Penalty Notice for Disorder

Meepster

Hi everyone (wow, not been here for a while, managed to get caught up in the real world for a change)

One of my colleagues at work has been a bit of a numpty. He got issues with a Penalty Notice for Disorder (PND) for disorderly behaviour while drunk back in February.

It was for £80, if paid within 21 days, rising by 50% to £120 if paid after that date. He basically just buried his head in the sand and decided to ignore it, hoping it would go away...

...roll on to this week, when he receives a letter from Marstons, who are now asking for the £120 plus £85 "fees"...he's asked them if he can set up a payment plan with them, which they refused and said either he pays them all the money tomorrow or they will pop round to the house to start the process of removing goods to pay the total amount, which incidentally, will jump up by another £215 after they visit, whether he's there or not.

Anyone got any ideas of what to do? There is another complicating matter; they have the wrong address. The street and postcode are correct, but they have the wrong house number. He only got this letter because his neighbour put it through his letterbox, could there have been letters from the court issued as well? Or do PND's not work like that?

Now before anyone starts jumping up and down. The guy knows he's been an idiot and he knows he owes the £120, after all he got issued with the PND instead of getting dragged to the cop shop. He isn't looking of a way to get out of that, what he doesn't want to pay is the money to the baliffs at Marstons (and to be honest, neither would I)

Any help is appreciated

Meeps

sgtbush

pay the fine, the 85 quid is an admin fee which is allowed by the court to be added on
the 215 quid is the cost of enforcing the distress warrant, also approved by the courts
their is no getting out of this.
if the warrant has the wrong house number on it, then the defendant has given the wrong address to the court system to evade the fine
if the courts find out about this and it is proven that its not a typo and an attempt to evade, then he will be arrested for perverting the course of justice.
warrants of commital will be issued and an early morning knock from the boys in blue will commence after they establish the correct address, which is easy to do.
credit search
DWP search
electorol register
PNC check

sgtbush

Meepster wrote: »

Now before anyone starts jumping up and down. The guy knows he's been an idiot and he knows he owes the £120, after all he got issued with the PND instead of getting dragged to the cop shop. He isn't looking of a way to get out of that, what he doesn't want to pay is the money to the baliffs at Marstons (and to be honest, neither would I)

Any help is appreciated

Meeps

yes he has been silly, but the courts have passed it on to the bailiffs cos of HIS stupidity, he chose not to pay the courts, what do you expect the courts to do, say oh well another one got away??
deal with Marstons
or run the risk of the courts issuing a warrant of commital for him for non payment of a mag court fine

one final thing, Marstons are allowed forced entry under SH5 of the magistrates courts act 2004 as it is a warrant of distress.
if they force entry into a property with the warrant and its the neighbors house, and he has given the wrong address to evade it, guess who foots the bill?? he will
advice is to pay as much as possible now and see if they will take weekly payments for the remainder

Meepster

Thanks for replying.

One point: he didn't give the wrong address - the address on the PND is correct, it's the address on the Marstons paperwork which is wrong, so I don't see exactly how he can be blamed for that? With that in mind there is every possibility the typo happened at the courts or at Masrtons, who's to know?

Would there have been letters sent from the court to advise it was going to be passed on to a bailiff? Or do they just pass it straight over to them?

As I said...he's not looking to get away Scot free...and I told him the charges he has already, he'll have to pay, but is there any way (other than paying off the whole amount, which he can't afford for 2 weeks) to stop them adding more to the total?

Meepster

Anyone? Bumpity bump

sgtbush

if its a typo then obviously its not his fault, its a fault of the courts
Marstons do have a reputation in not offering arrangement plans which is wrong
you will have to speak to them really and try figure that one out with them

vax2002

To be honest :
Let your "mate" worry about it.

Gordon_Hose

If I was him, I'd be borrowing the money from somewhere to pay in full.

Meepster

vax2002 wrote: »

To be honest :
Let your "mate" worry about it.

Ha ha I'm surprised it took so long for someone to come up with a reply like this. For once, it's really not me, I'm not stupid enough to be done for being drunk and disorderly, nevermind not paying an initial fine

Meepster

sgtbush wrote: »

if its a typo then obviously its not his fault, its a fault of the courts
Marstons do have a reputation in not offering arrangement plans which is wrong
you will have to speak to them really and try figure that one out with them

Thanks, he's waiting on a call back from the court, they confirmed they have the wrong house number and they sent him a couple of letters, so will see what !

Thanks again for your help

Meepster

Gordon_Hose wrote: »

If I was him, I'd be borrowing the money from somewhere to pay in full.

That was my first response to him, but he doesn't have anyone to lend him the money. Told him to sell some stuff instead!