Car Repossession (Bailiffs in scotland !!)

[caprikid]

Hi , I am a new member looking for some help/advise about car repossessions in Scotland by bailiffs because as far as I am aware bailiffs have no powers in Scotland. I had my car reppossed by Bailiffs without a court order even though it says on my loan aggreement that after I have payed over one third of the balance my car cannot be reppossed without a court order or my conscent.

I only borrowed £600 with an APR of 370% the loan was secured on my own car valued at around £1200 I have payed the loan company over £1400 back and now they have sold my car . I have since found out that the reason they uplifted my car was 2 payments I had made to the loan were never recived but I do have proof I payed the insalment as I payed using internet banking . The car was uplifted because the company thought I was 2 months behind in my payments wich was untrue as I hade mad the payments .

Traiding Stadards have told me that this action was illegal and they sent the company a letter stating that I would be entitled to all the money back I had payed into the loan . Traiding Standard were told by the company the they dont often get a court order so this is happening to others . I have been told by the CIB that I do have a case and I should look to take the company to court but as I cant get legal aid it would cost me more to take them to court that the cars worth . Cheers Alex,

[buzby]

This was theft - no Bailiffs have jurisdiction in Scotland, it would have to be a sheriff officer. If you reported it as theft, police would probably say it was a civil matter and do nothing more, however do you know which firm did the reposession? You could then complain to their trade body and cause them aggro.

As to satisfaction, there's no legal aid for civil actions, but depending what you paid and seek to recover, you can take the Small Claims track (under £750) Summary Cause (under £1500) and Ordinary Action (over £1500) the first two you can do yourself, but the last one need a Solicitor. Do remember if successful, you get all your costs back, plus that of your solicitor - so it might be worth considering this.

[caprikid]

Originally Posted by buzby

This was theft - no Bailiffs have jurisdiction in Scotland, it would have to be a sheriff officer. If you reported it as theft, police would probably say it was a civil matter and do nothing more, however do you know which firm did the repossession? You could then complain to their trade body and cause them aggro.

As to satisfaction, there's no legal aid for civil actions, but depending what you paid and seek to recover, you can take the Small Claims track (under £750) Summary Cause (under £1500) and Ordinary Action (over £1500) the first two you can do yourself, but the last one need a Solicitor. Do remember if successful, you get all your costs back, plus that of your solicitor - so it might be worth considering this.

Thanks for that advise , I looked into Summary Cause I am considering taking this action however I am trying to get all the information I can get before I go down that road . The name of the company that reposed my car is Gemini International who were acting on behalf of the loan company log book loans who have the log . Cheers Alex

[buzby]

You might want to take advice from CAB as to who (in their opinion) is the best to raise action against. If it was me, I'd go with the Finance House, as it was they who instructed Gemini - hopefully you've got some documentation to prove they took the vehicle? Who was the Registered Keeper of the vehicle.... did 'Log Book Loans' retain this?

[caprikid]

Originally Posted by buzby

You might want to take advice from CAB as to who (in their opinion) is the best to raise action against. If it was me, I'd go with the Finance House, as it was they who instructed Gemini - hopefully you've got some documentation to prove they took the vehicle? Who was the Registered Keeper of the vehicle.... did 'Log Book Loans' retain this?

The log book was retained by log book loans and I did sign a sales document saying I had sole the car to them but I also got an standard HP agreement . There is a part of the aggrement that states

"If you fail to keep to your side of the Agreement but you have paid at least one-third of the total amount payable under this Agreement,this is £483.16 Logook may not take back the Vehicle against your wishes unless he gets a court order. (In Scotland he may need to get a court order at any time) If he does take them without your consent or a court, you have the right to get back all the money you have paid under the agreement."

Cheers Alex,

[buzby]

Seems fairly straightforward then - they've screwed up. Providing LBL do confirm they reposessed the vehicle, (and it wasn't 'stolen' by somebody else (!), just write to LBL stating the facts and pointing out they are in breach of Term X of your contractr. As such, you require full payment of £XXX within 21 days. If this is not received, you will raise an action against them for full recovery of the moneies owed, plus costs.

[caprikid]

Originally Posted by buzby

Seems fairly straightforward then - they've screwed up. Providing LBL do confirm they repossessed the vehicle, (and it wasn't 'stolen' by somebody else (!), just write to LBL stating the facts and pointing out they are in breach of Term X of your contractr. As such, you require full payment of £XXX within 21 days. If this is not received, you will raise an action against them for full recovery of the moneies owed, plus costs.

Traiding Standards wrote to LBL saying that they were in breach of the contract LBL just said that I had said during a phone call to them at some point " If you can find the car you can have it" this was not true I never said anything like that at any time . They said that they were using that statment from me as consent to pick the car up.

I was looking through the Scottish Executive web site today and I found some useful information that might help me it was about "Wrongfull Diligence" according to the Scottish Executive a person can claim damages and the good returned if a company uses Wrongfull Diligence . This is what they said

"There are a few situations where there may be said to be strict liability for wrongfull diligence . All that must be proved is the wrongful use of the diligence to establish liability for damages . This would be the case when there was no warrant at all to justify the use of diligence. "

I would have thought was also straight forward as Gemini never had a warrant or court order , I will mention this when I visit the CIB later this week but without legal aid I am not sure how I can do anything about this wrongfull Diligence without going to court . Cheers Alex

[buzby]

Your in danger of being sidetracked and playing the lawyers at their own game. You cannot act yourself in pursuing 'wrongful diligence', and whilst it might be a useful avenue to explore if everything else failed, I don't see how this can benefit you in the short term.

As to LBLs statement that you challenged them to find the car, this is wrong for so many reasons - they'd have to prove you said this, do they have a recoding of you saying those words? If not, they'll have difficulty in getting a Sheriff to believe them. Just call on them to return the cash you paid, and if they do not this, you will employ due dilligence of your own to make them appear in court and obtain satisfaction.

Take the simplest route, it's faster and cheaper.

[caprikid]

LBL won't have a recording of me because I never said it in the first place the only thing that concerns me about going taking them to court on my own is the sales aggrement that said I sold the car to them .

I will talk to the CAB on Monday I will ask them if that makes a difference, if they say it dosen't then I will go ahead with the Summary Cause action . I cant see however that it should be a way for them to get away with taking my car . Cheers Alex

[buzby]

If the agreement states that you sold the car to them, then there will have been a consideration (payment) made to you? If not, that part is immaterial as if no money changes hands, you haven't sold them anything. I agree they shouldn;t have done what they did, and it shows an amazing disrespect for your rights, perrhaps there IS something you can do at a later stange to address this, but in the short ter,. if you don;t have your car, you want your money, and I see nothing wrong with that!

[caprikid]

I went to the C.A.B today they said they would write to log book loans again so I have to wait until I can go to court . They said if we don't get and joy this time we will try going through the courts. Alex