]

Any news on this??

[becki2404]

Hia everyone, I've bin to court today and did the statutory declaration, and it has now bin resolved, the clerk at the court called marstons for me and told them that I have made the declaration and not to persue me, the fine was for dvla failure to notify, I sold my car to a friend of ny husband at the beginning of last year, and as you know you have send the form back to dvla, which I did the same day (actually using post box down the road from the guys house!) The form was either lost in the post or was misplaced by some desk monkey at the dvla, I moved house a month before the court papers were issued so I had no idea what happened, I was in court for 3 hours, I suffer with panic attacks and ended up having one in the court room, absolutely horrible experience for something that isn't my fault. I just hope I have no further problems with the bailiffs now.

[brassnecked]

Check out DVLA on the Motoring forums, as they may send you a new fine of around £75 for failing to notify, you could use a stat dec to say when you posted the V5, and that it legally can be assumed to have been delivered via the post, there is lots of advice on how to deal with them, as Watchdog have investigated DVLA shenanigans

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/forumdisplay.php?140-DVLA

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?320424-Failure-to-notify-almost-at-court-stage...

 

The DVLA rely on saying you must check to see if they have changed the details, but there is NO LEGAL DUTY to contact them,

[seanamarts]

There was something about this on watchdog last week, this has been happening to a lot of people just recently. Write a formal complaint to the CEO of DVLA and get them to look at it.

[Bazooka Boo]

Failure to notify, notice to owner, parking charges, SORN declarations.....I cannot think of a worse thing to do than buy a car, pay tax on it, pay for the fuel and pay tax on that, pay for road TAX, MOT, insurance and pay tax on that, servicing tyres wipers all pay tax on, and then because you have registered the car with the government they take ownership of it and make you the registered keeper, and if you fail to act by their rules and regulations they will threaten you with taking the car off you, which you paid for but they own, and crush it?

 

Rant over!

[seanamarts]

and totally agree with what you said.

[becki2404]

Hi there's no way I'm going to pay the dvla any money, I put it in the post and its not my fault there procedures are useless! I just want to put it behind me now and get back living my life, thanks for all your advice guys!

[becki2404]

And also I don't see why the dvla would try it again as I've had the conviction quashed.