Paying Magistrates Courts direct, really?
I notice that despite some murmuring in the ranks, the advice is still being given to pay magistrates court fines direct to the court, this apparently “kills the warrant” and the fees are no longer due.
This advice has given for some time and despite it always being proven incorrect and in some cases disastrously so, they seem to be sticking with it.
Paying the court does not kill anything of course, as the court simply transfers the payment to the EA and they subtract there fees from it, leaving the warrant active and still unpaid.
Here are some of the many odd ideas proffered to support the mistaken premise.
“
by Andy » 22 May 2015 14:52
“There are no bailiffs fees payable when a bailiff recovers an unpaid magistrates court fine. This is because Parliament has never approved any legislation that sets a statutory fee schedule for bailiff companies when they distress on goods, or recover an unpaid magistrates’ court fine”
62 Enforcement by taking control of goods
(1)Schedule 12 applies where an enactment, writ or warrant confers power to use the procedure in that Schedule (taking control of goods and selling them to recover a sum of money).
Application of these Regulations
3. These Regulations apply when an enforcement agent uses the Schedule 12 procedure.
Yet More here
This is incorrect, this provisions purpose is to amend legislation that is affected by the introduction of the TCEA. As its title suggests it amends acts which are effected as a “consequence” of the TCE, it creates nothing let alone fee schedules. The reason that magistrates courts fees are not mentioned in this provision is because previously they were not legislated for, so there is nothing to amend, simple as that.
Bizarrely they are using section 58 of Schedule 12 TCE to support this idea, this is despite this section stating quite clearly that it only applies when there are goods seized and the full amount (including fees) are paid.(see below)
58(1)This paragraph applies where the debtor pays the amount outstanding in full—
(a)after the enforcement agent has taken control of goods, and
(b)before they are sold or abandoned.
Equally they are using CPR 52.8 , this rule was revoked in April 2014.
Here is some recent advice.
by Andy » 20 May 2015 21:00
You can then decide whether to appeal the fine, or pay it- without the bailiffs fees. You can pay fines online here and the law says when the ‘sum adjudged’ has been paid, the warrant of control ceases to have to have effect Paragraph 58 of Schedule 12 of the Tribunals Courts and Enforcement Act 2007. It means the bailiff is no longer able to take control of goods, and without a warrant of control, the bailiff is unable to apply power of entry. If you get a bailiff or Court staff saying a “warrant is still active” or there are “fees” to pay then deploy this with your MP and if needed, deploy this on the doorstep.
I must add that although I have quoted Andy in the above, the ideas put forward are mostly copied from templates provided by Jason, who is the author of 99% of these mistaken ideas.
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10 Comments on "Paying Magistrates Courts direct, really?"
There is a separate thread regarding the ongoing case where Marstons towed away a car after the debtor paid the fine directly to the court: http://bailiffhelpforumarewrongagain.com/bennisons-advice-to-pay-the-court-direct-fails-again/
This thread is 3 years old but nothing has changed. Today we have a new enquiry from someone who came across Jason’s advice and followed it, paid the court direct: http://www.bailiffhelpforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=6&p=73748&sid=e604900e6d435f11351469e44c7a41af#p73748
The OP says:
Note how, by following the advice found on BHF, he ended up having the car clamped and a small fine of £232 nearly trebled to £652.
I notice that this page was originally drafted in May 2015 and some section may no longer be relevant. I will write more later.
Yet again, we have the issue of paying the fines directly to avoid fees:
OP says: “Had a letter received today saying that although I’ve paid the fine,I still have to pay the bailiff fees and all communication must be with Collective! Do I just disregard this?”
How many times have we heard this story before? Could there be any connection between the above and this page? http://www.dealingwithbailiffs.co.uk/CourtActionProcedure.html
Where it says: “I offer a low cost claims drafting service.”
Will you look at all those tags! Somebody’s been a busy bee!