I offered to pay the £217 in two instalments, one that week and one the following week. The bailiff told me that amount was what was owed, so that's what i offered to pay. The £541 figure only came out much further down the line and complaint process!

The council could see i was in receipt of housing benefit, so they knew i was in financial difficulty at the time.

It seems there is lots of conflicting information online! I was originally told that all of those points below were valid and that bailiffs were not allowed to remove your mobile as it was classed as a basic need and also something to do with data protection. Sorry I cant remember the bit of law, it's in my original complaint letter that i'd have to dig out. But having just done a quick check with CAB, it concurs that a mobile phone is classed as a basic need and cannot be removed anyway if it's about your person.

Actually, if you are on a contract the SIM remains the property of the supplier until the contract ends and the cost of the handset is heavily subsidised hence the reason you see them cheaper on a contract than on Pay As You Go.

Just a quick one on the mobile phone, they were only detailed specifically as exempt goods from April 2014.

I offered to pay the £217 in two installments, one that week and one the following week. The bailiff told me that amount was what was owed, so that's what i offered to pay. The £541 figure only came out much further down the line and complaint process!

The council could see i was in receipt of housing benefit, so they knew i was in financial difficulty at the time.

 

It seems there is lots of conflicting information online!

 

I was originally told that all of those points below were valid and that bailiffs were not allowed to remove your mobile as it was classed as a basic need and also something to do with data protection. Sorry I cant remember the bit of law, it's in my original complaint letter that i'd have to dig out. But having just done a quick check with CAB, it concurs that a mobile phone is classed as a basic need and cannot be removed anyway if it's about your person.

Under the new regulations that took effect on 6th April this year a mobile phone is indeed protected. Your complaint was concerning events before 6th April.

I would of course be interested to know which point of law you relied upon. If you could also post back with the point about the claim that the bailiff has abandoned the vehicle after leaving it clamped that would be useful.

As I have said a number of times now it would seem from what you have written that the local authority were at fault and you certainly had cause to complain.

Can I just reiterate one more time that taking proceedings in the court is certainly a procedure that you can take. The problem that I have with this is that so far....I have yet to come across any evidence of a successful case. There are plenty of cases where debtors have lost and if somebody could please provide clear evidence of debtors being awarded refunds for disputed bailiff fees I would be delighted. Evidence is all that is needed.

The local authority have cause for complaint?

The local authority have cause for complaint?

They certainly do and as you will be aware an LA are wholly responsible for the actions of their bailiffs and responsible too for the fees they charge.

In your initial posts you said that the debt to the council had been £217. You have said in your above post that you offered to pay the sum of £217 to the bailiff in 2 installments. If this was the amount that the bailiff was collecting on the day in question then the amount to the council would have been significantly less given that bailiff fees would have been added to the amount being collected by the bailiff.

There certainly appears to be a lot of confusion about the actual amount of the debt. Has this been addressed in the response from the LGO?

Sorry i thought you meant cause for complaint against me!

The bailiff told me the amount owed to the council was £217, so therefore that's what i offered to pay the council. I called the council three times to offer payment and on the third phone call, spoke to the director of the department who i explained my circumstances to. Every offer was refused.

I understand there will have been bailiff charges on top of the £217, but that was what i was told the liability order was for originally so that's what i offered to pay.

Sorry i thought you meant cause for complaint against me!

.

Nikki

I have changed the wording on my post. It has been a very busy day today and I should have read back what I had posted.

Nikki

I have changed the wording on my post. It has been a very busy day today and I should have read back what I had posted.

Ok I understand thanks.

So, it seems the only thing I can try is writing to the bailiff company and ask for a refund of the fees?

Is there no other action I can take against the council?

Any more advice?