Marston been at the door today

[daggz68]

Hi. Have had marston at the door today. Not let them in. Not even my property, I rent a room. The landlady saw them and let me know they were outside. They said it was for non payment of fines, my fault entirely but have added on almost £300!

 

They came I think sometime very early in the year and put a letter through the letter box. I did ring the courts back then I but they said to go through them. Me being the kind of person to bury their head in the sand left it.

 

They are saying they can gain entry ( but not my property ) and take goods? Surely they have to know who's goods they are? Also showed them only part of my rental agreement and as it says nothing about just a room they can view the lot? That cannot be right? Only my room surely?

 

I got through to their office and the unhelpful woman said I cannot pay by installments. BUT out of the blue the guy at the door also said there is another fine they had let him know about and I CAN pay that one by installments. My landlady called the police but they have not turned up yet.

 

I have no cash or good to sell to pay the fine off at all. I do work and own a crappy car to get me there and back and pick up the kids from their mums and that is all.

 

What can I do? Land lady is in bits, saying I have to move out after xmas, scared they will break in to her house, I'm in no real fit state to deal with confrontation at times other than shouting etc which is no real good to anyone.

 

Any advice is good

Edited December 17, 2012 by citizenB
formatting

[i hate bailiffs]

they can gain entry through a open door or window they wont be breaking in at this point

 

you may be able to make arrangements with the court to pay the fine

if the bailiffs are not able to levy or satisfy the debt they will have to hand it back to the court given time

[daggz68]

The guy said he had ( or could ) apply to get a warrant? to gain entry via a locksmith. I called the courts and they said they could not arrange payments as it had been passed on to Marston

[unclebulgaria67]

What I would suggest that you do is make a visit to the magistrates court and ask for their help. Advise them that the bailiffs have refused an offer to pay by instalments and you do not have the means to pay a lump sum. The magistrates can arrange a short hearing where your income and expenditure is looked at and they will arrange an affordable payment arrangement which you must keep to. Take full details of your income and expenditure with you to the court.

 

If you do this then hopefully the bailiffs will be called off and your landlady will be much happier.

[daggz68]

They said they would call back in 2 days? The courts are no where near myself now as I had moved over a year ago

[daggz68]

What I would suggest that you do is make a visit to the magistrates court and ask for their help. Advise them that the bailiffs have refused an offer to pay by instalments and you do not have the means to pay a lump sum. The magistrates can arrange a short hearing where your income and expenditure is looked at and they will arrange an affordable payment arrangement which you must keep to. Take full details of your income and expenditure with you to the court.

 

 

 

If you do this then hopefully the bailiffs will be called off and your landlady will be much happier.

Will this be for the original amount or plus what the bailiff has added on? The guy never said what the extra charges were for

[unclebulgaria67]

They said they would call back in 2 days? The courts are no where near myself now as I had moved over a year ago

 

Go to your nearest magistates court and they can still deal with it. Try to do this today or tomorrow at the latest. When you get to the court, insist on a hearing with magistrates, as you wish to enter into affordable payment arrangements in regard to the fines.

 

What was the court fine for ?

 

Bailiffs do have right to force entry for criminal fines, but this is hardly every used, as they would normally report back to the court and make you attend the court.

[daggz68]

It was for not attending community service twice. 2 days I missed but finished it all way over a year ago. cannot get there today as work in 2 hours. Will try tomorrow afternoon

 

The new one they suddenly found is for non payment of fines.

 

I will gladly pay the fines off if possible to do so with installments

[unclebulgaria67]

Just get there as early as possible with all the information and insist on sorting this out with the magistrates.

[daggz68]

Will try for the morning. So far the courts not been helpful over the phone regarding payment

[daggz68]

My local court told me to ring payments which is Southend on Sea. They only had details of the second fine which Marston pulled out of the hat and could not help me with the original fine

[daggz68]

Just had a re-think. I was not them earlier in the year putting a letter through the door. That was phillips

[unclebulgaria67]

My local court told me to ring payments which is Southend on Sea. They only had details of the second fine which Marston pulled out of the hat and could not help me with the original fine

 

Still go to the court and try to sort this out. They should have details on the court system of all fines outstanding in your name and should be able to provide a print out. Perhaps Marstons have been passed some wrong information. The main thing is seeing the magistrates and sorting out payments for the fines that you owe. Just remember to take with your proof of ID and details of income/expenditure.

[daggz68]

The southend/basildon court is for the second fine marston said about when they arrived. The 1st is not on southend/basildons records, so they said on the phone

[unclebulgaria67]

The southend/basildon court is for the second fine marston said about when they arrived. The 1st is not on southend/basildons records, so they said on the phone

 

Surely there must be a central record system that all magistrates courts use ? If the 1st fine is not on record, I would question why this is the case. People do move, so they would need to be able to access their nearest Magistrates court to sort out these issues.

 

Try to sort it out tomorrow. Remember you have work to get to.

[tomtubby]

You need to get to the court before 9am in order to swear a Statutory Declaration on the basis that you had not received a summons in connection with the 2nd fine.

Edited December 17, 2012 by tomtubby

[daggz68]

You need to get to the court before 9am in order to swear a Statutory Declaration on the basis that you had not received a summons in connection with the 2nd fine.

i have received one. but was not nice how marston suddenly pulled it out the blue while at the house.

[daggz68]

Just copy and pasted this from else where

What If I Cannot Pay What the Bailiff is Demanding?

 

Although this is covered below, it is worth mentioning here to avoid panic! In a Magistrates’ Court, there is no simple form for Stay of Execution or Variation of Terms of Agreement as there is in the civil courts. However, if a bailiff if visiting you (Stage 4 below) and demanding more than you can afford, you can, and should write to the Court, or even attend in person and ask for a Means Enquiry Hearing. It is entirely up to the court whether or not you are granted a hearing. You may need to ask several times, and there is still no guarantee of success at this stage.

 

If there is any question of vulnerability with you, get a letter from a health professional to take with you, you are far more likely then to be granted the hearing.

 

Eventually you will be offered one as part of the process anyway, but it is good if you can show your willingness and anxiety to settle the fine.

Bailiffs are not keen to accept installments with Magistrates' Courts fines as they do not receive payment until the whole fine is settled. However, they cannot over-ride a court order.

 

Procedure

1. After you have been fined, you will be sent notice of the fine and the repayment rate, if one has been set.

2. If payments are not made, or payments are missed, you will be sent a reminder (Further Steps Notice)

3. If you do not bring your repayments up to date, a court hearing will be arranged and you will be told the date. This I have not had!!

4. If you do not attend the hearing, it is likely that a warrant will be issued for your arrest (with or without bail), and you will be brought back before the court. These are normally executed by Private Bailiffs. This I have not had!!

5. If a suspended sentence warrant is already in place on the fine, a Committal Warrant will be issued to send you to prison.

6. If a Warrant has been issued, you must pay this. If you cannot pay, you should contact the Fines Office of the Court to arrange for a Means Enquiry Hearing. In this, you simply complete an Income and Expenditure sheet in order that the Magistrates can agree an affordable repayment level. It is critical that you are able to sustain this payment in the long term. Obviously it is in your interest to arrange this hearing as soon as possible. If you are in receipt of certain benefits, you can apply to have the fine paid directly from these at the rate of £5.00 per week

 

from here

http://www.google.info/forums/showthread.php?34065-Magistrates-Courts-Fines

[daggz68]

One thing they never did was tell me what the extra charges were for. Are they meant to tell me and also in writing?

[brassnecked]

It seems that HMCS are forgetful of their duties in these cases as Step 2 and 3 seem to be omitted on a regular basis,, and no opportunity given for a means hearing, merely shunt the whole thing to the bailiff in breach of due process.

[daggz68]

Been to Basildon court. Was put through to Southend payment office. Man there was helpful but could not get me a new hearing. he told me to appeal against the original fine ( the Southend one as they only deal with the Southend/Basildon area ) Said they would possibly put on another £100 to the fine but be able to pay in installments. Still does not help me with Marston turning up for The Romford fine

[daggz68]

Land lady today has got a Statutory Declaration which she is taking to the courts to be signed. Says she owns everything in the property except the items in my room. She has also said what room I live in. I have not yet heard anything from Marston themselves

[unclebulgaria67]

Been to Basildon court. Was put through to Southend payment office. Man there was helpful but could not get me a new hearing. he told me to appeal against the original fine ( the Southend one as they only deal with the Southend/Basildon area ) Said they would possibly put on another £100 to the fine but be able to pay in installments. Still does not help me with Marston turning up for The Romford fine

 

Sounds pretty odd that the courts are not linked up.

 

Think you will have to get through to Romford to see what they can do to help.

 

These are the contact details

 

General enquiries and results 020 8437 6525

 

Email address

 

[email protected]

[daggz68]

Sent an email.

[email protected]

Dear Sir/Madam,

my name is Mr. **** ****, formerly of ** *********** ****, *********. *****. On Monday 17th December two representatives from Marston came to the property I now rent a room in ( *****************). They were not allowed in as The property is owned by Mrs. * *********. They threatened myself and Mrs. * ********** by saying they would get a locksmith and take goods from the premises. They said they could look where ever they liked and take what they like. The representative from them is called Mr. M Mxxxxxxxxxxx. I had a hard time understanding him. The other person with him said he was just a trainee. I never got his name or details. I was told I owed them £460 for which they said was an outstanding amount of £160 for a fine. They did not however say why the amount was £300 more. I have now been threatened with eviction because of this.

While here they said they suddenly had a call from their office, this I did not hear as I was back in the house at the time. Mr Mxxxxxxxx said if I paid the outstanding £460 then they would not come back for the other fine till the end of January and could pay that by installments. I asked if I could pay the £460 in installments but he refused this. As to why I can pay one fine and not another in installments he would not say.

As far as I am aware, Mrs. * ******** has signed a statuary declation at Chelmsford court on oath to say what items belong to herself in the whole property including land outside in case they turn up and start taking things that do not belong to me.

I am prepared to pay the fine off, but only through the courts and would like a means test hearing to find out what I can pay off weekly or monthly to clear this matter as soon as possible as I have no way of finding the money they are after, or goods for them to take.

 

 

 

Yours sincerely

 

Mr. **** *****

DOB *******

Tel No. *******

Edited December 20, 2012 by ploddertom
Removed Bailiff's name

[daggz68]

One thing that gets me. Why do they not have a proper address? Only a Po box 308 number and a postcode that shows up in the middle of no where? EN9 1ZN