to feel this woman is deliberately being malicious

[stressedatnetball]

to cut a long story short I joined a netball team 3 years ago to give myself a bit of a confidence boost as I had low self esteem etc it was a lovely group of girls and I really enjoyed it we trained once a week and after 6 months we decided to join our local league. Last year we merged with another team which has been the worst possible mistake the captain of the other team is a manipulative woman and wants to run everything. We always made decisions democratically and as a group but she has just come in and taken over. At the time we merged I had just taken over as treasurer from the woman who used to do it and found she could not cope, I set up spreadsheets to record money in and out bought a receipt box to keep everything in and everything was ready to go. The captain from the other team then started booking courts and things like that without telling me then refused to pay for training etc but presented me with invoices which I could not pay as we had insufficient funds. I also paid affiliation for the whole team on my credit card which cost nearly £500 then took the cleared cheques that people paid in for their affiliation back to pay off my credit card bill. The captain became very bullying phoning me for 2 to 3 hours at a time whilst I was trying to work and abusing me down the phone I kept saying over and over that my children were ill and that I had no money to give to her etc etc but I would meet with the group to discuss things she refused to meet as a group and carried on putting pressure on I have today been arrested and spent 8 hours in the cells for fraud by position and have now been bailed for 10 days awaiting further investigation but if they don't believe me I loose my job as a childminder and I am also a school governor so would have to resign from that or worst case scenario is I could go to prison all because she does not like me

How can she do you for fraud?

I don't understand either!?

cheques were paid into group account then i put cleared money into my bank account

If you have proof of paying for the affiliation though surely they can't charge you? Did you tell this woman that was what you were doing?

and surely you have paperwork for the bill you paid on your credit card that those monies went to pay off?

and proof that this is a group purchase

and you spoke to the chair of the committee - are you a charitable organisation

Im struggling to follow your post a bit

Obviously this woman seems to be a bully and do things her way

By doing what you did, with the money, was that wrong? In your opinion I mean!

I am a bit confused!

I am also shocked that it costs £500 to become an affiliated netball team

have given police copy of my credit card bill and also receipt from england netball to say who this paid for and listing players names but this girl claimed she could see no reasons for me to take money from account

As a treasurer, didn't you know that you absolutely must never mix the group funds with your own personal accounts?
I'm sorry about your situation, it sounds like your own concern for the continuation of the group has led to you being unfairly blamed.
Btw, what circumstances led to your arrest?

You should be able to get some legal advice under your household insurance so I think you need to give them a call, then copy this thread and put it in legal. Have you got reciepts/statements etc? Have the police taken any of your documents?

when you're cleared just ask if you can charge her with malicious intent / libel?

Why did you have to use your credit card to make this payment?
Wasn't there a team chequebook?

Are you the sole signatory for the netball team account? When this is sorted out, perhaps it would be better to set up an account with more than one signatory, so that, when the netball team needs to pay one of the members or office holders for something, the cheque is signed by two people, so this cannot happen again.

I am treasurer of an art class and that's what we do - we have three signatories, so when we had an exhibition, and the secretary paid for the hall hire out of her own pocket, she presented a receipt for this and was repaid by cheque, signed by myself and the Chair.

As others have said, your paperwork will show that the money you paid was to cover the costs of the affiliation, and it will all be sorted out.

I am sorry that you are having to go through all this stress, and I hope it doesn't ruin the netball for you.

surely if you have to pay money out you have your won account as a team?

what do you mean what were the circumstances of my arrest? I went in voluntarily and was arrested before anybody would ask my point of view

You should always have at least 2 sig's for a treasurers type account as this reduces risk of fraud/allegations etc. Bit confused when you say that the bill was paid on your credit card and then the cleared funds were put in your bank account. Surely it would have been better to just pay the cleared funds directly to your credit card?

there was team bank account but it was empty so no other way to pay the £500 people would need to be affiliated i only took back money to my own account that was due to me because cheques were paid into group account

see your point and ho[pe it works out for you but things don't work that way

there is a team bank account.

someone wants to use money from that account

you have a meeting
you say we have no money

they realise you cant' do what you want to do

hard shit

in no circumstances do you as treasurer use your own money or anything like it'

Gosh! It sounds like you have had an absolutely awful day just because of the fact you did something to help out a group of people. I don't have any practical advice to offer but I really hope it turns out well!

Wineonafridaynight it was awful thanks for your support is reassuring to know somebody else can see my side

Legally provided that you can show that you paid out the £500 to England Netball on behalf of the players and that you replaced the money from the team account there is probably no case to charge you with fraud.

However (and I do understand this is traumatic for you) the correct response when there was no money in the team account to pay for the affiliation would have been to call a meeting and tell everyone that there was no money to pay and (perhaps) suggest that everyone put equal amounts of money in to cover the shortfall. In taking it upon yourself to sort it out you have made decisions that you weren;t entitled to and exposed yourself in the process.

A tough learning experience for you.

there was a team meeting that was what was decided was i pay on card and then get reimbursed I also suggested money was increased to put accounts into credit but nobody was happy to pay in more money

That's OK. It must be very stressful.

Trying to look at it from a practical (but non-knowledgable!) point of view,you paid the fees by credit card so can show proof. So as you took no more than the £500 you paid, it should be easy enough to prove! It probably isn't too easy to see it like that right now though.

I think maybe everyone shouldn't be so harsh. I expect that with hindsight stressedatnetball can see that maybe this wasn't the best way to do things but I think maybe she came here to vent and get some support. Lets try and support her and not judge.

Stressed just seen your last post. Hopefully that means that your team mates (particuarly the ones from your old team) can vouch for the situation.

I know it seems awful now but from the sounds of it this other woman is not very nice, is stiring things as much as possible and that it will work out fine!

Blimey I can't believe this is happening to you.

FWIW I'm treasurer of a small local non charitable status organisation and our bank account is a non-cheque account, so when we need a cheque to pay for something I write it on my own account and draw the cash out to cover it. And I'm sole signatory to the account. I've never minded doing this but from now on I think I'll say people will have to wait until the weekend for cheque when I can pop into the branch and get them to issue a building society cheque. It's not worth the risk, I'm a partner in a firm of chartered accountants and I'd be careerless if anyone ever made a malicious accustaion like this.

If there was a meeting and it was agreed that you pay this money on your credit card , was it minuted? Have you spoken to anyone else at the meeting, are they prepared to go to the police and report that was what was agreed?