Banned from M&S

[2222]

hello again - I read something on a website now that scared me a lot, it said that if the charge from drydensfair isnt paid they will send law enforcement officers to your house who will take goods like your TV, car etc !!! omg is that true??

In a word: no, that's mostly nonsense. They have to go through a very long process involving taking you to court, first. You can pay up at any stage during that process, and then they have to stop.

In practice, the last time a firm like them took court proceedings, they lost heavily. So, it's very unlikely they'll take proceedings against you. But, as I said, you can wait until the unlikely event you get papers from the court informing you that proceedings have commenced, and you can pay up then. (It'll be a bit more expensive then, but it's unlikely it will happen.)

Can I give you a couple of words of advice: I don't think you're cut out for this thieving lark. You haven't got the nerves for it, so don't do it again. Also, you don't come from the right background for it. If all your friends had also been banned from M&S, you'd just have a big laugh if you got thrown out together.

I do wonder whether you should confess to your parents? They may go ballistic for a bit, but they'll forgive you, and you won't then have to worry they'll find out. I'm sure they'd rather hear about it from you than a stranger.

One last thing, take the £150 you are thinking of giving to Dryden and give it to charity instead. Then get a Saturday job to earn it back again.

[Amethyst]

These are the letter examples ( might as well scare yourself silly now all in one go ) https://legalbeagles.info/forums/for...74#post1126874

Then see if you can find any court cases since the Oxford case in 2012 ( the judgment of which which you can read https://legalbeagles.info/SHARON/ApprovedJudgment.pdf if you like ) ( I haven't seen any since then at all )

2222 talks sense .... if you are going to keep stressing and expecting the sky to fall in then you can just pay Drydens or DWF or whoever sends you an invoice.... you'll still have the ban from M&S stores to deal with/get used to so it's not going to make any difference in that regard.

If you tell your Mum, then you won't be acting suspicious everytime you get near an M&S - which I'm sure she'd just pick up on eventually & probably worry about you hiding something from her - and she's likely to pick up on how stressed you are... anyway think how much worse it'd be if they did approach you in the store if you hadn't told her first. She'll probably have a couple stories of her own mistakes to tell you Everyone makes mistakes xxxx

[Lucy1289]

Thanks for the advice @2222, I regret what happened massively, and I will never do anything like this again, I know that I am not cut out for this, and even if I could deal with the stress, I will never do something as stupid and immoral as this. I do not think you understand just how sorry I am and how much I wish I could go back in time and change what happened!! Also I can pay the charge is as i am in full-time employment. I live with parents but I am an adult so I won't be telling anyone. I just needed to know if they are likely to prosecute as I have not heard from anyone in 7 weeks now and the normal course of action would be a letter from drydensfair

[Lucy1289]

thank you @AMETHYST but i think the best way to deal with everything is to not tell anyone and put it behind me. It's only just a store at the end of the day. Thank you so much for your kind words and support, it means a lot.

[des8]

THEY WILL NOT INITIATE ANY COURT ACTION

(prosecution anyway is for the criminal courts, not civil)

Stop worrying about toothless companies like Drysden.
M&S are the only people who could possibly take you to court, and because the amounts involved are so small it will cost them more to sue you that they could recoup.

[2222]

We all do silly things sometimes, Lucy. You should stop beating yourself up and worrying about something you can't do anything about. For all you know, somebody forgot to type your data into the computer. Or mis-keyed it. 7 weeks seems like an awfully long time.

If you give the £150 to charity, it may make you feel better. Like doing a penance. I suggested getting a Saturday job to reinforce the point, so it hurts a little bit.

[Lucy1289]

okay just one last thing 2222 I read on another thread now (I just keep reading about cases similar to mine) than stores may sometimes choose to share CCTV footage with the police and other stores ... so maybe the reason I have not received the 'charge' is because they are gathering evidence and sending it to court or building a case against me. Ahhh more reason to stress now. (I do remember the security saying they have footage of me) Is this all nonsense still or something I should worry about?

Thanks again.

[2222]

okay just one last thing 2222 I read on another thread now (I just keep reading about cases similar to mine) than stores may sometimes choose to share CCTV footage with the police and other stores ... so maybe the reason I have not received the 'charge' is because they are gathering evidence and sending it to court or building a case against me. Ahhh more reason to stress now. (I do remember the security saying they have footage of me) Is this all nonsense still or something I should worry about?

Thanks again.

It's nonsense. Really!

If the police were not called at the time, they are certainly not going to be interested now. The reality is that cuts in police funding mean that they don't prioritise minor shoplifting.

[Lucy1289]

thank you for your advice once again on this matter, I appreciate you've advised me on this previously, however I am just worried as no one has contacted me yet with a charge the way other people have, it'll be 8 weeks since the incident soon and I was worried that this might mean that they've passed this case on to the police for further action @DES8 but you're all saying that not likely to happen right?

[Amethyst]

Police aren't involved and won't be.

No no one is going to knock on your door, now or ever.

You picked up a couple bits in M&S, gave them back, and that's that.

Worst that will happen is you get an invoice for £180 or so - then decide whether you want to pay it or not.

Thats all xxxx

[Lucy1289]

thank you so much for the reassurance. Now I can sleep ... Amethyst

[Amethyst]

I'm glad - you really don't need to worry xxx sleep well

[Lucy1289]

Sorry, me again. Guys I’m thinking about writing to drydensfair as like I said it’s been 8/9 weeks and I haven’t heard from anyone yet. What if like it’s been suggested someone typed in my address wrong into the system, the letters might go to the wrong address then before you know it, I’ll get court orders or bailiffs or whatever. I just want to put an end to this ... I can deal with the ban but I can’t deal with owing someone something and not doing anything about it,

You said that the charge/invoice doesn’t have to be paid as it isn’t a fine. However if I was to park somewhere in Sainsbury’s/Lidl which is a private property like the M&S they could send me a parking fine which will have to be paid otherwise it’ll be escalated right .. I’m thinking this is no different to a parking fine?!

[des8]

Nope, it is not like a parking charge (not a fine) for parking on private property.
That is (to an extent) regulated by law and is possibly a breach of contract.

drydens will just be a request for cash, and if they can't even get your address correct....
The suggested course of action is ignore.
they are used to being ignored, so if they don't receive a reply from you they will assume you are one of the sensible ones.
Why on earth would you write to a company and ask why you haven't been invoiced for something you don't owe.
Perhaps they will never write to you.. a change of heart? your papers mislaid?
Why stir them up?

Just ignore

[Lucy1289]

But if I got caught doing something wrong / illegal and they have evidence against me, it’s only fair that I pay a small charge for it, I don’t know, I don’t feel like I can move on until I do that. They must have their own system to deal with cases like this I find it hard to believe that they just mislaid my papers.