24th October 2003.
Dear Mr
Livingstone.
YOUR COMPUTERISED “BULK CENTRE”
COURTS & MY REACTION.
I refer
you to previous communications since August including Forms, letters, e-mails
and phone calls. You may recall that your office has admitted acting in error
from the outset.
Despite
several contrary promises from the Congestion Charge service, which you fund
with tens of millions of pounds of public money, I received a Capita computer
notice yesterday 23 Oct. headed “Order of Recovery of Unpaid penalty Charge” “CONGESTION
CHARGING” “TRANSPORT FOR LONDON.” This informed me, contradicting a
letter from TfL dated 7 October, that my case had been tried (without notification
and in absentia) at Northampton County Court, Bulk Centre on 16th October and “an order to recover a penalty charge has been
made against you … £45.” On telephoning I learned that I have 21
days to lodge my Statutory Declaration (appeal) or the debt will be collected
by Bailiffs. On filling out your Form I realised that “The Statutory Declaration must be signed before a commissioner for
oaths…” I must expend more of my time and money simply to assert my right
to plead Not Guilty, after I have been judged to be Guilty by a computer in a
“bulk-court-centre”. I am not prepared to comply to this latest twist in the
scam you have devised to bully and harass people into paying erroneous demands.
I made it clear I wanted to personally appear in any court case. You have
robbed me of my legal rights to attend.
On
attempting to speak with you, or any responsible officer, either at Capita
Coventry, TfL, Capita HQ, or City Hall I am forced into endless loops of
auto-systems, canned music and pre-scripted, powerless juniors. All the
managers are unavailable, you are never at work. After another three hours,
yesterday, of being spun on this deliberately contrived merry-go-round, and
becoming increasingly enraged, one junior told me that Capita draws its powers
to treat me like a criminal from the Road Traffic Act 1991. Does the UK really have County Court, Bulk
Centres to process delinquent Subjects? Or is Capita inventing them to increase
profits?
If the
former, then Parliament must intervene and I ask my MP Andrew Smith to take up
this and other similar cases to change how Court powers are delegated to
public/private agencies such as you have created; if the latter, then Capita
(£1 billion income) should be sacked and forced to pay substantial compensation
to abused Subjects.
Why
bother? The Civil Liberties issues are paramount. This is Kafka’s The Trial and
Orwell’s 1984 chillingly realised. Capita and TfL are employing advanced
telecommunications systems against the public and have subverted the justice
system, the County Courts, to their own ends – to squeeze as much money from
the public as possible, right or wrong. The first standard Form I received
demanding £120 (in error) includes terrifying banners such as “IF YOU DO NOT PAY,
TRANSPORT FOR LONDON, TfL, WILL REGISTER THE OUTSTANDING BALANCE AS A DEBT AT
THE COUNTY COURT. A WARRANT WILL THEN BE ISSUED TO BAILIFFS TO RECOVER THE
PAYMENT.” What impact do you
think this has on, for example, a timid, ordinary person who has accidentally
strayed into your bullying system?
Aware of
my very great anger that she heard me express over the telephone, of the huge
damage that a C.C. J. (County Court Judgement) will do to my credit rating and
her credit rating at the same address, and of the repeated formal threat that
large men will arrive at our home, break down the door and take her furniture
away, my wife is telling me to pay the fine or get out of the house for good.
My business colleagues say “It’s cheaper to pay the crooked bastards.” If I die of apoplexy in the meantime, I hope
my wife does summon-up the courage to “Fight City Hall” and sue you cynical, capitalist
sociopaths to the last penny.
Sharon
Corry, Customer Services Manager, called me yesterday, she said from your
(Capita’s) Coventry centre, to assure me that the
errors would be cancelled, and the Forms and threats withdrawn. She also
promised to email that to me – but has not yet done so. We shall see if this
promise is yet another cynical lie from your subcontractors. However, The CCJ
damage to our credit ratings may already be done, via more auto-computer
systems – and I reserve my right to claim full compensation and for the damage
to our health and happiness this is causing. Should we suffer further distress
I will personally let you know, at your business and personal addresses. As any
visiting Bailiffs, I’m assured by you, will be acting in error; do inform them
that I will defend our property to the best of my ability. I leave you to judge
how very angry your threats have made me.
If you would like to give way to your own well publicised pugilistic
tendencies and slug it out on the steps of City Hall, just issue the
invitation. Win or lose, it would be such a cathartic-relief to at last engage
with a human being.
Yours
truly
Noel
Hodson
From Customer
Services
Fri 24/10/2003 15:53
Dear Mr
Hodson
Further
to our recent conversation, I am writing to confirm some of the details
discussed.
According
to our records we received payment for Penalty Charge Notice TL06615749 on the
10th September and this was banked on the 11th September. Due to a technical
error this information was not linked to the Penalty Charge Notice and
therefore the Notice continued to escalate and a Charge Certificate and Order
for Recovery was sent to you.
Our IT
department has investigated this and confirmed that the problem was
intermittent and has now been resolved.
We would
like to apologise once again for the difficulties you have experienced when
dealing with Transport for London and for the inconvenience and
distress you have been caused. We would like to assure you this does not
represent our normal standard of service and we would apologise for the poor
impression given on this occasion.
If you
have any further questions, or if you need any assistance, please contact the
call centre on 0845 900 1234 or e-mail customer services at
customerservices@cclondon.com.
Thank
you for contacting Transport for London.
Yours
sincerely
Sharon
Corry
Customer
Services Manager
E-mail:
customerservices@cclondon.com
**********************************************************************************
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________________________________________________________________________
From:
Noel Hodson [noelhodson@btconnect.com]
Sent: 24
October 2003
15:28
To: kevin.mcginty@lslo.x.gsi.gov.uk
Subject:
FW: Fisticuffs at City Hall & Trial by Computer
To The
Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers
Attorney General's Chambers -
24th October 2003.
Dear
Sirs, I have mailed/posted my letter
dated today (first item below) to you and asked that you consider reviewing the
procedures whereby public/private agencies such as CAPITA and TfL and City Hall
are given control over County-Court-Bulk-Centres. I was apparently tried
without notice and found against, by a computer system alleged to be in Northampton. If you do look into these
procedures, I thought you would find my file to date useful - and reproduce it
below. - Yours truly - Noel Hodson
Noel
Hodson
Tel 00
44 (0) 1865 760994
Business
Projects Manager
Telework
Consultant
OXFORD OX3 7PJ, UK
http://www.noelhodson.com
-----Original
Message-----
From:
Noel Hodson [mailto:noelhodson@btconnect.com]
Sent: 24
October 2003
13:28
To: P.
Toynbee@Guardian. Co. Uk
Cc:
CustomerServices@cclondon.com
Subject:
Fisticuffs at City Hall & Trial by Computer
Copy
Polly Toynbee.
****************************** posted/mailed 24th
October 2003.
Mr Ken
Livingstone
Mayor of
London, City Hall
Fax 020
7 983 4057
TfL
Bob
Kiley, The Commissioner
Transport
for London
Windsor House, 45 Victoria Street
CC Polly
Toynbee – The Guardian.
CC Rt.
Hon. Andrew Smith MP.
cc.
CAPITA – 71 Victoria Street
Rod
Aldridge Chairman
P R M
Pindar, CEO
& Coventry Call Centre.
Capita
references
TL06615749
TL06619648
24th October 2003.
Dear Mr
Livingstone.
YOUR
COMPUTERISED “BULK CENTRE” COURTS & MY REACTION.
I refer
you to previous communications since August including Forms, letters, e-mails
and phone calls. You may recall that your office has admitted acting in error
from the outset.
Despite
several contrary promises from the Congestion Charge service, which you fund
with tens of millions of pounds of public money, I received a Capita computer
notice yesterday 23 Oct. headed “Order of Recovery of Unpaid penalty Charge”
“CONGESTION CHARGING” “TRANSPORT FOR LONDON.” This informed me, contradicting a
letter from TfL dated 7 October, that my case had been tried (without
notification and in absentia) at Northampton County Court, Bulk Centre on 16th
October and “an order to recover a penalty charge has been made against you …
£45.” On telephoning I learned that I have 21 days to lodge my Statutory
Declaration (appeal) or the debt will be collected by Bailiffs. On filling out
your Form I realised that “The Statutory Declaration must be signed before a
commissioner for oaths…” I must expend a more of my time and money simply to
assert my right to plead Not Guilty, after I have been judged to be Guilty by a
computer in a “bulk-court-centre”. I am not prepared to comply to this latest
twist in the scam you have devised to bully and harass people into paying
erroneous demands. I made it clear I wanted to personally appear in any court
case. You have robbed me of my legal rights to attend.
On
attempting to speak with you, or any responsible officer, either at Capita
Coventry, TfL, Capita HQ, or City Hall I am forced into endless loops of
auto-systems, canned music and pre-scripted, powerless juniors. All the
managers are unavailable, you are never at work. After another three hours,
yesterday, of being spun on this deliberately contrived merry-go-round, and
becoming increasingly enraged, one junior told me that Capita draws its powers
to treat me like a criminal from the Road Traffic Act 1991. Does the UK really have County Court, Bulk
Centres to process delinquent Subjects? Or is Capita inventing them to increase
profits?
If the
former, then Parliament must intervene and I ask my MP Andrew Smith to take up
this and other similar cases to change how Court powers are delegated to
public/private agencies such as you have created; if the latter, then Capita
(£1 billion income) should be sacked and forced to pay substantial compensation
to abused Subjects.
Why
bother? The Civil Liberties issues are paramount. This is Kafka’s The Trial and
Orwell’s 1984 chillingly realised. Capita and TfL are employing advanced
telecommunications systems against the public and have subverted the justice
system, the County Courts, to their own ends – to squeeze as much money from
the public as possible, right or wrong. The first standard Form I received
demanding £120 (in error) includes terrifying banners such as “IF YOU DO NOT
PAY, TRANSPORT FOR LONDON, TfL, WILL REGISTER THE OUTSTANDING BALANCE AS A DEBT
AT THE COUNTY COURT. A WARRANT WILL THEN BE ISSUED TO BAILIFFS TO RECOVER THE
PAYMENT.” What impact do you think this
has on, for example, a timid, ordinary person who has accidentally strayed into
your bullying system?
Aware of
my very great anger that she heard me express over the telephone, of the huge
damage that a C.C. J. (County Court Judgement) will do to my credit rating and
her credit rating at the same address, and of the repeated formal threat that
large men will arrive at our home, break down the door and take her furniture
away, my wife is telling me to pay the fine or get out of the house for good.
My business colleagues say “It’s cheaper to pay the crooked bastards.” If I die of apoplexy in the meantime, I hope
my wife does summon-up the courage to “Fight City Hall” and sue you cynical, capitalist
sociopaths to the last penny.
Sharon
Corry, Customer Services Manager, called me yesterday, she said from your
(Capita’s) Coventry centre, to assure me that the
errors would be cancelled, and the Forms and threats withdrawn. She also
promised to email that to me – but has not yet done so. We shall see if this
promise is yet another cynical lie from your subcontractors. However, The CCJ
damage to our credit ratings may already be done, via more auto-computer
systems – and I reserve my right to claim full compensation and for the damage
to our health and happiness this is causing. Should we suffer further distress
I will personally let you know, at your business and personal addresses. As any
visiting Bailiffs, I’m assured by you, will be acting in error; do inform them
that I will defend our property to the best of my ability. I leave you to judge
how very angry your threats have made me.
If you would like to give way to your own well publicised pugilistic
tendencies and slug it out on the steps of City Hall, just issue the
invitation. Win or lose, it would be such a cathartic-relief to at last engage
with a human being.
Yours
truly
Noel
Hodson
cc - The
Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers, Attorney General's Chambers.
Noel
Hodson
Tel 00
44 (0) 1865 760994
Business
Projects Manager
Telework
Consultant
OXFORD OX3 7PJ, UK
http://www.noelhodson.com
*******************************************
Text of
a letter from TfL to Noel Hodson dated 7 October 2003.
from -
letterheading
Street
Management
Windsor House, 42-50 Victoria St
SW1H OTL
Tel 020 7 343 5000
www.tfl.gov.uk
Our Ref:
CCHold1
Mr Noel
Hodson
14 Brookside
OXFORD OX3 7PJ
7 October 2003
Dear Mr
Hodson
CONGESTION
CHARGING
Thank
you for your recent letter regrading congestion charges.
As your
letter raises operational issues it has been passed to Transport for London's congestion charging Operations
Team, to carry out a detailed review of the issues you have raised. Once this
has been completed a full response will be sent.
Yours
failthfully
E -
Nicholas
Programme
Assistant
Programme
Office
Congestion
Charging
Transport
for London.
MAYOR OF LONDON.
******************************************
From
Noel Hodson 6 Oct 03.
To:
Sharon
Corry
Customer
Services Manager
Email
: customerservices@cclondon . com
MAYOR OF
LONDON
Transport
for London
Congestion
Charging
PO Box 2985
Coventry CV 7 8 ZR
6th Oct
03
Thank
you for your letter reproduced below.
It seems perverse of you that while you employ
auto-cameras, car tracing computers, auto-threatening-letters systems and the
latest advanced computer technologies, you are incapable of communicating by
telephone, email or fax.
You may
not "be allowed" (by whom?) to
accept or send communications other than by surface-mail, but if Lord Hutton, sitting
in the High Court, accepts emails in evidence on such serious matters as the
death of a senior civil servant and weapons of mass destruction, surely it is a
court's decision on whether my emails and your electronic responses are to be
accepted as evidence when this matter comes to court. Unless Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London has
also assumed the roles of Attorney General, judge, jury and executioner.
I am not suggesting you discuss "the
penalty notice" by email - just your bookkeeping error.
Having
reluctantly become familiar with your systems from City Hall, through TfL to
Capita, it seems you have designed them to be as unhelpful, irritating, time
consuming and obstructive as possible, with the simple and crude aim of
discouraging all and any drivers from entering The Zone, and of bullying
ordinary law abiding visitors into paying "fines" irrespective of
their legitimacy, to meet the widely reported £50M deficit you are facing.
In
addition to my earlier complaints (below), I add a fourth, that I consider your
and your agents' needlessly threatening demands for more money from me and my
wife to be frivolous and mischievous, destined to waste the court's time and my
time and costs. Please be on notice that I will be countering any case you take
to court and will be counter-claiming. So please advise me in good time of any
court dates.
I repeat
that you could choose to resolve this matter by simply allocating my cheque
against the alleged offence. It would take you a 3 minute phone call.
Noel
Hodson
Tel 00
44 (0) 1865 760994
Business
Projects Manager
Telework
Consultant
OXFORD OX3 7PJ, UK
http://www.noelhodson.com
* * * * * * * * *
Transport
For London
Our ref
: 413502
Mr Noel
Hodson
Transport
for London
Congestion
Charging
PO Box 2985
Coventry CV 7 8 ZR
Phone 0845 900 1234
Minicom 020 7649 9123
www . cclondon . com
4 th
October 2003
Dear Mr
Hodson,
Central
London
congestion charging - 413502 / ZP
Thank
you for your recent enquiry .
As the
issuing of a Penalty Charge Notice forms part of a legal process, we are not
allowed to discuss the Notice verbally .
All comments, enquiries and representations / appeals regarding the
Notice must be made in writing and must be signed
Thank
you for contacting Transport for London .
Yours
sincerely
Sharon
Corry
Customer
Services Manager
Email
: customerservices@cclondon . com
MAYOR OF
LONDON
*********************************
2nd October 2003.
Dear Ms
Corry
The
first point of my complaint is that your notices create a burdensome legal
process where none is required. Capita told me they had my cheque (for £80 when
I need only pay £40) but in error had not posted it and so issued a £120
demand. If we are put to expense, hearings and anxiety to correct an admitted
clerical error, we will sue for costs and damages.
The
second point of my letter is that the standard notices are needlessly and
overly hostile, aggressive and frightening. They are indiscriminate bullying
tactics that should not emanate from a British bureaucracry.
The
third point you may like to feed back to Ken Livingstone, City Hall, TfL and
the directors of Capita - is that you ought to be flexible - only a lunatic
would imagine that your efficiently designed collection system has anticipated
all contingencies - where is the humanity that ought to be controlling the
machines?
If you
persist in relying on rigid-auto-systems over this matter, I will have to visit
the responsible people, in an attempt to introduce some sanity through human
contact - and charge you for my time and costs.
You can
easily dispose of this matter by telling me the cheque has now been posted and
the Capita Notices cancelled.
In my
wife's case you should track the telephone evidence she has already taken the
trouble to obtain and posted to Capita with a letter - only to be ignored and
have them lose it (they claim), which clearly shows she was connected to your
unpleasant operative 3 or 4 minutes before the midnight deadline - and you
could accept that you are in the wrong and cancel that legal process also. If
you wish to persist with both erroneous processes then presumably you are
prepared to pay our costs and compensation.
Should
you proceed in the meantime in my case to County Court - my lawyer tells me the
loss of credit rating would be disastrous - requiring 7 figure compensation.
The
choice of whether to go to war or sort this out with one or two inexpensive
phone calls - is yours.
Yours
truly.
Noel
Hodson
Tel 00
44 (0) 1865 760994
Business
Projects Manager
Telework
Consultant
OXFORD OX3 7PJ, UK
http://www.noelhodson.com
cc by
fax to Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London.
*******************************************
2nd October 2003.
Our Ref:
411463/NS
Dear Mr
Hodson
Thank
you for your recent enquiry.
As the
issuing of a Penalty Charge Notice forms part of a legal process, we are not
allowed to discuss the Notice verbally.
All comments, enquiries and representations/appeals regarding the Notice
must be made in writing and must be signed.
Thank
you for contacting Transport for London.
Yours
sincerely
Sharon
Corry
Customer
Services Manager
30 Sept 03
Open
letter to Capita and TfL
Sirs
My wife
and I are coincidentally and separately subject to your hostile, aggressive and
anonymous attempts to bully us into paying more money, that is in fact not due
to you.
TL06615749
- You acknowledge that you have received my £80 cheque, but not credited it.
Due to this error on your part you are now pursuing me for £120 with threats.
(your letter dated 25th September).
TL06619648
- On 20th August 03 my wife telephoned before midnight to pay a £5 (or £10)
charge but your sullen operative refused to take her credit card details and
accept payment. She obtained the telephone record and posted this to you - but
you lost it. She has paid the fine you imposed - and we want the money back. I
do not like anonymous clerks demanding money with threats, from my wife.
I have
tried to speak with a manager at your offices to get these two errors corrected
but you have no managers available. I have tried to put matters in writing and
fax to you - but you claim to have no fax. I have spoken with several people at
City Hall. I attach my faxed letter to Ken Livingstone. Equally, it may be
necessary to visit you in Coventry and meet with your directors and
operatives.
You
might like to (A) do the bookkeeping to correct our two cases - and (B)
redesign your hostile systems and attitudes before City Hall revokes your
contract to treat the public like sewer-rats.
Just
because auto-bullying can be done with computers and advanced telecoms, does
not mean it should be done.
Please
advise when these matters are corrected and closed - or let us know if not; so
we can take appropriate actions.
Yours in
anger and distress.
Noel
Hodson
**************************************************
30th Sept 2003.
Letter
to Ken Livingstone.
Noel
Hodson
14 Brookside
OXFORD OX3 7PJ
Tel
01865 760994 Fax 769384
noelhodson@btconnect.com
30 September 2003.
Mr Ken
Livingstone
Mayor of
London, City Hall
Fax 020
7 983 4057
references TL06615749
TL06619648
Dear Mr
Livingstone.
People
who live in glass houses should not throw stones.
I am
exceedingly angry at the culture of violence you have created and visited on
our home. I sent money for your election campaign and I am neutral on the role
of congestion charging. I am a sixty year old law abiding pacifist. But I never
could abide a bully.
If, as
your earlier bullying letters to my wife and, this morning, to me threaten, you
commit us to County Court, ruining our credit ratings, and attempt to have
bailiff’s invade our home, be on notice, Mr Livingstone, that I reserve the
right to protect my wife from the fear you seek to instil, to defend our
property and to obtain full compensation. This matter is already affecting my
wife’s and my health.
You have
launched both your needlessly aggressive attacks on us in error. Keeping us
under ever escalating threat, your secretly bunkered officers, imagining they
will remain anonymous, demand that we spend more time and money demonstrating
their errors, in writing, with a file of evidence. When we write we are
ignored. When we telephone we are endlessly looped through banal and careless
systems. When we telephone City Hall, your officers deny responsibility and
claim that no-one has any power to right these self-evident wrongs.
The only
step now open to me, it seems, to remind you that Big Brother is not yet in
power, is to camp in City Hall and voice my complaints to your receptionists,
employees, visitors – and to you if you dare to appear - and recruit other
disaffected subjects to join the protest. The pacific alternative is simple;
give me the telephone number of the computer operator bookkeeper who can in a
moment correct the errors and thus cancel your auto-threats and close the
matter without further cost. If you hope to win another election, I strongly
advise that you change these very hostile standard practices. We are not
criminals. Get it sorted.
Yours
truly
Noel
Hodson
********************************************
Extract
from WEB Site - 6 Oct 03.
The
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corporate@capita.co.uk
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my wife not only did not have to pay the
charge but also received a written apology (see Cinderella Syndrome Thursday 22nd
August 03 below). And – moreover, I accidentally wandered into the system, was
unjustly found “guilty” in a UK Courtroom by the resident judge – a damned
computer, and after I had made about 20 enraged phone calls, written to the
Queen, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Attorney General, my Member of
Parliament and all lesser authorities in the UK, and challenged the Mayor of
London to a pugilistic punch-up on the steps of City Hall, I received 3 letters
of apology, but no flowers. Beware of Orwellian Surveillance and the nightmare
of unstoppable, relentless computer systems. New Scientist reports that