B&Q

[BadDecision]

Ok..here I go.

On 22th of December I made the single most stupid thing in my life. I tried to steal about 70 pounds of stuff from a B&Q store. They were mostly bits and drills,small things.. Only I and God knows how I felt and still feel after that event..so I won't try to justify myself. Instead I'm asking for some advices.

Long story short: got caught,taken in a room,police were called,given a fixed penalty notice of 100pounds (which I paid),details taken,banned and told to await a call from a Civil Recovery company withing a week or two. The security guy told me 100 times how important is to answer the call and pay the fine,otherwise I would be taken to court immediatly.

I've been ever since awaiting for that call,to answer and pay for my shameful act so that I can sleep better. I have not received any calls or letter to this day,only a mysterious "private number" call which I missed this morning,a call that I'm inclined to believe it was from them.

I stated to the manager and the security guy that I would pay five times that amount,only because I was so ashamed of myself and I wanted to do the right thing. I almost begged that they accept 350 pounds right there on the spot.

I even intend to pay this civil recovery fine,but I'm not so sure

Can you guys provide me with some advices/replies,please?

What's the worst that can happen now? Will I get a criminal record or something like that?

When I do receive a call or letter,what should I do?

Edited January 17, 2014 by BadDecision

[renegadeimp]

DO NOT PAY THE CIVIL RECOVERY BUSINESS.

 

 

It is NOT a fine in any sense of the word. The police have already dealt with you, its over, done. The civil recovery business is basically a huge con to extort money out of you. If you pay, you are legitimising their borderline illegal business practice.

 

The civil recovery cannot do ANYTHING to you regarding a criminal record. Only the police and courts can. They cant say anything to pursuade the police or courts, because frankly, it has got nothing to do with them.

[silverfox1961]

Hi and welcome to CAG

 

Here you will not be judged as you have done that yourself.

 

You received a fixed penalty from the plod. Now I cannot say whether this stays on any police record or not. Others will have to say.

 

As for the CIVIL claim, whichever company contacts you, they are after profit. Nothing to do with crime prevention.

 

Even if they did take you to court (highly unlikely) it is not a criminal case and no conviction will result if you lost.

 

I would now wait and see what appears through the post before your next step. IF they try phoning, just say 'In Writing' and hang up.

[ims21]

If it was the Police who gave you the FPN and you paid it then that is the end of the matter.

 

You will not be judged on this site. If the above is correct you have been dealt with by the police and paid the penalty.

 

You won't get a criminal record as this has been dealt with as a civil matter.

 

The Civil Recovery people may try and get you to pay them some money but you really should not be parting with anything to them. They have no power to take you to court, only the retailer can do that and as I have said this has already been dealt with via a Fixed Penalty.

 

You may receive threats and intimidation from the Civil Recovery people but do not give in to them.

 

Have you read some of the other threads here about Civil Recovery? If not you would be wise to do so as there is a wealth of information which you will find useful and perhaps interesting.

[BadDecision]

But the security guy told me he's got me on CCTV and will send the footage to a Civil Recovery Company,which therefore will be used in a court in case I won't pay the fine.

Thank you for your understanding. It's really a heart lifting.

[ims21]

You have already paid the fine which was issued by the police.

 

Only the retailer can issue against you which is extremely unlikely.

 

Of course the security guy would tell you that....he works for the Civil Recovery company.

[BadDecision]

How extremly unlikely is that unlikely..ness

Also,how is this going to affect me in the long run? Employment,credit,college?

Edited January 17, 2014 by BadDecision

[silverfox1961]

Sounds like this security guard is on commission.

 

It doesn't matter that they have CCTV. The police have dealt with it.

 

Make no mistake, they will try everything to get you to cough up but please read around the forum and see what happened in other cases.

 

If you really want to investigate more, go on the RLP website and see when they last (read that as retailer) took anyone to court.

[ims21]

This is a civil matter. There will not be any criminal conviction.

 

You have paid the fixed penalty issued by the police.

 

You have been dealt with and that is the end of it on that front.

 

Civil Recovery (whichever company B&Q use) will try and intimidate, frighten and bully you into paying money to them. Do not fall for it as you will only be helping to fund their operation to intimidate and frighten others into giving them money which they have no right to demand.

 

It has been suggested that you do some reading around the forum at other similar threads. There are many of them.

 

Go and do some reading and all will become clear to you.

[Sidewinder]

The police took the option to give you a fixed penalty instead of prosecuting you through the Court system. That is the end of their involvement, so stop worrying on that score. You will not have a criminal record, however the matter will be retained on file and disclosed if deemed relevant during any future DBS check which may be required for certain jobs etc.

 

As stated previously you should not pay any Civil Recovery company a penny. They have no part in what has happened and are merely trying to extract money to which they are not entitled. Anything you pay does not go entirely to the retailer - the vast majority goes to the CR company. They will write to you and issue dire (and groundless) threats that you will be hauled in front of a Judge at the County Court and made to pay for your wrongdoing - just remember though that only the retailer themselves can do this, not the CR company, and they will almost certainly not do so - a)due to the cost which they would be most unlikely to recover, and b)because any claim would be made on extremely shaky foundations and in a defended case they stand a very high chance of losing and putting at risk the entire CR business model - which is exactly what happened in a case a little under two years ago.

 

They will be hoping (hence why they tend to strike whilst the iron is hot) that your shame and the threat of scary sounding words like 'Court' and 'Debt Collector' will be enough to make you pay up to make the problem go away. One particular organisation even loves to trawl through these pages to match details with cases on file and will tell you that your posts acknowledge your wrongdoing and that you have not expressed remorse for your actions and should take professional advice because we are all layabouts who know nothing and are putting you at risk. The only real risk is to their balance sheet!

 

With a bit of a thick skin however, what will make them go away is to ignore them completely - save for perhaps sending a single line response - 'I deny any liability to your company or any client that you claim to represent' and after four or five increasingly desperate letters they will get a scary debt collector to write (although there is no 'debt' to collect) and they will then refer it back to their client 'to prepare papers to issue proceedings' and that should be the last that you hear.

 

You have done wrong, you know this, and no doubt you are most unlikely to do it again - paying an exorbitant and unnecessary sum of money will not change that, but it will legitimise their borderline unlawful demands and we cannot stress enough that CR companies should have no place in the justice system whatsoever. The police had it in their power to prosecute but chose not to do so - that is where it should always start and finish with criminal offences. In the hands of those who represent the law.

[BadDecision]

Thank You !

Edited January 17, 2014 by BadDecision

[renegadeimp]

Stop. Worrying. The police have dealt with it. its done, finished over. 70 is a lot to you, but NOTHING to B&Q. Move on with your life and ignore the silly Civil recovery company. it doesnt matter if they werent in a sellable condition, as we've stated multiple times now, the police have dealt with it, the matter is now closed.

[BadDecision]

Thank you so much !

[BadDecision]

So,I've received my letter on the 26th of February. It's from Civil Recovery Solutions and they're claiming 180,then says something about settlement figure which says I only have to pay 145.

I see this company is different from the usual RLP. It says "On behalf of Civil Recovery Solutions Limited".

Is there any chance they'll take me to court?

Any advice is most welcome.

Thank you !

[renegadeimp]

Ignore or send the one line letter. They are exactly the same as RLP.

 

Can you scan and post up that letter. I dont see how they are saying on behalf of CRS when its CRS sending the letter.

[BadDecision]

I'll just ignore them then.

[silverfox1961]

CRS are the same as RLP. Full of bovine excrement. There letters contain certain key words. 'May' 'Could' 'If' They rarely say 'Will'

 

CRS can take no action independently from B&Q.

 

RLP used to work for B&Q until B&Q sacked them and sent this response to the BBC watchdog program.

 

"At B&Q the safety and security of our customers and employees is a priority. Like many retailers we use Civil Recovery as a mechanism to deter shop lifters from our stores. We have ceased working with Retail Loss Prevention (RLP) having given them notice at the end of October 2010. We instructed them at the time to drop every case that had been highlighted by the Citizens Advice Bureau's report including the one you featured in tonight's programme. Our aim is to ensure our Civil Recovery policy is used in only the most responsible way."

So they drop RLP and CRS take over. A most responsible way? Nope! Just as bad.

 

This is just the first of the chain of threat-o-grams designed to intimidate before passing the 'debt to a debt collector. Ermm! What debt?

[ScarletPimpernel]

Clearly civil recovery is not a deterrent, because it is, by its nature, applied after the event. Meanwhile, professional, organised shoplifters and staff continue to be responsible for the vast majority of retail theft.

[ericsbrother]

Chances of taking you to court? ZERO as they dont have any rights over anything. You can recover monies owed by civil action and that debt can be for a breach of contract, civil tort (where a wrong has been done to you that has cost you money) and for certain damages under statute law. None of this applies to these people and they know it.