Retail loss prevention claim

[James5186]

Hi I'm 17 and about to go ravelling for the summer so abit worried about this coming up during my exams, a month ago I admitted guilt by police caution to employment theft of around £170.

i saw the evidence for the £175 it's bang to rights

I was a dick but the money there coming after me for is outstanding, then want almost £700 for admin and cctv survalence, has anyone seen or dealt with any rlp cases recently and just some advice on how to proceed I'm just recived my first letter headed "claim for compensation"

please help thank you

[Openlaw15]

Re: Retail loss prevention claim

Hi I'm 17 and about to go ravelling for the summer so abit worried about this coming up during my exams, a month ago I admitted guilt by police caution to employment theft of around £170.

i saw the evidence for the £175 it's bang to rights

I was a dick but the money there coming after me for is outstanding, then want almost £700 for admin and cctv survalence, has anyone seen or dealt with any rlp cases recently and just some advice on how to proceed I'm just recived my first letter headed "claim for compensation"

please help thank you

They can only claim for actual losses...so it's likely any attempts to take you to court for £700 are just threats. The company simply cannot prove their losses amount to £700. It is just a civil matter anyway and previous cases with facts similar to yours have failed (ie in your favour). I wouldn't worry about these threats unless they (the company) actually try to pursue this at county court. They are simply unlikely to do this as they know they haven't got a cat in hell's chance of winning. It's called tort law which means they have the burden of proving the losses. The fact you were only given a caution also indicate the police didn't view the theft as particularly serious. Do not offer the company a penny and do not communicate with the company whatsoever. My advice is go ravelling with peace of mind!

[Kati]

Re: Retail loss prevention claim

Hi I'm 17 and about to go ravelling for the summer so abit worried about this coming up during my exams, a month ago I admitted guilt by police caution to employment theft of around £170.

i saw the evidence for the £175 it's bang to rights

I was a dick but the money there coming after me for is outstanding, then want almost £700 for admin and cctv survalence, has anyone seen or dealt with any rlp cases recently and just some advice on how to proceed I'm just recived my first letter headed "claim for compensation"

please help thank you

Can you tell us exactly what you're accused of ?? (it would help the Beagles give you advice) xx

[James5186]

Re: Retail loss prevention claim

I was accused of emolument theft but they recovered all goods, there claiming £202 when it was only £175, they want £558 for cost of "personnel time,detection and dealing with the matter" and £88 for admin, I've seen the cctv and it is obvious and I admitted guilt, I didn't get charged but now rlp is on my case

[ostell]

Re: Retail loss prevention claim

Have a look at what happened when they tried a court case in Oxford

If they got everything back then there has been no loss. Costs of detection and dealing with the matter are what RLP are paid to do so there has been no loss there.

[James5186]

Re: Retail loss prevention claim

It means the costs of detection from Tk.maxx my old employers,RLP is an outsourced company

[Amethyst]

Re: Retail loss prevention claim

Haven't seen a RLP court claim for TK Maxx, ever, so it's a very very teeny chance it would ever go to that. Ignoring is best until / unless you have no other option. You are likely to get a number of letters from RLP over the next few months, each sounding scarier than the last, they are pretty toothless however they have brought a few claims through the courts against employees ( well the employer who engages RLP actually brings the claim under, it seems, RLP's advice) so if it did get to that and you were off on your travels you'd have a pain in the bum to sort it out after and potentially get a CCJ by default on your credit file. They could bring a claim against you ( being under 18) however would have to name your parents/guardians on the claim, and I think your parents/guardians could deal with the claim on your behalf if you were still away, but that might just be an uneeded stress in the back of your mind.

Personally, if you can I'd wait until an actual solicitors letter ( they seem to use Shakespeare Martineau) and then I'd ask Shakespeare to ask RLP for a full breakdown of the amount claimed 'by their client' - the employees who investigated need to be diverted from their usual duties to deal with the issue so they would have to state who did what, when and how long it took, what their hourly rate is etc. I'm not sure how they can charge for CCTV surveillance as surely the camera's would be there and running regardless of whether you were nicking anything, and the footage reviewed by a security person as a matter of course. Was it anything complicated that took investigation as such, or a one off taken from shelf/store etc ?

So basically, ignore unless you get an actual letter before action. ( and that's not likely to be for 3/4 months at earliest)

Oh there's no employer blacklist and they can't touch your credit file unless they get a CCJ. They have no powers over a standard debt collector - actually less powers than that. So any threats are just that and are baseless.

[Kati]

Re: Retail loss prevention claim

[MENTION=6]Amethyst[/MENTION] is right :nod: ... and (if it ever got to a LBA/court) we'd help you fight it xx

[James5186]

Re: Retail loss prevention claim

Thanks guys I'll keep you updated

[Openlaw15]

Re: Retail loss prevention claim

Haven't seen a RLP court claim for TK Maxx, ever, so it's a very very teeny chance it would ever go to that. Ignoring is best until / unless you have no other option. You are likely to get a number of letters from RLP over the next few months, each sounding scarier than the last, they are pretty toothless however they have brought a few claims through the courts against employees ( well the employer who engages RLP actually brings the claim under, it seems, RLP's advice) so if it did get to that and you were off on your travels you'd have a pain in the bum to sort it out after and potentially get a CCJ by default on your credit file. They could bring a claim against you ( being under 18) however would have to name your parents/guardians on the claim, and I think your parents/guardians could deal with the claim on your behalf if you were still away, but that might just be an uneeded stress in the back of your mind.

Personally, if you can I'd wait until an actual solicitors letter ( they seem to use Shakespeare Martineau) and then I'd ask Shakespeare to ask RLP for a full breakdown of the amount claimed 'by their client' - the employees who investigated need to be diverted from their usual duties to deal with the issue so they would have to state who did what, when and how long it took, what their hourly rate is etc. I'm not sure how they can charge for CCTV surveillance as surely the camera's would be there and running regardless of whether you were nicking anything, and the footage reviewed by a security person as a matter of course. Was it anything complicated that took investigation as such, or a one off taken from shelf/store etc ?

So basically, ignore unless you get an actual letter before action. ( and that's not likely to be for 3/4 months at earliest)

Oh there's no employer blacklist and they can't touch your credit file unless they get a CCJ. They have no powers over a standard debt collector - actually less powers than that. So any threats are just that and are baseless.

Hmm i missed the word 'employment.' Why would an employer have any more rights to losses than for say for a store which claims losses for theft.

[Amethyst]

Re: Retail loss prevention claim

They don't have more rights, but it is usually more likely to have actually diverted staff from their usual activities to investigate and deal with the problem, whereas shoplifting is generally dealt with by security staff paid to do that job regardless of whether someone nicks stuff or not ( as per Oxford ).

[James5186]

Re: Retail loss prevention claim

Hmm i missed the word 'employment.' Why would an employer have any more rights to losses than for say for a store which claims losses for theft.

Well they defiantly brought in an extra loss prevention officer to catch me so I suppose then could claim for him and then a guy who came down the following week to interview me I suppose they might be able to claim for his time but in both cases there job is to come to other stores to investigate long term or employment theft other than that I see no other things they can claim for baring in mind the loss of theft form my store just this year was £120,000 so there security team and cameras are a well established store presence but key to note the officer is only at my old store once fortnight if that normally theres no one and it's an unmanned cctv room so I don't see how they can claim distraction from normal duties

[Openlaw15]

Re: Retail loss prevention claim

Well they defiantly brought in an extra loss prevention officer to catch me so I suppose then could claim for him and then a guy who came down the following week to interview me I suppose they might be able to claim for his time but in both cases there job is to come to other stores to investigate long term or employment theft other than that I see no other things they can claim for baring in mind the loss of theft form my store just this year was £120,000 so there security team and cameras are a well established store presence but key to note the officer is only at my old store once fortnight if that normally theres no one and it's an unmanned cctv room so I don't see how they can claim distraction from normal duties

James, what exactly did you steal or did you commit some type of fraud? Emolument seems an unusual theft related crime.

[James5186]

Re: Retail loss prevention claim

I was proven and admitted to two seperate thefts one of a suit and a few bits the next day value of £175 all handed back and sellable