Fine Paid In Full ... Yet a Notice Of Distress Warrant From Collectica

[troubledsoul]

Hi All,

I was stupid enough to shoplift at a local Tesco shop and got caught. Much to my dismay the police were called who handed me a penalty notice, the original notice had 80 Pound printed on it, which the PC striked out and wrote 90 on it instead.

Well anyways I tried to make the payment over the phone by calling 08459400111 but despite multiple attempts it wont accept the payment.I finally tried the online route and found https://caomain.latestinfo.co.uk/met/payment.php where I made the payment(well within the 21 days that the notice said) - however the website didn't have the option to chose any other amount and was fixed at 80 Pounds. I made the payment, a reference number was generated which I saved for my records. I thought that was the end of the matter for me.

However yesterday I got a letter from Collectica saying that they "are in receipt of a Distress Warrant for non-payment of a Magistrates' Fine and we have been instructed by North West London to execute the warrant with immediate effect" - and the amount quoted on the letter is 220 Pounds, and they are saying "unless the full amount including costs (as shown above) is paid within 14 days, we will commence enforcement and recovery action that will lead to a bailiff attending your premises to seize and remove goods".

I am very surprised and worried about this letter now because of the below reasons :-

1. The amount was paid in full (given the fact that the website would not let me chose any other amount and 80 is what it said and thats what I paid)
2. I did not receive any further notice/action or any other correspondence from the court on this matter.
3. Now I have this threatening letter from Collectica and I don't think I should be paying anyone anything (because of point 1 above).
4. Its just 14 days which can pass in a flash and I don't want bailiff etc.visiting my premises and causing further disrepute to me and my family.

Can the kind souls here suggest what should be my course of action and how do I rid myself of this unwanted nuisance.

Regards

[labman]

Re: Fine Paid In Full ... Yet a Notice Of Distress Warrant From Collectica

This is a tricky one. You have received a Penalty Notice for Disorder. For shoplifting, only one of these can be given, any other time formal action were taken it would have to be through the courts.

What I believe to have happened in your case is the threshold has changed recently - I cannot, irritatingly, find the exact date for this change, with the range of penalty rising from £50 - £80 to £60 - £90.

It would appear that you received yours at exactly the time of this change, received the old paperwork (I hope you still have it), and it was processed before the computer system had been updated to reflect the changes.

It is ridiculous that you are suffering bailiffs as a result of this. The issue will not even give you a criminal record, as would have been explained to you.

I would go, in person, to the Magistrates' Court with all your evidence - take copies and pass those over where possible, but have originals there, ask to speak to the Fines Officer explaining exactly why you need to do this. Hopefully you will get to see them. They may say you have to deal with the bailiffs, but at this stage you can state the bailiffs are not commencing enforcement for 14 days, so you must deal with the court. You may well need to be politely persistent.

I think the Fines Officer is the initial point of contact for this, and it is best is you go in person to deal with it if at all possible.

It is a really unusual case and I'm sorry I can't be more helpful than that. :beagle:

[troubledsoul]

Re: Fine Paid In Full ... Yet a Notice Of Distress Warrant From Collectica

Hi Labman,

Many thanks for taking the time to read through my situation and being so kind to reply in detail, much appreciated.

That is my gut feeling as well that the change over didn't reflect in the computer systems - reason I say that is because when I checked the same website yesterday the amount has now been updated to say 90 pounds (but then again it doesn't have an option to change it to anything else - as was the case then it was stuck at 80).

The Collectica letter suggests "North West London" although I don't think there is a court like that - the court checker doesn't show up anything. The offence happened in Tesco Feltham so I am assuming it would be this ? Does the fines officer have a cabin at the court itself?

I have the below :-

1. Original notice which was issued to me - where it shows 80 striked out and 90 written in hand.
2. Bank statement showing that the amount has indeed been deducted
3. A web reference number from the payment site

Foolishly enough I didn't take a print out of the website then showing 80 as the amount, so cant furnish that. Neither do I have my phone statement showing that I actually called the payment number many times. Do you think the above would be enough?

Should I pay to collectica and then ask for a refund from the court/ send Collectica an email/letter etc.stating my position? Or do nothing and first try to reason it out with the court only?

Many thanks again.

Regards

[bluebottle]

Re: Fine Paid In Full ... Yet a Notice Of Distress Warrant From Collectica

It does make me wonder whether the police officer's actions in altering the FPN in the manner he did were, in fact, lawful. I do know, having been a policeman myself, that altering official documents is an absolute no-no and you risk either getting sacked or prosecuted depending on what you do and what happens as a result of the alteration.

I would certainly challenge whether the police officer acted lawfully by altering the FPN in the way he did. I would certainly not pay anything to Collectica until you have pursued this with HMCTS.

If it is not clear as to which court issued the distress warrant and Collectica will not tell you which court, albeit that they are obliged to tell you, contact the HMCTS Area Enforcement Team for the London Area. They are based at Southwark. It is best to contact them by email and mark the email "For the attention of Service Delivery Manager or Senior Enforcement Manager". The email address you require is gl-cao.corresp@hmcts.gsi.gov.uk Make sure you include a contact telephone number for them to contact you in the email.

[bizzybob]

Re: Fine Paid In Full ... Yet a Notice Of Distress Warrant From Collectica

I would agree with Labman and BB, contact the court as suggested, and query the officer's action, beasring in mind there was no way to pay an amount other than the £80 which the officer had altered.

One thing to bear in mind is that Tesco use the services of a dodgy "company called "Retail Loss Prevention" who may well send a letter demanding £147 or so for the losses incurred by Tesco in processing your case. These have that status of an invoice, and if the goods were recovered, and saleble RLP have no course of action, as they are akin to a Private Parking Charge, as in no provable loss, fails in County court that is a generalisatiuon. If you do get a letter from RLP

check this out

• ApprovedJudgment - RLP - The Oxford case.pdf (49.8 KB, 1 views)

and this thread here

http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...oss-prevention

[Sir Vere Brayne d'Emmidge]

Re: Fine Paid In Full ... Yet a Notice Of Distress Warrant From Collectica

Hi All,

I was stupid enough to shoplift at a local Tesco shop and got caught. Much to my dismay the police were called who handed me a penalty notice, the original notice had 80 Pound printed on it, which the PC striked out and wrote 90 on it instead.

Well anyways I tried to make the payment over the phone by calling 08459400111 but despite multiple attempts it wont accept the payment.I finally tried the online route and found https://caomain.latestinfo.co.uk/met/payment.php where I made the payment(well within the 21 days that the notice said) - however the website didn't have the option to chose any other amount and was fixed at 80 Pounds. I made the payment, a reference number was generated which I saved for my records. I thought that was the end of the matter for me.

However yesterday I got a letter from Collectica saying that they "are in receipt of a Distress Warrant for non-payment of a Magistrates' Fine and we have been instructed by North West London to execute the warrant with immediate effect" - and the amount quoted on the letter is 220 Pounds, and they are saying "unless the full amount including costs (as shown above) is paid within 14 days, we will commence enforcement and recovery action that will lead to a bailiff attending your premises to seize and remove goods".

I am very surprised and worried about this letter now because of the below reasons :-

1. The amount was paid in full (given the fact that the website would not let me chose any other amount and 80 is what it said and thats what I paid)
2. I did not receive any further notice/action or any other correspondence from the court on this matter.
3. Now I have this threatening letter from Collectica and I don't think I should be paying anyone anything (because of point 1 above).
4. Its just 14 days which can pass in a flash and I don't want bailiff etc.visiting my premises and causing further disrepute to me and my family.

Can the kind souls here suggest what should be my course of action and how do I rid myself of this unwanted nuisance.

Regards

Indeed a tricky one but ..... I can not fathom the £220.00

Assuming that you defaulted on £10, which is doubtfull (I totally agree with BlueBottle, the Constable should have not altered the figure, unless a memo was circulated at the time, signed by the Chief Constable, stating that since new FPN books were not available to alter the figure...or something on those lines) the Maximum that Collectica should be asking you for at letter stage is £10 plus £85 compliance fee.

Can you attach a scanned copy of Collectica letter in your next post?

You would have not received anything from the Court reference the missing £10, a further step notice would have been part and parcel of the FPN, since you still have it, read the small print.

By the way, there is no North West London Magistrate Court, but there is an HMCTS North West London.

Take copies of the FNP, Bank Statement, WEB reference for the payment, letter from Collectica and write a note about the whole issue and deliver one by hand or recorded delivery to the Fines Office and one recorded delivery to Collectica. The follow up with a phone call 7 days later.

Good luck

[troubledsoul]

Re: Fine Paid In Full ... Yet a Notice Of Distress Warrant From Collectica

I would agree with Labman and BB, contact the court as suggested, and query the officer's action, bearing in mind there was no way to pay an amount other than the £80 which the officer had altered.

That is what I am going to do first thing tomorrow, I will update you guys on how it goes at the court, hopefully I manage to meet someone in authority who will hear my case and hopefully be able to suggest some resolution/put an end to this farce, my only concern is running from pillar to post and turning up against deaf ears.

One thing to bear in mind is that Tesco use the services of a dodgy "company called "Retail Loss Prevention" who may well send a letter demanding £147 or so for the losses incurred by Tesco in processing your case. These have that status of an invoice, and if the goods were recovered, and saleble RLP have no course of action, as they are akin to a Private Parking Charge, as in no provable loss, fails in County court that is a generalisatiuon. If you do get a letter from RLP

I did get repeated letters from RLP and despite reading repeated posts in this group not to pay them, I did ended up paying them(stupidly enough !!) because I just wanted to put and end to this matter. I knew they didn't have a case yet I paid to stop the repeated mails etc they were sending me on this matter and for fear of any further harassment to me and my family.

[troubledsoul]

Re: Fine Paid In Full ... Yet a Notice Of Distress Warrant From Collectica

It does make me wonder whether the police officer's actions in altering the FPN in the manner he did were, in fact, lawful. I do know, having been a policeman myself, that altering official documents is an absolute no-no and you risk either getting sacked or prosecuted depending on what you do and what happens as a result of the alteration.

I would certainly challenge whether the police officer acted lawfully by altering the FPN in the way he did. I would certainly not pay anything to Collectica until you have pursued this with HMCTS.

I have a copy of the FPN which clearly shows the amount being changed and this is what I am going to show to the court tomorrow as well and let you know the outcome of my discussion with them. I will hold paying anything to Collectica till such time, anyways the letter they sent me is dated 28th of October so even counting the weekends etc. I should have another 7-8 days to sort it out.

If it is not clear as to which court issued the distress warrant and Collectica will not tell you which court, albeit that they are obliged to tell you, contact the HMCTS Area Enforcement Team for the London Area. They are based at Southwark. It is best to contact them by email and mark the email "For the attention of Service Delivery Manager or Senior Enforcement Manager". The email address you require is gl-cao.corresp@hmcts.gsi.gov.uk Make sure you include a contact telephone number for them to contact you in the email.

I did call up Collectica on Friday itself and all they said was that its the North West London Court, I told them that there is none, to which they said please google it up !!

Below is the email I have just sent to the email address you mentioned :-

Dear Sir,



This is with reference to a "Metropolitan Police Service" Penalty I was supposed to pay for PN no 01/A69136661 The original amount on the fine was for 80 Pounds, which the PC who issued the notice stroke out and made it 90 Pounds. I tried making the payment on the phone number listed on the notice (08459400111), however despite my repeated attempts it won't accept my details or let me pay. 


I finally managed to pay the fine online at https://caomain.latestinfo.co.uk/met/payment.php , here again there was no option to select 90 pounds as the amount as when I entered fixed penalty it kept showing the amount as 80 pounds. I then made the payment on the 6th of August 2013 in full i.e. 80 pounds online using the online payment system (payment confirmation reference number attached for reference). 


Since the website didn't give me any option to change the amount, nor did it suggest/recommend I not make the payment there, I feel I am not wrong to have assumed that the payment that I made for 80 pounds was indeed the right amount.


Despite having paid the penalty in full within the stipulated time frame, today I got a letter from Collectica with client reference number "13158450M" and collectica reference number "7995037".


Looks like there has been a mistake on your part to pass on my details to Collectica, can you please help resolve the matter at the earliest, as I have paid the amount in full earlier and should not be made liable for any other fines/non-payment warrants etc.


Thanks in advance.


Yours Truly,
ABC

0XXXXXXXXXX

Hope that's alright?

I have also sent another email to admin@collectica.co.uk, although a slightly differently worded email as below :-

Dear Sir,

This is with reference to a "Metropolitan Police Service" Penalty I was supposed to pay for PN no 01/A69136661 which I duly paid on the 6th of August 2013 in full i.e. 80 pounds online(well within the stipulated timeframe) using the online payment system (payment confirmation reference number attached for reference).


Despite having paid the penalty in full within the stipulated time frame, today I got a letter from Collectica with client reference number "13158450M" and collectica reference number "7995037".


Looks like there has been a mistake somewhere, can you please help resolve the matter at the earliest, as I have paid the amount in full earlier and should not be made liable for any other fines/non-payment warrants etc.

[Milo]

Re: Fine Paid In Full ... Yet a Notice Of Distress Warrant From Collectica

The 'North West London' reference is more of an 'admin' centre and you need to telephone them first. They are extremely helpful. There are at least 4 telephone numbers but unfortunately they are extremely busy and you can be holding on the line for over an hour. At one time I posted 'an alternative' number on Consumer Action forum and this number was quickly copied by other "advice' forums and given out by them in response to every single enquiry regarding a fine ANYWHERE in the country. The telephone number changed very recently. I will send you a message by the end of the day with a new number.

If I forget, please send a pm.

[Milo]

Re: Fine Paid In Full ... Yet a Notice Of Distress Warrant From Collectica

PS:

I have just read your post again and it would seem that you have sent your email to the wrong email address. The address should be for the relevant admin centre. I will dig out the right one for you.

[CleverClogs]

Re: Fine Paid In Full ... Yet a Notice Of Distress Warrant From Collectica

Does the fines officer have a cabin at the court itself?

I believe the Fines Officer will use the same loos as the rest of the staff.

[bluebottle]

Re: Fine Paid In Full ... Yet a Notice Of Distress Warrant From Collectica

The 'North West London' reference is more of an 'admin' centre and you need to telephone them first. They are extremely helpful. There are at least 4 telephone numbers but unfortunately they are extremely busy and you can be holding on the line for over an hour. At one time I posted 'an alternative' number on Consumer Action forum and this number was quickly copied by other "advice' forums and given out by them in response to every single enquiry regarding a fine ANYWHERE in the country. The telephone number changed very recently. I will send you a message by the end of the day with a new number.

If I forget, please send a pm.

I totally agree with your statement about HMCTS Area Enforcement Teams being very helpful, Milo. The ones I have had dealings with have been very helpful indeed, especially where a certain bailiff company owned by a company in MoJ's bad books at the moment is concerned.