I am in bits-marston's enforcement agent please somebody help?!

[doubleshotespresso]

So, a tv licence from 2009 at an address I resided it (but had already left) has generated a court hearing which I knew nothing of until today when an "enforcement agent" contacted me informing me I pay over £600 or he is seizing goods tomorrow.
Marston's were zero help
My primary concern is my car
Can anybody advise how best to deal with this? I have no funds whatsoever
Thanks to anybody kind enough to reply

Tantrums do you mean he can break in then?

PlasticGiraffe thanks I have read up on the MSE website and checked Experian- no there's no CCJ or court judgement recorded on there....

Car is not on finance sadly-it's a beaten up but much loved and needed runaround!

And if he meant to sound intimidating it certainly worked!

Well I've emailed the CEO of Marston group, called tv licensing as they're the "client" and am now trying to reach the court which is not proving very straightforward

Agent left a scary note when I was out earlier I'm not sure what else I can do?

Do you use facebook? Pop on to a group (closed) called Bailiffs, debt and bills. Explain as you did here and they will help

No he can’t break in
They can call a locksmith but can only do this if they have confirmed residence, and if you are aware of the debt, have the means to pay it, but are refusing to engage. They cant do it on a first visit
On the letter the agent left, it should say the name of the client - so it will say HMCTS then the issuing court, that’s who you need to ring, you may even be able to file online but I’m not 100% sure

And by the way the tv licence won’t help, they aren’t the client.
You don’t owe them money, you have received a magistrates court fine for the offence of having no TV licence so they won’t be able to do anything. They won’t get the money iyswim, it’s a court fine not a debt to tjem

Ring the court where the fine was issued and tell them you knew nothing about it and need to do a Statutory Declaration, they can then hold the bailiffs.

I used to work in Magistrates fine enforcement.

Can you hide identifying info and post a pic of the note? And any letters?

Suggesting as when I dealt with them the notes implied I had a fine/ court etc but were just scary bluff I realised once I called off.

A little update many thanks to all of you who calmed me down when I really needed it.

So it seems that the CEO email (heavily advisd from MSE) was good thing to do. Received a call this morning from Marston's advising me that they will be reviewing all documents I have frantically sent in and have also "taken everything back" from the enforcement agent for now whilst they investigate as they seem to accept that there have been more than a few errors in their handling (& lack of letters) on this.

This is great in that it means bailiffs cannot come to my house nd i can breathe and sleep once again, but as far as the court is concerned this is still very much for me to deal with, even though I have little or none in terms of info.

I have been advised to do a Statutory Declaration, but as this is so historic, the court are refusing to do this, telling me I have to apply to do this in writing and they may still decline?!? Am yet to do application (I have relevant email address to send it to) as my little one has developed yet another vomiting bug and I've barely slept in three days.

Bungalowbeth Any ideas on what I should include and what to say please?

Hi,

Are you able to scan in anything that shows you haven’t lived in that property since x date? Such as tenancy agreements etc at your current address? Bank statements etc?

Just say in email that you moved out of that address on .... were unaware that the fine existed and would like to do a Statutory Declaration and then have the court hear your case again, you may still end up with a fine (depending on the circumstances of your case) but you can negotiate a payment plan directly with the court.

Have they told you the date the case was originally heard? You really do need to prove you weren’t at the property in question when the original summons went out.

Bollocks to the 2009 thing.

Bungalowbeth Thanks so much for this info!

Yes I have emails between myself and my landlord at the time, confirming my departure dates, end of tenancy and tenancy agreements , utilities, bank statements etc

i have no idea about when case was heard, Marston's have been incredibly unhelpful so far in providing specific details or any visibility of how this actually ended up in court without my knowledge.

I am not sure what you mean by the 2009 thing???

So you were not resident during any of the period that the licence covered? Was it an HMO-type situation with multiple occupancies? I am just wondering how the TV licence people have only your details from that time.

greenlanes this is exactly it. It appears (though I don't have proof) that this all occurred after I left and was living in a shared property.

No idea who resided there since me or whether or not they had a license

Sorry, what I meant by bollocks to the 2009 thing is the court telling you it was too long ago to declare a Stat Dec.

The court can tell you what date the case was originally heard, not Marstons.

Ahhh I see, thanks so much for that. I'll get onto them again!

Hi! I used to work for an enforcement company. Your best bet is to just be sound with them. They won’t remove your car for an amount so low. If the cars on any finance they can’t do this, and if it’s fairly old it wouldn’t be worthwhile anyway. If you need the car for a disabled child they will not remove a car.

If you can’t afford to pay the amount either in full or in a short amount of time, you can have an arrangement with them. They will want to list your assets (telly, sofa, iPads, etc) and you will sign this taking control of goods agreement. If you don’t keep up with the payments, they they are within their rights to come and remove the goods listed on the form.

If you owe the money, you owe the money. If you manage to avoid the Enforcement Agents on this occasion, it’s only going to come back in a few years with a different conpany, where it will have gone back to court and the amount increased.

Like I say, if you’re on your arse and can’t afford to pay it back, show them!

Pamela, the debt is not the OP’s!

Pamela, if you read the thread, you will see that the lady states she has nothing to do with this debt. This company has made a huge error. OP, I would contact your MP, explaining you feel unsafe, have a disabled child and are being pursued in a threatening and unreasonable manner (the way you explain this should be factual, I suggest) for a debt which has nothing to do with you. I would cc the CEO of the company. I wonder if you can get compensation through the small claims court for the work and distress they are causing you - maybe you should write to one of the money expert journalist s in the weekend papers.

Has anyone but the debt agency actually confirmed the debt went to court in your name?

They sent me a possession order. The debt had gone to court in a previous occupiers name and they’d then traced my address to a former address of his. They do this, run a trace and basically look for a soft target to threaten. They were very forceful, despite having the correct name and address of the person the PCN was issued to, who’s moved out 9 years before.