Shoplifting

[Jinxer]

You have more chance of winning the lottery than with Superdrug issuing proceedings against your son. Just answer are not advising you pay at all, they have answered in a way a Lawyer would. I think it was Boots who took one of these cases to Court a few years ago and lost miserably. It's hard enough to get the Police to investigate a burglary these days, so they're not going to be to concerned about low value shoplifting offences.

[des8]

No need to see a barrister or a solicitor
No need to pay unsubstantiated demands
What fine??... has it been to criminal court for a fine to be imposed?

Who verified that barrister? or was he a barista having time off from Costa?

[ostell]

So for a "verified barrister" to call the payment RLP are requesting a fine shows a perhaps restricted, and misleading, knowledge of the real position

On this forum you will find both solicitors and barristers. They don't normally advertise the fact but if you look hard you will find.

[des8]

It is also worth researching Justanswer, an American company where the experts are "verified" by checking the credentials they submit.
The experts are paid.

[Scared mum]

Thanks everyone I'm trying to calm down but my brain goes into overdrive when I close eyes at night.I keep checking the post for a letter from RLP .I feel when I see how general they are I will feel ok.As you have said they probably wait I while before writing to feed the fear

[des8]

You can read the letters you will get from RLP here: http://legalbeagles.info/forums/foru...rs-rlp-and-dwf

And that court case peeps refer to where RLP's client lost:http://legalbeagles.info/forums/foru...h-and-the-lies

[ostell]

HAve you had a look at the Oxford case? where RLP persuaded their customer to take it to court and got soundly spanked in the process.

[jaguarsuk]

Tnis was a reply to soneone with a smiliar query.....last question , does he need to see lawyer while he waiting a letter from RLP ?



Verified barrister

There's nothing to be gained by doing that.



Just pay the fine.

Firstly no offence taken, There is absolutely no harm in doing research, but I think the advice they are giving you is bad advice.

The reason I say that is that No fine has been issued, the amount they will ask to pay is a speculative invoice. Only a court can issue a fine and in order to do that a prosecution would have to be brought against your son by the police or by Superdrug in a private prosecution in the magistrates court.

We'll deal with the criminal element of this first as that's really where I am the most strong in terms of the law.

Let's first address the Police, if (very unlikely) they informed the Police now after the incident the Police may investigate the matter and it's unlikely to proceed to charge. The Police in deciding to investigate would have to determine whether it is in the public interest to do so and even if they did then whether it would be in the public interest to charge and spend the money prosecuting. Your son in this situation would likely get a caution, but if the Police were going to become involved they would have been called at the time.

Anyone can bring about a private prosecution, so Superdrug could instruct a criminal solicitor and do that. This is 100% not going to happen and I'll tell you why? My missis used to work for Superdrug and on her induction she was shown a corporate video featuring the owner whose message to new employees was basically "you sell or I'll shut your shop and you'll be unemployed." The corporate strategy of that business is to make money not spend it on solicitors, hence why they employ charlatans like RLP.

So what are RLP's options? Well, they could try to take your son to the county court and attempt to win a small claim based on the invoice they have sent out. As pointed out above if they are successful and that judgement was unpaid, then it could result in enforcement officers attending your home to recover the value of the judgement awarded. Note the terminology, a judgement not a fine.

They tried this once upon a time in what has become known as "the oxford case" in which they lost, were severely rebuked by the judge and have as a result never tried in court since.

What this leaves them with is scare tactics, letters will be sent and designed in such a way that unadvised you might worry, so pay up. These letters are specifically written so as to psychologically tap into things we fear in society and therefore use terminology that does that because when you fear something you'll comply with the request to prevent the alleged harm happening.

Do not pay RLP, they haven't fined your son and they can't fine him. They haven't got a judgement and they won't file a claim. You're going to get some letters, it'll be inconvenient having to put them in the bin and that's all that you're going to have to do.

[Scared mum]

Great advice thank you so much ! .I was asked earlier where the post was when debt collectors called.The user name was RLP ( junior member)answered my DES8 15/09/2017.

[des8]

For others interested the thread is: .http://legalbeagles.info/forums/foru...t-in-superdrug

Single visit by an unidentified person following closely on RLP's 4th letter
Most unusual... don't recall any other instances and we don't know if this was a Superdrug manager trying to earn bonus brownie points or RLP or DCA

The risk of a visit is extremely small, so keep ignoring