Court Fine turned into unpayable debt

justin9 · 2 December 2012 at 4:34PM

Hi
I recently recieved 2 fines which were totally my own fault. One for not wearing a seatbelt and the other for speeding. The fines have been merged by Nottingham court and now stand at £410. The speeding fine makes up £320 of this and I have also been given 4 points on license.
Before the fine was issued I was asked to fill in a means form which would help decide the amount and time to repay. This I did.
In short I offered to pay £20 a month as this is all I can realistically afford. However when the letter came throughI was told I had until the 14th Dec to pay. I phone the court up and they said i would have to pay a minimum of £70 a month. Why is this so high and what was the point of the means form if my financial situation isn't considered?

ILW · 2 December 2012 at 4:39PM

Did you include such things as Sky and loan repayments on the means form?

justin9 · 2 December 2012 at 4:45PM

Most of the bills I put down as a proprotion because I live with my partner and she is the main income earner. I dont think I put sky...I havn't any loans but did put just about everything I could think of which I paid out.

CAB_Swansea_Bay_representative · 5 December 2012 at 10:59AM

Hi justin9, thank you for your query regarding court fine
A magistrates' court fine is a priority debt as non-payment can lead to imprisonment. You have done the correct thing by giving the court a statement of means but they do not have to agree with your levels of expenditure and may feel you can pay £70 instead of £20. Without seeing what you put on the statement of means I cannot advise on where you may be seen to be overspending or any categories of expenditure they may have not allowed (some examples are leisure, non-priority debt payments, smoking and alcahol and gifts) but the court is generally mush more strict with a magistrates court fine then for credit debts and have their own rules on what is essential expenditure. I would suggest you look at your budget carefully to see if there is any way you can reduce your other expenditure for the short term so you can meet these payments, this may mean reducing payments to other debts etc and if you still do not think you can afford the repayment I would suggest you seek advice from a debt adviser, you can find your local Citizens Advice Bureau at www.citizensadvice.org.uk. In the mean time I would suggest you continue to make some repayment as if you stop making any payments you could be issued with an arrest warrant for wilful non-payment and the court may still decide to pass the debt to a bailiff if you don't maintain the payments they have ordered. You can find more information about fines and bailiffs powers at www.adviceguide.org.uk
Hope this is of assistance.

Court Fine turned into unpayable debt

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