collectica bailiff and missed rail ticket fine enforcement charges.**RESOLVED**

[dayoshir]

I moved house on 1st December and notified the court by email on the 7th December.

 

I'd missed 3 weeks of payments and

 

on the 30th November they passed the fine to collectica.

 

I didn't find this out until the 8th of December when they rang me.

 

I immediately paid the rest of the fine online directly to the court

but they are saying they are going to pass my payment to collectica

and that collectica are going to take their fees off the amount I paid thus leaving the fine unpaid and me back at square one.

 

I just want to know if they are allowed to do this?

 

If not is there anything I can do?

[dx100uk]

they are sadly

 

 

what type of fine is this - a magistrates one I take it?

[dayoshir]

It was the cost of an unpaid train ticket in the magistrates court.

 

Do the bailiffs have a right to force entry? What will be their steps?

[dx100uk]

if its a criminal fine sadly yes.

[dx100uk]

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?439806-Criminal-Procedure-(Amendment)-Rules-2015-and-unpaid-Magistrate-Court-Fines.

[dayoshir]

Is it a criminal fine or is it compensation?

I paid no court costs or anything, just the value of the ticket?

Plus the prosecution was bought by virgin trains not the cps?

 

Secondly when does the compliance stage come into force?

When they send a letter out or when they receive the case from the court?

 

Surely there's an argument to be made if the fine is paid to the court before notification is received from the bailiffs?

[Bailiff Advice]

You have said that you moved address on 1st December but that the day before you moved, the court issued a warrant and passed the case to Collectica and that you only knew that the case had been passed to them when they rang you a week later (8th December).

 

In the first instance, could you let us know who telephoned you? Was it the court or was it Collectica Ltd?

 

Secondly, from what you have said, the warrant was issued before you moved address. In which case the Magistrate Court have a legal obligation to send to you a Further Steps Notice. This is a final letter from the court to advise that your account was in default and that unless payment was made within a period of 10 working days from the date of the letter that the Fines Officer would take one of the steps listed on the FSN. The most common 'step' being to issue a warrant of control. You have received this letter approx 1-2 weeks before you moved address.

 

Did you receive the Further Steps Notice?

 

Did you call the call on receipt of the notice?

[dayoshir]

No I didn't receive a further steps notice?

 

The court rang me the day after I emailed them informing them of my change of address and told me it had been passed to the bailiffs.

 

Immediately after that call I paid the outstanding amount using my mums card and have the receipt for the payment. I've had no contact whatsoever from collectica.

 

Is the FSN 10 working days or just 10 days?

 

Anyone?

[dx100uk]

cal days?

[Bailiff Advice]

No I didn't receive a further steps notice?

 

The court rang me the day after I emailed them informing them of my change of address and told me it had been passed to the bailiffs.

 

Immediately after that call I paid the outstanding amount using my mums card and have the receipt for the payment. I've had no contact whatsoever from collectica.

 

Is the FSN 10 working days or just 10 days?

 

Anyone?

 

You say that the court advised you that the account had been passed to Collectica . I am just wondering why you then went online and paid the court (when you had already been told by the court that they had passed the account to Collectica)?

 

You need to ring the court on Monday to enquire about the Further Steps Notice. The period on the FSN should be 10 working days.

[dayoshir]

I paid the court directly as at that point I was unaware that the rules had changed, so cleared it before collectica had made contact.

 

They still haven't made contact.

 

Does the first period start when collectica are given the go ahead or when they make contact with me?

[Bailiff Advice]

From your posts it would seem that your payment is only very recent and this would explain why you have not as yet received a Notice of Enforcement.

 

You need to call the court in the morning to firstly enquire about the absence of the Further Steps Notice and secondly, to ask what date they passed the debt to Collectica.

[dayoshir]

I know the debt was passed to collectica on the 30th November.

 

The court sent out a FSN in September which was before I setup the payment plan.

 

 

I made a couple of payments but then defaulted in November.

 

 

Just spoken to the court and they have said a further FSN doesn't have to be issued after the default??

[Bailiff Advice]

Thank you for updating the thread.

The court are correct.

They are only obliged to send ONE Further Steps Notice when the account defaults.

 

 

It would appear that you defaulted on paying in September and after receiving the FSN, contacted the court to set up a payment arrangement.

 

 

Regrettably, after defaulting a second time the account was passed to the enforcement company.

 

 

Have you checked to find out the date that they sent a Notice of Enforcement?

[dayoshir]

I received the notice of enforcement from collectica this morning, dated the 11th December.

 

 

The payment of the outstanding amount was paid on the 8th December.

[Bailiff Advice]

What date was the Notice issued and what date is given by when payment must be made?

 

What amount is given on the notice?

[dayoshir]

Payment by 25th December.

 

 

Amount £187.50 (but that's before the 112.50 I paid was taken off).

 

 

Notice issued 11th December.

[Bailiff Advice]

You need to advise Collectica that £112.50 has already been paid direct to the court.

The balance will then be £75 which consistsof the Compliance fee.

 

As long as this fee is paid before the 'complaince stage' ends the matter will be concluded.

 

 

Given that the payment date is 25th December I would suggest that payment is made well beforehand to cover Christmas holidays.

[dayoshir]

I posted in December about collectica bailiffs and an unpaid rail fine that had gone through the magistrates.

 

I had setup a payment plan with the court, but missed a few payments.

I cleared the fine in one hit to the court but it had already been passed to collectica.

 

I emailed collectica with all the information that the fine had been paid in the hope that they would be able to do something, but hadn't heard anything back.

 

Well fast forward to today a bailiff from Marston arrived to collect.

At first he wanted the fine amount, plus the compliance fee and the attendance fee.

 

 

He was parked outside my flat and had rung me I explained everything to him.

He contacted his office who told him to walk away as they wanted to investigate the matter as far as they were concerned the matter was cleared.

 

 

The court however have said otherwise and to collect the fees (£310 as they conceded the fine had been paid).

Marstons have now taken it upon themselves to try and fight my corner (which the bailiff himself said was something new to him!).

 

 

Apparently Marston have bought Collectica now and had knowledge of me previous email.

But they have said its a very grey area as its obvious that the fine was paid before the date that enforcement action commenced.

 

 

They've said the fine being paid before the commencement should have ended the matter,

even though the payment was late, and are going to push the court to drop the matter!

 

I also made a payment agreement with the bailiff of an affordable amount if it doesn't go my way.

He made no attempt to enter the premises and was actually a decent guy throughout.

 

I thought I'd post this as we all often focus on the negative side of these matters

but not often get a chance to see these firms doing something right.

In this case it's the court who are being a problem not the bailiffs

[brassnecked]

Glad to hear a good news story for once.