Hi All,

been a while since I have had to seek help from CAG.

I am not sure what I can do so please advise me.

Briefly:

I am a blue badge holder + parked on Disable Bay.

But I was issued a ticket as that particular bay was only for a specific Blue Badge holder.

After I wrote and submitted my representations I was granted a "discount" of £55 to pay within 14 days by Barnet Parking Services (BPS).

Unfortunately, BPS’s offer letter was delayed in the post and arrived 24 days later.

I emailed + wrote, explained the reason for the delay but paid it anyway.

They accepted this payment and then proceeded to recover the "balance" because my payment was received outside the 14 day window.

My subsequent letters citing postal delays were ignored.

Now I received notice from TASK demanding £138 stating that Warrant of Control was issued by Northampton CC TEC.

(I did not receive any notices from TEC)

Of course, I received TASK's letter dated 12 Sept.... yesterday!!.

TASK say they are coming to seize goods on 19th Sept

- but have not shown up yet.

I am really concerned they will show up later today or on Monday

How and what do I do to fight this?

Do I try to submit a witness statement out of time (TE7 and TE9) ? and if so on what grounds can I do this?

I do not know what to say to complete TE7 - there were no Notice to owners issued etc.

There were no notices from TEC.

Do I merely state on TE 7 that I have paid the ticket ?... and then give explanation of sequence of events?

I also want to ask if completing and submitting the Out of time forms is the correct way to proceed.

Please help ASAP

thank you

Wrecked

Did the original ticket state Penalty Charge Notice or did it state Parking Charge Notice?

Sounds like a local authority one as it was issued by northampton CC tec

 

I am a blue badge holder + parked on Disable Bay. But I was issued a ticket as that particular bay was only for a specific Blue Badge holder.

 

After I wrote and submitted my representations I was granted a "discount" of £ 55 to pay within 14 days by Barnet Parking Services (BPS). Unfortunately, BPS’s offer letter was delayed in the post and arrived 24 days later.

 

So I emailed + wrote, explained the reason for the delay but paid it anyway. They accepted this payment and then proceeded to recover the "balance" because my payment was received outside the 14 day window. My subsequent letters citing postal delays were ignored.

 

Now I received notice from TASK demanding £138 stating that Warrant of Control was issued by Northampton CC TEC. (I did not receive any notices from TEC) Of course, I received TASK's letter dated 12 Sept.... yesterday!!.

 

TASK say they are coming to seize goods on 19th Sept - but have not shown up yet. I am really concerned they will show up later today or on Monday

I have broken down your query in separate paragraphs as it makes it easier to understand the background.

Firstly, the bad news is that I do not believe that you have grounds to file an Out of Time witness statements as you would not be able to satisfy the grounds for the following reason:

Initially when reading your query, I thought that the problem may have been due to the council not sending letters in a timely manner. I don't believe though that this is the case. I say this for the following reasons:

The letter from Barnet Parking Services arrived 24 days after being posted

The Notice of Enforcement from Task arrived 9 days after posting

It is very unusual to have such long postal delays. Is there a particular reason for this?

Can you please clarify the date on the Notice of Enforcement and the 'cut off' date to make payment (known as the 'compliance period'.)

 

Now I received notice from TASK demanding £138 stating that Warrant of Control was issued by Northampton CC TEC. (I did not receive any notices from TEC) Of course, I received TASK's letter dated 12 Sept.... yesterday!!. TASK say they are coming to seize goods on 19th Sept - but have not shown up yet. I am really concerned they will show up later today or on Monday

 

Can you please clarify the position with the date on the Notice of Enforcement.

I also need to know the precise time and date that is given on the notice for you to make payment.

 

Now I received notice from TASK demanding £138 stating that Warrant of Control was issued by Northampton CC TEC. (I did not receive any notices from TEC)

 

Of course, I received TASK's letter dated 12 Sept.... yesterday!!. TASK say they are coming to seize goods on 19th Sept - but have not shown up yet. I am really concerned they will show up later today or on Monday

The forum rules are that a post cannot be edited after 10 minutes...hence the need to make this further post.

I am very concerned with the date on the Notice of Enforcement as the regulations are very specific in that debtors must be afforded a period of not less than 7 clear days to make payment. Because of different interpretations etc of 'clear days' and postal delays, it is the case that most enforcement companies (but not all) abide by the guidance given by CIVEA to allow a period of 14 days.

In your case, it seems that payment was required by 19th September ( if so, this would not be 7 'clear days'). Despite this, a visit appears to be imminent. If so, the debt will increase by £235 to include the enforcement fee. The enforcement fee may only be applied at the time of the visit.

Given that the amount requested is standing at £138, I am tempted to suggest that you make payment in order to stop enforcement. You can then make complaints to the council (and maybe Task) without the risk of bailiff enforcement.

Dear all

Firstly, - thank you for such fast replies. i am very grateful.

To answer the questions –

1. it was titled Penalty Charge Notice

2. I do not understand why the mail had taken so long to reach me. I do receive most of my letters promptly though a few had been delayed by some days (as in this instance) I complained at the local

sorting office but they said they cannot help as

a. Incoming letters and they are not tracked

b. Post office handles over 800 million items a day and some get lost/delayed.

3. I do not have Notice of Enforcement ... should i have received this notice?

4. The only notice I have is “notice of Intended Removal” dated 12/09/2017 from TASK

Bailiff Advice – regarding your other comments:

TE7 – I am not disputing the penalty. I have paid it as per the original request of Barnet parking services the issue was that it was outside of their 14 day window.

You state that I should pay the £ 138 – OK that’s noted... however i am pretty broke so this will have an impact on my other bills.

If I do make that payment is there any chance that I can recover all or any part of it … or shall I just bite the bullet, pay it and walk away?

thank you

Wrecked.

Dear all

 

Firstly, - thank you for such fast replies. i am very grateful.

 

I do not have Notice of Enforcement ... should i have received this notice?

 

The only notice I have is “notice of Intended Removal” dated 12/09/2017 from TASK

 

Bailiff Advice – regarding your other comments:

 

TE7 – I am not disputing the penalty. I have paid it as per the original request of Barnet parking services the issue was that it was outside of their 14 day window.

You state that I should pay the £ 138 – OK that’s noted... however i am pretty broke so this will have an impact on my other bills.

 

If I do make that payment is there any chance that I can recover all or any part of it … or shall I just bite the bullet, pay it and walk away?

Thank you for your response. I was worried when you indicated that you had received a Notice of Enforcement from Task dated 12th September and that it supposedly only allowed you until 19th September to make payment. Given that most companies (with one or two exceptions) are abiding by CIVEA guidance and allowing a 14 days Compliance period, I was concerned but thankfully, from your response that is not an issue in this case.

It may help if I outline the notices that you should have received from Barnet Parking Services and Task Enforcement.

The above would be the only notices that you should have received from the council.

The next notice would should have been from Task and entitled Notice of Enforcement.

Which of the above notices did you receive?

Lastly, given your earlier response (that the letter from Task is a 'Notice of Intended Removal' ) I am concerned that a visit will be made at any time now. Although your vehicle cannot be seized (as you are a Blue Badge holder), this will not prevent the debt increasing by £235.

Dear Bailiff Advice

Thank you so much for your message. I have been checking though my documents and files and i regret i do not have any of the docs. you listed. I have also checked with my housemates to see if they have any of my letters but to no avail.

I know you mentioned that i have no grounds to submit out of time witness statements, but on the basis that at this moment I have to make do with what I have as a Bailiff visit is imminent, I think i will try this route on the basis that i have paid the penalty charge in response to the "discount offer" . I will stress that the delays were outside of my control.

If i fail with that then I have to make the payment so at best, it may get me some time.

Thank you again - i really appreciate you spending your valuable time to help me. Its most kind.

All the best/Wrecked.

Were any letters in post over a Bank Holiday?

Please give dates on each letter and date received.

Were they sent Firs or Second Class post?

Is your address correct on the vehicle's V5c and the DocRef?

The sender can normally rely on the Interpretation Act for thr service of legal demands.

Hi Mariner51

Thank you for your message. sorry i was late getting back to you. i am afraid work just gets in the way as i had quite a lot of stuff to get done for today as i spent so much time on this matter

OK - all i have are letters from the Council. I do not know if they were sent over Bank holidays or not. I can check the dates and list them out if you wish but i did not keep the envelopes to verify whether they were First or second class post. You said "...The sender can normally rely on the Interpretation Act for thr service of legal demands..." What does that mean?

But i submitted my application for Out Of Time Witness statements on Saturday by email to TEC and notified the council as well as TASK about this.

I will chase up the TEC tomorrow and ask if they received it and instructed TASK to cease their action

In the meantime TASK replied to my first notice (I emailed them on Friday that I was submitting my application to TEC) and said that the hv been instructed by the council to pursue the matter and they gave me an extension till 29 Sept to make the payment.

thank you again

all the best

Wrecked

 

But i submitted my application for Out Of Time Witness statements on Saturday by email to TEC and notified the council as well as TASK about this.

I will chase up the TEC tomorrow and ask if they received it and instructed TASK to cease their action

Please try to refrain from calling the Traffic Enforcement Centre. It is becoming almost impossible for members of the public and advisers such as me, to get through to the TEC and the reason for this, is because local authorities (in particular Highways England who administer the Dart Charge) continually instruct motorists to telephone the Traffic Enforcement Centre to make enquiries about an OOT application. What should be happening, is for authorities to be advising motorists to visit the TEC website and to download the necessary forms (TE7 and TE9 or PE2 and PE3).

In your particular case, you state that you emailed the forms to TEC. If so, you should have received automatic emails in response to advise you that your forms were safely delivered. This is all that you need.

If your completed forms were sent on Saturday, they will have been processed sometime today by TEC and notification given to the relevant local authority. That particular council (and not the Traffic Enforcement Centre) are under a legal obligation to inform their enforcement provider of the application made (Out of Time witness statement) and to instruct them to cease enforcement of the warrant until your applications have been considered (which is usually in about 6 weeks time).

hi Bailiff Advice

thank you for your message. yes thats a very good point.

i contacted them via email as their phone lines are either engaged or just rings.

And regarding the Autoresponse - I do not think they send out Autoresponses to emails anymore.

i did not receive any Autoresponse from TEC to the recent emails I sent to them last week

but they responded the following day to my request to them for copies of latest TE7 and TE9 forms.

They have ot responded to the application i sent on Saturday. May be they will respond today...

anyway i sent the docs by SWIFT post with my signatures on the docs.

all the best/Wrecked.

And regarding the Autoresponse - I do not think they send out Autoresponses to emails anymore.

I did not receive any Autoresponse from TEC to the recent emails I sent to them last week but they responded the following day to my request to them for copies of latest TE7 and TE9 forms.

I received a number of Autoresponses from TEC yesterday and received another a few moments ago for a witness statement sent to TEC earlier this morning.

Have you checked your junk mail folder? That is normally where they go.

Hi Bailiff Advice

thanks for your message. My Junk folder is empty. But never mind as i want to confirm that i received an email from TEC to confirm

that they received my application and processed it yesterday... exactly as you said.

below is the text

The TEC has notified the Local Authority concerned that an application has been received and processed. Upon receipt of this notification the Local Authority is required to suspend any enforcement action.

A copy of your application has been sent to the Local Authority.

• The Local Authority is given 19 working days to decide if they wish to accept or reject your application.

• If the Local Authority accepts your application within this time limit, the court registration will be revoked (i.e. cancelled). N.B. This does NOT cancel the original penalty charge. The matter will be referred back to the Local Authority.

• If the Local Authority rejects your application, the court file will be referred without a hearing to a Court Officer who will make an impartial decision. You will be notified of the result.

++++

so i will report back as soon as i hear

thank you again to you and everyone for their messages and contributions

I am an ardent supporter of CAG

all the best

Wrecked.