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Marstons Bailiff with distress warrant.

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  • Marstons Bailiff with distress warrant.

    I have another thread on here relating to a council tax bailiff issue, I've opened this for clarity as it relates to a very different bailiff situation which I'm facing.

    I have had a visit from another bailiff in August saying he had a distress warrant (He never actually showed me any paperwork) relating to unpaid court fines (I had major surgery and had to go onto benefits and couldn't pay, they refused to consider the reason for non-payment valid and instructed Marstons as soon as the first payment was missed). I refused entry and asked for a payment plan to be considered without giving any details of my financial situation. I have since moved, and am waiting to be added to the electoral roll at my new address.

    I am in a slightly better position now, and could make some contributions to the fines, but the bailiff, when he visited last time, absolutely refused to consider any form of payment plan. He informed me he was only willing to accept the full payment on the spot along with £70 for sending me a letter 2 weeks previously (I did recieve it) and £200 for his attendance that day. When I recieved the letter I attempted to contact Marstons, but the phone was answered and hung up immediately, they publish no email address and my letter was ignored. I didn't think to send the letter recorded delivery so couldn't prove I had sent it.

    I informed him I did not own goods to the value of the fine, and he suggested he would take what he wanted, then we could simply prove that it was owned by somebody else, and we could get it from their office (120 miles away). I asked him how we would prove what my partner owned, he said he would only accept credit card statements or reciepts. I asked him if he had a receipt for every item in his house, he said no, so I asked him if he would let me in in the same circumstances, he got angry and started shouting about going back to the court and that I would be very sorry.

    A few years ago I lost all of my possessions during a serious issue in my life. Since then I have either been in very low paid work or unemployed, so I currently only own outright my clothes and a few items relating to my studies (University mature student). My partner owns everything else in our house, but this has been built up by her over her lifetime. Some things purchased since we moved in together 18 months ago have been bought with my credit/debit cards, but the money is hers.


    My questions would be:

    Should I contact Marstons and inform them of my house move as a gesture of goodwill and to indicate I am not intending to run from the debt?

    Is there a way of compelling this debt back to the court who originally issued it so that I can return to dealing with them?

    How can I prove my lack of possessions or that the contents of the house belong to my partner?

    I am a student living on a loan/overdraft, so I don't have much income and certainly cannot pay almost £1000 of fines in a lump sum.

    Thankyou in advance!
    Tags: None

  • #2
    Re: Marstons Bailiff with distress warrant.

    If you cannot afford to make the payments due for a fine and you are not receiving benefits, you must contact the Magistrates Court and ask for a means tested hearing,here you will have to complete a list of your Income & Expenditure. It would then be for the Magistrate to look at your circumstances and set a payment plan you can be expected to keep up with. I don't think you need to make an appointement but it will be as well to check first. After the hearing, the court will advise the fines office of the arrangement and this should stop all bailiff action

    If you are receiving benefits, you can apply for nominal repayments to be deducted from your benefits I think this is approx £5.00 per week others will know better.

    Your partner can do a Stauatory Declaration to the goods belonging to her, she then takes it to a solicitor and swears an oath and gets it signed in witness by them, cost is approx £5-£10

    Hope this helps

    Pepsie

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Marstons Bailiff with distress warrant.

      Hi Pepsie

      Why does your post contain a link to the Consumer Action Group's 'buy a book' Paypal page?

      I haven't removed the link, partly because I thought I was hallucinating!

      Edit: Ahhh worked it out, you must have C&P'd direct from a post on CAG and it has imported the link. LOL
      "Although scalar fields are Lorentz scalars, they may transform nontrivially under other symmetries, such as flavour or isospin. For example, the pion is invariant under the restricted Lorentz group, but is an isospin triplet (meaning it transforms like a three component vector under the SU(2) isospin symmetry). Furthermore, it picks up a negative phase under parity inversion, so it transforms nontrivially under the full Lorentz group; such particles are called pseudoscalar rather than scalar. Most mesons are pseudoscalar particles." (finally explained to a captivated Celestine by Professor Brian Cox on Wednesday 27th June 2012 )

      I am proud to have co-founded LegalBeagles in 2007

      If we have helped you we'd appreciate it if you can leave a review on our Trust Pilot page

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      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Marstons Bailiff with distress warrant.

        Originally posted by Celestine View Post
        Hi Pepsie

        Why does your post contain a link to the Consumer Action Group's 'buy a book' Paypal page?

        I haven't removed the link, partly because I thought I was hallucinating!

        Edit: Ahhh worked it out, you must have C&P'd direct from a post on CAG and it has imported the link. LOL
        msl:msl:msl:msl:msl:

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Marstons Bailiff with distress warrant.

          Originally posted by pepsie View Post
          If you cannot afford to make the payments due for a fine and you are not receiving benefits, you must contact the Magistrates Court and ask for a means tested hearing,here you will have to complete a list of your Income & Expenditure. It would then be for the Magistrate to look at your circumstances and set a payment plan you can be expected to keep up with. I don't think you need to make an appointement but it will be as well to check first. After the hearing, the court will advise the fines office of the arrangement and this should stop all bailiff action

          If you are receiving benefits, you can apply for nominal repayments to be deducted from your benefits I think this is approx £5.00 per week others will know better.

          Your partner can do a Stauatory Declaration to the goods belonging to her, she then takes it to a solicitor and swears an oath and gets it signed in witness by them, cost is approx £5-£10

          Hope this helps

          Pepsie
          So are Marstons acting as agents for the clerk to the court? I still have a debt with the court, Marstons have not bought the debt?

          Would I need to attend a hearing, as I now live at the opposite end of the country?

          Thanks so much for the help so far.



          (Celestine, are you a particle physicist by any chance? Or is the statement in your sig just a hobby?!)

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Marstons Bailiff with distress warrant.

            Yes I did c&p it was a reply I made to another on the site in a similar predicament, it is past my bedtime lol

            Yes Marstons work for the Courts, it is often found the "back room staff" are the enforcement dept and they link with the bailiff, people think they are talking to a court officiial but the reality is they are speaking with enforcement officers.

            Yes you would need to attend , I am unsure if you can apply to transfer to your local magistrates court as is the case with CCJ and County Court.

            The Stat Dec can be done at any solicitor in the area you live.

            Pepsie

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Marstons Bailiff with distress warrant.

              Thanks. I will contact the clerk to the court in the morning, and begin the process.

              Up to now I had assumed I could no longer deal with the court directly.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Marstons Bailiff with distress warrant.

                Particle physics is just a hobby for me! Digging a big tunnel under my garden looking for quarks or the Higgs Bosun!!
                All I've found is quacks from next doors ducks and an old tractor wheel that certainly hasn't exceeded the speed of light!!
                Xxx
                "Although scalar fields are Lorentz scalars, they may transform nontrivially under other symmetries, such as flavour or isospin. For example, the pion is invariant under the restricted Lorentz group, but is an isospin triplet (meaning it transforms like a three component vector under the SU(2) isospin symmetry). Furthermore, it picks up a negative phase under parity inversion, so it transforms nontrivially under the full Lorentz group; such particles are called pseudoscalar rather than scalar. Most mesons are pseudoscalar particles." (finally explained to a captivated Celestine by Professor Brian Cox on Wednesday 27th June 2012 )

                I am proud to have co-founded LegalBeagles in 2007

                If we have helped you we'd appreciate it if you can leave a review on our Trust Pilot page

                If you wish to book an appointment with me to discuss your credit agreement, please email kate@legalbeaglesgroup. com

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Marstons Bailiff with distress warrant.

                  Originally posted by Celestine View Post
                  Particle physics is just a hobby for me! Digging a big tunnel under my garden looking for quarks or the Higgs Bosun!!
                  All I've found is quacks from next doors ducks and an old tractor wheel that certainly hasn't exceeded the speed of light!!
                  Xxx
                  There was an old sailor used to drink in my local pub called Higgs, he was a Bo'sun.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Marstons Bailiff with distress warrant.

                    Just spoke to the central accounts office for the court. They asked me to apply in writing to get my account transferred to my local court. At first they told me this could only be done by post, but once I questioned the person on the phone further and informed her that email is a written form of communication (!) I was provided with an email address and told any email sent today would be dealt with tomorrow. I had to call back and get a different email address as the first one just gave a failed delivery. The letter I emailed is below:

                    To whom it may concern,

                    I am writing to request that my fines account and case be referred to my local court. I am now resident a significant distance away from the original issuing court and wish to request a means tested hearing as I cannot afford to pay the fines outstanding.

                    The details of my case:
                    Division: ***
                    Account number: **********

                    I believe my local magistrates court is:
                    Bolton Magistrates Court
                    The Courts, Le Mans Crescent
                    Bolton
                    Lancashire BL1 1UA

                    I have received contact from Marston Enforcement Officers acting as agents of the courts service, demanding full payment of the outstanding amount or face a removal of goods. I neither have the money to pay outright, nor the goods to the value of the fines. Consequently I need to make an application at a Means Testing Hearing to have my situation considered, and a new, feasible, payment plan put in place. I have made a token payment to my account of £*** as signal of my intent to pay, and willingness to engage with and adhere to the ruling of the court within my ability to do so.

                    My previous address, up to 17th September 2011 was:
                    ** ****** ****
                    ******
                    ******,
                    Berkshire,
                    ******

                    I now reside at:
                    ** ***** **
                    *******
                    Lancashire,
                    ******

                    I make this request by email, on the advice of your office, as I wish to deal with this as soon as possible, and avoid any further collection actions from your agents, Marstons. I intend to only deal with the courts service as my experience of Marstons has been particularly unpleasant. I received threats, intimidation and misrepresentations of power from the collection officer. I was treated rudely and lied to. I will not be paying any money to you through Marstons, and will, instead, only pay my fines directly to the courts service.

                    I mention this here only because I have found your office friendly and helpful, and feel that it was fair to make you aware of the abuses that your agents are making on your behalf.

                    I look forward to hearing from your office to confirm receipt of this letter, and to advise the progress of my request.

                    Sincerely,

                    Dirac

                    If this letter is suitable for anyone else to use in a similar situation, feel free to copy and adapt to suit.

                    Again, my thanks go out to the people on these forums who have help quell my panic and armed me with good advice and accurate legal information.

                    I'll update with any response.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Marstons Bailiff with distress warrant.

                      Recieved this response:

                      Mr Dirac,

                      I refer to your request for a means test hearing at your local court.

                      There is no reason for the court to hold a means test hearing, our records show that you submitted a statement of means on 19/10/2010.


                      Your Court fine has been transferred to Bolton Magistrates’ Court today because you have not complied with previous payment plans that have been set up for you and for failure to allow the Bailiffs access to your home.
                      .
                      If the fine is accepted, I have requested that a warrant of arrest be issued against you to bring you back to court for not complying with the Bailiffs and you can explain to the Magistrates’ why you have not paid your court fine as ordered.




                      Kevin Key-Patterson
                      Fines Officer
                      HMCS
                      Poole Magistrates’ Court


                      Friendly huh?!

                      I have written back informing them that the reason for the request was that my cercumstances have changed significantly since last year. I may have been a touch "snippy" in my response!

                      Will keep this updated when I know more.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Marstons Bailiff with distress warrant.

                        I would consider complaining about this response if you made it clear that you had undergone a change in circumstances.

                        http://judicialcomplaints.judiciary....docs/ojc_2.pdf

                        I'm not 100% sure if that is the right procedure for this particular person - perhaps another member can confirm?

                        Comment

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