Fine from Tesco? Please help!

[Turquoise99]

Hi,
this afternoon I was caught shoplifting 3 items from Tesco (it totalled £11.34) and they took me back to the office and told me I would be fined. I offered to pay the amount but they said that’s not how it worked, there was no police involvement and they said I am banned from the store for 3 Months.
I feel really stupid and I’ve never shoplifted before, let alone been caught. They took a copy of my ID and said I will receive a fine in the post, and when I asked the cost they said it will be ‘a bit more than the amount of the items’. They said that if I don’t pay it I will be taken to court.

After reading some some articles on here I noticed that a lot of tescos’ fines come from the same company and the fines seem to be a lot more that 12 pounds. Does anyone know if legal action will be taken if I don’t reply to the letters? I’ve read many people say they won’t take action so it’s best not to respond or write a letter back saying they aren’t complying with certain procedures, but many of those posts were written is 2012-2015, and I was wondering if anyone had any more recent cases? If they will follow through with it I would rather pay the amount. Luckily there is no police involvement and they said no criminal record, but if me not replying to the letters will give me one I would pay. I just really need some advice haha.
Thank you x

[des8]

Hi and welcome.

First things first:
What you will receive is a letter from a firm called DWF.
In it they will tell you what a naughty person you have been and you have cost their client zillions of pounds in extra costs dealing with this event.
They will tell you to cough up something over £150, or they will consider telling their client to consider court action.
They will send three or four letters in that vein, each becoming more threatening.

They are not a fine. Basically only the courts impose fines in the UK, and as there is no police involvement there will be no criminal court hearing so no fine.
The letters are invoices
Ignore them.
Do not be tempted to respond in any way as that seems to encourage them to think they have hooked a worrier who is more susceptible to their pressure

If tescos have suffered a loss they could try and recoup it through a civil claim through the county courts.
To make demands in the manner they do is to act as judge and jury in their own interest.
The last time any company tried to obtain inflated amounts via court action they lost heavily.

You can read in advance the letters here: http://legalbeagles.info/forums/foru...rs-rlp-and-dwf
The court case referred to above is here: http://legalbeagles.info/forums/foru...t-case-The-tru

[Turquoise99]

Thank you so much!! I’ve read so many articles on here now and I feel so much more reassured about the situation, I’ll just ignore them. Definitely one of those dumb ‘I’m on 18’ decisions but won’t be happening again! Thank you for your reply x