Enforcement agent

[Eyefor]

Do you have legal cover on your house insurance? Definitely worth getting legal advice.

[12gauge82]

16 hours ago, Lloyd90 said:

I do think on the rare occasion that the American legal system has this right, in that (I believe) you have to be personally served a notice of someone taking you to court. 
 

The idea they can send all notifications etc to an old address, take you to court, win on the basis you didn’t turn up (as you had no idea it was happening) but then suddenly be able to find you no problem once they have the claim on the vastly inflated sum is very wrong in my view. 

I Didn't know that and I agree, it's not often the American legal system puts ours to shame.

17 hours ago, Wymondley said:

 

It's unfortunate that through an oversight Fargo is now in that system.

The simple answer is he shouldn't be.

[welsh1]

17 hours ago, Lloyd90 said:

I do think on the rare occasion that the American legal system has this right, in that (I believe) you have to be personally served a notice of someone taking you to court. 
 

The idea they can send all notifications etc to an old address, take you to court, win on the basis you didn’t turn up (as you had no idea it was happening) but then suddenly be able to find you no problem once they have the claim on the vastly inflated sum is very wrong in my view. 

They send notifications to the address as supplied to the DVLA by the vehicle owner, no reply they take it as being ignored and obtain a court order, it is not their fault that the vehicle driver has failed to update their address with dvla.

The enforcement agency send letters to the address, and they visit, if they find out the debtor has moved they then look for that person, they will use the electoral roll and dvla as the two main tools, it is suprising how many people let the dvla know their new address after many months of being there instead of informing them when they first move.
The fees are set out for every stage.

All the above happens because the person did not register his/her new address with the dvla.
There are ways to try and lessen the situation you may find yourself in, i have supplied them, it is then down to the panel to make the decision on the information that is supplied.

Papers can be served by mail in the USA.

[Gordon R]

welsh1 - whatever members views are about the reasonableness of the charge, you have dealt with the reality of the situation. 

[12gauge82]

2 hours ago, welsh1 said:

They send notifications to the address as supplied to the DVLA by the vehicle owner, no reply they take it as being ignored and obtain a court order, it is not their fault that the vehicle driver has failed to update their address with dvla.

The enforcement agency send letters to the address, and they visit, if they find out the debtor has moved they then look for that person, they will use the electoral roll and dvla as the two main tools, it is suprising how many people let the dvla know their new address after many months of being there instead of informing them when they first move.
The fees are set out for every stage.

All the above happens because the person did not register his/her new address with the dvla.
There are ways to try and lessen the situation you may find yourself in, i have supplied them, it is then down to the panel to make the decision on the information that is supplied.

Papers can be served by mail in the USA.

"Its surprising how many people let the dvla know their new address after many months of being there."

Yet conveniently forget this fact when trying to locate them, with enforcement agencies miraculously remembering this fact and very easily locating them once their extortionate fees have been added. You could almost say it wasn't accidental at all.

I'm not against debters needing to pay what they owe, but a 700 pound fine for a 6 quid debt is ridiculous, particularly when someone clearly hasn't attempted to avoid paying it.

I find it disgusting and could easily criminalise decent people who could never afford to pay such ridiculous fees.

[welsh1]

1 minute ago, 12gauge82 said:

"Its surprising how many people let the dvla know their new address after many months of being there."
 

Yet conveniently forget this fact when trying to locate them, with enforcement agencies miraculously remembering this fact and very easily locating them once their extortionate fees have been added. You could almost say it wasn't accidental at all.

Do you expect them to hold all fines for months on the hope that people remember to do something that they should have done when they moved. there are time scales for everything .
Enforcement agencies use the electoral role, dvla ,tracing agents, that is why they are employed to find people who have not responded to the letters sent out by the agency.

I'm not against debters needing to pay what they owe, but a 700 pound fine for a 6 quid debt is ridiculous, particularly when someone clearly hasn't attempted to avoid paying it.
The fees for non payment are laid out on the highways site.
The enforcement fees are laid out in law for each stage.and i have told the op to enquire about them.

I find it disgusting and could easily criminalise decent people who could never afford to pay such ridiculous fees.

You may find it disgusting, but i bet you wouldn't complain if the same people were collecting a debt owed to you.

While you are disgusted, why don't you complain about £100 fine for driving through a red light, or the same for a slightly bald tyre, don't drop litter that's £100, how about speeding?

 

That's me out of this conversation because i simply can't be bothered, there will always be people who are disgusted, but i can tell you now that there are far more greatful that thier money has been recovered.

[12gauge82]

10 minutes ago, welsh1 said:

That's me out of this conversation because i simply can't be bothered, there will always be people who are disgusted, but i can tell you now that there are far more greatful that thier money has been recovered.

Fair enough, nothing wrong with different opinions to my own 👍.

Like I said earlier, I absolutely agree with recovering owed money, but this case is not that, it's an extortion racquet. Imo of course.

[Gordon R]

The Recovery Agents carry out the court judgement, they don't make it. I'm struggling as to why there is so much hostility towards them.

 

[Westley]

Similar thing occurred to my Grandaughter regarding Runcorn Bridge. She separated from her partner and moved out of the address.  Paperwork regarding the none payment of the Toll was binned by her ex and she failed to receive any warnings etc. She did genuinely overlook the payment of the Toll. However after a month in her new address, the Bailiffs came knocking. It cost her £250, sorry......... it cost ME £250  !   🙄

[12gauge82]

3 hours ago, Gordon R said:

The Recovery Agents carry out the court judgement, they don't make it. I'm struggling as to why there is so much hostility towards them.

 

It's not a job I could do if it entailed hounding decent people like the op, for over inflated and unfair charges.

If on the other hand it was pursuing criminals attempting to get away with fleecing decent individuals or companys, then no problem at all.

I don't think that's hostile towards recovery agents.

[Gordon R]

Quote

It's not a job I could do if it entailed hounding decent people like the op, for over inflated and unfair charges.

Quote

I don't think that's hostile towards recovery agents.

I do.

[12gauge82]

4 hours ago, Gordon R said:

I do.

I think your probably a bit sensative but fair enough.

[Gordon R]

I think hostility is amply demonstrated by "hounding decent people". We shall have to agree to disagree.

[Fargo]

Well I decided to ring Marstons and eventually got through to someone and asked if paid now can I have a discount as its 100x the original bill. They said no. I paid it and just have put it down to life.

I don’t blame the agents as it’s their job but I don’t like how they act and tbh the one coming to my property had no ID etc and they wouldn’t tell me who he was when I asked when called.

 

[12gauge82]

40 minutes ago, Gordon R said:

I think hostility is amply demonstrated by "hounding decent people". We shall have to agree to disagree.

But that is the facts, when people like the op are being hounded (and I do call having debt collectors knocking on a honest working persons door demanding the best part of 700 quid for forgetting to pay 6 pounds hounding).

You obviously don't think so, which is fine by me 👍

[welsh1]

33 minutes ago, Fargo said:

Well I decided to ring Marstons and eventually got through to someone and asked if paid now can I have a discount as its 100x the original bill. They said no. I paid it and just have put it down to life.

I don’t blame the agents as it’s their job but I don’t like how they act and tbh the one coming to my property had no ID etc and they wouldn’t tell me who he was when I asked when called.

 

i'm sorry you decided to pay in full, you would have had a very good case for the bailiff fees to be removed by submitting the forms i highlighted.

But it's done and life is to short to dwell on it, tomorrow is another day.

[JohnfromUK]

9 minutes ago, welsh1 said:

But it's done and life is to short to dwell on it, tomorrow is another day.

This is true. 

I see a shed load more similar cases will come because ULEZ fines will be sent to vehicles registered addresses, and as has been pointed out, updating your address details at the DVLC is not always first in everyone's mind when moving.  London also has a lot of rental property where people move frequently. 

[Westley]

11 minutes ago, JohnfromUK said:

This is true. 

I see a shed load more similar cases will come because ULEZ fines will be sent to vehicles registered addresses, and as has been pointed out, updating your address details at the DVLC is not always first in everyone's mind when moving.  London also has a lot of rental property where people move frequently. 

And a lot of people 'move frequently ' to avoid debt collectors  !  I am not for one minute suggesting that this is the case here, but I am sick of listening to the whinging of people who get into debt. I have 2 Grandkids, both in their 30's who have done just that. BOTH have the latest folding mobile phones (around £1200 each), one has recently travelled by train and included 2 overnight stays, to obtain some VERY expensive tattoo  ? Now they are looking at Parents or worse still Grandparents, to bail them out. I have made them set up a direct debit EACH, to my bank account, to pay back the money that I have 'loaned them'. They are both working but are unable to prioritise, to live within their means.

Edited October 6, 2023 by Westley

[JohnfromUK]

6 minutes ago, Westley said:

And a lot of people 'move frequently ' to avoid debt collectors  !  I am not for one minute suggesting that this is the case here, but I am sick of listening to the whinging of people who get into debt. I have 2 Grandkids, both in their 30's who have done just that. BOTH have the latest folding mobile phones (around £1200 each), one has recently travelled by train and included 2 overnight stays, to obtain some VERY expensive tattoo  ? Now they are looking at Parents or worse still Grandparents, to bail them out. I have made them set up a direct debit EACH, to my bank account, to pay back the money that I have 'loaned them'. They are both working but are unable to prioritise, to live within their means.

Yes, I know of similar instances.  I am fortunate in that my family (nieces and nephew) are reasonably disciplined in that area. 

I am entirely with you that genuine debts should be pursued and collected.  However, I was pursued for parking charges at a hotel.  It happened some years ago and the hotel gave free use of the car park to residents and partner businesses (which was my connection) where you checked in at reception and they took your registration number and entered it on the system as a guest.  I followed the procedure and a few weeks later started to get demands.  What had happened was that my (then) registration number had both letter 'O' and numeral 'zero' in it and these had been entered incorrectly (by the hotel reception staff).

Despite both me and the hotel writing to the parking enforcement company and explaining a very obvious error, I was 18 months in getting clear - by which time they were threatening bailiffs and 'seizing assets' to the tune of several £100's despite having no court judgement. 

I never got an apology or any letter to 'clear' me - they just eventually stopped.  It left a very nasty memory of a bullying company who didn't listen to any (true, reasonable and obvious) explanation and were just out to get what they could from someone's error.

[Westley]

I got a parking ticket for overstaying on the 2 hour car park at the local Supermarket.  I didn't realise I had overstayed. We met friends and went into the Supermarket cafe for lunch. I did manage to get it quashed when I wrote to the Comany pointing out that I had been injured going to the assistance of their Security staff, some 2 weeks previous. However, I was prepared to pay the £60 because my overstay was entirely my fault.

[Rem260]

19 hours ago, 12gauge82 said:

"Its surprising how many people let the dvla know their new address after many months of being there."

Yet conveniently forget this fact when trying to locate them, with enforcement agencies miraculously remembering this fact and very easily locating them once their extortionate fees have been added. You could almost say it wasn't accidental at all.

I'm not against debters needing to pay what they owe, but a 700 pound fine for a 6 quid debt is ridiculous, particularly when someone clearly hasn't attempted to avoid paying it.

I find it disgusting and could easily criminalise decent people who could never afford to pay such ridiculous fees.

Not commenting on this case. 

I wonder how many of these people who forget to tell DVLA. Also forget to tell their Gas/electricity suppliers, council tax, banks and employers that they moved and continue to pay for thier old properties bills.

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Just now, Rem260 said:

Not commenting on this case. 

I wonder how many of these people who forget to tell DVLA. Also forget to tell their Gas/electricity suppliers, council tax, banks and employers that they moved and continue to pay for thier old properties bills.

Only the REALLY STUPID ones!   

[JohnfromUK]

9 minutes ago, Westley said:

However, I was prepared to pay the £60 because my overstay was entirely my fault.

Yes, I have paid when it was my fault, but I have had two that weren't; the hotel car park mentioned above - and an incident where I was claimed to have been in parked a shopping centre car park when I was elsewhere (at a business engagement and minuted as such!).  I asked for photo proof and they never replied and I never heard any more.  I'm sure it was a random 'try it on'.

[Westley]

4 hours ago, JohnfromUK said:

Yes, I have paid when it was my fault, but I have had two that weren't; the hotel car park mentioned above - and an incident where I was claimed to have been in parked a shopping centre car park when I was elsewhere (at a business engagement and minuted as such!).  I asked for photo proof and they never replied and I never heard any more.  I'm sure it was a random 'try it on'.

I also believe that random 'try it on' attempts happen a lot more than are publicised. 

[Newbie to this]

6 hours ago, Westley said:

working but are unable to prioritise, to live within their means.

Sadly a case for many

5 minutes ago, Westley said:

I also believe that random 'try it on' attempts happen a lot more than are publicised. 

Yes and TFL are terrible for it. A mate was responsible for a fleet at work, they got a congestion fine through (before auto pay) for every vehicle (all sequential number plates), when he asked for the evidence, it turns out TFL only had a partial plate, and it was only one of the vehicles, but a fine was sent for them all, and probably to other people with similar plates.