Welfare and Support

I work in high court enforcement.  If you have been naughty and have not paid your court fine, you pay it to me (You would not believe the amount of places that I have been told to disappear to in my job). And it's this job that has kinda brought me to write this blog.  You see, I am a libertarian.  

I believe totally in the power of the individual and the power of the  democracy.   I believe that governments should be afraid of the power of the masses and that we are in charge of our government, not them in charge of us. So it got me thinking, is our justice system fair to weak and vulnerable people?

Well the amount of people that I hear say “I am vulnerable” is tremendous.  So what do you think vulnerability is?  That is not a conversation that I can really develop, purely because everyone is slightly different from each other, and really vulnerable is a case of judgement sometimes. For example, someone whom is a lone parent, are they vulnerable? Lots of things to consider (Think about the amount of factors to consider before answering that).

So I am not going to look at vulnerability, I am going to look at  is the journey that the  case will take from the initial stage through it the end.  Now I should point out that  there are two different cases that I will be looking at.  One case is magistrates fines and the other is Parking charges.  

Now, as stated in previous blogs, no one likes a fine for ANYTHING.  I would rather spend the money on my kids birthday than pay the fine for being parked in a disabled bay, BUT there we go.  So, what's the process that the case goes through before it goes to a Bailiff (OR Enforcement Agents, as they are now called.  Believe me, there is a whole world of difference).  

Under the freedom of information act, I have asked all the council in Wales (And some in London), what is the process that the case will go through for it to get to an  EA.  The results were STAGGERING.

When you get the fine, you have 14 days to pay it at half the amount. So if the fine was 70, you got 14 days to pay 35 and that ends the matter.  If you appeal this, then your case is on hold.  After the 14 days it's then 70.  After 28 days a notice is sent to the DVLA for them to send the details of whom owned the car. After that ANOTHER 28 is given for that person to call in.  After that it goes up by another 50% (105)  and you have another 28 days./  It then goes to Northampton COunty court (With an additional £7 added on top) for it to be turned into a warrant.  (Balance is 112, for those counting).  Then it goes to an Approved Enforcement Agency - AFA) whom works on behalf of the council.  An additional £75 gets placed on top and you have another week to call in and make a PA.  IF it goes to an EA then an additional 235 gets placed on top taking the balance to 422.  

So how many chances do you have to pay before going to an EA?  You have over 4 months to pay back the balance.  And if you dispute then you have longer to allow you to dispute. Thats a lot of chances, and a long time!  What if you cannot read or you have mental health issues?  Well that is another matter for another Blog.

What the procedure for a magistrates fine? Well I will attach their response to this blog.  There are a lot of steps.

Now I am no hardliner and not someone who doesn't have a heart, but I do have to ask the question:

How many chances do you have to give someone?

Remember a fine is for something that you have done wrong.  If you haven't done something wrong, or didn't have the opportunity to defence yourself, then there are safeguards in the system.