Rail firm hounded my family over £2 fine
Miranda Bryant
29.03.10

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standa...ound-2-fine.do

A commuter today told of his two-year legal dispute with South West
Trains over an unpaid £2 fine.

Neil Warwick, 29, said his family was hounded by bailiffs and he had
to attend court twice after he was issued with an unpaid fares notice
in 2008.

Mr Warwick was fined on his way to work from Strawberry Hill, where he
lived with his father, to Richmond after he forgot his season ticket.
He tried to buy a ticket but the ticket machines were not working and
the inspector would not accept his bank card, he said.

Mr Warwick, who works for an animation company, claimed he did not
hear from SWT until a year later — after he had moved to Bristol —
when his father called to say he had been threatened by bailiffs at
his home in Strawberry Hill. Debt collectors said that if he did not
pay them £600 they would pick the locks and take double the amount in
goods. Mr Warwick said: “I went to the Citizens Advice Bureau and they
said that it was illegal and that if it happened again to phone the
police. My dad felt completely threatened.”

He went to Bristol magistrates' court to say that he had received no
court correspondence but about four months later his father told him
he had been threatened by bailiffs again. On 10 March he received a
summons to Richmond-upon-Thames magistrates but could not get time off
work to attend. He now faces a fine of £217.

Mr Warwick — who has a four-month-old son, Sol, with his girlfriend,
Florence May Hyland, 28 — said the ordeal has cost him hundreds of
pounds in travel from Bristol to London and three days off work. He
said: “This has left us in a very hard situation money-wise.”

A spokeswoman for SWT said: “While it is unfortunate this case has
been escalated to such an extent, it is our belief that it could have
been resolved by the customer long before it reached this stage.” A
spokesman for Her Majesty's Courts Service said: “This matter has not
been brought to our attention previously. We would welcome details
from Mr Warwick so we can look into it.”