Unfortunately had my pants pulled down with a non payer. Not a huge amount but enough to really boil my cabbages (or potatoes in this instance).
Solicitor says although they are still currently trading, they have several court actions against them already totalling just over £20,000 and a zero credit rating, so I guess it’s only a matter of time. His advice is to not bother as it’s highly unlikely we will get anything.
O licence still active, see their trucks (3 or 4) on the A1 most days, advertising earlier this month for drivers, boss man riding round in a 6 month old Scania
Not sure on the point of this ramble other than letting off some steam. I guess I’ve got to ■■■■ it up?!
I don’t think he actually owns any trailers.
Have seen them backed under some Slam Transport ones recently.
I’m gonna stick to low loaders…!! Or maybe shelf stacking.
Get round there block the yard off or go round his house ,if there is no genuine reason for going skint it’s suprising where they get the money from to pay you up once you upset thier family ect .
Punchy Dan:
Get round there block the yard off or go round his house ,if there is no genuine reason for going skint it’s suprising where they get the money from to pay you up once you upset thier family ect .
Yep, always request their home address when contemplating any work, and the mother-in-laws as well
My mate always asks for the M-I-Ls gaff, something to do with her house getting torched first if you dont pay apparently
Scares the pants off the chancers, thats all I`m saying
Why not try issuing a County Court Summons yourself against your debtor ?
I used to find it worked if the business was still trading and someone sticking two fingers up at me, after all, they are paying some people in preference to you !
Write to debtor, at registered office address and a copy to their trading address, advising that you intend to apply for a County Court Judgement if you do not receive full payment within seven days (state that date in the letter). Get the forms from a Court ready and if no payment in seven days, apply IMMEDIATELY, it doesn’t cost much and you have no solitors costs to pay if you do it yourself. The Court issues a Summons that they have to appear reply or appear in Court - if they don’t you get judgement and costs - if they still don’t pay you can apply for a bailiff to call.
I found it worked in about 50% of cases especially if the debtor was still trading - at least I got some satisfaction, rather than just letting it go and someone laughing at me.
Depending on who / size of business that owes you the court way just gives them time to get geared up in to not paying / moving assets around to avoid balliffs ect .however it does work sometimes .
Yes Dan - you have to decide ? Do nothing, which a lot of debtors expect, or have a try.
You have to act quickly and firmly and if going the CCJ Route, keep the Court actions progressing as quick as possible.
I couldn’t bear the real chancers thinking they can brazen it out - I applied for a couple of winding up orders to finalise things. That’s all at the end of a transaction and when you’ve pulled out, we all wish we’d taken up more references and acted to stop working for them earlier - hindsight’s a wonderful thing and all business has a risk
It helps to have big scary looking mates in these situations, as said, people seem to remember their obligations when they believe they are about to get a bloody good hiding. I used this method myself when I was young and starting out, some took advantage of my youth and naivety, they soon learned I wasn’t as naive as they thought.
However, this was in the days before the phone camera, I don’t know if such a course of action is wise now, a video recording of you committing or even threatening violence is going to see you in big trouble, so best avoided.
I would go down the lien route as suggested by wheelnut, if that’s not viable then it’s the county court, if neither of those get you your money then is it what it is.
Or, you could go with the first option and leave not only with your money, or goods to the value of, but also take any device capable of recording video and throw it in the nearest river. [emoji362]
Thanks all, some stuff to think about. He is a big effer and seemingly well known in the local trucking circles which I am not, in both regards. I do know where he and a couple of his drivers collect from most mornings as I sometimes do the same, wondered if confrontation in front of some of his employees might work as I doubt they have a clue what’s going on.
can you not persue this through the small claims court (£25 i think) sure its upto £25K limit,trouble is these days companys look and think not going to bother paying cost more to claim it back but its all money and time paid out the OP could have used to get work he would have got paid for which somestimes is the difference between carrying on and upwards and deciding to jack it through no fault of his own.■■■■ poor state of the country unfortunatly.
We have this week found out the man in question has had an injection of cash from someone and is actively planning expansion, so we will attempt to chase it. He’s on stop with the local Daf and Scania dealers and now owes the independents several grand too !
Thanks for the advice, will update you in due course. Anyone in our area (PE) who wants to avoid this shower PM me - he is advertising for drivers on FB as well
Don’t delay, go the small claims court way ASAP no warning required. Has worked for me 3 times so far.
One against a French haulier, an English haulier and an Irish manufacture.
All a matter of ( now ) on line forms and a small fee ( that you add to invoice value complete with a charge for interest )
The above for as little as £320 unpaid invoice, but I am a stubborn b…d who expects to be paid.
Just remembered another one. I invoiced a big Uk sugar company for waiting time who chose to ignore and failed to reject invoice .
Sent reminders then went via courts.
Got paid, very warm feeling!
Yes, we’ll done. The moral of the storey is do something, act firmly and quickly. Don’t accept it and let them walk all over you. Especially as in the case described in the post, the debtor has had a cash injection to chase after.
It helps your case if you state on you invoice your payment terms, ie thirty days etc. If they don’t pay within that timeframe you can claim for late payment.
We have never done it mind, put one particular customer started taking the proverbial owing us 10k going back over nine months.
Started with the usual, we haven’t received your invoice which is odd as we stopped posting invoice years back, email everyone, then they moved on to a new accounts system didn’t add the old invoices, blah blah.
Sent the invoices to the company below, we had our invoices paid in full within ten days at no cost to us, they get their payment from the late payment fee.
Punchy Dan:
Get round there block the yard off or go round his house ,if there is no genuine reason for going skint it’s suprising where they get the money from to pay you up once you upset thier family ect .
Yep, always request their home address when contemplating any work, and the mother-in-laws as well
My mate always asks for the M-I-Ls gaff, something to do with her house getting torched first if you dont pay apparently
Scares the pants off the chancers, thats all I`m saying
