Help With Marston/TV License Fine

[Fizzy77]

Hi

Just after some advice with Marston and TV License Fine

A few weeks a go I had a notice put through my door stating that a Marston Agent had called and I owed £550 to the Magistrates Court and that they had contacted me numerous times and I hadn't paid.
I had no idea what I owed the money for (or if I did indeed even owe anything) I also knew full well that Marston had never contacted me before this. So I contacted Marston via e-mail asking what the debt was for and asking for copies of any letters/notices/documentation they had sent or issued me.

They replied and told me I had to contact the MC, they ignored my request for proof they had previously contacted me just stating that my warrant had been passed to an "enforcer"
So I emailed again asking for proof and copies of letters etc that they had "apparently" sent and all I received was an email saying my complaint had been noted and passed on. hmmm....

So I contacted the MC and they sent me a Memorandum of an entry in the Register of Norwich Magistrates Court, showing that I wasn't present at hearing on 25/11/2011 and that I had to pay £250 in fines .

The address on the document was one I had not lived at since June 2011, I didn't have much post going to that address when I moved out and the addresses were all changed straightaway and I never had anything forwarded onto to me so I can only assume that the court summons arrived after I had moved out.

So anyway back to this month.....Today at about 6:30am Marston Bailiff hammered on my front door, having been up most of the night (and the previous night!) with my toddler who isn't well we were finally asleep in our living room on our sofa bed, after he hammered twice I blearily got up to answer (at this point little one was upset and panicky) I guess subconsciously I thought it may be a neighbor in an emergency or something etc..
So answer the door see he is a bailiff (big bloke with a clipboard and half a marston logo hanging of his jacket) shut the door and lock it and ask him to leave, go back to my daughter.

5 minutes later he starts hammering again saying he has a warrant for me, until my partner comes down and tells him to leave.
A few minutes later my partner looks out the spyhole and he is wandering around the carpark so partner goes out for a ciggy and locks the door behind him,bailiff comes back and my partner asks him for some Identification, bailiff says he doesn't have to show him anything, so bf asks for ID and proof he is a certified bailiff and copy of the warrant, bailiff says again he doesn't have to show him anything and then asks to see me, to which my partner said he wont be coming in and he should leave.

I then ask through the door for ID/Warrant etc which he refuses to show me unless I let him in so I ask him to leave....
Partner tells him to "F" off as he's getting a little pee'd off now, bf comes back in and bailiff hammers on door again saying he'll come back with locksmiths and take whatever he wants while were are out.

Sorry for the looooong essay

Main points:

I haven't received a Further Steps letter/Notice (I didn't receive the court summons either)
On checking the bailiffs name on the justice.go.uk site his name does not appear, so he is un-certificated?
He refused to show me any paper work or even ID unless I let him in (which I would never do)
He threatened to break in when we aren't here and take stuff , which is illegal?
He wouldn't leave after being asked 4 or 5 times by myself and partner even after we told him our toddler was ill and getting upset and continued to shout and bang on the door.

I have written a letter to the MC asking for the debt to be taken back as I didn't receive a FS Letter and pointed out that when I searched he wasn't listed as a certified bailiff and that he refused to show ID/Paperwork etc.. I have also written a letter and email to MOJ and OFT attaching the MC letter to make a complaint. Debating on contacting my local MP aswell

He also parked in a neighbours private parking space (which we have photagraphed) the lady came home just as he was leaving and she wasn't happy.

Am I doing things correctly and is there anything else I can do? I am so utterly enraged that this rude idiot thought it was okay to do this all at 6:30am (especially after the night I have had with daughter) plus the fact the everything seems a little suspicious (only just recently hearing about the debt) and the £300 in fees they have added.


Thanks

[Qpips]

Re: Help With Marston/TV License Fine

Hmm 6.30 am I see a pattern with Marstons. Do you know what his name was?

[bizzybob]

Re: Help With Marston/TV License Fine

Were you aware of even a summons? Did you have a TV licence for the address up until you left, as TVL aka Crapita are not unknown for summonsing for no TV licence at the old address even though you change it to your new address?. In that circumstance you will know nothing until the wolves at marston's track you down.

[Fizzy77]

Re: Help With Marston/TV License Fine

I wasn't aware of a summons or anything until I had the first visit from Marston.

I didn't have a TV License in my name at the previous address as we were told by the landlord that there was one for the whole building (two houses that were previously one) and part of the rent paid for it, we told this to the tv license man when he visited and he said he would go off and check it and we never heard anything after that.

I just don't understand why they are suddenly chasing it after like 2 years and why I haven't heard anything before.

His Name was Alex Bryant which doesn't come up as a certificated bailiff, Marston gave me another name of "Mr Roggero" or similar in one of the emails and this doesn't come up either.

Have I done the right thing by contacting the court etc..? I was advised all this by a friend who has had similar problems with bailiffs.

Thanks for the replies

[Fizzy77]

Re: Help With Marston/TV License Fine

oh I also meant to say that he had been seen on another occasion snooping through our bins and when our neighbor came out to tell him to bugger off he started asking them about me.

[Qpips]

Re: Help With Marston/TV License Fine

oh I also meant to say that he had been seen on another occasion snooping through our bins and when our neighbor came out to tell him to bugger off he started asking them about me.

OMG is there any depths Marston's wont sink to?!!!???

[ploddertom]

Re: Help With Marston/TV License Fine

If you have no knowledge of any of this you need to contact the Court and make a Statutory Declaration to this effect.

[CleverClogs]

Re: Help With Marston/TV License Fine

oh I also meant to say that he had been seen on another occasion snooping through our bins

Perhaps he just felt a bit hungry?

[bluebottle]

Re: Help With Marston/TV License Fine

Totally agree, PT. This is becoming a regular occurrence where TV Licensing/Capita is concerned. Sending summonses to previous addresses or telling people not to attend the court is Perverting the Course of Justice. This needs exposing publicly and pursuing at high level in government in order to nip it in the bud.

Fizzy,

Anyone purporting to be a bailiff has a legal obligation to produce their certificate for inspection when requested to do so. Failure to do so may amount to an offence at law in certain circumstances. He cannot force entry with a locksmith unless the court has authorised him to do so. Even then, he has to show the court you are deliberately and persistently avoiding paying the fine before they will authorise a forced entry. If they didn't, this bailiff is potentially committing an offence of Making Threats to Commit Criminal Damage (Section 2, Criminal Damage Act 1971) which is an indictable offence. As for the warrant, yes, he does have to show you the warrant, if you request to see it, or tell you where you can inspect it. Do not accept anything purporting to be a Distress Warrant that is printed on a bailiff company letterheading. I am looking into the legal status of such documents.

The most important issue to address is to contact the court and arrange to swear a Statutory Declaration, as advised by Ploddertom. Do that asap.

[BoroBoy1975]

Re: Help With Marston/TV License Fine

Wish Gareth Hughes would realise how his employees are behaving & treating people or is he encouraging it? It's absolutely disgusting & beyond the joke now, I'd absolutely love it if they lost all their contracts with the various government offices & any other large organisations & it caused major job losses & a load of their thick headed bully boy bailiffs & rude, ignorant office staff got made redundant - I'd have no sympathy for them what so ever - customer care your having a total laugh arn't you, it's totally non-existent - you don't give a monkey's toss how you treat or speak to people Marstons you barbaric b*stards!!!

[bluebottle]

Re: Help With Marston/TV License Fine

Wish Gareth Hughes would realise how his employees are behaving & treating people or is he encouraging it?

He would be liable to prosecution if he is encouraging (consenting) or turning a blind eye (connivance) to any offences under Sections 2, 3 or 4, Fraud Act 2006.

It's absolutely disgusting & beyond the joke now, I'd absolutely love it if they lost all their contracts with the various government offices & any other large organisations & it caused major job losses & a load of their thick headed bully boy bailiffs & rude, ignorant office staff got made redundant - I'd have no sympathy for them what so ever - customer care your having a total laugh arn't you, it's totally non-existent - you don't give a monkey's toss how you treat or speak to people Marstons you barbaric b*stards!!!

Calm down, Bb. The bailiff companies that are under contract to government departments and local authorities may well lose their contracts if they don't rein in the Rent-A-Thug element and address the issue of office staff not informing bailiffs that distress warrants have been recalled. It only requires peeps to give local councillors and MPs grief over the use of certificated bailiff companies who engage in fraud, intimidation and violence in order to bring about the necessary change. The answer is in the hands of the people.

@@@@

[CleverClogs]

Re: Help With Marston/TV License Fine

The bailiff companies that are under contract to government departments and local authorities may well lose their contracts if they don't rein in the Rent-A-Thug element and address the issue of office staff not informing bailiffs that distress warrants have been recalled. It only requires peeps to give local councillors and MPs grief over the use of certificated bailiff companies who engage in fraud, intimidation and violence in order to bring about the necessary change. The answer is in the hands of the people.

That's a nice thought, but it simply won't happen.

As with all other companies that mess up time and time again with little/no regard for the individuals they harm or cheat, the bailiff companies will claim that a few complaints represent less than 1% of their activities. That is - of course - rather disingenuous; many more people will be left feeling disgruntled but their complaints will go unrecorded.

[bluebottle]

Re: Help With Marston/TV License Fine

[COLOR=#000000]
That's a nice thought, but it simply won't happen. If people keep thinking that way, CC, nothing will change.

As with all other companies that mess up time and time again with little/no regard for the individuals they harm or cheat, the bailiff companies will claim that a few complaints represent less than 1% of their activities. That is - of course - rather disingenuous; many more people will be left feeling disgruntled but their complaints will go unrecorded. It needs incidents to be collated and then referred to the appropriate body, possibly, the NFA or SFO. If the SFO, they are seriously scary and will demand answers. And they don't tolerate bovine excrement.

@@@@

[bizzybob]

Re: Help With Marston/TV License Fine

Perhaps Marstondales will lose HMCS contracts, and Crapita will get the HSE and trading standards biting their sorry jive ass

[bluebottle]

Re: Help With Marston/TV License Fine

When I have been dealing with HMCTS Senior Enforcement Managers (SEM) on behalf of LB members, one thing that has come up is that if HMCTS don't know what is going on, they cannot do anything about sharp and illegal practices by contracted bailiffs. So it is important that HMCTS, HSE, local authorities et all are continually informed as to what is going on. It is only through them being kept up to speed with what is really happening can they do anything to address the situation that has been allowed to persist, mainly, through apathy and adopting a "nothing will change" attitude. Things can and will change as soon as people realise that the power to bring about change is in their hands. It just needs a change of attitude.