About My Job: The British Debt Collector

by Conor Friedersdorf

A reader writes:

I collect unpaid British court fines, mostly for the Magistrates Courts. The fines are mostly for vehicle offences, public transport fare dodging, and small crimes such as assault, shoplifting, etc. What people do not understand is that there are virtually no repercussions if they refuse to pay. The collection process is outsourced to private contractors such as myself and theoretically we have powers to seize goods and initiate arrest. However this never happens. I have done this job for a long time and have never seized goods or gotten anyone arrested, as it is just not worth it. I am paid on cash collected – nothing else. So if someone is minimally difficult I just move onto the next debtor.