Since my last post I have emailed the council with details of why I want the debt returned to them, so far I have heard nothing either from the council or b&s...

Anyone? Sorry I'm just eager to send this email to the council sooner rather than later.

Hi, Well today I have had a voicemail left for me by the bailiff asking if I had sorted the money out before he reattends my property. I have spoken to the council for which this debt is owed, they have put all action on hold with the bailiffs for 7 days and I am to email in details of why I think no further action should be taken by the bailiffs. I was going to explain in the email how I am paying regularly on time- that being the main reason why bailiff action should cease...would this be enough to put in writing or do I need to say anything else? Also, I have the original document from the first visit which details the items they levied and also a breakdown of costs...can someone confirm that these costs are allowed please.... Attendance on 21/09/11 Council tax & court costs £582.31 Attendance to levy fee £24.50 Levy fee £44.00 Walking possession fee £12.00 Redemption of goods fee £24.50 Total £687.31 Minus 7 payments of £35 = £245 New total £442.31 Then on friday the bailiff charged £180 fee for his visit making the total (in their eyes, not by my reckoning!!!) now to £657.31

Thank you again for the replies. Well 5pm came and went, he didn't phone, I phoned him and no answer. I hope they don't work weekends so I can at least sort this out on Monday morning! I' am hoping that seeing as as soon as I reminded him that I am pregnant (even though it is obvious) he budged from giving me no time at all to giving me until 5pm and now longer, that he realises they can't bully me into paying what I can't afford.

Thankyou all so much for the replies. I have spoken to the council and asked for head of revenues, he wasnt available but the lady took my details and said he would contact me on monday when he is back in the office. That still doesnt help my situation, bailiff said he will call before 5pm so just waiting his call... really hope he gives in and sends it back to the office. This is totally stressing me out(I have a major pregnancy complication which means I am meant to be taking things easy to prevent premature labour) I thought I was now on top of things as this is the very last debt to pay off (which I have been doing!) and then i'm debt free.

Thankyou for the replies, the debt is from 5 years ago and is council the other end of the country. I have phoned the offices and they said that I need to contact the council as becasue it is out with the bailiff they cannot stop action and it is up to the individual bailiff as to whether or not he will escalate things. I then phoned the council and they were not interested in the least, telling me once it is passed to bristow and sutor that it is up to them how to collect it. I'm just concerned as what if he comes back tonight or tomorrow and tries to force entry...I have the added worry too that if im out I have 4 large dogs that would not take too kindly to someone forcing entry :s I am on benefits as I care full time for my disabled son, b&s know all this and know that I am pregnant (it is obvious but I did confirm and he took note).

Back in october I received a visit from bristow and sutor bailiffs for an unpaid council tax bill from years ago. I was quite ill at the time they visited and made the mistake of letting them in to levy. I was then to contact b&s to set up a payment plan...which I did, I had to pay £35 per month and I have paid it like clockwork since. However, today a bailiff turns up saying that I was supposed to contact the council as it was only a temporary agreement and even though I have continued paying the correct amount on time, he was here to seize goods. I didnt let him in and to be fair he was very pleasant...maybe down to me being heavily pregnant with a disabled child in the house and bursting into tears. He has given me until 5pm today and is going to ask the office for an extra 24 hours for me to raise the money. The debt is in mine and my ex's name (but they have NEVER chased him for the debt, despite having his details) and he has never paid anything off it. As far as I am aware, because they have been in and levied previously they can force entry? Yet it doesnt seem fair seeing as I have consistently paid the amount required on time. I really dont know what to do, ive asked my ex to try and raise the money but its not likely and I certainly cant raise it (£657). Please help, I really dont know what to do

Hi have a 24 month mobile contract with orange, i am 12 months into this contract. I have a blackberry and in the 12 months since I have had the phone it has malfunctioned 4 times. I get a message on the home screen saying "sim not allowed" this is basically the sim malfunctioning and i have needed a replacement each time as when this happens i cant make or receive calls or texts. It has just happened for the 4th time and i was supposed to receive a new sim card via courier before 1pm today- it has not arrived. I cant keep not having a phone as it is essential to my work. My question is..I dont want to break my contract with them, but is there any way i can get them to change my handset model (this is a common BB fault apparently)? If so, how do i go about getting them to do this?

I did check with the council and they said there are no more liability orders against my name. They attached file to my email they sent me had a breakdown of costs and an outstanding balance of 204. Im maybe thinking the payment hasnt cleared yet? :s So if they can only charge if they removed goods the second time (which they didnt because i paid them) that means the £170 is an illegal charge??

Can they charge twice for van removal fees?? Oh, and they are also trying to tell me £204 is outstanding...they can go jump for that!

I dont think so, unless she dyed her hair..the one that came to me had short black hair...can i name her on here? Anyway, bristow and sutor have responded to my email and have sent the following... I definately never had a notice of seizure put through my door. They have also given me a breakdown of costs.... 06/10/10 Levy fee £30 06/10/10 Redemption fee £24.50 20/01/11 Van/abortive removal fees £170 03/05/11 Van/abortive removal fees £170

Ok, so just to be clear the only amount they are allowed to charge is what you said in an earlier post... 1st visit fee £24.50 2nd visit fee £18 levy fee £29.50 van fee approx £150

Although they came in a van they had no intention of using it to seize my goods from my house...i offered her the chance to come in and take belongings from inside the house but she declined...said they were specifically here to take the car. She also said that to call for the recovery of the car would be an extra £170 for the tow truck. So what was the van needed for??

I have just spoken to the council that the laibility order was from. I was slightly wrong about the original debt...the liability order was for £224. I have also emailed B&S asking them for a breakdown of fees charged. In the meantime i looked online at my account with them and it is showing i paid £50 in october and a further £21 in march, which would take the original balance down to £153. Meaning that they have charged me £397 in bailiff fees.

Hi, thanks for the reply. My son is severely autistic and suffers from hypermobility, he gets DLA at the highest rate care and we are currently appealing the mobility component. I dont have a blue badge at the moment. thanks

Its not a motability car, its my own, its also an old banger so they would not have got much at auction!...i dont know anything about disabled tax...its in my name, but i use it mainly to get my disabled son around as he cant travel on public transport. I am now pretty much debt free, but i feel they have taken double the amount they should have. Would they need to have put a levy on my car at a previous visit? (thats what she said) but i have no paperwork supporting this (recieved a letter through the door - well- stuck to the outside of my door not even in an envelope a while back but nothing about a levy) Is there a governing body i can complain to? ... i want my money back that i was overcharged!!

No, nothing to do with that, i cleared that one in full last year.

Thankyou, i will do.

Sent by recorded delivery and a copy sent to the council too. It basically was the template from this site i think, it read along the lines of "I write further to your visit....i confirm i am classed as a vulnerable person for the purposes of civil enforcement agents directives...etc etc." She said the debt was £380 when she first arrived...it seems because i annoyed her she then put it up to £550 in a matter of 5 minutes. Is there any way she could possibly do this? I pleaded with her to take the original £380 (even reduced to tears) but she would not budge. Oh and she also said she would have the police come and remove me from my vehicle if i didnt get out (my OH is a police officer but unable to get hold of him at the mo as he's working, to find out whether this is true or not)

£550

Hi, I havent posted in a while but will start with saying, i was in alot of debt and had various bailiffs visits, but i have been working hard on paying them off and they were all cleared in the last month apart from this one. The only debt remaining was an unpaid council tax bill of £170. Bailiffs are bristow & sutor, i sent them a letter last month via recorded delivery stating (used a template letter) that i was a vulnerable person and a payment and offer to pay the debt off via monthly direct debit. Previous to this I have had two visits by bailiffs who were actually very reasonable and told me to contact head office (which i did) Well at 7pm this evening, there was a very loud knock at my window...a rather erm well, a woman (i think) saying she was from b&s (bull &**** possibly??) and that i owed £380 and if they were here to seize my car (apparently it already had a levy on it but i have no paperwork for this) i dont know what the need for the van was as she had no intention of coming into the house, she said she was there to seize the car and that if i didnt pay the full amount in 5 minutes then they would call for recovery and add another £170 on. At that point i said im sorry but i have a disabled son and its not a case of wanting my car, but i NEED it, i offered to pay an amount off it until i could gather the funds but she said no way is that a possibility. I think it was when i said i had a disabled child and she came out with "i dont care who's f***ing disabled" I then got a bit arsey and went to sit in my car and told her she is not taking it. Well she then said "its just gone up to £550, you have 5 minutes to get someone to pay it before i call recovery at £170 and for every half an hour we are here you get an extra £50 added on" To cut a long story short, a family member has paid it over the phone (with them only mentioning the 4% charge AFTER accepting payment!) So ok, thats another debt paid off, but surely they cannot do this, im so upset/angry and embarassed about this. And it has also landed me in a huge financial mess (have to pay family member back on fri) Oh one last thing...she gave me a receipt for payment, but i asked for info on the charges and why they were charged and she refused to tell me or give me any paperwork- just told me to ring head office. Thankyou in advance.

A bailiff from above compan has just been to the door, he said i owe in excess of £1000 in council tax arrears. Im not disputing this. He tried to bully me into paying(which i cant!) and said that they have no option to enter my property and seize good, i told them i know my rights and they are not stepping foot in my property. He then said they would give me a notice of intention to use a locksmithto break into the property. (which i still dont think they can do??) He gave me the notice which just states a 'bailiff removal team visited today to remove property for auction', he hasnt written anything on the fees incurred section, but did say when they return it will be £225. I have printed off 2 copies of the 'vulnerable persons' letter from this site. Im going to post one off to their head office and keep one to hand them if/when they return. Does the fact im classed as a vulnerable person stop them hassling me? will it stop them putting a levy on my car..say if i gave the letter to them when they returned, can they still levy my car there and then? and is there any more i can do? thanks eta: im happy to enter into a repayment plan, and am actually already paying a debt off with the same company(different debt)- which i have always payed.

i cant phone them just yet, but will do later. As for the dog side- it just goes to show how complicated it is..my friends is a policeman and i have asked him and he doesnt have a clue so is going to look into it for me. I have sent the vulnerable persons letter to rossendales office and have a copy here ready to hand to bailiff if he turns up...which wont be at least til tomorrow as thats how long i have to pay. what does it actually stop them doing though? for instance when they recieve that can they still chase me for the debt? can they levy things such as my car? or will they just return it to the council? also- last month i paid off another ct debt in full (around £500 mark, will find the exact figures shortly) but this had risen loads in charges even though they had never been in my house or removed anything- is there anyway i can get the fees that they obviously had no right to charge back? this was with rossendales again. sorry about all the questions!

thanks everyone for helping so far, youve been a great help right ive posted the letters...unable to email as cannot find an email address for them! I have managed to sort of secure my conservatory door- but if it is pulled hard it will open- the conservatory is at the back and they will have to scale a 6ft locked gate and wall to get into the garden. It is really worrying me that they will be able to force entry after getting into the conservatory, one being that obviously i dont want my stuff taking, and two that if they enter my dog will attack them-i have been trying to search the net for legal advice on the matter but cant find any anywhere..the only info i can find is if someone illegally enters, eg. a burglar..but then the bailiff would have a legal right to enter? think my head is going to explode!!!!

ok, ive printed off and enveloped all the letters to send and will post first thing tomorrow. One thing im wondering..my conservatory door to the outside has a broken lock on it at the moment so doesnt secure, there is nothing of value in the conservatory and i always lock the main door to the house which leads from the conservatory..where do i satnd if the bailiff gains access to my conservatory but not the rest of the house? would this be classed as him gaining peaceful entry?