Justice Minister Bridget Prentice believes that 'charging the true full cost for court process (including, for example, warrants and charging orders) will mean creditors consider carefully whether they are throwing good money after bad, and consider alternatives'.
Ms. Prentice has not been around as long as I have and has manifestly not 'mixed', so to speak, in the same circles, or she would not speak so lightly of people and their alternatives when it comes to money owed. I have known people - albeit not willingly - who would consider a visit from two heavies with baseball bats to be a perfectly reasonable 'alternative' to writing off a debt, however insignificant.
The only 'alternatives' available to people who quite rightly consider grievious bodily harm to be inexcusable are:
- To come to an arrangement for settlement which may or may not be successful.
- To issue proceedings and receive the same appalling service for much more money.
- To bite the bullet and write off the debt.
Go for option one - and don't even think about belting somebody in the chops as payback if you have to settle for option three instead. You could end up paying for your own trial.
Lord Mandelson tells us that the Government is providing real help to business' and I agree that some Government programmes are 'providing real help'. I can't help but think, though, that affordable justice, improved services for creditors, and the appointment of a Justice Minister with some understanding of real life would provide 'real help to business' also.
