Court fines- how to pursuade them to let you pay in installments

[theripsaw 10]

So, er.. a friend of mine received a nasty fine from a magistrates court- £385 for a parking offence.

They want it in one installment.

You hear of people, usually scummy drug dealing benefits scroungers- which my friend isnt- being allowed to pay it back at ludicrous rates like £1 week for 350 weeks. Any tips on how to try to get them to agree with this?

[BettyBooHoo! 10]

So, er.. a friend of mine received a nasty fine from a magistrates court- £385 for a parking offence.

They want it in one installment.

You hear of people, usually scummy drug dealing benefits scroungers- which my friend isnt- being allowed to pay it back at ludicrous rates like £1 week for 350 weeks. Any tips on how to try to get them to agree with this?

 

Tell them you.....sorry, your friend, is a scummy drug dealing benefits scrounger!

[Stranza 10]

If you can't pay the fine in full they will give you an Income and Expenditure form to fill out, then work it out from there what they think you can afford.

I won a claim against Thomson who waited until the last day they had to pay me to lodge their I&E form...... the judge decided they could afford the money and they had to pay in full.

[theripsaw 10]

I believe an income and expenditure form was already submitted to the Court prior to the magistrates decision. The form clearly showed that my friend has about £100 a month to play with after all vital expenditure (ie no money allocated to socialising, fags, booze etc). So how can they be expected to pay £385 in one swoop?

[Stranza 10]

I believe an income and expenditure form was already submitted to the Court prior to the magistrates decision. The form clearly showed that my friend has about £100 a month to play with after all vital expenditure (ie no money allocated to socialising, fags, booze etc). So how can they be expected to pay £385 in one swoop?

 

It depends on what they put on the form.

Some outgoings will be taken into consideration but if there are outgoings which are considered not essential by those who make the decision they will ignore them. They have criteria on what's essential and also how much disposable income is considered enough for full payment. Give the courts a call and they will be able to give you an idea of how they decide.

[Riannon 10]

I received a nasty fine from a magistrates court- £385 for a parking offence.

 

£385 for a parking offence. I presume you parked on a policeman.

[hard2miss 10]

You do an assessment of income, so just be creative with the out goings, credit clubs ect.

 

I know this is probably cutting it close to not being lawful but no more so than the higher earners do with their tax returns.

[LeMaquis 10]

So, er.. a friend of mine received a nasty fine from a magistrates court- £385 for a parking offence.

They want it in one installment.

You hear of people, usually scummy drug dealing benefits scroungers- which my friend isnt- being allowed to pay it back at ludicrous rates like £1 week for 350 weeks. Any tips on how to try to get them to agree with this?

 

The minimum weekly repayment for magistrate court fines is £5 even if you're on benefits. Drug dealers tend to get sent down. I'd like to know what your mate did to get such a big fine. Tell him to be a law-abiding citizen in future.

[willman 10]

You have the opportunity to request payment in instalments within a certain time period(Derbyshire Dales court)after the court hearing.

After that if you ask the department usually nominated top right on the letter,they will advise you.

I doubt they will accept a £1 a week tbh, i know someone(honestly) in a similar position and they accepted three payments of £135 for a DVLA offence.The third payment was late and they placed an attachment of earnings in the interrim period,they did cancel t once the late paymnent arrived.

[Stranza 10]

£385 for a parking offence. I presume you parked on a policeman.

 

Not paying the ticket makes it grow

They add allsorts of interest/ bailiff charges/ court costs etc

There was a series on TV about bailiffs and all they seemed to do is chase unpaid parking offences.

[davyboy 18]

I know of a case where someone had 4 parking fines of £30 .

They ignored them until the total owed was £1200.

[RED ALERT 10]

I've just had one of these for £125.It became this much as the 1st 2 letters supposedly sent out never arrived!The 3rd letter which I did receive stated I owed £90 so i phoned up and explained I hadn't received the others to no avail.So I said ok can I pay in instalments please as I am only on 16 hours a week work.They said only way to do that would be let it go to court and then they would send me income/expenditure letter but there would be £15 charges on top.I argued that I was offering to pay but was told full amount or nothing!So I waited and let it go to court.Next thing I have a bailiffs letter giving me 7 days to pay the full amount or they were coming to my house!I phoned them up and told them what I had been told but they weren't interested either.Now on the letter it doesn't give you the option of instalments yet over the phone they did but... they only extended it for 30 days.They also said when I wasn't sure if I could make the payments in that time to phone on the last date and if I had been seen to have been making the effort to pay they would extend for a further 2 weeks.I would ring them and see.It's not a great amount of time extra but does give some leeway.