Equita letter

[andrew1]

I received a fine for nipping in to a bus lane by error, I rebelled as I'm prone to doing and I am now looking at a fine for £190 as a result. I paid £50 as a down payment then I received this letter from Equita.

 

(It won't upload - but it says what I want to ask you folks below..)

 

I'll have to pay the fine, but what concerned me was the point made in No 1 of this letter....

 

1. "The court has ordered that you clear the arrears in respect of your unpaid Penalty Charge Notice for vehicle (Reg no. left out in the letter)"

 

2. Unless we receive full payment of the outstanding amount or reach agreement for payment by return, further enforcement procedings will be started against you.

 

3. Please contact ladidah.......

 

Now the court ordered I pay the fine, that is correct, but I haven't received any order from the court that I am to pay the arrears.

 

I loathe fines at the best of times, especially as this was a pure mistake and I hadn't noticed the area was a bus lane. I argued my points and whoever looks at these things decided they were right and I was wrong - gormless greedy idiots, but none the less I'm left with it and it's too late to go faffing about with it any longer.

 

However, me being me saw red when I read that statement, anyone any comments on how this should be treated?

 

Thanks

 

A1

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Check with Northampton CCBC.

[citizenB]

I agree, ask the court if they have sent an order to you and if so, could you please have a copy as you dont appear to have received it. Copy it to Equita to let them see you arent going to take their word for the statement they have made.

 

Or ask Equita to provide a copy of the order.

[lookinforinfo]

Hi Myrtle-long time no see-hope you are well.

 

I have been looking at Equitas websites and it says this on one-

 

About our Bailiffs

 

All of Equita’s bailiffs work in a uniform and professional manner and in full accordance with relevant codes of practice and legislation whilst maintaining high standards of business ethics and practice.

 

From that you could take it that they are pretty honourable chaps and it seems unlikely that they would resort to anything. underhand in their dealing with you.........................

 

Interestingly on another of their websites http://www.inorthamptonshire.co.uk at the bottom, they invite customers to review them and noone appears as yet to have written a review.

[citizenB]

Hi Myrtle-long time no see-hope you are well.

 

I have been looking at Equitas websites and it says this on one-

 

About our Bailiffs

 

All of Equita’s bailiffs work in a uniform and professional manner and in full accordance with relevant codes of practice and legislation whilst maintaining high standards of business ethics and practice.

 

From that you could take it that they are pretty honourable chaps and it seems unlikely that they would resort to anything. underhand in their dealing with you.........................

 

Interestingly on another of their websites http://www.inorthamptonshire.co.uk at the bottom, they invite customers to review them and noone appears as yet to have written a review.

 

 

Hmm, so they refused to post my comments, did they

[andrew1]

Hi LFI, yes it's been a while, that's not to say I'm doing now't though, quite the contrary actually. How about yourself?

 

Thanks for the information everyone, most helpful. This could be a double edge sword stoking the fire as if I contact Equita about anything at all, they'll ask me to pay - and they've had it for a week or two and I really don't want some muppet turning up at the door either.... we'll see and I'll check out the court. I've never heard of a Court Order to chase the arrears on a traffic offence fine, not like a mortgage is it after all?

[ploddertom]

What you have is a Council issued ticket - did you know anything about it originally, I also believe you should have had other notifications from the Council before it got to this stage. Since the original misdemeanour occurred have you moved house or was the vehicle registered at a different address?

[andrew1]

What you have is a Council issued ticket - did you know anything about it originally, I also believe you should have had other notifications from the Council before it got to this stage. Since the original misdemeanour occurred have you moved house or was the vehicle registered at a different address?

 

Hi Ploddertom, well I first knew about this when I received a camera shot from the council with the Penalty notice. That said, in trying to answer your question I just looked carefully at the documentation I am sitting on and there is an Order on form PE2 for the recovery of Unpaid penalty charge in the sum of £195 + £7 court registration fee, so I guess that's what they are referring to? That was dated 7/02/12, date of contravention 07/07/2011.

 

I suppose I ought to phone these creeps or they'll be sending in the men with the dogs and dark glasses.

 

I was just so up to my neck with all things loan company and litigation issues that I wasn't the fastest out of the blocks to address any of these things. I just feel so angry they wouldn't take this as a mistake. I had good argument this was not clear when I entered into the area and they just ignored my pleadings. Yes I went into the lane, but there was not another car or bus in sight and I had just turned back on myself after picking up a kebab from the take-away not realising that the white line in the centre of the road was indicating a bus lane. It's a small slip road.

 

Anyway, too late for all that, I just have to deal with the fall out first. It's like a Police state - no common sense, just pay-up.

 

No, I've not moved house or changed the registered place for the vehicle.

 

What do you think, should I call them?

[ploddertom]

You could of course ask to see the the Warrant, I believe this may be a figment of their imagination but don't really know a lot about these. May pay to ask Fairparking or Jamberson if they could advise.

[citizenB]

I thought bus lanes were red !!

[andrew1]

I thought bus lanes were red !!

 

Oh you do have a sense of humour Mrs! LOL

 

Look, I pulled up into a loading bay one side of the road, picked up my kebabs, saw there was no traffic and had not seen any signs from across the junction I'd just come over that the opposite lane was a restricted bus-lane. To be completely honest about it, I jumped into my car and never gave a second thought to white lines, red lanes or anything else, I was more 'looking about' than scrutinising every line on the road and was just looking forward to supper. It's a 2 lane road, quite narrow, but shops everywhere and it was getting late. I saw the road clear in both directions as there are lights one end and I spun the car around doing a U turn off the loading bay and onto the road and went back 100 yrds to the lights. There was nothing about and I didn't feel I was doing a thing wrong, never even gave it a thought it might be a bus lane. Next I knew I got this wretched thing through the post. If I had jumped a red light or done anything dangerous I wouldn't be speaking now about it, but £200 for spinning the car around is just ludicrous and as I say was a complete and utter mistake - pure and simple.

 

It wasn't me thinking I'd get away with something as there was no traffic, nothing like that, I just didn't think about it and was off in my own land of treacle with the fairies. Like you do!

 

I just hate these 'traps' sitting there waiting to catch us out sitting on the top of some lamp post somewhere for the most stupid of things. Lucky they didn't have these damned camera's when I was a teenager, they'd have caught me going around roundabouts the wrong way on a motorbike and sidecar frame with no box on, just a slab of concrete keeping the frame from lifting when we spun it around corners and my chum sitting on the frame hanging on for dear life!

 

Those were the days! LOL