Marston demanding money.

[TUTTSI]

Re: Marston demanding money.

Hi Beep,

Welcome to Legal Beagles and pleased to see you are getting great help.

Have a look here http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...rking-Offences bailiff charges.

There is a lot of information in the Bailiff threads which you may or not have seen http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...Bailiff-Issues

ok Bluebottle, thanks for your input first off, now on to buisness, the fact is I dont actually know what they are trying to get the money for as my GF has the letter from marstons, but if memory serves me, the fee that has been paid was the unclamping fee which ammounted to aprox £240 or there abouts, which leads me to think that the outstanding ammount, if that is the case must be the failure to have tax on her car, if this is indeed the case, then obv she will have to pay, however the charges that marstons have come up with (over £500) seem a tad excesive, to me anyway, as im still filtering through info on the whole clamping issue and waiting for her to get home, im not sure what is going on, just trying my best to help out. Hopefully we will know more when she has made a few calls after work.

Thanks again for all your help.

B.

[bluebottle]

Re: Marston demanding money.

The fees for releasing untaxed vehicles are at www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/owningAVehicle/UntaxedVehicle/DG_4022072. These are statutory and the clamping contractor, etc., cannot vary them. You definitely need to speak to DVLA about what is going on. Ultimately, they are responsible for the clamping contractor's and Marstons' actions. With an oaf as a CEO, DVLA are fast catching up with Capita as "cock-up kings" and could, possibly, pip Capita to the title of Cock-Up Kings 2012.

[thebeep]

Re: Marston demanding money.

ok peeps i have news and info, thanks to everyone however i feel as i may have wasted your time, i have been through her mail, i know its a sh***y thing to do but i have to get to the bottom of this some how, and it appears she DID have prior knowledge of this, a court summons was received at her previous address in nov last year and a further letter from marstons dated may this year came to this address, at that point the incured costs were only £330, £245 for none tax fine and £85 fees from marstons, but as you know the fees are way up now almost £600, i have had a word with my GF at work and she claims she cant remeber receiving the letters, to be fair i have no resons to disbelieve her, however that is not helping matters, i have warned her against parking her car outside the property in the mean time, and a client at her work has said that because she answered the door to them this morning, all though they did NOT enetr the property they can now come back with a lock smith to gain entry should they need to, im not sure if this is true or not and obv now i appear to have wasted your time, i would still be appreciated of any help that we still might be able to get in maybe lowering the fees or sorting out some kind of payment plan which marstons have clearly said no to.

So sorry about this, thanks again.

B.

[bluebottle]

Re: Marston demanding money.

Unless they have gained peaceable entry on a previous occasion, they cannot force entry. With a fine, they cannot force entry without an order signed by a judge. Any reputable locksmith (especially members of the Master Locksmiths Association who work with police forces) will not break a lock without first having sight of a valid court order and the police will not allow it either unless they have sight of a valid court order. If Marstons start making threats about locksmiths, check they have a court order by asking which court has authorised them to do so. Then ask to see the order.

[thebeep]

Re: Marston demanding money.

ok thanks for continuing to assist me in this matter, as far as i know, i will update if im wrong, she talked to them on the doorstep and they did NOT enter the property.

[TUTTSI]

Re: Marston demanding money.

Did you read the thread on bailiff charges that I have given you. If they are charging more than the norm then you can follow some advice from those threads in the Bailiff section or wait for Labman to come back and assist you.

[thebeep]

Re: Marston demanding money.

Hi Tuttsi, im reading through them now, going to have a good look and see what i can dig up. Thanks, B.

[labman]

Re: Marston demanding money.

Excuse the red - it's the easiest way of spotting my writing from yours!

ok peeps i have news and info, thanks to everyone however i feel as i may have wasted your time,No need to apologise - we're here to help if we can. i have been through her mail, i know its a sh***y thing to do but i have to get to the bottom of this some how, and it appears she DID have prior knowledge of this, a court summons was received at her previous address in nov last year Was she living at that address then? and a further letter from marstons dated may this year came to this address Saying what?, at that point the incured costs were only £330, £245 for none tax fine and £85 fees from marstons, but as you know the fees are way up now almost £600, i have had a word with my GF at work and she claims she cant remeber receiving the letters, to be fair i have no resons to disbelieve her, however that is not helping matters, i have warned her against parking her car outside the property in the mean time Wise move, and a client at her work has said that because she answered the door to them this morning, all though they did NOT enetr the property they can now come back with a lock smith to gain entry should they need to Boll**ks!, im not sure if this is true No it isn't! or not and obv now i appear to have wasted your time, i would still be appreciated of any help that we still might be able to get in maybe lowering the fees or sorting out some kind of payment plan which marstons have clearly said no to.

So sorry about this, thanks again.

B.

It sounds to me like the fine is from the Magistrates' Court for having an untaxed vehicle on the public highway. The link below sets out a very clear procedure which MUST be followed when enforcing a M Court fine:

http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...s-Courts-Fines

Things can get complex here, and Bluebottle is not necessarily correct in stating about the DVLA I'm afraid. It is perfectly possible if your GF had not turned up for a summons that Marstons could lawfully have clamped the car and unclamped it, charging a fee for both. They can legally do this three times. It is impossible to state whether fees are correct without visiting Marstons website as each company is allowed to set their own fees for this.

In addition the can charge a one off £85 administration charge and a one off £215 Attendance Fee.

There are various other fees which can be incurred, but it doesn't appear as though you have incurred any of these yet.

As a matter of urgency, your GF needs to contact the court solicitor, find out exactly what offence Marstons are instructed for and the date on which they were instructed. This should answer the issue of the clamping / unclamping fee as you can match up the date with the date on the summons letter.

If she received the summons at her old address, it is unlikely the solicitor will let the case go back to court. This means she is probably stuck with the fines, so it turns into a case of damage limitation.

If the above is correct, she needs to apply for a Means Enquiry Hearing as soon as possible. This is best done by going to court in person and asking for one. She may need to go every day for a while and keep on and on asking for one, as it is at the courts' discretion whether or not they grant this. If she can back it up with a doctors note stating it may trigger depression, stress related illness etc.... this usually helps.

Once she gets this, it is simply a case of filling in an Income and Expenditure form and agreeing an affordable monthly repayment and putting it down to an expensive lesson learnt the hard way.

If circumstances turn out to be different when you chat to her, post up and we'll see where we go.

TBH, until you've talked to her properly, we're all making assumptions, so there is little you can do. If we can see any way to get you out of any of the fees we will.

As for the threat of the locksmith, I think you are fairly safe to ignore it. the number of times a judge will grant permission for forced entry are exceptionally small. The number of times the threat is used is exceptionally high. All they are doing is trying to intimidate and scare your GF into paying up.

Find out FACTS, then repost. Until then, I would not act on any advice other than that already given to avoid the bailiffs getting a levy. As for her friends - for the time being I'd tell them to go forth and multiply as they're only scaring your GF further.

[thebeep]

Re: Marston demanding money.

ok Labman, ill take this one question at a time and answer as best I can, No she was NOT at that address at that time, the letter from marsdons states, Offence: keep a vehicle without a valid vehicle locence. 05/03/2012
fine : £245.84
fees : £85.00
Costs : 0.00
vat : 0.00
total : £330.84.
"we are in possession of a magistrates court order as a consequence of non payment of the above ammount. we are instructed to dremand immediate payment in FULL from you. we must inform you that unless the TOTAL sum due is paid into our office within 7 days of the dtae of this letter, our bailifs will attend to levy distress and remove goods for sale by PUBLIC AUCTION. this action will involve minimum further costs of £215.

i beleive that is answering all the above, as for the othe rinfo you posted, it is seeming that it is the tax issue that has casued this, and due to the summons being sent to her old address it would seem she either chose to ignore it thinking it was something else or maybe im just being defensive in her case lol, I will advise her and all the info posted above and to the various other pages you guys have kindly posted for me, Thank you so much for helping, i will get back in touch shortly as she is due home soon.

Thanks again.
B.

Additions.
Right she is home and is now running around demanding that we start selling stuff to pay this off, she does agree that it needs to be paid, however short of actually selling stuff which id rather not do, obviously, im honestly stuck for ideas, as she is upsatirs in tears over this. She has no memory of the letter from marston ariving and as for the court summons (which was sent to her ex's house) she admits that the it was overlocked due to it being stuffed in with the kids letters (doctors and school stuff) however none of this is going to cut us any slack, when she has calmed down some im going to get her to contact the court for a Means Enquiry Hearing and see where we can go from there, if there is anything i have missed please let me know so i can advise her further as what to do.

Thanks in advance.
B.

Further additions.

after reading the page sent by labman into the procedure of things underlined below, i will highlight my issues in GREEN.

Procedure
The more straightforward aspect of Magistrates’ Court fines is that there is a very clear procedure set down which should always be followed:

1. After you have been fined, you will be sent notice of the fine and the repayment rate, if one has been set. DID NOT RECEIVE!
2. If payments are not made, or payments are missed, you will be sent a reminder (Further Steps Notice) DID NOT RECEIVE
3. If you do not bring your repayments up to date, a court hearing will be arranged and you will be told the date. RECIEVED AT OLD ADDRESS!
4. If you do not attend the hearing, it is likely that a warrant will be issued for your arrest (with or without bail), and you will be brought back before the court. These are normally executed by Private Bailiffs.
5. If a suspended sentence warrant is already in place on the fine, a Committal Warrant will be issued to send you to prison.
6. If a Warrant has been issued, you must pay this. If you cannot pay, you should contact the Fines Office of the Court to arrange for a Means Enquiry Hearing. In this, you simply complete an Income and Expenditure sheet in order that the Magistrates can agree an affordable repayment level. It is critical that you are able to sustain this payment in the long term. Obviously it is in your interest to arrange this hearing as soon as possible. If you are in receipt of certain benefits, you can apply to have the fine paid directly from these at the rate of £5.00 per week.

further to the letters that have come to my attention, i now have the letter from marstons visit this morning with me and will outline the content of said letter below.

FINAL NOTICE, (all in red)
DESPITE PREVIOUS NOTICES AND ATTENDANCE(S) NO OTHER ATTENDANCES TO OUR KNOWLEDGE YOU HAVE FAILED TO PAY THE OUTSTANDING SUMS DUE. TAKE NOTICE THAT UNLESS FULL PAYMENT IS MADE IMMEDIATLY I SHALL REMOVE YOUR GOODS FOR SALE AT PUBLIC AUCTION:
:ONE EVENING THIS WEEK
:ONE MORNING THIS WEEK
:AFTER 7PM TODAY
:THIS WEEKEND
BALANCE DUE AS OF TODAY £545.84
IF PAYMENT IS NOT MADE IMMEDIATLY YOU WILL BE LIABLE FOR SUBSTANTIAL ADDITIONAL COSTS.
TO AVOID FURTHER ENFORCEMENT ACTION YOU ARE ADVISED TO CONTACT THE AGENT ON THE NUMBER BELOW
MR COX TEL 07825335311

she has been in touch as i noted earlier and left a voice mail but as of yet she has not recieved any corspondance in return.
if there is any more info you would like please ask and i will do my best to help.

thanks again.
B.

[labman]

Re: Marston demanding money.

OK, we're getting somewhere now which is good. For goodness sake, please tell your girlfriend to try to calm down. She does not need to start selling things as you'll be able to pay at an affordable rate.

One more uncomfortable question and then we should be able to begin to make progress. Was the letter sent to the old address because they made a mistake, or was it sent to the wrong address because your GF failed to notify the DVLA of a change of address? (Sorry - but as you know the latter also carries a fine).

[thebeep]

Re: Marston demanding money.

hi labman, thanks for getting in touch, unfortunatly it was a failure on her part to change her details due to a police involvement with her ex beating her up and having to leave the property in a rush, she is aware that a fine may be incured due to this matter however we didnt really think of details like that at the time of her leaving as you can understand.

[Hurricane Puffrose]

Re: Marston demanding money.

Beep you have a pm coming hun.. hope it helps

[thebeep]

Re: Marston demanding money.

just got and replyed hun x

[bluebottle]

Re: Marston demanding money.

hi labman, thanks for getting in touch, unfortunatly it was a failure on her part to change her details due to a police involvement with her ex beating her up and having to leave the property in a rush, she is aware that a fine may be incured due to this matter however we didnt really think of details like that at the time of her leaving as you can understand.

Was this within the last 28 days? If so, she still has time to notify as you normally have 28 days from the date of change of details in which to notify DVLA. Also, there are exceptional circumstances which can be confirmed by the police. If the matter is outside the 28-day period, I don't know if DVLA have any discretion to waive a penalty where there are exceptional circumstances, but she should enquire.

[thebeep]

Re: Marston demanding money.

thanks bluebottle i will update her with this new info, thanks again for contining to help.
B.