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I returned from work this week to discover a local neighbouring council (Wyre Borough Council) had sent a letter to my house to an unknown name. The letter is not addressed to anyone in the household, but does contain my full address. The letter claims a fixed penalty notice was issued for £100 (for the littering of a cigarette end) to this person and has not been paid and it has reached the 14 day deadline. The letter also claims that if it is not paid in 7 days the council will initiate court proceedings and will send a court summons. As I have been away this date has already been breached. The letter claims the maximum penalty in court is £2,500.
I do not smoke, only I live at the house and during the timeframe when the offence was committed I was working away 200 miles from home and can easily prove this, so I can easily prove my address has been given out falsely by the offender.
The letter is is on council headed notepaper and also contains the council's address and phone number in the footer although the content of the letter states to contact a third party called District Enforcement. I refuse to contact this third party as I do not see why I should have to do anything or spend any time dealing with this as it has nothing to do with me. I phoned the council and they wanted me to phone the third party but I stood my ground that they were the ones endorsing this company and they were the ones with the powers to issue these tickets. In the end they said they would pass on a complaint to the contracts manager but nobody has contacted me back.
My question is, can I ignore this as it is not addressed to me? Could a situation arise where a court summons is sent to this non-existent person at my address and on failure to show at court a fine is issued to this person at my household. Would a court have to prove that the person existed and lived at my address? If any fine was issued could that affect my credit rating and could bailiffs arrive to collect? If I hired a solicitor to deal with this could I then take the council to court to recover those costs and my own time?
Thanks for your help.
I do not smoke, only I live at the house and during the timeframe when the offence was committed I was working away 200 miles from home and can easily prove this, so I can easily prove my address has been given out falsely by the offender.
The letter is is on council headed notepaper and also contains the council's address and phone number in the footer although the content of the letter states to contact a third party called District Enforcement. I refuse to contact this third party as I do not see why I should have to do anything or spend any time dealing with this as it has nothing to do with me. I phoned the council and they wanted me to phone the third party but I stood my ground that they were the ones endorsing this company and they were the ones with the powers to issue these tickets. In the end they said they would pass on a complaint to the contracts manager but nobody has contacted me back.
My question is, can I ignore this as it is not addressed to me? Could a situation arise where a court summons is sent to this non-existent person at my address and on failure to show at court a fine is issued to this person at my household. Would a court have to prove that the person existed and lived at my address? If any fine was issued could that affect my credit rating and could bailiffs arrive to collect? If I hired a solicitor to deal with this could I then take the council to court to recover those costs and my own time?
Thanks for your help.
