The Case Rlp Dropped ****a Must Read*****

[cute00]

hi everyone, i too hve so far recieved 3 letters from the RLP stating that its my last chance to pay them a sum of £187.50. I have so far not contacted anyone about this issue and was thinking of ignoring them. I made a mistake of stealing from boots but the items were all taken back from me and police were not involved. I would pay them the money but i dont think it's reasonable how they are dealing with us all. Im 16 and doing my exams infact i have left me revision to come and research all this. im in ALOT of stress. please advice, anyone on what to do ? to carry on ignoring or to do something else. they only have my name and address however i did show them my bank card and my college id. they may of photocopied these, at the time i wasn't aware. whats the worse that can happen to me :'( please help thanks

[shomi43]

Hi cuteOO, They can't make you pay any money until they go to court and the court says you owe the money. If you're 16 and at school and not earning then you can't pay. If you came up in court aged 16 you would probably get off with a caution for a first offence. If anyone knocks on your parents door demanding money, immediately call the police. Just don't do it again or you'll get a record.

[kiptower]

RLP cannot take him to a CRIMINAL Court

 

so therefore this does not apply quote "a caution for a first offence"

 

it would be a county court , and as they dont have the bottle to do a County Court, it would be a first, RLP charges are a [problem]

[shomi43]

CuteOO, of course what kiptower says is completely correct, but what I'm trying to emphasize is that if RLP brought a 16 year old school girl up before a county court magistrate claiming this rediculous amount, the court would throw it out. Ignore RLP and get on with your exams. If they turn up (unlikely) call the police.

[kiptower]

err, County courts do not have a "magistrate"

[shomi43]

The only time I faced a court on a non-payment charge (road tax) was in front of a magistrate, but you're right and I'm wrong, it is a judge. But the important point for cuteOO is that no judge is going to take an outfit like RLP's side against an under-age schoolgirl, so she should stop worrying and get on with her exams.

[cute00]

Thank you guys so much for your help.

it's seriously been on my head like for the past month.

 

I'm just scared that if i dont pay the sum i'll end up in court and have a criminal record. Im turning 17 this week. & that's the last thing i want. i want to have a bright life ahead of me and not deal with these things, i've learnt my lesson but i dont see what the effect is if i pay them.

& will they really come to my door. furthest they know i might not even live here, i could be anyone they didn't have prrof of address yet however it was confirmed by my mum. But my mum could of been anyone.

 

I went on their website and it looks like a whole of bs to be honest, the layout looks so cheap and makes you wonder how much commission they are really getting.

 

But thanks for your help guys i appreciate it.

[Chris1933]

You wont get a criminal record for failure to pay, it's a civil matter and the absolute worst case senario is a ccj that could include a repayment order (As you were 16 this wouldn't happen anyway)

 

The only way you could get a criminal record is if boot's called the police and the police thought there was enough evidence to take it further.

 

As Boot's decided not to take the matter any further (again, probably due to your age), the likelyhood of this going any further from a criminal point of view is slim.

 

As for the RLP problem, if you were to write to them informing that you are under 18 with no income i doubt very much they will persue the "outstanding amount".

 

There are many stages to court action and RLP's bark is worse than it's bite. The letters are threats to bully you (and others in your situation) to pay under the disguise of a "letter before action". They can threaten court action blah blah blah all day long but the only institue that can summons you to court is the court itself.

 

If you do get a summons (from the court) then you are in the next stage and there is still plenty of ways to "get out of the situation" but once again, this is very unlikely to happen in your circumstances.

 

Stop worrying!

 

Chris

[JonCris]

Chris it's too late for the police & it's not so much the 'fine' that's the problem, the problem is the fact they will, payment or not, record a persons details on their data base which, I kid you not, they used to brag "is the largest data base of dishonest people in the UK some of whom have not been convicted"