Suspicious Warrant officer behaviour

[GucciRocks]

Hi there, I wonder if anyone has any advice for a work colleague of mine who has just received a distressing telephone call from a gentleman claiming to be a warrant officer for the Magistrates court. She is unsure of whether or not he is genuine, this is what happened -
She received a text from a mobile number saying "hey......give me a ring back, it's urgent." to which she replied "who is this sorry?" the response came back " it's important that I speak to you urgently, please call me back"
She then received 7 missed calls from this number and another text saying "This is an official matter and I need to speak to you before further action is taken"
She then called the number and the gentleman claimed to be a Magistrates court warrant officer who was trying to track her down for an unpaid fine. He said that if she couldn't pay in full that he would arrest her, and the judge would have to re-sentence her which would most likely be a custodial sentence because the previous fine remained un-paid. She said she didn't have the £600 and couldn't get it all in one go so what would happen now and he said he was coming to our work place to arrest her. She then arranged to meet him elsewhere as she didn't want to be arrested at work. Half an hour later when she was at the meeting place, he said he could accept half the amount at the end of this month when she gets paid and half at the end of Feb.
Now i understand the fact that she can be arrested because of not paying the fine but the way that it's been dealt with today doesn't seem to be very professional or proper. He would only identify himself as MR................... and would not confirm anything else for her to be able to identify him.
How can she check him out to make sure he is genuine before paying all of this money?

Thank you very much.x

[nemesis45]

Re: Suspicious Warrant officer behaviour

A warrant officer would not be collecting money I think just make an arrest and bail the person to appear in court on a specific date.
Contact should be made with the local magistrates court immediately to check
the validity of his story.
Court offices are usually open until 1600 hrs Monday to Friday.

[josephbloggs]

Re: Suspicious Warrant officer behaviour

contact the designated fines officer at whichever the magistrates court is who issued the warrant.
find out whether it is a warrant of control or a bail/no bail arrest warrant is in place.
also find out if it was a court enforcement agent (employed by the court) or someone from marstons or collectica

[Big Al]

Re: Suspicious Warrant officer behaviour

I assume she is aware that a fine is outstanding?

[Milo]

Re: Suspicious Warrant officer behaviour

If she is even considering paying any money she needs to find out who the company is and what the debt relates to.

Another point that needs to be made is this. Over the years I must have spoken to hundreds of people who have stated that they have receiving a letter from a bailiff stating that the bailiff has left a letter stating that he is going to force entry and yet...when a copy of the letter is scanned over it does not actually say those words at all and instead, states "we can remove goods even in your absence".

If this is bailiff it is a shame that the comments about being a Magistrate Court 'warrant officer' were not made on a text message. If challenged, the bailiff would very likely deny that is claimed.

PS: If this was a warrant officer then he would normally produced a letter for the debtor to sign confirming that she has been bailed to attend court on a pre arranged date.

[GucciRocks]

Re: Suspicious Warrant officer behaviour

I assume she is aware that a fine is outstanding?

No, apparently she was caught driving without insurance,she says she did drive for a few days last Jan without insurance ( so she does deserve the penalty) but she didnt receive the fine because she moved house.

[Milo]

Re: Suspicious Warrant officer behaviour

No, apparently she was caught driving without insurance,she says she did drive for a few days last Jan without insurance ( so she does deserve the penalty) but she didnt receive the fine because she moved house.

In which case she needs to find out which court dealt with the matter and the court should allow her to submit a Statutory Declaration. She has 21 days from becoming aware of the matter (which should be from today's date).

Some courts are much better than others and will readily agree to instruct the enforcement company to cease enforcement action until the application has been heard by the court. Others are not quite so helpful.....