Claim against Equita

[Lord_Alcohol]

Hi All

Just wanted to share some information regarding parking tickets...

In early 2005 Westminster City Council awarded me with 4 PCNs, which I refused to pay as in each case I felt it was unfair (broken meter, over-zealous warden, and so on). Each appeal was rejected and the fine increased to £150 for each of the four tickets (£600 total).

I ignored them and in February 2006 had a letter from Equita, the debt collection agency employed by WCC, demanding £977. I wrote back to ask for a full breakdown of their charges. They ignored my request, and sent a bailiff a few days later who took a total of over £2,000 with no explanation whatsoever.

I demanded my money back, a demand which was ignored by Equita. I then used Moneyclaim Online to file a claim. On receipt of my claim Equita refunded the overcharged amount (the amount they took less the amount they should have taken) with no explanation.

I continued with my claim to sue for compensation (1 day's loss of earnings plus court fees).

Equita put up a defence which appeared to be written by a child, in that it was silly and bore no relation to reality. I continued with my claim and the day before the case was heard Equita settled in full, I assume to avoid a judgement against them and details of their tactics being made known to the public.

I have subsequently made a complaint against the bailiff involved, who has defended his position by deceiving the court. This is being escalated and hopefully will result in action being taken. What I do find most disturbing is that I have shown that Equita are in breach of their contract with WCC, as well as breaching the industry guidelines which they are supposed to adhere to, yet WCC have no interest in disciplinary action of any kind as I assume that this sort of caper is very profitable for them.

It is very time-consuming to sue a firm of bailiffs and can be very worrying, but I would recommend anyone in a similar situation to do the same.

Hope this is of some use.

LA

[stan5131]

What a great story! About time these lawless thugs got a taste of their own medicine.

Well done.

[fatboy88]

Thanks for sharing this, should come in useful

[i_spam]

Exactly what happened when itook ccs enforcement ltd to court. For 2 years they told me where to jump. Then when i issued they started jumping about themselves. This is the secret you must issue a small claim for the whole amount and then let the defendant sweat as they will before anything back out and pay up !!!

[mrswonder]

I'm about to lodge a complaint about Equita too. They don't issue receipts or statements to show how much you've paid & what's still owing. Once a bailiff has been given your file you can't get any information from the office because "it's with the bailiff - you have to contact him", even though you tell them you've repeatedly tried & he won't answer the phone & doesn't return your calls. Even when I was finally able to get hold of him, he quoted an amount far in excess of what was actually owed. So if he'd managed to get inside my home, he could have taken goods/money that he had no right to have, then I would have had to fight to get it back!

I've managed to get my council to take them off my case & have also got the court fees credited to my Council Tax account, but only because I (a) had faxed confirmation of every conversation I had with either Equita or the council to both of them, (b) continued to make payments direct to the council, so they could see what I was paying & that I wanted to pay. I've told the council & Equita I will be lodging a complaint with Trading Standards, the court they're registered with & the organisations that they're members of.

[Avenge]

I Got fed up of flogging a dead horse with Barnet and Equita (Hint :They hate it when you tell them you are recording the call). A vehicle which was registered under a Company which I disolved got a ticket. As the company was disolved papers never arrived. The Bailiff turned up asking for £650.00 I went through the court thing but due to the fact the company is disolved It was struck out. The Judge said I could not be persued. I emailed Barnet again and my councillor reminded them of the law they ignored this. As the case was struck out Barnet started the Equita thing again. The letter arived today dated Thursday giving me 24 Hours to Pay. Today I sent a cheque recorded delivery and emails to the Council and Equita. I mentiond the letters timing as well as I belive it will show how unreasonalbe Equita are to Barnet.

As I wasted my time in emailing, driving to court and lost income I issued a claim on line for approaching £700 I hope they enjoy my gift