Collectica partial fine .

[Big Al]

Re: Collectica partial fine .

Make a formal complaint to the court manager and contact your local MP. Turning a £17 debt into £327 is a gross abuse. Get in touch with your local press as well. Grrrrrrrrr.

[Milo]

Re: Collectica partial fine .

A couple of points. Firstly, you clearly knew of the fine so a statutory declaration is not applicable. Secondly, on the matter of your address, Members of Parliament discussed this point when debating Further Steps Notices and it was made very clear indeed in the debate that if a debtor moves address then it is their duty to advise the court.

There are two points that are of concern:

Firstly, the amount of £215 was the figure that Collectica were allowed to charge debtors before 6th April last year. Since that time, the prescribed fee permitted in the legislation is £235. Can you check the amount and post back.

My last point is the most serious once and this concerns the 'starting figure' of just £17. My personal view of this is that the court should really be taken to task for issuing a warrant of control for such a nominal sum. The Compliance fee alone of £75 is over four times the amount of the remaining court fine and is therefore wholly disproportionate.

As you will see from my above post of last week I had serious concerns about the disproportionate amount of the fine in relation to the fees. Did you contact the Magistrate Court? If not....you really should do so immediately. This is almost certainly grounds for complaint.

[Petty1]

Re: Collectica partial fine .

Make a formal complaint to the court manager and contact your local MP. Turning a £17 debt into £327 is a gross abuse. Get in touch with your local press as well. Grrrrrrrrr.

As you will see from my above post of last week I had serious concerns about the disproportionate amount of the fine in relation to the fees. Did you contact the Magistrate Court? If not....you really should do so immediately. This is almost certainly grounds for complaint.

I'm sorry Milo. I didn't realise that I could legitimately complain about this, I presumed it was more of a general acknowledgement. I will note that I rang when I first got the letter from Collectica and they said it was nothing to do with them any more.

I found this website with two email address. I'm trying to find out who the court manger for The Birmingham magistrates Courts is, but I'm not having much luck.

Would it be better to ring?

[Milo]

Re: Collectica partial fine .

I'm sorry Milo. I didn't realise that I could legitimately complain about this, I presumed it was more of a general acknowledgement. I will note that I rang when I first got the letter from Collectica and they said it was nothing to do with them any more.

I found this website with two email address. I'm trying to find out who the court manger for The Birmingham magistrates Courts is, but I'm not having much luck.

Would it be better to ring?

Of course courts must be seen to be pro-active in collecting criminal court fines but they must surely know that issuing a warrant for £17 knowing full well that the Compliance fee of £75 charged by the enforcement agent would be more than 4 times this nominal debt.

Did the court send you a Further Steps Notice warning that unless payment was made that they would take further action?

[Petty1]

Re: Collectica partial fine .

Of course courts must be seen to be pro-active in collecting criminal court fines but they must surely know that issuing a warrant for £17 knowing full well that the Compliance fee of £75 charged by the enforcement agent would be more than 4 times this nominal debt.

Did the court send you a Further Steps Notice warning that unless payment was made that they would take further action?

There is a possibility that they sent one to my old house from last year, but I haven't received anything to my house I have been in since September of this year. Although I did not inform the courts that I moved.

[Petty1]

Re: Collectica partial fine .

I have mocked up a letter to send to the court manger. I'll ring the margaritas court to get his/her email address and name.

I would appreciate if somebody could read over it first and perhaps suggest any changes that need to be made.

Dear sir/madam

I'm writing to you in reference to my case (Number)



Last year I was charged for £126 for a train ticket fine thought the magistrates court. I thought I paid all of the fine until I got a letter through from Collectica on the 4th February.

I contacted the magistrates court and I was informed that I owed £17. I asked why I never received any letters stating the previous payments and that the courts were bring it further.
They told me that they had my old address and not my new one that I have been in since September (I left my last house in may and lived at home in Ireland for the summer).

Collectica are looking for £327, which comprises of the Compliance fee of £75,Enforcement fee of £235 and the original £17.

I understand the courts need to bee seen as pro-active in collecting criminal court fines, but I feel issuing a warrant for £17 knowing that the Compliance fee of £75 charged by the enforcement agent would be more than 4 times this nominal debt is heavy handed.


As it stands, my debt is almost 19 times greater than what I had owed. Collecticia wont accept anything lower than £49 per month which is not possible with being a student.


I want to thank you for taking time to read my email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.


Yours Sincerely,


Name

[Milo]

Re: Collectica partial fine .

I have mocked up a letter to send to the court manger. I'll ring the margaritas court to get his/her email address and name.

I would appreciate if somebody could read over it first and perhaps suggest any changes that need to be made.

[/FONT]

Amended version that you may wish to consider:


Dear Sirs,

Re: Account reference:

I am writing with regards to the above account which relates to a court fine of £126 imposed against me last year for travelling on a train without a valid ticket. From your records you will see that I made payments against this fine and it was my honest belief that I had settled the debt in full.

On 4th February 2015 I received correspondence from a company by the name of Collectica Ltd seeking payment of £327 which comprises of a balance against the court fine of £17, a Compliance fee of £75 and an Enforcement fee of £235. I immediately contacted your court and was surprised to discover that a balance of £17 was still outstanding against the court fine and I was advised that correspondence on this matter had been sent to a previous address where I had been living until April 2014. I had not received any letters given that I went to live in Ireland for 6 months (I returned to the UK in September 2014).

I understand that HMCTS need to to be seen as pro active in collecting criminal court fines but I feel that issuing a warrant for £17 in the knowledge that a Compliance fee of £75 alone would be more than 4 times this nominal amount is not only heavy handed but is wholly disproportional to the amount of the court fine. The amount being demanded by Collectica is now 19 times the original debt and given that I am a student it is impossible for me to clear this amount.

From advice that I have received I understand that the correspondence that had been sent to my previous address would have been a Further Steps Notice warning me that the Fines Officer would be seeking a warrant for the arrears of £17. If I had been living at the address at the time that this letter was sent I can assure you that I would have paid this sum immediately. However, as mentioned above, I moved from the address in April 2014. I did not write to the court to update my address details as I honestly believed that I had paid the court fine in full.

I would be grateful if you would consider recalling the warrant of control from Collectica Ltd for the reasons outlined above.

Yours sincerely

Mr xxxx

[Petty1]

Re: Collectica partial fine .

Snip

Thank you for that Milo. I really appreciate you taking the time to revise it for me.

I have just send it, hopefully I should get a reply within the next few days.

Should I try pay £49 pounds this week to keep Collectica off my back for a few days? I really don't fancy the idea of them coming into my home.

[Kati]

Re: Collectica partial fine .

They can't come into your home (unless you invite them) without a court warrant!

[Petty1]

Re: Collectica partial fine .

That's a small bit of a relief! I hope the courts consider recalling the warrant.

[Milo]

Re: Collectica partial fine .

Thank you for that Milo. I really appreciate you taking the time to revise it for me.

I have just send it, hopefully I should get a reply within the next few days.

Should I try pay £49 pounds this week to keep Collectica off my back for a few days? I really don't fancy the idea of them coming into my home.

Almost certainly you should pay the £49. As you say....it will keep Collectica as bay for a few days and hopefully the court will respond to your letter in that time.

Please do post back with any outcome.

[Petty1]

Re: Collectica partial fine .

This fine of £117 (not £126) was imposed on 29 April 2014. You would have received a fine notice to the address of 10 Lottie Rd early May 2014 which would have told you the amount and to pay it by 27 May 2014 or to contact the court for further time to pay (please see attached copy). You phoned on 13 May 2014 to arrange further time to pay. At this time you agreed to pay £30 per month from 1 June 2014 and you told us that you were going to Ireland, but the adress of 10 Lottie Rd was fine to still use.


You paid as ordered in June and July. You called on 13 August 2014 for your account number to pay online. You did not mention a new address at this point. We received your 1 August 2014 payment of £30 on 15 August 2014. You failed to pay in September, so we sent you a Further Steps Notice to 10 Lottie Rd dated 1 October 2014. At no point had you contcted the court to tell us you no longer live there.[/QUOTE]

You paid a further £10 on 6 October 2014. We correctly sent your account to bailiffs on 15 October 2014. Although you say you thought you had paid the fine, you paid a further £5 and £20 on 4 November 2014 and 10 February 2015, both via the internet. We have sent both of these payments to Collectica towards the amount you owe them. You must now continue to pay Collectica for this fine.

No luck. Looks like I'm going to have to find some way of paying.

[Big Al]

Re: Collectica partial fine .

Sorry to be a pain, but I would most certainly not pay anything to Collectica as it will just be completely swallowed up and the original arrears will still be owed. They have already sent £25 to them - you won't see that again.

You need to take this higher.

[Petty1]

Re: Collectica partial fine .

Sorry to be a pain, but I would most certainly not pay anything to Collectica as it will just be completely swallowed up and the original arrears will still be owed. They have already sent £25 to them - you won't see that again.

You need to take this higher.

Where do I go from this? I sent £49 today, but that is still a hell of a lot less than I owe them.

[Milo]

Re: Collectica partial fine .

They can't come into your home (unless you invite them) without a court warrant!

Sorry Kati but your above comment is not correct. As this is a criminal fine the warrant itself gives the bailiff the power to force entry and unlike other debt streams (council tax, road traffic debts etc ) there is no requirement to make an application to the court.

For the avoidance of doubt the legislation is outlined under paragraph 17 and 18 (b) and (c) of Schedule 12 of the Tribunal Courts & Enforcement Act 2007 and states as follows:

General powers to use reasonable force

Paragraph: 17

Where paragraph 18 or 19 applies, an enforcement agent may if necessary use reasonable force to enter premises or to do anything for which the entry is authorised.
Paragraph 18


This paragraph applies if these conditions are met—

a) the enforcement agent has power to enter the premises under paragraph 14 or 16 or under a warrant under paragraph 15;

b) he is acting under an enforcement power conferred by a warrant of control under section 76(1) of the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980 (c. 43) for the recovery of a sum adjudged to be paid by a conviction;

c) he is entitled to execute the warrant by virtue of section 125A (civilian enforcement officers) or 125B (approved enforcement agencies) of that Act.