Written by John Kruse, one of the leading experts on Bailiff Law, this consumer friendly guide is essential reading for anyone who comes into contact with a bailiff.
The book is easy to understand and clearly explains the rights
a bailiff has, and also what they cannot do when collecting debts and repossessing goods etc.
It might be worth while if he talks to his courier company. They may be able to
come up with a defence on the width restriction, and possibly the bus lane if his
exit was nearby and the traffic was built up to where he was. They may be well
versed in defending motoring offences.
If they think he has a reasonable defence, he can write to the Court explaining
why he wasn't there and ask to have the case heard again.
Should all of that fail, he can look at various posts on this forum dealing with bailiffs and their charging-or over charging. Then he can ask the bailiffs for a Breakdown of their costs as well as trying to come to an arrangement with them
to repay the fines over time.
But he must act quickly to prevent them coming back. What they do is they take
your possessions and they are put into an auction. Because of the poor prices
usually attained there, to achieve their £750 target they will probably need to take
£2000 plus worth of your goods.
If he can't get the bailiffs to agree on a monthly repayment figure, check with
Citizens Advice, or even the Court to see if they could help as to spreading the
repayments.
Apologies if this has been posted in the wrong place, but my DH has got himself 2 tickets for being in a bus lane. At the time, he was a courier driver.
In the first instance he went into the bus lane to turn left to avoid the traffic which was queing to go straight ahead and was only in it for about 5 seconds.
The second, he went through a width restriction, again for about 5 seconds.
He has, very helpfully, ignored the notices and yesterday we had a bailiff visit. He now has a seriously p****d off DW!!
Anyway the total now owed for the 2 fines comes to the grand total of £751.09, presumably mostly bailiff fees!!!!!
I realise that he shouldn't have been in the bus lane under any circumstances, but I was wondering if there was any way of challenging the amount he now owes as this is an horrendous amount of money for two fines.
I have been reading on this forum about bailiffs and their charges. Am I correct then, that you shouldn't pay their charges, just the original fine??
Would really appreciate some help as DH has sent 4 x post dated cheques totalling £751.09 to the bailiffs, which has escalated from two original bus lane fines.
I have sent for and received (today) a Breakdown - under the DPA. Their details do not tally with ours. They have charged us £50 for each fine for 1 visit + £230 for a bailiff/porter/van = £330 on 20th April!! Nobody came that day.
Incidentally, they previously charged us 2 x £39 for a 'visit'. When we complained that nobody had visited they withdrew their charges without any argument - interesting eh??
I think you will find that bailiffs are entitled to charge for the recovery of the debt.
The questions are whether the charge was the right amount, oe should have
been charged at all [eg claiming to have visited, without having done so].
The first thing you need to know is what kind of Court the fines were applied .eg.
County or Magistrates as they have differing charge rates. And also whether the bailiffs were Certificated or not since different rules apply there too.
Here is an excerpt from the Courts website-
Fees charged by bailiffs/Enforcement Officers
......................... ......................... ......................... ......................... ................ county court bailiffs: the fees charged by the county courts for using the bailiffs will be added to the amount owed. Any additional costs for removing and selling goods will be added to the amount you owe.
Enforcement Officers: are entitled to charge fees and add them to the money you owe.
Certificated and non-certificated bailiffs: are entitled to charge fees and add them to the money you owe.
Certificated bailiffs: collecting council tax, community charge, distress for rent, road traffic debts and non-domestic rates, should leave a copy of the fee scales that they can charge with you when they visit your premises.
Bailiffs and Enforcement Officers are not allowed to charge you more than the amounts stated for that piece of work in the scale of fees.
There is no statutory scale of fees for bailiffs enforcing magistrates' courts fines. You can contact the magistrates' court direct to ask if they have an agreed scale of fees that bailiffs can charge.
is the site I got that info from. I then entered "bailiffs" in the little "search" box
in the top right hand corner.
If you go to google and type in "Bailiffs fees" you will find more info again.
PS you can apply to the Court for time to pay-there is a form they will supply you with. You may have to argue that you were forced into offering more than you can afford by the bailiffs. But if you can get the form accepted by the Court, it stops
further action by the bailiffs. The form is called N245.
PPS Stopping the cheques might be expensive bearing in mind how much banks charge. Until you can get the Court to either agree a new payment regime, or
that the bailifs are overcharging you, it might be safer to certainly pay the first cheque if you acn. Or see if they will agree to exchange the first cheque for two smaller ones, with the second dated say a couple of weeks later than the original £250. You need to stall them until you get the facts you need.
Just a thought but, depending on the bus lane, was there actually a violation?
I use bus lanes all the time because I drive outside of peak times. I almost get hit lots cos no-one checks their mirrors for cars in bus lanes, but you're *supposed* to use them when they are not in operation.
BoS:- D P A sent 09/06 Prelim. request 29/06 £1755 plus interest
1st claim Filed 5/10/06 SETTLED 19/10 £747.80 plus £534.31 interest
The Consumer Forums
Re: Bus Lane Fine
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Originally Posted by sean5302
