That's the call from Juan Turner MLC who says he had personal experience of the frustration of pursuing debts through the courts.

Mr Turner maintains the current system is open to abuse and the coroners are powerless to act.

He claims that some who owe hundreds and even thousands of pounds in unpaid bills are nevertheless driving around the Island in new cars and going on holiday – when any spare money should be going to their creditors.

And he believes that those placed on the register of judgment and execution should be named and shamed in the press.

A full list of entries on the small claims execution register is already available for public inspection on the gov.im website.

Mr Turner said: 'People are running up thousands in debt and are able to time waste when it goes to court. They apply to have judgment and execution orders set aside, an obvious delaying tactic.

'The same names keep coming up time and time again. Some drive around in new cars and go on holidays – who's giving them more credit?
'Courts don't have the resources to deal with these matters quickly enough.

'I know from personal experience that you can wait for over a month for the coroner to serve a default notice. They should served within a reasonable amount of time. Coroners appear to be ineffective.

'I want a review of the present small claims system and the powers of the coroners.'

Mr Turner says with the economic squeeze, money is tight and it is vital for small businesses in particular that bills are paid on time.

'I don't think this will be contentious,' he said. 'A lot of businesses are feeling the pinch at the moment. They are fed up to the back teeth of people who don't pay their bills and play the system.

'Interest should be charged on the original debt and there should be higher costs awarded. Something needs to be done. The names of those on register of executions should be published so the public knows who these people are.'

WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Send your comments to newsviews@newsiom.co.im

YOUR COMMENTS

I was interested to read in your article Bad debtors should be 'named
and shamed' - MLC that "A full list of entries on the small claims
execution register is already available for public inspection on the
gov.im website." I spent approx 20 minutes searching on the Government Web site but was unable to find it. Can you offer any assistance?
IAN

In response to Ian's comment on Bad Debtors, the execution register is at http://www.gov.im/registries/Courts/entbooks.xml (I used the search function to find it)
GURU

Gov website: http://www.gov.im/registries/courts/entbooks.xml
JQ

People need to get a life if all they have to do is search through those registries & gloat over other's misfortunes. Naming and shaming people is not the way forward.Having never been bankrupt i cant possibly comment on individual feelings -look on moneysavingexpert.com and you will find many desparate people on those boards and in fact i think i will post this article on there & see how they think Juan TUrners proposal would go down. As for him whinging that companies are feeling the pinch- what about the poor customers being ripped off (oh sorry OFT deems that you are not being ripped off- ?!) customers are being ripped off all the time on the island- there are people out there really feeling the pinch- people who cannot afford to put their heating on because they wont be able to afford the cost of the bill when it comes in. His comments that the coroners are fed up to the back teeth of people who don't pay their bills and play the system made me laugh! What about the people who are fed up to the back teeth of being ripped off. Naming and shaming- i think Mr Turner is living in the dark ages
LD

Why not go the whole hog and put them in the stocks in the village square and pelt them with rotten vegetables for all to see. So all the self righteous whiter than whites, "it'd never happen to me brigade" can look on and gloat? Bit medieval I think, not all people having bad times are driving round in new cars, often it's the minority. Broaden your mind Juan, not all bad debtors are automatically bad people, why put pressure on people who are already struggling and some of it can be due to circumstances such as illness
TAM.

So Mr Juan Turner MLC would like to name and shame Bad Debtors would he?How about naming firms and traders who continually over-charge the public? My daughter recently purchased a Panasonic LCD TV from the main land, freight included, for £600 approx. Local price almost £900. My son recently purchased a Sony LCD TV from the mainland, freight included, for less than £500. Local price almost £800. Meat, milk and other farm and dairy products supplied locally are much more expensive than UK imports, thanks to protectionism in favour of farmers. I would agree that a small "hard-core" of debtors seem play the system to their tune and perhaps should be exposed. However, shouldn't the greedy businesses and traders be similarly exposed, or would that be too controversial and/or embarrassing for the local OFT equivalent? Perhaps if prices were more reasonable, there would be fewer bad debtors anyway!
TB

LD, hiding behind anonymity, doesn't realise how the economy works. Unfortunate though it is for people who end up in debt, there is a big difference between people who attempt to manage and pay their debts and some of the individuals who are ripping people off constantly. What about people who provide services or products in good faith, and then don't get paid for them. That is Ok is it? How then do they pay their bills LD? They take the person to 'Default' - that can take a month.
They then apply for Judgment & Execution - that can take up to 7 days and a further few days for the Coroner to serve. It could then take the Coroner another month to get any payment, if at all. The person with the debt then at J&E applies to have the debt set aside. another delay as you have to wait for a court date, possibly 3 months. When you get there, it can then be set down for hearing, could be another 8 weeks to 3 months. Don't think that this applies to big bad commerce and corporations who you claim are ripping you off and therefore deserve it. This could be and is small one man band operations like a decorator who has decorated someone's house. He is then really out of pocket, he's paid for materials and his time. He could end up waiting 6 to 10 months to get a result. When he gets the result, the court makes the order and then the person who ran up the debt still doesn't pay because he has nothing. Even if he was thrown in jail, the decorator still hasn't got his money so he can pay his bills. If the debts are owed to firms, the result could be shedding of jobs and some firms actually going under. This is reality and is happening now. One of these people ran up huge debts and went to live abroad leaving staff working a week not realising they weren't going to get paid. They are people we should feel sorry for. LD, the only thing that is in the dark ages is the law and I intend to see it updated as the above system is far from satisfactory and does very little to protect the innocent, something that is all too familiar in European countries.
JUAN TURNER MLC

Juan Turner MLC should not make such proposals until he has studied the broad implications of the Human Rights Act Article 8 which imports the European Convention on Human Rights into daily Island life. Clearly he is not worthy of his position in Tynwald if he even raises the issue of naming and shaming in the context that he has chosen. Indeed, no one should be elected to Tynwald if they have not got at least an "O" level understanding of Human Rights. I am happy to debate the issue on line with him if he so chooses.
BARRIE STEVENS, Douglas