When you get a letter in a windowed envelope with a "notice" asking you to pay for something you have to realise that a notice is not a bill, it's an offer of contract and the act of opening the letter is in effect your acceptance of the offer of contract. If you don't open the letter and send it back there is no contract and there is no obligation to pay until a contract has been established. If the letter has a return address that you can't identify (such as a PO box) then you can also legally send it back as the sender hasn't identified themselves properly.
If a third party such as solicitor or a debt collection agency sends any letter demanding you pay the "bill" "account" or any other fictitious legal term they try to convey then you have to realise that you have never signed a contract (mutual agreement) with them so they don't have a legal leg to stand on, just send their offer of contract back to them.
Many of the conveyances that come through our letter boxes are simple offers of contract and the act of opening letter is accepting the offer contract. Just don't open it, send it back back and mark the front of the envelope.
RETURN TO SENDER NO CONTRACT
I really don't want anyone to get into trouble over this, so put the money aside for just one "notice" or offer of contract that comes in the form of a letter with no identifiable sender ie with a PO box as a return address and see what comes of it. I've only tried it once with a council fine when my dog was impounded and so far (8weeks) there's been no response. So I don't know if it worked or if they just don't know what to do next.
This is all starting to look like any other commercial agreement where mutual acceptance of terms is required for the terms of the contract to be initiated. So I don't see this as any breach of the law but more of a choice not to accept an offer of contract and I intend to play it out as far it can go, it's not a criminal matter so I'll play their civil game by their own civil laws and they can be civil too or I'll see them in court. Then we can discuss jurisdiction & liability ;)
