Yeah, I have already filed the N244. I forwarded on a lot more supporting documents this time. Copies of the letters I sent to the council in respect of the challenge I had already submitted against the original ticket, the dated correspondence I received from them, and phone records to show that I had been in touch many many times with them to try and sort it out. The bailiff has requested that I pay him the outstanding amount by the time I'm paid (27th) He also said he could only take it on that date if I paid cash, but I'm definitely not convinced that that would be the best way to go. If I do pay, I would expect to pay by cheque or something trackable, and with a receipt so that I could claim back the money with interest at the end of the court hearing if I successfully manage to challenge it. What would you recommend I do next? Should I contact the council and ask them to hold back the bailiff until the end of the court case? Should I pay up to avoid any more fees and then look to claim back the amount afterwards? I also spoke to a friend of mine who is a solicitor, and he said I should send a cheque directly to the Council for the full amount of the charge, less the bailiff fess, with a letter along the lines of "Please accept this cheque in full settlement of the charge for the parking ticket xxx. If cashed, it is accepted as settlement of the issue." I would appreciate any advice on offer anyway. I think I shouldn't pay it, and will contact the council this morning to see if they are going to hold back the bailiffs until the end of the case anyway, but I'm not 100% sure. I haven't got a date for the case yet, but suspect it will take a couple of months?

OK thanks again! Some more quick advice. I have requested a copy of the statement of truth rejecting my out of time application. I believe it was filed after the 19 day deadline, and want to double check that it was not completed by the bailiffs for example. Do they have to provide it? Also is there a time limit in which they must provide it? they seem to be dragging their heels over it anyway...

OK, should I have been sent a copy of the warrant?

How long do warrants of execution last for? I have never been forwarded a warrant to even confirm the one in place for the bailiff to act? I received my first bailiff letter saying that they had been granted one in March, but no actual copy of the warrant? I assume this is an oversight on their part also?

I just spoke to the court and I am still able to file an N244. The bailiff said he would knock it down to £555.48, but I simply don't have that sort of money sitting aside, especially for something I totally disagree with. Is it worthwhile? What are the chances of winning just the right to have my appeal heard? Do the charges get reset if I do get the right to put forward any evidence, because even paying £75 for the court costs and then paying the full charge is going to be better than where I'm at right now. I also noticed that there was a provision that a vehicle cannot be removed if it is necessary for your employment. Is this only for self-employment? My workplace is a number of miles away from my home, and I also have to visit a number of sites as part of my job, and there is no public transport available to my work as it is in the middle of an industrial park. Can I do anything to prevent them from removing my car on these grounds or is is purely for self employed people? I don't want to continue to fight it, if it means that I'm going to end up with a bill in excess of £1000, because it is beyond a joke and beyone reasonable the amount it has already gone up to. This whole thing has left me very angry tbh.

So basically what the bailiff said is not true again? If the N244 is processed, the warrant will definitely be put on hold until the case is heard? He told me specifically that they would continue to pursue me even if I did go down that route? Also I wanted to question the charges I have had so far. Once the court warrant was originally issued, the total sum of charges was for £110 (including an initial letter from the bailiff). Since then, they have sent 3 letters and apparently made 2 visits, and the cost is now £695. I had a quick look at the fees they're allowed to charge and the sums just don't add up. To be honest, I'm, almost resigned to giving up. I have chased this all the way and they have made it more than difficult all the way, but it is having a very bad effect on my relationship with my girlfriend now. If it was just me I would fight it all the way, but she's stressing out and it's making a lot of friction between us and I just want it out of the way. I am not convinced that the bailiff will reduce the charges enough to allow me to pay it anyway, but I am totally sick with this whole situation. It is a complete joke...

I just spoke to the bailiff. He said that they would not stop enforcement action, at N244 stage, as that would just be an aside. He also said that they would not accept a payment arrangement (is this correct? Are they allowed to refuse the right to pay without it being the full amount?) He did mention that they would maybe be able to remove some of the charges. Is it worth paying if it is reduced enough? Or is it like admitting liability, when all along I strongly feel the council has been at fault in a number of ways? I just went and took photos of the road where I was parked, and the sign (which you can barely make out because it is so obscured by trees) and funnilly enough when I went there, there was another car parked there without a permit... Obscured Sign picture by bawjaws2000 - Photobucket Surely that makes an appeal worthwhile? I don't want to have to hide my car every time I go to my home (although I am moving in a couple of weeks - I guess I'll have to inform them of a change of address rather than try to dodge it).

The stat declaration was refused I thought that by getting to the point of the stat dec being considered, that the crazy charges by the bailiff may have been reset, but obviously not. I don't understand how the bailiff was able to add charges in the first place, when i returned all of the correct documents. They are basically saying that they do not have a record of me returning the form, so for someone else's incompetence, this is how it's gone so far! I was told in the prior letter that I had a right to appeal the decision, but given the letter arrived outside of the 7 day window I was given, I wasnt able to take advantage of it, and am still trying to deal with the court about it, although it doesnt help matters in the meantime. I was not made aware in any subsequent correspondence that I should now be able to appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal or the Parking/Traffic Appeals Service, which I believe I should not only be able to do, but also should have been made aware of surely? Sorry thought I should add: The letter I received said: IT IS ORDERED THAT 1. Under rule 23.8 of the Civil Procedure Rules the court will deal with the application for leave to file a statutory delcaration out of time/witness statement without a hearing because the court does not consider a hearing in Northampton would be appropriate. 2. The application for leave to file a statutory declaration/witness statement out of time to be refused. NOTE: A party affected by this Order may under rule 75.5 (2) request a review of this decision by a district judge. Such a party must apply under rule 23.3 within 7 days from the date the order is drawn. That was it, (assuming this is not the tribunal?) no contact details for anyone, no details of where to go next to make the appeal. I have tried to contact the court about 15 times and have been left on hold for 30mins + most times without managing to speak to anyone. I also complained to the court services customer services about it.... So can I still appeal to the tribunal?

Hey all, Jusy a quick update. I appealed the decision via the court. They rejected the appeal, but outside of the 19 day timeframe I was told it should be done in. In addition to this, they sent me a letter postmarked for 6 days after the decision was made, telling me I had 7 days to appeal the decision. It arrived 9 days after the decision, meaning I had absolutely no chance to appeal the decision using official channels within the timeframe. I wrote to the court customer services to make an official complaint, and having had to keep pressing them for some action, the dreaded bailiffs letter arrived again today. I am getting realy angry about how poor they have been from start to finish. They sent me a letter with 3 lines telling me my appeal was rejected and with no further information on where to take it next. I'm at the end of my tether with this. The letters are again telling me I owe almost £700, and I don't know what to do next. Please help! It looks like I'm going to have to park in another area again until if and when the bailiffs are called back. I cant afford to pay £700, but the bailiffs keep adding on and adding on hundreds of pounds of charges, so its getting beyond ridiculous. Thanks for any help!!!

Also, the bailiff said he could come and clamp my car tomorrow morning. Is this right? He told me this today, so with less than a days notice, he could come and take my car?

Thanks Jamberson (and others!). I thought I was done for there earlier, but at least I'm finally starting to get somewhere. Quite sad it got to this stage in the first place when it could have easily been resolved earlier, but in speaking to the bailiff earlier he actually said "I am the only one who can deal with this matter and your ONLY options are to either pay the full charge up front or have your car clamped and towed away." Not only is this completely immoral and incorrect information from an official, it is wrong on so many levels. If I hadn't managed to find this site and read through a few stories, I might have been stuck with having to pay £500 or would likely have lost my car, for the sake of a £40 fine I shouldn't have had to pay in the first place (imo) and some inept councillors who couldn't file any correspondence....raging!

Yeah, it was the out of time form and a witness statement (which I thought amounted to an appeal anyway?). I have submitted these already (today when I spoke to the court and got the correct forms), but I contacted them again and they had not been processed yet as of now, so the bailiffs probably won't be called off yet... Will have to try and hide my car until I have confirmation...

Thanks guys! I got back in touch with the court and they were a lot more helpful this time. ...Got through to the right guy this time I guess! They're actually putting forward my appeal after I gave them all the info again, and putting any action on hold for a few days until the council get back to me and let me know if they accept it. I'll have to make sure the bailiff doesn't turn up unannounced still (which I hear some can be liable to do even during an appeal) and park my car a few streets away until I get somewhere with this. At least it buys me some time. Not sure if it puts the parking charge back to the original charge pending the outcome though? It should, since I haven't had any sort of appeal listened to yet, but maybe someone could advise? It is a joke that they can get away with doing this though. Your average person can't afford to pay any additional expense up front without any notice, so to add on hundreds of pounds at a time, when you're willing to make a payment on an earlier agreed(or otherwise) penalty is ridiculous.

A few months ago now, I parked 2 streets from my home (as I was stopping in at a hairdressers to pick something up for my girlfriend on the way to the supermarket). I spent no more than 5-10mins in there, yet lo and behold when I returned I had received a parking charge. I parked in a clearly marked bay, and there were no parking meters, so of course I assumed it to be fine to park there. However upon further inspection, the space I parked in was a designated Residents bay, and the only thing to indicate this was a sign a distance up the road (and the space was actually not on any actual residents street - it was outside 2 commercial properties at the end of 2 roads). There were also at least 20 available spaces for the duration of the time I spent there so I was not causing any sort of obstruction. I came on here and took the advice to appeal to the council as I felt I had sufficient grounds to appeal, and didn't want to admit any liability as I felt it was an unjustified fine. A number of weeks went by and I eventually received a second letter stating that the charge had been increased. Obviously, given I had heard nothing back regarding my appeal, I was greatly annoyed, thinking that the fine should have been frozen until the appeal was heard (although on further reading I noticed this not to be necessarily the case). I contacted the council again and made a further complaint. Again, a number of weeks went by and I heard nothing. Eventually, recently, I received a bailiff/debt collector letter with details of a number of additional charges taking the charge to a ridiculous amount and I STILL had not received a response regarding my appeal. I obviously immediately contacted the council again and they said they had no record of my correspondence and that they would no longer deal with the parking charge. They passed me onto the county court, who I contacted and was told that they also did not have a record of it at the time...after days and days of trying to track down who was responsible and being passed about around a number of different authorities, I eventually ended up back at the council and they sent me a letter refusing to deal with the matter and stipulating that they had received no grounds for appeal from me. It is frankly quite ridiculous the amount of things I have had to do so far to try and resolve the issue, and I am so far, a LOT worse off. Bailiffs turned up at my door this morning and left a letter saying they would be returning, and this obviously caused my girlfriend a lot of distress. This to me is unacceptable, given the amount of effort I have made in trying to resolve the issue, but no authority will take any responsibility for the appeal. I am almost resigned to having to make the payment, but I am very angry that they have now increased the charge to almost £500, when the original parking fine was £40 (rising to £80 - which I noticed was also above the "reasonable charges" indicated here (I'm in Manchester)). And given that I feel I have fair grounds for appeal I do not feel I should have to pay anything. Can anyone offer me any advice or steps to take next? I will have to make some sort of payment tonight to save bailiffs turning up at my home again by the looks of it.... ***UPDATE*** I just spoke to the bailiff to try and save them from coming to my home again, and was told that I'd have to pay £500 up front, to pay off the amount in full, or they will clamp and tow my vehicle!! I am so angry right now. I have done everything right, and who has a spare £500 to pay out in any case? They are being totally unreasonable, and basically over a £40 charge, they are going to take my car worth about £3500. Once it's towed, they're going to add daily charges, so I'll never be able to afford to take it back. Surely this has to be regulated? Surely there is something that can be done to stop this?