Capital resolve threat should I just ignore?

[David loveland]

Hi in need of some advice please I have recived this letter from capital resolve should I pay or wait it out Had a similar thing with dvla and there bullies last year which has seemed to have gone away now with a letter that was wrote up just as threatening cheers in advance

Dear mr d loveland

This letter has been sent to you due to non payment of a penalty notice as deatialed below you should read the letter carefully and respond to it by the 15th November 2017 in order to prevent further action

Penalty notice details

Ircas# 04100410, flagged 18-09-2017 operator: greater Anglia details of journey: from witham to clacton on sea
Notice: GA2278728 08-08-2017 19:34 inspector ga139
Fees penalty 20.00 admin 70 paid 0 balance due 80.00
Reminder 31-08-2017 18-09-17

If you fail to respond to this notice by 3pm on the 15th November 2017 we will instruct a debt recovery officer to call at you address on or shortly after the 22nd November 2017 between the hours of 10am and 8pm to collect payment

if our representative is unable to make contact with you recommendation may be made that legal proceedings are instigated in the county/sherif court. Where judgement is found this could result in court judgment/decree being recorded against you some personal possesions being seized by a bailiff part of your salary being deducted by your employer and you paying additional court cost please be aware that no more reminders will be sent to you regarding this matter prior to us taking the further action we have detailed above

 

[bb21]

So first question is what happened that resulted in the Penalty Fare and why did you not pay it in the first place?

 

[cuccir]

If you're looking at dealing with bailiffs or debt collectors, really it's already got beyond railway-specialist knowledge stage. This thread at MoneySavingExpert may help. There's no legal force behind debt collectors but if you refuse to pay then, as they say in their letter, they can chose to follow this up in court. Many people rely on organisations not bothering with this hassle but railway companies often seem more keen to put in the work to recoup their money than most organisations.

If you want, we could offer advice on the Penalty Fare itself and whether it's worth contesting it.

I'm intrigued as to how they get £20+£70 = £80 by the way, unless you've mistyped that?

 

[David loveland]

So first question is what happened that resulted in the Penalty Fare and why did you not pay it in the first place?

So first question is what happened that resulted in the Penalty Fare and why did you not pay it in the first place?

Hi so I didn’t buy a ticket as i arrived to the station late I’ve always assumed that it’s ok to buy one of the guy when they come round to check tickets as I’ve done this in the past. So then he gave me the option to pay the fine on the spot or just pay the ticket and apeal so that’s what I picked but as Im not very good at writing I never bothered attempting to apeal and just left it and hoped for the best.

 

[David loveland]

If you're looking at dealing with bailiffs or debt collectors, really it's already got beyond railway-specialist knowledge stage. This thread at MoneySavingExpert may help. There's no legal force behind debt collectors but if you refuse to pay then, as they say in their letter, they can chose to follow this up in court. Many people rely on organisations not bothering with this hassle but railway companies often seem more keen to put in the work to recoup their money than most organisations.

If you want, we could offer advice on the Penalty Fare itself and whether it's worth contesting it.

I'm intrigued as to how they get £20+£70 = £80 by the way, unless you've mistyped that?

Hi thanks for some advice there I will look at the link now and yeah I don’t understand how they’ve come to that either

 

[ainsworth74]

Well, it's up to you and how you weigh the risks of not paying versus the piece of mind of making payment.

If you pay up (and ensure, of course, that you keep proof of your payment) then the matter would appear to be resolved.

If you don't pay up then it's possible that the debt collector will simply give up and could hand it back to Greater Anglia who may either decide not to bother to chase it further or instruct a different debt collection agency to have a go at getting or could look to take further action perhaps by withdrawing the Penalty Fare and instead bringing a private criminal prosecution for fare evasion in the courts.

Equally, if you don't pay, the debt collector may decide to bring a claim against you in the County Court for the debt outstanding (and likely add more costs as well). If they do that then it will quite probably succeed (depending on the legitimacy of the underlying Penalty Fare I'd suspect) in which case if you fail to pay as ordered by the court the debt collectors could then look at things like getting permission from the court to instruct bailiffs or make an attachment of earnings. This would also likely impact on your credit rating.

Up to you which way you go really and depends on how your rank the risk/reward of non-payment.

Many people rely on organisations not bothering with this hassle but railway companies often seem more keen to put in the work to recoup their money than most organisations.

As they've farmed it out to a debt collector at this point it probably isn't their call. Usually a company would instruct a debt collector and then leave it up to them how they go about getting the money (minus their fee of course). If they fail to collect it though then it could get handed back to GA who may well either instruct another debt collection agency or perhaps decide to prosecute instead and withdraw the PF.

 

[Harbouring]

From what has been said i think it’s likely that you will have to deal with it at some point. Considering some settlements reported in this forum it’s currently at the low end of those. The potential for the sum owed to increase substantially should be taken into account.

 

[Puffing Devil]

This is not going to go away. Best case, you'll be stung for additional collection charges and/or it moves to the civil court - with more charges, bailiff fees and possibly a CCJ to your name. Worst case, you end up with a criminal case in the Magistrates Court.

Best to pay-up ASAP and save future collection charges.

 

[furlong]

Hi so I didn’t buy a ticket as i arrived to the station late I’ve always assumed that it’s ok to buy one of the guy when they come round to check tickets as I’ve done this in the past.

The amount you'll need to pay is only going to keep increasing until you pay it off as more and more fees get added.

The laws currently being enforced require you to buy a ticket before boarding whenever possible. Every station in the scheme should have warning posters that you can't miss. Like it or not, with a Penalty Fare scheme the system assumes you are guilty of deliberate fare evasion (because you deliberately chose to ignore big yellow posters instructing you to obtain a ticket before boarding) unless you can prove otherwise. In return for agreeing to pay the small financial penalty, you avoid the possibility of a criminal conviction and all the associated stress and higher costs of a court case.

So the best advice with Penalty Fares is normally to pay as soon as possible to minimise your potential loss, and then to make use of the appeals process to try to get your money back if you think there might be valid grounds for an appeal.

Tickets cannot be sold on Penalty Fares trains unless they are accompanied by a warning that a Penalty Fare could have been charged (often printed on the back of the ticket) and the person selling the ticket to you specifically draws attention to that warning so you know never to do it again. The train companies are required to monitor their staff to check that this happens. If you have evidence this is not happening, you can provide it to the Department for Transport and ask them to investigate and consider suspending the Penalty Fares scheme.

 

[sarahj]

I laugh at this last paragraph. I've had people scream in my face when I point out they should have bought before they boarded. In the mins between stations you just sell and move on. The only time you really question is when they ask for a ticket from say Brighton. As a note, some of the new OBS's have been getting letters telling them they are not selling enough tickets. The company does not get the fact that you can check a whole 12 car train and sell nothing, and in fact according to the rules, SHOULD sell nothing.

 

[falcon]

The debit is outstanding and if you do not pay it based on what you have said an offence has been committed.

No one can come at you with bailiffs or attachments of earnings ect until the matter has gone before the County Courts. So you could call them out but it will add extra to the debit you owe if they do proceed.

If you broke the rules and you did not appeal best course of action could well be pay.