Caught shoplifting

[UKFLYER]

I have been caught shoplifting in Tescos. Im not going to give any excuses only to say its the first and last time it has happened.
I was taken up to the office,where i was shown the cctv,and i admitted it straight away. The police were called and the police asked if you could pay for the goods. I said yes,and was escorted to the till to pay the amount £3.20. The police said they would not be taking any action and the store banned me for six months.
I have just received a letter from RLP, saying i have to pay £87.00 costs.
Do i have to pay this even after paying for the goods?

[bluebottle]

Re: Caught shoplifting

Hello UK Flyer and welcome to Legal Beagles.

RLP have been told by the MoJ their fixed-costs claims have no basis in law. I note that you paid for the goods after the police became involved and the police took no further action. Strictly speaking, Tesco haven't suffered any loss as you paid for the goods.

As well as recommending you notify Richard Dunstan at CAB HQ, who is involved in a campaign to put a stop to the rip-off of Civil Recovery, I am going to ask you to scan and post up the letter you have received from RLP on this thread, if possible. Once you've done that, we will see how we can help you.

[UKFLYER]

Re: Caught shoplifting

Thank you very much for your fast reply. I will try and upload it within the next hour.
Again,thankyou.

[teaboy2]

Re: Caught shoplifting

The letters ae nothing more than speculative invoicing, they are saying costs of personnel wages and administration is owed by you as a result of shop lifting. This is not true as 1 the personel would have been paid a wage any way and 2 the cost of administration of a couple of forms you no doubt had to sign, and the sending of the letter to you from RLP does not cost more than £3 and most of that is on the cost of the stamp for the letter (oh and they sent that off their own back, you didnt ask them too).

I refer you to Acas Law, who also sent speculative invoices out to internet users excusing them of downloading copyright protected material after chasing them via their IP address and getting their account detials from internet companies, yet they had no prove the account holder had downloaded anything our if the IP address was registered to them at the time. A judge through their claim against 8 people they had alleged as being in breach of copyright out of court, the solicitor that owed ACS Law was banned from practising.

Please follow blue bottles advice above and do not pay them a penny, they have not taken anyone to court despite their claims to the contary.

[UKFLYER]

Re: Caught shoplifting

I have deleted my name and the location of the store.

[UKFLYER]

Re: Caught shoplifting

Sorry its small,hope you can read it.

[Guest]

Re: Caught shoplifting

From RLP website it would seem that they are used to people telling them to stuff their bills.

Advice - See also Advice Guide

Our staff have a right to be safe in their work environment. Any threats to staff will be taken seriously.
You should note that correspondence between both parties is saved and the content of any inappropriate response may be submitted in evidence against you in court.
We wish to point out that it is an offence under Section 1 of the Malicious Communications Act 1988 to send a letter or other article which conveys a message which is indecent, grossly offensive or a threat.
You are advised that all calls are recorded for training and monitoring purposes. Staff are here to assist you with your queries, but they do not have to tolerate abuse or bad language and are within their rights to terminate any calls of this nature. Any indecent, offensive or threatening calls will be passed to the police.

[teaboy2]

Re: Caught shoplifting

You should note that correspondence between both parties is saved and the content of any inappropriate response may be submitted in evidence against you in court.
We wish to point out that it is an offence under Section 1 of the Malicious Communications Act 1988 to send a letter or other article which conveys a message which is indecent, grossly offensive or a threat.

Not if signed without prejudice - Therefore granting you legal protection from such letters being used as eviedence withot your consent first, hence why i sign all letters without prejudice lol.

Am glad you posted that Peter as it shows just how desperate they are to defend what they do. lol

Just noticed it says the exact same thing under the under 18 section too.

[teaboy2]

Re: Caught shoplifting

I have deleted my name and the location of the store.

Follow Blue Bottles advice for now, as i very much doubt they could prove such costs when the cost is no more than the every day business activities and maintences of systems and procedures anyway. Perhaps they will start suing staff for taking time off, leading to over staff being disrupted from their duties, or perhaps they will start suing people for not shopping in their store for the losses they incurred for having to replenish plenishable goods too.

They would have to prove their costs in court and i doubt they will be able too, not to mention the fact you paid for the goods and were never arrested or charged for any wrong doing.

[Guest]

Re: Caught shoplifting

HI
I have heard of this but not seen one of these claims before.
I can’t see how anyone would ever hope to be able to enforce this “Claim”.
A claim for liquidated damages has to reflect actual losses to the retailer, the staff dealing with this were already being paid for being there, they would have been paid for being on duty in any case. I can see a claim if they would have had to get someone else involved, but you can’t incur a loss for using a salaried security operative for doing the job that he is paid to do.
Its nonsense.
Peter

[bluebottle]

Re: Caught shoplifting

In the experience of CAB, most "shoplifting scalps" RLP crow about are ones where the allegeud shoplifters have either not contested their fraudulent claims or not turned up at court, in which case, they are Default Judgements. In any case, the amounts involved can only be dealt with through the Small Claims procedure, as they are below the current £5K threshold. Under those circumstances, any judgements cannot be held up as case law or proof that RLP's arguments have any basis in law.

RLP have also been told, by the Ministry of Justice, that their fixed amount claims have no basis in law whatsoever. The case law they repeatedly parrot as justification for their claims - [I]Aerospace Publishing -v- [/I]Thames Water - has been found not to be relevant to the premise RLP use as a basis for their claims on behalf of retail clients.

Having looked at what RLP have written to OP and what OP has said, I have made the following observations:-

RLP has not specified the alleged "wrongful acts" whatsoever. It is a requirement of the laws and rules of evidence, as well as that of justice, to specify what someone is alleged to have done. Stating "wrongful acts" is, at best, speculative, at worst, a classic case of "trying it on".

RLP has not provided a detailed breakdown of the alleged losses incurred by Tesco. This makes their claim highly suspect.

The OP paid for the goods and the police took no action.

It is routine for RLP to allege that those they have written to entered their client's premises "as a trespasser". This appears to be absent from the letter the OP has received from them. You can only enter a building as a trespasser where you have no authority to enter that building. When a retailer opens their doors to prospective customers, that is an invitation to encroach and to treat or to sell. There is, therefore, an implied right to enter on the part of the retailer to the prospective customer. If RLP have used the "you entered our client's premises/were there as a trespasser", that is highly suspect.

Could the OP please confirm if any mention has been made in the letter about a "national database of wrongdoing"?

[labman]

Re: Caught shoplifting

BBC - Watchdog: Possible flaws with civil laws...

[UKFLYER]

Re: Caught shoplifting

Thank you all for your replies. What is my next step? I really dont want to end up with a bad credit rating. I know i did wrong and i am very ashamed of my actions.

[Seychelles]

Re: Caught shoplifting

Thank you all for your replies. What is my next step? I really dont want to end up with a bad credit rating. I know i did wrong and i am very ashamed of my actions.

Check out some of the other threads relating to this subject I was given some great advice on here and read the CAB report, it's a very good read

[teaboy2]

Re: Caught shoplifting

Thank you all for your replies. What is my next step? I really dont want to end up with a bad credit rating. I know i did wrong and i am very ashamed of my actions.

This is not a debt, they therefore can not put any notes or records on your credit file, to do so would give you grounds to sue them for libel and breach of the data protection act, not to mention compensation for damage to credit worthiness and emotional distress as well as financial prejudice to the tune of any amount of credit you applied for and were denied as a result of there libellous notes on your credit file.