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hedgey06

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Everything posted by hedgey06

  1. Thank you sooooo much everybody, it's lovely to hear your best wishes My apologies for not being online..... I'm trying to pick up as many shifts as possible at work and I'm about as much use as a chocolate teapot at the moment!!! PT..... you're spot on, it's a relief to just have this over and done with so that I can concentrate on other 'things' at the moment. But again, I want to thank you for supporting me throughout this, because I really wouldn't have done it without you xxx The debt on the car isn't cleared, but that's ok. We've agreed that I'll continue to make the payments I was making - but this time they've been rubber-stamped by a judge, so at least the bailiffs won't be knocking on my door again!!! The huge part of this for me has been that the bailiffs 'fees' have pretty much been written off............ from demanding a few quid short of £3K, they've been awarded - pretty much nothing!!! However, when you also consider that they had to buy my car back from the person who purchased it at auction (and that person serviced it, did a new MOT, stuck a brand new set of alloy wheels on it, had the brakes re-done, steam cleaned the engine, fixed the handbrake and valeted it inside and out, so they probably demanded quite a bit extra than what they paid for it!!!!), I reckon the lovely bailiffs are slightly out of pocket!! ;-) What really worries me is that there must be a LOT of people out there who aren't aware of CAG who would have just rolled over and taken what was dished out to them. People don't realise that they CAN fight back with something like this.......... how many more people is this sort of thing happening to on a daily basis? Because the 'yard' that I picked my car up from was literally filled with cars of all makes and models, and they were all vehicles that had been seized by bailllifs from across the North West of England. Thank you everybody, I really couldn't have done this without CAG - and particularly PT. I hope anybody with a similiar problem ends up on CAG and fights back too xxx
  2. Hi everyone, apologies for not updating my thread for a long time......... thought it best to stay quiet until this was sorted The final hearing to decide everything took place this morning, and I got an incredible result (I think!!) The upshot is, my car is being returned to me.......... and the bailiff's fees (that were standing at just short of 3K) have been reduced to under £300!!! Big thanks to everybody who supported me with this, especially PT. I'd have given up straight away without your advice and support.......... I truly appreciate your help. xxxx
  3. Thanks again everyone - I feel as though I'm getting stronger by the day with this thanks to the advice I'm getting here CD - I am sooooooo tempted at this moment in time to phone the police and report the car as stolen. If I'd have known that morning what I know now, I never would have handed my car keys over to the bailiff. But at 6.45am with kids to get up for school and a job to go to, I couldn't handle the thought of a tow truck coming to collect the car....... even though he couldn't have done it because it was parked on private property. B'stard. I should have logged onto CAG instead of flapping around like an eejit! If there's any merit in contacting the police though I will definitely do that. If nothing else, it throws another cat amongst the rather scatty pigeons right now?! Martin - thank you so much for posting. I never considered contacting the Chief Exec but your post has convinced me that they need to be advised of what has happened under their control - maybe they can be the voice of reason if nothing else. I think I've done everything that I was able to do at the time (under the circumstances) and I feel even more able to tackle this further........... and I definitely WANT a full financial breakdown from the bailiffs now despite their reluctance to give this so far. PT - thank you so much for guiding me through this Is there a form I can take to court tomorrow to request the info from the bailiffs as to the exact details on the car's sale? I could get to the court for around 2.30pm to file this if so.......... shanks pony is getting used to the leg mileage!! Also, can I request that the Council send me information regarding their communication with the bailiffs so that I can ascertain was was/wasn't agreed between them? I've opened a letter from the Court tonight that states " IT IS ORDERED THAT 1 The hearibng of this application be adjourned to 18 November 2010 when the hearing will take place at 10.30am and 2 The stay of execution of the Writ of Fi Fa do continue until after 18 November 2010 - Dated 10 November 2010. So I think I need to gather everything together and move pretty quickly? I actually feel ready for this now though!
  4. Thanks PT, I've just got home from work and contacted the Court and explained what happened. They've advised me to seek legal advice urgently about this as the car should NOT have been sold and the bailiffs basically ignored the Judge's directions completely (they DID receive a copy of the judgement at the same time as myself and the Council - even though they basically tried to say yesterday that they hadn't!) Last night I also emailed the Council's solicitor who I met at the hearing yesterday explaining that the car was sold last week and asking her to confirm the selling price. The reply I received said that they don't have the full details regarding my car but that the bailiffs are now in the process of trying to recover it from the 'purchaser' (I know what I'd tell the bailiffs to do if I was the purchaser, but it's not polite to swear in public!) So, I think we're at stalemate at the moment. I've replied to the solicitor explaining that I won't be entering discussions about the outstanding debt until I'm in possession of the full facts regarding my car (what it was sold for, etc). Yesterday, the Judge adjourned the hearing for 28 days to allow us to come to an amicable conclusion........ so I'm trying to come up with a plan of action that covers all the bases! I'll stay in email contact with the council's solicitor but I also think now is the time to get my local Councillor fully into the loop and explain in detail what's happened. I'm reluctant in some ways to seek legal advice as I'd like to be able to deal with this myself......... I think I'll wait to see what the council come up.
  5. Ok, tears over..... the car's gone. BUT. I'm blazing mad now. The bailiffs wouldn't tell me how much the car was sold for - and according to Parkers it was worth (in a Private sale and Good condition) £3,320. That's based on average mileage of 40,000 - my car had 22,000 miles on the clock so I'm assuming it was worth around £3,500. Therefore, as far as I'm concerned, my debt to the council is almost paid in full. The bailiffs have levied almost £3K in fees on top of the debt owed but I think that's another court case for another time? So, now that I'm in fighting mode, can anybody advise me on the best steps to next take? IMHO, I was bullied and intimidated into handing over the keys to my own car which was parked on a private driveway....... the only reason I handed the keys over was because the bailiff said he'd return with a tow truck anyway, but as my car was parked on private land am I correct in thinking he didn't have the power to do so? Given that the Judge ordered a stay of execution of the writ on the 18th October and the bailiffs sold the car last week, have they acted unlawfully? Can I take them to court over their actions? Strangely enough, when the council solicitor phoned Andrew Wilson and Co this morning to ask why they'd told me the debt was almost 7K, they told her the debt was around 5.5K..... so they clearly let my car go at auction for around 1.2K. I really hope there's some course of action that I can take as I'm now blazing mad and want to do something via the courts about this.
  6. Out of curiosity, I just contacted the bailiffs. They sold the car last week regardless of the stay on the writ
  7. Thanks everyone, I think your best wishes for me worked today The bailiffs didn't turn up to the hearing, but a solicitor from the council did. She asked to speak with me prior to the hearing so we had a chat and I gave her a copy of my 'statement' to read. She seemed quite shocked when I told her the debt stands at 7K as, from their point of view, I now only owe 4K having paid over 3K off the loan already. It also became apparent that the bailiffs DIDN'T pass my income and expenditure form to the council (they're adamant I didn't send them one even though I did) and apparently the payments being made had not been AGREED WITH THE COUNCIL either. All in all, it seems as the bailiffs have basically done everything in their power to ensure that the car was taken to be sold towards the debt (or should that be towards their own fees??!!!) The lady from the council was absolutely lovely though - I explained that I'm not trying to wriggle out of paying for the debt, that I've literally not been in a strong enough position (financially, emotionally, health wise) to deal with it but that I'm finally starting to climb out of the 'hole' I've been in and I think she genuinely understood this and realised I was being honest with her. At the hearing, the judge was absolutely lovely. He acknowledged that I'd had some very unfortunate circumstances in the past couple of years and also acknowledged that I was doing my best to sort things out. The upshot was that he adjourned the hearing - allowing the stay of the writ to remain in place. He asked the lady from the council and myself to speak with each other to come to an agreeable solution within the next 28 days so I'm hoping (fingers crossed) that this may yet have a good outcome We've agreed that I'll complete an inc/exp form directly from the council and make an offer to pay the debt which will hopefully see the car returned and the debt being paid again. I think this is what it means anyway........ as the bailiffs will sell the car for such a miniscule amount that it won't even take a decent chunk out of the debt. All in all though, I'm feeling a lot more positive than I have done for the last few weeks - and I want to thank you all for the support that you've given me. I honestly would have just let this go without question if I hadn't have had CAG to turn to. Thank God this site exists! Hedgey xxxxxx
  8. Hi Pt, and thanks for your reasurrance I don't understand legal jargon etc, so the document that I've typed out is kind of 'in my own words' and is a potted history of what's happened since this saga began. All I can hope is that the judge allows me to read this as it is and is sympathetic with some of the contents but can also see that I'm not trying to 'shirk' my responsibilities either. My ex husband has given me photocopies of the receipts along with a letter in which he clearly states the communication that he had with the bailiffs on my behalf (paying the debt on my behalf whilst I was too ill and financially unable to deal with my debts, meeting the monthly payments, offering to increase the payment, etc). Hopefully this will show the judge that the bailiffs took the car even though they were receiving payments and had been promised additional payments in the future. Fingers crossed! I'm nervous as hell ...... I keep going over and over the info I've got hoping that it's enough! Thank you so much again for your support, I'll post an update tomorrow when I get home. Hedgey
  9. Sorry, just another quickie........ I just checked the Bailiffs website and found a link to their 'auctioneers' - they sell everything from their own 'depot'. My car is on their catalogue list already - does this mean they're expecting a good outcome for themselves in court on Wednesday? Apologies for despondency - not really sure what to do now.
  10. Hi again everyone, I thought I'd do a quick update as the court date is this Wednesday and I'm unsure now what the best course of action may be. I had to leave my job last Monday. As I started my last job so early in the morning, I obviously used my car to get there and once my car was gone the only way I could get there on time was by taxi which I just couldn't afford to keep paying every day (buses didn't run early enough to get me to work and the job wasn't flexible hours). I've managed to secure a part time seasonal job that I started today - minimum of 16 hours per week but it's less money (minimum wage) than than the job that I did have as well as being less hours - the main bonus being that it's within walking distance of my home. Unfortunately, the job is only contracted until 31st December so I'll have to try and secure another job for when this one finishes. Because of this, I'm not sure how to approach the case on Wednesday morning. My employment is no longer permanent and if I don't secure another job by the time this one comes to an end I won't have the means to make the payments to the Bailiffs. I was basing my case on my ability to pay (with financial support from my ex) but this may not be possible until I'm in secure employment. Do I turn up on Wednesday and just give up? I feel as though I'm now in a catch 22 situation and I honestly don't know what to do for the best. I needed the car to get to work, without the car I had to pay for taxis, couldn't afford taxi fare so had to find a job closer to home, new job pays a lot less, need to secure a better more permanent job but am now restricted without the car......... can't afford to pay for the car if I don't secure a more permanent job. I also don't have any written info from the bailiffs about how much of the debt is their fees etc. Any advice would be greatly appreciated even if it means losing the car at this point. Thanks in advance if possible.
  11. The woman I spoke to at the court said that the car would stay with the Bailiffs - I think. The bailiff hasn't left me with any breakdown of the costs involved - but I do know that the total debt now outstanding is quite a lot more than I originally borrowed even though I've been making regular payments. I'll need to get a full breakdown off them asap. I'm wondering if I should also honour this month's payment to the bailiffs also? I don't want to withdraw payment as I'd like to prove to the courts that I've made every effort to pay them (which I have)....... think I need to write a full list down of everything I need to do also!
  12. Thanks Benny, I do feel better than I did last week I held off on emailingl my councillor last week as I wanted to wait to see what happened today, but I think it's worthwhile if I email him a detailed breakdown of everything that's happened? Best case scenario would be if the debt was passed back to the council so that I could pay 'them' instead of having the bailiffs breathing down my neck..... whether the councillor could help with that though I'm not sure? But regardless, I'll see if there's anything at all he can do to help in the next couple of weeks. I tried phoning the council this morning but couldn't get any sense out of the person I spoke to, so I'll hand deliver a letter to them tonight asking them to give me a full breakdown of what I've paid, what I still owe, etc........ at least then I can see how much of the outstanding amount that the bailiffs are asking for is the loan as opposed to their fees! Would I be able to get legal representation for something like this or would it be really expensive???
  13. Hi Surfer, I don't know how much is still outstanding on the original loan but I do intend to find out asap. I've just got home from work and contacted the courts - the judge stayed the writ this morning until the 10th November, at which time I have to attend a hearing. The lady at the court assured me that the paperwork is on it's way to me explaining what's happened and what I need to do next. Apparently, the bailiffs can't take the car to auction as the judge will decide what happens next at the hearing....... I think I've got that right?? It's a better outcome than I was expecting in some ways as I thought the bailiffs would be 'rubber stamped', but hopefully I now get the chance to plead my full case to the judge???
  14. Hi Caro, it's nice to see you x PT's given me some great advice, along with Benny also. I'm drafting something to 'pad out' Q10 on the n244 for Monday morning, so hopefully the judge can look at the full facts of the case. Fingers crossed anyway! It's good to know that CAG is still here for advice and support, I'd have given up completely if it wasn't for PT and Benny.
  15. Thanks Benny. I'll get in touch with my councillor tonight so that he's aware of the hearing on Monday ......... I've put all my receipts together to prove I was sticking to the agreement, but Monday seems like a lifetime away. I normally dread Monday mornings, but this weekend I can't wait. Thanks for the advice and moral support, I can't tell you how much of a difference it's making right now.
  16. Well, it's in the courts' hands now....... although I'm not too hopeful of the outcome after what happened yesterday. I managed to get to the court for 3pm, completed the n244 and waited to see the judge - but at 4.15 a member of staff told me that the judge wouldn't look at the case until Monday morning. I tried to plead my case to be heard but they wouldn't budge. There wasn't much room on the form to go into thorough details and time wasn't on my side so I'm crossing my fingers that I managed to put enough information on the form to persuade the judge to grant a stay of execution on the writ. I'll start drafting a letter for the council/local councillor tonight in preparation for Monday's outcome........... I'm not really sure what else I can do now though. I don't think I've never felt so completely powerless - even paying your debts and sticking to an agreement doesn't seem to mean an awful lot anymore
  17. Thanks again PT, I'll contact them tomorrow when I get back from court.......... hopefully they'll listen to what I have to say. I won't hold my breath though - but at least I'll try. I'll let you know what happens tomorrow, wish me luck.......... and thank you so much for your support tonight. You've helped me to focus instead of collapsing in hysterics, I hope I can report a good outcome tomorrow
  18. Thank you so much PT. I've downloaded the N244, I'll get the other forms printed tonight also. If I do a seperate letter to the HCEO with a copy to the council/my local councillor, do I mention the fact that I've taken the N244 to the court also? Or is it best to see what happens at court tomorrow?? Many thanks again PT, I really appreciate your support and advice tonight.
  19. The council were fully aware of my situation, and the bailiff who called at my home around 3 weeks ago was also told - he was actually quite nice and apologised for bothering me at home late at night and said that he'd make sure it was sorted out once he received proof that the payments had been received. I've just phoned my ex-husband to make sure that he's honoured the payments and he's promised to call round tomorrow with hard copies of the receipts...... although I know for a fact that he wouldn't lie about this so the payments have definitely been honoured. I'm really not sure why this escalated ....... the debt was being paid as per their arrangements???
  20. Thanks for replying again PT. The car is an 06 registration Corsa, I bought it at 12 months old....... I've just checked online and according to Parkers this is what the car is worth: Guide Price View example A car's value is directly affected by its mileage and fitted options, anywhere from £100 to £10,000. Original Price £10,935 Franchised Dealer £3,700 Independent Dealer £3,455 Private Good £3,320 Private Poor £2,340 Part Exchange £2,795 Adjust for mileage and options for an accurate price. Average mileage 40,000 Options fitted None .......... it only has around 23,000 miles on the clock so I'm assuming it's worth slightly more than the guide price of 40K miles? The bailiffs are now saying that the debt is nearly 7K..... more than I originally borrowed despite all previous payments. I don't know what the car would fetch at auction, but I'm assuming it would be a lot less than above???
  21. Ok, I've got very little...... .I've searched through all my paperwork and can only find a couple of letters. When this originally happened it was at an awful time personally as we had a really traumatic event in our family .... I can't go into details on the forum as it was very personal. My ex-husband took the debt on because he knew I couldn't afford to pay it (I was on benefits at the time - income support and tax credits) and he didn't want me to lose the car as the kids all play football and rugby and I use the car to ferry them around to their activites. All I can find is a letter that my ex passed to me where they thank him for sending payments, plus two formal notices that say "I have power under the Writ relating to this High Court Judgement debt as an Enforcement Officer acting under the authority of Andrew Wilson & co, High Court Enforcement Officers to seize your goods up to the value of the judgement, together with all additional charges and interest payable".......... After speaking with the person who signed the letters, it appeared that some of the payments hadn't registered on their side because the writ number wasn't put on the bank transaction - but this was cleared up when my ex husband went into the bank the following day and had the payments traced. I thought that was the end of the matter but then received the form asking for detailed income / expenditure which I sent off to them, then they called this morning and took the car.
  22. I've got three boys still at home..... the eldest is 16 and has just started college, my youngest two are 11
  23. I started work again part time at the beginning of September and I claim tax credits as a lone parent in addition to my wages. I don't have a debilitating illness or disability, although I've suffered with depression for the past two years and take medication for this.
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