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How might this issue play out? (Train fine)
dannyb0yuk
Posts: 2,939 Forum Member
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Hi, let me outline the situation to begin with:
* Letter received at my family home, where I've not resided since 2005
* Addressed to my name, although house number was slightly wrong (an odd instead of an even, like the actual address). Royal Mail must have deduced from my sister's surname where to send the letter.
* The letter is from a 'Marston - High Court Enforcement Officers & Certificated Bailiffs', demanding payment of £265.20 for 'occupying a reserved seat without a valid ticket - rail 10/10/2012' and claiming they are in possession of a Magistrates Court Order.
* I did not incur this ticket, the only day I have travelled on a train in the last five years at least is the occasional Sunday when we go to a certain pub before family lunch. I was on no train on the day in question.
* Obviously somebody has attempted to use my identity to get out of a train fine, getting the address slightly wrong in the process.
* Upon contacting this Marston agency yesterday, they were incredibly unhelpful and wouldn't give me any details whatsoever of the alleged offence, even the court that issued it. All I have on the letter is a HM Courts & Tribunals Service Ref number. They were incredibly rude and condescending and told me I'd have to go to the CAB. They were going to put the account on hold for seven days while confirming something or other about my non-presence at the address.
* I went to the CAB yesterday who said I should speak to a place called 'The Law Centre', a drop-in legal advice clinic which I'll be attending tonight. However, after speaking to them on the phone briefly already, they're not even sure they'll be able to help. If it's litigation, then yes- but if they deem it to come under crime/fraud, then they can't- and then I'll be back at square one!
Whatever the case, I'm not paying any kind of fine I've not incurred, but I do want this situation remedied as I don't like this Court Order being issued against me. I also don't want the poor people at this incorrect address to be bothered by bailiffs next week! Does anyone know how this situation may be likely to play out?
* Letter received at my family home, where I've not resided since 2005
* Addressed to my name, although house number was slightly wrong (an odd instead of an even, like the actual address). Royal Mail must have deduced from my sister's surname where to send the letter.
* The letter is from a 'Marston - High Court Enforcement Officers & Certificated Bailiffs', demanding payment of £265.20 for 'occupying a reserved seat without a valid ticket - rail 10/10/2012' and claiming they are in possession of a Magistrates Court Order.
* I did not incur this ticket, the only day I have travelled on a train in the last five years at least is the occasional Sunday when we go to a certain pub before family lunch. I was on no train on the day in question.
* Obviously somebody has attempted to use my identity to get out of a train fine, getting the address slightly wrong in the process.
* Upon contacting this Marston agency yesterday, they were incredibly unhelpful and wouldn't give me any details whatsoever of the alleged offence, even the court that issued it. All I have on the letter is a HM Courts & Tribunals Service Ref number. They were incredibly rude and condescending and told me I'd have to go to the CAB. They were going to put the account on hold for seven days while confirming something or other about my non-presence at the address.
* I went to the CAB yesterday who said I should speak to a place called 'The Law Centre', a drop-in legal advice clinic which I'll be attending tonight. However, after speaking to them on the phone briefly already, they're not even sure they'll be able to help. If it's litigation, then yes- but if they deem it to come under crime/fraud, then they can't- and then I'll be back at square one!
Whatever the case, I'm not paying any kind of fine I've not incurred, but I do want this situation remedied as I don't like this Court Order being issued against me. I also don't want the poor people at this incorrect address to be bothered by bailiffs next week! Does anyone know how this situation may be likely to play out?
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It's obviously someone trying it on. Can't see how it would affect you at all.
ETA: here you go: http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1827890
Might help...
Joey, my first inclination would not be to ignore the situation! I get where you're coming from, but I'm not having court issued debts left standing against my name!
They will probably give up anyway once they have the declaration for their files but if you can remember where you were on the day in question, that would help also.
Good luck
yeah I'd understand that if the letter went to the actual address you used to live at, but unless the person on the train gave proper checkable details like your NI number or similar, I don't see how they could put anything down to you with just a name and an incorrect address.
Hopefully with a valid ticket this time.
Does it look like it?
A one way ticket to stardom.
Any update, OP?
If you have, say, a credit card receipt for a shop some distance away from the train in question I would be tempted, as well as the Stat dec, to send a letter with a copy of said receipt to the company along the lines of "here is my proof I wasnt on the train in question"
Thanks for your concern!
Yes, I attended the Magistrates Court this morning and applied for the Statutory Declaration, which was accepted. This part was all quite simple and straightforward, to be honest. All I had to do was swear under oath that the court proceedings had taken place without my knowledge.
The hearing for the ticket has now been rescheduled for the 21st of August and this will be the part where I have to try to demonstrate that I wasn't the person who was issued that penalty fare. I have contacted a solicitors, who have not come back to me today. I'll try another one in the morning and get some advice as to how to handle the matter...
I have been attempting to do this today, I checked with my local swimming pool as to whether I attended that day- sadly, I didn't. My BT landline is so infrequently used that I was unsurprised to find nothing there. Checking bank statements hadn't actually occurred to me, so I'll take a look in a moment. However, I'm not sure whether any of this alone will be enough to convince them. They are used to people telling all sorts of lies to dodge fines, after all.
I should mention though that it appears that the person gave a different DOB to mine. The date given is nearly four months prior to mine. Hopefully the small details like that will help.
EDIT: The only financial activity that day was a cashpoint withdrawal at 18:43. That will only help if the offence was within about half an hour either side of that time (given the distance between where the ticket was issued and the cashpoint in question.)
Don't see why you should have to prove anything. Its their case they should have to prove it was you (which it seems they cannot)
Anyway in attempt to be helpful. Do you have a mobile phone. If you used it that day then your phone operator should be able to give you the times and locations at which it was used (this is what allowed the Hamiltons to fight the bogus rape case brought against them)
It doesn't sound right to me. They should be proving that it's him. It sounds to me like anyone can get away with giving a false name, because the train companies will just go after that innocent person and charge them regardless of the fact that they've done nothing wrong. :mad:
I do, and when I checked today there were only bills available as far back as 2012 (bloody paperless billing, it's not helpful when you need certain information!)
I will try speaking to them, but quite frankly I have very little tolerance for T-Mobile's incompetent customer service staff.
Yeah, I've been a bit peeved about it too! The worst part is the unnecessary travelling I've had to do, as walking is incredibly painful for me due to health problems. The physical pain I've been through when getting to places this week has been the worst part of it all!
I'm hopeful that the entire case ends up being thrown out due to this potential technicality. Part of me really wants to know who did it though, so I'd love to see if they do have any kind of CCTV showing the person in question...
As just about everyone has said to me this week: "Why do they not take photographs of people when they ticket them?"
Why not issue a claim in the small claims court against the Company once this is all sorted for all the work you have had to do on the case
They've got your dob wrong and you weren't even living at your parents address at the time, and even then you've said they got the number wrong on that.
I'm not that vindictive! I do appreciate that it's not actually their fault, it's the expletive that used my details in the first place. :mad:
Again, I'm happy to be corrected, but I think only the police/authorities can request location data from mobile phone companies...
Nope, thus far I've found nothing that indicates what I was doing that day. I'm not working due to aforementioned health issues and when your mobility is limited, you tend to spend a lot of time indoors and the days become something of a blur! Thankfully these issues should be sorted by the end of the year so I can rejoin the world of the working (and have an alibi in similar circumstances!)