Woman's shock at pounds 400,000 car bill; COUPLE LEFT DUMBFOUNDED BY SUMMONSES FROM COURT

Evening Chronicle (Newcastle, England), Dec 8, 2007

Byline: By KERRY WOOD

HAIRDRESSER Jackie Wilson has been landed with a pounds 400,000 bill for flash cars she didn't buy.

The 30-year-old, who has only been driving for three years, was left dumbfounded when 29 court summonses landed on her doormat.

The letters were from Northampton County Court, demanding Miss Wilson appear at court for a series of credit card debts and payments on luxury cars.

The bill for one of the cars dated back to 1989 - when she was only 12.

Miss Wilson, who works at hairdresser's Just Cuts in Burnopfield, Durham, said: "I couldn't believe it. I got home to find my husband almost suicidal.

"He'd rang me at work and said I should come home.

"His voice was shaking and at first I thought we'd won the Lottery.

He said we'd received 29 letters and after opening just the first three we owed pounds 42,000."

Joined by her parents, they combed through each letter, which listed Miss Wilson as the first defendant.

In each case her name was followed by the name and address details of a host of different people from across the UK.

As well clocking up more than pounds 6,000 on credit cards, Miss Wilson was accused of having spent more than pounds 42,000 on a Ford Escort LX Turbo and pounds 30,000 on a Fiat Marea. Her total bill mounted to about pounds 400,000.

Miss Wilson, who lives in Ebchester, Consett, County Durham, said: "I knew there had to be some sort of mistake. Some of the cars were bought in 1989, when I was only 12."

Miss Wilson contacted police, who told her to ring the court and make sure the post was real.

Miss Wilson added: "I rang the court and they said it must have been a postal error. They didn't even apologise.

"It was a real shock, especially with the recent news about the security of people's personal details.

"I now know the details and debt history of 29 people."

A spokesman for Her Majesty's Courts Service said: "The error was caused by the claimant, not Northampton County Court.

"We understand that the claimant is withdrawing these claims and resubmitting them correctly."

Joe Arafa, of Arrow Global, which is claiming the credit card arrears, said: "As soon as we heard about this we launched an investigation. We are determined to get to the bottom of this error."

Arrow Global is a Londonbased debt purchasing company which buys arrears from credit card companies.

Huge error

A sample of Miss Wilson's supposed debt:

Credit card, pounds 4,264

Credit card, pounds 2,012

Land Rover Discovery, pounds 9,673

Ford Galaxy, pounds 16,288

Ford Scorpio, pounds 6,160

Ford Focus, pounds 10,337

Nissan Serena, pounds 16,694

Ford Escort R Reg, pounds 32,338

Audi A3, pounds 2,549

Ford Mondeo, pounds 8,828

Fiat Marea, pounds 30,649

Mercedes CLK, pounds 9,360

Subaru Impreza, pounds 12,456

CAPTION(S):

BAFFLED: Miss Wilson got reams of letters PICTURES: MIKE URWIN; DEMANDS: Miss Wilson says the Mistake has security Implications