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My husband and I have lived in Scotland for over 10 years and lived in London before that. About 8 years ago my husband got a letter from Bury Court saying that he had been found guilty of travelling on Manchester public transport without a ticket and was being fined. He has a very common name, but they also had his date of birth. However, even in our small village of 500 people there are another 2 men with his name, so how many could there be in the greater Manchester area? He phoned the Clerk of Court and told them that he had never been to Manchester in his life, and that he was living in Scotland at the time of the offence.
The Clerk of Court told him to send a letter stating that, and agreed it was likely to be someone with the same name. When he asked how they got this address in Scotland they said they had just searched for his name and DOB. Anyway, they said it would be dropped, and so we relaxed and forgot all about it.
About a month ago - 8 years after the initial letter - he got another one this time from Manchester Crown Court saying that unless he paid his fine of £205 they would instruct bailiffs. He phoned again and this time got a very different response. They said they did not accept he was not the man in question, and that he would have to go before a court official and make a statutory declaration that he was not in Manchester and never had been. I may have got the name of the statutory declaration wrong, but in any event, it does not exist in Scottish law and there was no mechanism to do that. So he did nothing while we pondered.
Yesterday he got a letter from a firm of English bailiffs called Marston, who said he had to pay them within 7 days of the date of the letter or they would come to our house and seize property to the value of the fine. I am beside myself with fear and anxiety, as I work from home and would be here on my own when they come.
However I did a bit of research and found that under Scottish law there are no private bailiffs, the equivalent is a Sheriff Officer, a messenger-at-arms who is appointed by the Sheriff court.
My question (finally!) is this: can this English firm of bailiffs come up here and operate within Scottish law? Is it likely they would sell on the debt to the Scottish courts? What can we expect to happen next if we do nothing? My husband is very laid back and never thinks anything bad will happen. I am the opposite. I really hope someone can help.
The Clerk of Court told him to send a letter stating that, and agreed it was likely to be someone with the same name. When he asked how they got this address in Scotland they said they had just searched for his name and DOB. Anyway, they said it would be dropped, and so we relaxed and forgot all about it.
About a month ago - 8 years after the initial letter - he got another one this time from Manchester Crown Court saying that unless he paid his fine of £205 they would instruct bailiffs. He phoned again and this time got a very different response. They said they did not accept he was not the man in question, and that he would have to go before a court official and make a statutory declaration that he was not in Manchester and never had been. I may have got the name of the statutory declaration wrong, but in any event, it does not exist in Scottish law and there was no mechanism to do that. So he did nothing while we pondered.
Yesterday he got a letter from a firm of English bailiffs called Marston, who said he had to pay them within 7 days of the date of the letter or they would come to our house and seize property to the value of the fine. I am beside myself with fear and anxiety, as I work from home and would be here on my own when they come.
However I did a bit of research and found that under Scottish law there are no private bailiffs, the equivalent is a Sheriff Officer, a messenger-at-arms who is appointed by the Sheriff court.
My question (finally!) is this: can this English firm of bailiffs come up here and operate within Scottish law? Is it likely they would sell on the debt to the Scottish courts? What can we expect to happen next if we do nothing? My husband is very laid back and never thinks anything bad will happen. I am the opposite. I really hope someone can help.
The Black rat (Rattus rattus) is a common (hence the accusation of being Pleb) long-tailed rodent of the genus Rattus (rats) in the subfamily Murinae (murine rodents). The species originated in tropical Asia and spread through the Near East in Roman times (another thing that we ought to thanks the Romans for, besides roads, aqueducts and public toilets) before reaching Europe by the 1st century and spreading with Europeans across the world.
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