Baliffs and the human rights act.

[Consumer dude]

Intrested to know if anyone has ever used the human rights act to protect themselves from baliffs and was that sucessful. The part of the act I am looking at states.. The right to peaceful enjoyment of possessions and respect for your privacy, family life and home. It would be good to have people's views..

[Nintendo Pü]

its been debated to death over the years.

 

HR law does say we have right to peaceful enjoyment but. Its a similar argument all over UK legislation where laws contradict each other.

 

The only way to find out whether laws are in a conflict, a Judicial Review is the way to go, but getting one costs money - and lots of it! It is therefore no use having such laws when they are not available to the majority of us due to lack of means, and burden of risk lies with the accused. Hardly the basis of the British aclaimed 'fairest justice system in the world'. These are the main areas a bailif works:

 

Council tax is fairly unique to Britain, its a levy on households whereas local taxation elsewhere in the world is based on income. This penalises low-income households and creates a market for bailiffs in council tax enforcement on persons who dont have the money or the brains to complete a claim for a rebate from an automatic statutory liability irrespective if income.

 

The solution? a local income tax (Germany) or local sales tax (Canada).

 

Child Support is based on a working parents income - regardless of the needs of the child. And the UK provides tax credits for working parents then intentionally deprives them of tax credits if the parents live apart. It is therefore a tax on absent working parents. This results in working parents joining the hidden economy, or they sign-on. Work doesnt pay and their incomes are taxed twice.

 

The solution? - Introduce tax credits to all working parents (the EU except Great Britain).

 

Motoring - big bux biz for bailiffs, traffic and parking penalties are fixed irrespective if the driver's income, many low income drivers are unfairly penalised and they do not register their vehicles while others just pay £40 and wal away.

 

The solution? Ditch the £40 fixed penalty and make the driver do one hours unpaid work (formerly community service).

 

Consumer and private debts, every economy has debt but bailiffs are only good if other enforcement has failed, charging order, 3rd party debt order, atachement of earmings or bank account. If all this fails, a bailiff isnt likely to succeed because he cant take what the debtor hasnt got.

 

The solution? excercise better care before giving out credit in the first place. Prevention is better than cure.

 

Criminal fines, Courts can fine a person for his crime, but what is the point when the criminal is on prescribed benefits? If the criminal doesnt have the money to pay then he will commit another crime, sign-on again or bailiffs can try and take what he doesnt have.

 

The solution? - make him do unpaid work & fit an electronic tag (Sweden)

 

 

Thats my 2p.

[Consumer dude]

That was a brillant post..

[wonkeydonkey]

Great Post.... how can we put pressure on to improve our present system?

[Nintendo Pü]

You write to your MP outlining the problem and suggest the solution.

 

You can also lobby the organ grinders, the legislators that make things happen. Lord Lucas is known to be sympathetic towards vicitms of bailiffs.

 

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/peer/lord_lucas

 

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/peer/lord_bach