Excel Civil Enforcement Ltd - Please Help

[inthewind]

Hi all,

A friend of mine received this notice recently. All he can recall is that there was an incident in B&Q and the police were called and took his details and B&Q banned him from their stores. He's not sure if he signed anything but was apparently issued with a fine (not sure if it was B&Q or the police that issued it) for £80.

As he didn't have the £80 his family offered to pay it. However, it seems this was not done and now the fine has gone up to £420.

Can anyone shed any light on this please ? I'll be meeting with my friend later as he's not good at dealing with this sort of stuff so he's going to phone them to go through data protection and then pass them over to me to talk to.

Can you guys let me know what I need to ask and find out to know where my friend stands.

I read somwhere that they can only charge fees in certain circumstances, this would be very helpful to asertain as £80 is not too much of a problem (I can pay that for him there & then) but my worry is that they won't accept it and demand the full £420.00

Any suggestions, advice and questions to ask them would be very much appreciated.

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Excel.jpgExcel.pdf

[Amethyst]

Re: Excel Civil Enforcement Ltd - Please Help

For £80 it sounds as though that was a fixed penalty notice issued by the police and excel are enforcing non payment of the FPN. Not sure why it wuld go up to £420 unless bailiffs have visited - unfortunatey our attachments system isn;t working very well and I can't read the documents you have posted, other than that it is a Removal Notice - if you have anonymised them you could put them on photobucket or some such and link to there.

It will need sorting out before it escalates further, someone with more experience in bailiffs and civil enforcement should be along soon. In the meantime have a read http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...s-Courts-Fines

[inthewind]

Re: Excel Civil Enforcement Ltd - Please Help

Thanks. Let's hope this picture loads........

[Guest]

Re: Excel Civil Enforcement Ltd - Please Help

If he was unaware he had been fined and the first he became aware of it was being visited by a fines bailiff, then he must make a Statutory Declaration. This must be handed to the Court Manager of the Magistrates court that instructed the bailiff.

A Statutory Declaration must be sworn before a solicitor or commissioner for oaths (usually £5) and deliver it for the attention of the organisation, or court that ordered enforcement. The court manager is usually Commissioner of Oaths and might be able to do if for free.
Then send by post to the bailiff AND to the authority or court. That stops enforecment action, and revokes the fees the bailiff has added.

Here is a template for making a Statutory Declaration.

I: [NAME] residing at [ADDRESS AND POSTCODE]

DO SOLEMNLY AND SINCERELY DECLARE THAT:

I had no prior knowledge or any correspondence from [NAME OF MAGISTRATES COURT/COURT/AUTHORITY] following an alleged [OFFENCE/LIABILITY/DEBT] on [DATE] for [NATURE OF OFFENCE/DEBT]

From information provided to me today by the [MAGISTRATES COURT/OTHER COURT/AUTHORITY] I am informed that a hearing for this matter was held in my absence where I was [FINED/MADE LIABLE TO PAY THE AMOUNT OF] £[AMOUNT]. The reference number for this case is: [REFERENCE]

AND THAT:

Notification of this fine first came to my attention on [DATE] when a bailiff from [NAME OF COMPANY] came to my home. He was in possession of a [DISTRESS WARRANT/LIABILITY ORDER/ORDER FOR RECOVERY] dated [DATE IF KNOWN] and that he required the sum of £[AMOUNT].

I genuinely do not remember receiving any notice of this [FINE/LIABILITY/DEBT].

I make this solemn declaration under Section 7 of the Statutory Declarations Act 1835 believing the same to be true.

DECLARED AT:

SIGNED:

DATE:


Before me:

Solicitor/Commissioner for Oaths:

[inthewind]

Re: Excel Civil Enforcement Ltd - Please Help

Thanks, I'm not 100% sure if he wasn't aware of the fine, but just confused over the whole issue.

It looks like it may have been a fixed penalty notice that he was given (so I gues that makes him aware?) but whoever was supposed to pay it for him either didn't or the payment has not been allocated correctly to his fine.

I'll try to find out as much as I can later today and post more details.

Many thanks for your help so far, very much appreciated as I don't want to see a friend go to jail over what was an £80 fine

[Guest]

Re: Excel Civil Enforcement Ltd - Please Help

He wont be going to jail any time soon. The HM Prison service has just asked the Sentencing Council to advice magistrates not to commit defendants to prison where possible. This is due to cuts in the prison service, and a cheaper route is to commute the fine by putting the defaulter on electronic tag, or give a community sentence.

[pepsie]

Re: Excel Civil Enforcement Ltd - Please Help

A fixed penalty notice is not a fine or criminal conviction and the recipient can opt for the matter to be dealt with in court instead of paying. However if the recipient neither pays the penalty nor opts for a court hearing in the time specified, the penalty may be increased by 50% and registered against the recipient as a fine. It may then be enforced by the normal methods used to enforce unpaid fines, including imprisonment in some circumstances.

Pepsie

[labman]

Re: Excel Civil Enforcement Ltd - Please Help

It would be really helpful if you could find out as many details as possible for us from your friend, or even get your friend to join and post up.

What exactly was the fine for? I would not have thought a B&Q car park would be giving out FPN's.

Why were the police called? Basically the full story behind this, including any reminders, calls to court, etc... your friend may have received and not attended.

Remember we are here to help, not to judge, so they should not be worried if they've just ignored it, couldn't afford it so hoped it would go away etc....

Also vaguely where in Wales are you? The reason I ask is that I'm in Wales too and depending where you are may be able to help somewhat more than you can on a forum.

[Amethyst]

Re: Excel Civil Enforcement Ltd - Please Help

For the amount and the police being called and issuing a FPN I was assuming this was a shoplifting offence ? For it to reach removal notice stage I would expect a few letters have been ignored / not received in the intervening period.

[labman]

Re: Excel Civil Enforcement Ltd - Please Help

Was your friend charged under the Theft Act and accepted this as punishment?

Have a read of this:

http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...s-Courts-Fines

particularly the section headed 'Procedure.' As Amethyst rightly says, it sounds as though something has been ignored. I'm having problems making the sums addup to £420, so it would be good to know how they arrive at this figure.

Please post up as much as possible so we can give your friend the best help possible. :beagle:

If they simply cannot afford, they must apply for a Means Enquiry Hearing by contacting the Fines Officer at the court.

[CleverClogs]

Re: Excel Civil Enforcement Ltd - Please Help

I'm having problems making the sums addup to £420, so it would be good to know how they arrive at this figure.

Did you try adding in the date?

[bluebottle]

Re: Excel Civil Enforcement Ltd - Please Help

Did he receive a Further Steps Notice? The maximum fees certificated bailiffs can charge for executing a warrant for non-payment of fines for a criminal offence are £85.00 Administration Fee and £215.00 Attendance Fee (one-off only), making a total of £300.00. Excel have to explain the additional £120.00 as this appears to be illegal fees. Get the fine paid asap at the court that authorised Excel. Also, if no Further Steps Notice was received, the court needs to explain this. If this has not been received, proper procedures have not been followed.

[labman]

Re: Excel Civil Enforcement Ltd - Please Help

Did he receive a Further Steps Notice? The maximum fees certificated bailiffs can charge for executing a warrant for non-payment of fines for a criminal offence are £85.00 Administration Fee and £215.00 Attendance Fee (one-off only), making a total of £300.00. Excel have to explain the additional £120.00 as this appears to be illegal fees. Get the fine paid asap at the court that authorised Excel. Also, if no Further Steps Notice was received, the court needs to explain this. If this has not been received, proper procedures have not been followed.

I can get it nearer than that lol! The reason I pointed them tothe 'Procedure' part was for the further steps notice, but they need to check the whole procedure anyway. It is not uncommon for other bits to go wrong as well, though the FSN is the most common.

[bluebottle]

Re: Excel Civil Enforcement Ltd - Please Help

I can get it nearer than that lol! The reason I pointed them tothe 'Procedure' part was for the further steps notice, but they need to check the whole procedure anyway. It is not uncommon for other bits to go wrong as well, though the FSN is the most common.

It appears that side-stepping the Further Steps Notice is getting all too common and HMCTS need to get to grips with this, if necessary, disciplining court staff.

[CleverClogs]

Re: Excel Civil Enforcement Ltd - Please Help

Did he receive a Further Steps Notice? The maximum fees certificated bailiffs can charge for executing a warrant for non-payment of fines for a criminal offence are £85.00 Administration Fee and £215.00 Attendance Fee (one-off only), making a total of £300.00. Excel have to explain the additional £120.00 as this appears to be illegal fees.

£120?

Fixed penalty: £80
Ba:censored:rd bailiff fees: £300
Their charge: £420

The value of seeing the look on their faces if they're proved wrong: priceless!