My client was sentenced in September 2016 for the offence of no insurance. She was fined £307 and ordered to pay £85 costs and £30 victim surcharge. She was ordered to pay a total of £422.
In November 2017 the Court made an attachment of earnings order to take the money directly from her wages. The client believed money was being deducted as there were miscellaneous deductions being taken out of her wages and she believed one of these was her court fine.
The reality was that because she was on statutory maternity leave, no money was actually being taken. In February 2018 the Court ordered a warrant of control and the Bailiffs attended her address to enforce the debt. This was the first time she realised that she still owed the full amount.
I asked for the £422 to be reduced or remitted as this was an old matter that the client genuinely believed had been addressed and taking into consideration the two occasions she had attended court to deal with the case.
The Court agreed remit £157 of the fine, leaving £150 to pay and deemed the £85 costs paid by virtue of the time she spent in the precincts of the court.
That left a total of £180 left to pay which the client agreed to pay at £10 per fortnight, first payment when she got paid her wages in 14 days time.