Collectica threatening to force entry this morning!

[jwanagyan30]

Hi folks well its a pretty complicated story and I will try to keep it as short as possible.
Here goes.............
Well last year I received a letter telling me I had been found guilty in my absence at Sheffield magistrates court regarding travelling on the railway without a valid ticket when in actual fact I had a ticket but I had taken my Daughter use the toilet in the first class section of the train as she was desperate and there was an out of order sign on the standard section of the train. As I was coming out of the toilet we pulled up to the station & I exited via the first class doors. As I did so a train inspector asked to see my ticket which I showed him with no hesitation. He then stated that my ticket was for the standard section and I had travelled on the first class section without the appropriate fayre. I tried to explain to him that this was infact not the case & I was simply using the toilet for my daughter as the other was out of service. He still proceeded to ask me for the further £60!! on top of my £10 fayre I had already paid. I refused and said I would take this up with his manager. He proceeded to take me into an office and forced me to show him my purse to prove I had no money on me, which I did and then asked for ID. That was that then aprox 2 months after I recieved a letter stating that if I did not pay what was now £260 inc fees I was being taken to court. I corresponded with them & still nothing & aprox 3mths after I received a court summons stating I was being charged with this and that I did not have to attend court simply explain my plea and reasons overleaf which I did and sent it back promptly.
Nothing more came of that for around another 2 mths when I received a letter stating that I had infact been found guilty in my absenc.
e. :tinysmile_aha_t:
I was fines £500 and it was due right away.
I rang the courts and explained to them that I wished to contest this fine as I felt it had been served unjustly the courts officer said she would pass it on to a manager and inform me of the outcome.
Many weeks later I got another letter stating I was in default of my fine and that a distress warrant had infact been issued unless I paid within 14 days I would have my case passed into the baillifs "Colectica" I rang the courts again and explained I could not afford this as I was on working tax credits and only received £130 per week I am asingle mother and barely got by on what I had & I do not have anything worse selling nor do I drive ect and would reluctantly pay via installments as thats all I could afford without starving my Daughter.

Nothing came of that conversation so I spoke with my solicitor who said he would look into this matter for me at a fee which I cant afford :tinysmile_hmm_t2:
I then received a letter from collectica stating they were in receipt of the distress warrant and would not accept installments. I called them and offered £10-£15 per week at best as thats the highest amount I can afford to miss every week without severely struggling yet they refused!
I proceeded to call hem and email them again and again asking for installments to be accepted yet they continue to refuse.

Well today I returned from the school and found they had been to my home and left a letter stating that they are going to enforce entry to my property if I do not pay them the money due now £847.00 How do they justify these fees from one visit to my home after I specifically told them I have nothing of value and I have offered a payment plan on many occasions?

I rang the baillif whos no was on the letter and proceeded to explain my situation as I am a single mother I am expecting a 2nd child & work a mere 16 hrs per week and only get tax credits I am self employed so some weeks I do not even pay myself a wage as I dont earn enough profit working online but it keeps me off jobseekers and the tax credits is the same as without all the hassle. I have a Husband but we are seperated and he wont help with anything hence the reason we separated.

I also have a severe illness and see consultants weekly for this, My chance of miscarriage is very high due to 3 previous miscarriages and my doctor has specifically stated no stress, but the stress from this is phenominal I just dont know what to do or where to turn, due to my low income its hard to get a loan even from those payday loan companies, which is a route I do not wish to take.

I have accepted that the courts will not overturn the conviction regardless of the facts surrounding why this occurred in the first place, so I understand I must pay but no means test was ever completed via the courts it was just assumed I could afford to pay all of this money in one go.

Christmas is looming & I am at a loss as to what I can do so close to Christmas as I can barely afford at present to get my Daughter all that much for Christmas.

I never intended to get pregnant again as I know full well I cannot afford it but its happened and I have been applying foR other jobs daily as my self employed line of work is just not paying off.

If I culd pay this all off in one go I would but I cant seem to fathom those fees why are they so high?

Thank you in advance for any advice as it is greatly appreciated !

Take care & Kind regards.

[bluebottle]

Re: Collectica threatening to force entry this morning!

By the sound of it, the court has not followed correct procedures. Please answer the following questions -

1. Did you receive a summons to appear before the court?
2. Were your means (the amount of money available) examined?
3. Have you asked for a means hearing?
4. Were you offered a means hearing?
5. Which part of the country is the court that issued the fine, etc., in?

[Sir Vere Brayne d'Emmidge]

Re: Collectica threatening to force entry this morning!

Sorry to hear what happened, but also sorry for sounding a bit hard on you, but since you felt that the reporting from the railway people to Court was wrong and you are innocent why on earth did you not go to Court?

I sure would have done, that will make sure that I put the case to the Magistrates, and would have taken with me all the correspondence I had with the rail operator, and if at the time you would have been found guilty, no matter what, you could have asked the Court to pay £5 per week.

I feel that not having done the sensible thing in the first place, and you having received all the legal paperwork required, now the Court has issued a Distress Warrant with your name on it.

If I was the bailiff in charge of serving the warrant, unless I was made aware of your Health problem, I would continue to enforce the warrant, but if you are pregnant, or made aware of it, I would have to ceise all action until 4 weeks after the birth.

If you did say to the person you spoke in the first instance that you were pregnant, and they do record calls, then Collectica are knee deep in the hoopla!

Do contact the Enforcement team at Court, and send in as much proof as you can (copies of the maternity paperwork should suffice) and they will recall the warrant.