Pub landlord ignore reminder letters sent to him in the wrong name

A pub landlord ended up paying �600 for a parking fine after reminder letters were sent to him in the wrong name.

James Moore, who is known locally as Seamus said he did not open post which arrived at his home as they were addressed to a Mr Moon.

When he eventually decided to opened one of the envelopes the fine, issued for making a banned right turn in Harrow in November, had rocketed from �60 to �601.64.

The original �60 fine was sent in December and doubled to �120 after 14 days. After it increased to �180, Harrow Council sent a charge certificate before enlisting bailiffs via the county court.

Mr Moore, who runs Conways 3 in Burnt Oak Broadway, claims he had no chance to explain the error before bailiffs arrived at his home and clamped his van last week.Despite staging a sitting protest in the van alongside his dog Killarney, Mr Moore’s wife paid the fine for the full amount later that morning.Mr Moore revealed he would have “sat in the van all day” if necessary.

He said: “There was no way I was going to let them take this van. I do not think they should have come out so heavy handed.

“My name is written all over the van. I’m annoyed that they went ahead and sent the bailiffs out.

“I do not mind paying for the original fine but I do mind having to pay for their mistake.”

Fernando Silverio, divisional director for collections and housing benefits at Harrow Council told the Times they had been given the details from the DVLA, he added: “At all times Harrow Council has acted in good faith and in line with legislation.

“We would advise the gentleman to seek further legal advice if he believes he is not responsible for this charge.”

A spokeswoman for the DVLA said: “An error was made when incorrect information was keyed onto the vehicle record.

“As soon as the error was identified arrangements were made to issue a new vehicle registration document.

“We are of course extremely sorry for any distress caused and in this case we will be looking at what happened to make sure lessons are learnt.”