Paul Malpas

Following my blog and letter of 5 February entitled Barrier Free to Pierse & Fitzgibbon, Solicitors, Market Street, Listowel, Co. Kerry and agents for the National Roads Authority, I received a reply bang on the 19 February, as requested.  They said the error which made them think that I had not paid my €3 was entirely my fault.  I was supposed to have given my car registration number as 012874RN instead of the correct number 01RN2874.  It took them four months and lots of soul-searching to work that out, along with many a threat of fine and conviction aimed at me and it was only when I wrote to them looking forward to my day in court did they come up with this paltry excuse.

All this bother was for their mistake of thinking that I had not paid my €3.  When I then asked them for an apology, their letter said, because it was due to “an error on your part” (their bold italics) “neither this office nor our client will apologise for your mistake and furthermore, we will not be paying your costs”.  Obviously written by a person with little intelligence, no wit, and certainly no nose for business.  Somehow or other government agencies have to realise that they are dealing with people and not machines.  Not to long ago these drudges in agency offices were people and would not have liked this bullying system they have adopted but I suppose all institutions that nowadays deal with people have engendered this malaise towards their flock, the Catholic Church being one good example.

So I am admitting defeat, I cannot be arsed carrying on, the bullys have won the day, but perhaps I can suggest a little wheeze.  If my little supposed transgression can cause such mayhem to the system why does not everybody who pay  tolls do so with a little deliberate mistake in the transmission of their funds.  It would have a cataclysmic effect on that abysmal system and hopefully change it to the good.

For the last few days I have been necessarily entertaining some of my children and grandchildren over from Manchester and Dublin on the occasion of birthdays and half terms and I have noticed that my mind and hand do not work in conjunction after the third bottle of wine or the fifth pint of plain.  So my blog was an unfortunate casualty, but I am happy to be back on the abstemious track and really happy that mind and hand are back on the same orbit.  Just one last thought on the outpourings of this horrible man from Galway, Drennan is his name.  His words do not seem to come from a man of God but from some wretch of a politician or government official desperately trying to hang on in there.  Perhaps his boss, and now his only arbiter, the Archbishop of Tuam, Michael Neary, can say or do something. He has at least grasped the nettle on the value of women.  See John Cooney’s article in the Independent of 23 February 2010.

Whereas the Bishop of Waterford and Lismore, William Lee has the answer to all our woes and is recommending that we all take up the Stations of the Cross.  When will they get their heads round the problem and face up to the agony and anger of the abused and why should the abused show forgiveness as Father Eamon Conway of Limerick is suggesting when they are faced with this stoney-faced obfuscation of their position.

Victory at last, if victory is what it is.  After three and a half months jousting with bullies and sweating under their threats of imprisonment and large fines, I today received a letter from Pierse & Fitzgibbon,  Solicitors, Market St. Listowel.  Verbatim it reads:-

National Roads Authority v PAUL MALPAS

M50 Barrier-free Tolling System

Re:    Our Client                                   National Roads Authority

Ref No:                                                      U11-0836-5756

Dear Sir,

We refer to the above and previous correspondence herein, in particular your letter to these offices.  We referred the matter to our client for investigation who confirmed that the difficulty arose due to an incorrect car registration number being identified i.e. the licence plate number the payment was made against was 012874RN instead of 01RN2874.

Therefore we confirm the above referenced matter has now been closed.

Yours faithfully.

Pierse & Fitzgibbon.

Regular readers will be aware from previous blogs that this appears to be the end of this saga, see Money For Old Rope posted on 1 February 2010, Old Monkey Face posted on 17 January 2010, Back On Track posted on 15 January 2010, No Posts Today posted on 13 January 2010, and Hoping And Praying posted on 13 December 2009.

After these three and a half months anyone with a lesser mental constitution would have been battered into submission.  Letter after letter, from first of all eFlow, then from Pierse & Fitzgibbon threatening imprisonment or a massive fine and a mention in Stubb’s Gazette would surely have tested the resolve of most and I really feel sorry for any more sensitive soul who as had to bear the brunt of this Government inspired brutality.

After hours of letter writing and blogging to receive the above letter with its dismissive and disrespectful tone is just plain ignorant and something you do not want from Government Agencies in a democratic country, especially when I paid my dues within days of incurring same, while the drinking chums of that same Government walk away with millions of euros on a daily basis.  It reminds me somewhat of the First World War.  We are just cannon fodder.

The letter should have been apologetic and I hope to get one and that is why the matter is not closed as far as I am concerned.  I am writing to Pierse and old monkey face today demanding an apology and/or the payment of my €350 costs for fighting my corner.  Bullies do not like to be faced up, so I am expecting them to go into a funk  and lie down.  I will keep you posted.

Below is my letter to them:_

Messrs Pierse & Fitzgibbon,                                                                                                                                           5 February 2010            Market St.                                                                                                                                                                                                            Listowel,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Co. Kerry.

National Roads Authority v PAULMALPAS                                                                                                                                                        M50 Barrier-free Tolling System

Re:    Your Client                                       National Roads Authority

Ref No:                                                  U11-0836-5756

Dear Sirs,

I refer to your letter of 2 February 2010 referring to the above and that the above referenced matter is now closed.  I unfortunately disagree, after many telephone calls, e-mails and letters setting out my defence on this matter, I am not happy to be parked up.  I want an apology from yourselves or your client or the payment of the €350 costs that I have been put to in this defence and as asked for in my recent letter to yourselves.

If I have heard nothing from you by 19 February 2010 I will send all the relevant papers to the Ombudsman who will advise me of my rights when faced with the bullying tactics of yourselves and eFlow in the future.

Yours Faithfully

Paul Malpas

Fresh from my day out in Dublin, I come renewed to take up the cudgel of the common man and reverse its orbit so that it hopefully strikes where it hurts on the bloated,  bullying bodies of`the plutocratic governmental organizations.

As you probably read in two of my previous blogs Hoping and Praying of 13 December 2009 and No Posts Today of 13 January 2010, I have a beef with somebody or more like it, they have a beef with me.  I thought it was with that estimable company eFlow who collect tolls from motorists on the M50 motorway, but it seems that when their bullying does not produce results, they pass the can over to the Road Transport Authority (RTA) who are the real culprits in this matter. eFlow are not a bad old crowd, it just happens that having to withstand the goading and prodding of their masters, the RTA, they have turned into snarling feral beasts in order to maintain the various contracts they have with their lord and master.

Anyway, now the RTA have full control of the dispute and  I expect it to be scaled up to red alert status, they have set the dogs of war on my tail in the admirable form of Pierse & Fitzgibbon, Solicitors, of Main Street, Listowel, Co. Kerry.  No doubt because one of their founding fathers was the son of a monkey.  They of course bring to the table all the baggage Listowel justice personifies.  In one paragraph they threatened  with a Judgement against me in the High Court and worse, my name being published in that spanish inquisition of a newspaper, Stubbs Gazette.  I do not know what prompted them with this double whammy but I presume it is because I am innocent of all charges.  If they are nervous of getting the guilty verdict in the High Court, they have settled for a full broadside hoping something will stick.

So in fear of my life and worried about how this fracas was affecting my wife’s health, who is frail enough at the best of times, I wrote back to the affiliates of the sons of monkeys in a very placatory fashion.  In fact after the letter had been posted and having re-read the same to the Listowel Lambasters, I was regretful of its wheedling tone.  I produce it here to show you how the relentless, persistent and overbearing nature of government agencies can weaken even the strongest resolve.

Messrs Pierse & Fitzgibbon
Market Street
Listowel
Co. Kerry

Dear Sir/Madam,
Toll Violation Notice No. U11-0836-5756
My Licence Plate   01RN2874

Thank you for your kind missive of 12 January 2010 or should we refer to it as the TVN.  Can I say from the outset that I am innocent.  I paid my €3 on 20 October 2009.  I have a bank statement to prove it.

I note from your TVN that Messrs eFlow have washed their hands of this matter and passed the burden of their errors on to the National Roads Authority, who it seems are your clients.

Having decided to take this TVN extremely seriously as you suggest, I would like to list chronologically the events and papers that I will bring to the High Court on whatever date you suggest.  Copies of all the following will have been passed on to you by Messrs eFlow, so there will be no need for me to include them with this letter.
1.  eFlow UTN No 1 of 25 October 2009
2.  Record of my telephone call to eFlow call centre on 27 October 2009
3.  Copy of my e-mail through eFlow web message function on 27 October 2009.
4.  Bank of Ireland statement of 3 November 2009 listing €3 payment to eFlow.
5.  eFlow UTN No 2 of  3 November 2009
6.  My registered letter to eFlow of 12 November 2009.
7.  eFlow letter to me of 20 November 2009
8.  My letter to eFlow of 25 November 2009.
9.  eFlow letter to me of 1 December 2009 in which eFlow state that “We acknowledge that you made a payment”

Might I also bring to your attention my blogging vehicle www.paulmalpas.com and in particular two blogs.  The first published on 13 December 2009 and titled Hoping and Praying and the second published on 14 January 2010 and titled No Posts Today.  Could I also remind you that the original charge was for €3 which I paid immediately and this rigmarole which we both find ourselves on is a ridiculous and unnecessary procedure, which should be stopped forthwith.  Just as costs on your side must be building up to ridiculous proportions, mine also on your receipt of this letter will have amounted to €350.  Let us stop this nonsense and call it a day and go for eFlow who seem to have a litany of undeclared assets that they are not being passed on to our esteemed National Roads Authority, notably my €3.  If Mr Lenihan knew the reason he cannot balance his books is because of eFlow’s non-performance, he would definitely be on the warpath.  Please keep in mind the original €3.

Notwithstanding all of the above and I know that in this third world, totalitarian, police state in which we live, my pleas of innocence will go unheeded and the mantra of the Fianna Fail party of ” Bang the Buggers up” will prevail.   I ask you to make my journey through the penitential system as easy as possible.  I am a pensioner.   I have not worked for five years and my wife is of a similar age and situation, having worn herself out looking after our large family of six children for this last 37 years.  Castlerea would be my slammer of choice as it is suitably situated for all my friends in Boyle to visit.

In the meantime I look forward to my day in court with you, my faceless and nameless adversary.  Does it not fill your time with joy after all your years studying jurisprudence and tort, to be stuck behind some computer screen chasing shadows.  Get out now and get out quickly before you become a moron or am I too late.

Your obedient and hopefully loyal citizen,

Paul Malpas

P.s.  It was a nice try threatening me with Mr Stubbs’s rag, but he is a cousin of mine and he would never have a bad word said against me.

By the way and if it has not been said time and again, my original charge for going through the toll was €3 which I paid immediately.  It is now €152 and rising.  Is there any legal brain out there who can tell me, because of my innocence in this matter, how I can force on these people my costs, which run to €350 at the moment.  It does seem to me that unless I employ some bigwig whose fees and resultant costs will be extortionate, I cannot reclaim my costs for fighting this libellous slur on my good name.  The whole shebang adds full credence to Shakespeare’s line in Lear of  “madmen leading the blind”.

I will keep you informed as to my future progress in this ruction as I cannot be the only one eFlow, the RTA, Fianna Fail and Pierse & Fitzgibbon have lined up.  The harrowing detail of my crucifixion might just help someone in a moment of weakness when they are considering paying twice to drive between Blanchardstown and Collinstown