Hello Peter and all, Just to give an up date; Our baliff hasn't arrived yet although we are expecting him tomorrow (Friday). In the mean time we tried to explain the situation to our local councillor (again) and he called the council (again). His resolution was that we HAD to pay the baliffs charges for the visits they had made BUT the council would reduce those charges by £90.00. We explained (again) that our problem wasn't how much we were being charged but rather the fact that we are being charged at all! We had one visit from the baliff - for which we paid a fee of £281.93 (the documentation from the council that we received states that one visit from the baliff without levying distress - i.e. removing goods - costs £22.50. therefore we feel we are already about £250.00 in credit to the baliff). We reiterated this (again) to our councillor and he said 'it's nothing to do with him he's just passing on the message from the council'. My husband, who is at his wits end with this matter, attempted to explain that a) this is not a charge that has anything to do with the council - this is a bill from the baliffs and b) this is an illegal charge. the documentation we have from the baliffs very definitely states that the £258 they say we owe them is for Council Tax. The council say it is for baliffs charges. We say the baliffs cannot have any charges because they only came here once, for which they claimed and received £281.93. We have reported to the police that the baliffs are demanding money with menaces - and that they are threatening us. I didn't speak to them personally, my husband did but I sort of got the feeling that they are exasperated with this sort of complaint. they did however give us a case number. I have sent my original posting to the two e-mail addresses at the House Of Commons and have had read receipts from both and a reply from one asking if I would like to say anything further. Where do I start - I could write a soap opera at this stage!! I will post again tomorrow if the baliff comes. Best wishes to all. Spandavia.

Hello to all on this excellent site. It is very good to know that my husband and I are not alone in our alarm at what is happening in this country. As I write this, I am sitting in my house with all the windows and doors closed (stuffy) because we are waiting for a visit from a baliff - for something we do not owe! The baliffs insist that we owe them £258 for Council Tax Arrears. The council have confirmed that we have no arrears either for council tax or business rates - but the council never the less insist that we DO owe the baliffs money for visiting us. When the baliffs did visit us, back in October, we paid them a fee of £281 over and above the £600+ we paid for the debt. We then set up a payment schedule with the local council for the remaining council tax and business rates (bear in mind that we were appealing against the business rates when the baliffs came). We paid over £3000 to the council in a period of approx. 7 weeks and we also paid the court liability orders. All arrears were paid by Dec 14th and as far as we were concerned that was the end of it. On Feb 14th we got a letter from the baliff addressed to 'the occupier' saying that they were looking for my husband - why they were looking I don't know, we live here and we work here - we're pretty easy to find! We called the Council and they confirmed that we had paid all our Council Tax liability. The letter(s) from the Bailiffs were followed up with two notices saying that they would be visiting us on 17th Feb to remove goods to the value of £129.00 x 2 for 'outstanding council tax'. We got this notice on the 16th Feb. We spoke to the council again who said they would confirm in writing that we didn't owe them anything. Then we spoke to the baliffs who said they would delay collection for two weeks so that we could get confirmation from the council that there was no debt. When the council's letter finally came, it said we had no arrears but we did owe £258.00 to the baliffs. We asked them what for? We've had one visit, for which we paid £281.93 - what was the £258.00 for? My husband pointed out that if the baliff felt we owed them this money then surely they should send us an invoice - not on behalf of the council - and we could challenge it in court. What did the council have to do with it? Why is a local council allowing it's name to be used to collect baliffs fees? Subsequent to various e-mails backwards and forwards, it now appears that a) the council would appear to have issued instructions to the baliffs for an extra debt that we (nor they?) know anything about and b) the council have paid the money we paid to them, to the baliff? So do baliffs now factor for local councils? Or are they just viewing a shared system and if so, why? Anyway we've got nowhere thus far. We've spoken to the council, the baliffs, our local councillor, a company called 'payplan' who give free information about baliffs (and they're advice was 'pay it - you can always try and get it back later'), citizens advice and even the police. No one can explain to us why we are being asked to pay over £500 for one visit from the baliff - who did not enter the premesis or levy distress. According to the original paper work we got from the council, a baliff can charge £22.50 for the first visit. So in the mean time we're awaiting the visit with doors and windows shut. We've advised our local councillor that we are going to video any baliff who comes here and we will make the video available to any newspaper, TV or media that we feel should see just how heavy handed these people are. Personally I believe this has been caused by an error in the council office but that is not the point. For what ever reason this has happened it is nothing less than unbelieveable that people in Britain - a country that has always prided itself on being a democracy that upholds peoples rights to civil liberties, should find itself in this sorry state. As you can probably deduce from this, we are fortunately not the kind of people to take this lying down and we are insensed rather than intimidated. But what about old age pensioners, single mums, or anyone who finds themselves on their own facing legalised thugs at the door? I am not suggesting in any way that people should not pay their bills - but the speed with which these situations arise is frightening. We weren't even assesed for business rates until late May last year and then it was backdated for two years thus causing the large debt and we we were in the process of appealing both that and the significant rise in our council tax when we had the visit from the baliffs. But we weren't given the time to resolve anything - the council with the help of the courts just sent in the bully boys. I know, from all that I have read since this happened, that there are far worse cases than ours but I'm hoping that we will ultimately get an invoice from the baliffs. Unless they can prove it is reasonable to charge such huge fees for a single visit, we will not pay it and they can pursue the matter in the small courts. That is the only way we can see to high light the matter. There is no guarantee, even then, that the system will be altered but it is surely worth a try. In the mean time I have, of course, joined the petition. I'll keep everyone posted on the outcome of the baliffs visit - if he actually turns up. Many thanks to Peter and all those who are trying to protect our civil liberties. Let's hope this government will listen. Best wishes Spandavia.