All right, they called me back and told me that a refund would be send soon. I also insisted on a formal apology and they said they would issue one. Generally speaking they were nice to me and I could sense they were really embarrassed by the situation (so I didn't push them really hard). Hopefully the matter will be resolved soon. Thanks again!

Just called the Bridgend council again. Didn't get very far but they promised to pass our case on to a supervisor. If that doesn't work I'm going to call a councillor as suggested in previous posts. Thanks for your help guys!

I called the council but that didn't work. The problem is that we live in Southend on Sea, Essex which is 300 miles from Bridgend, Wales. They asked me for council tax number or address (in Bridgend) which I don't have. They requested more documents from me which I sent them yesterday. Still I'd like to resolve this matter swiftly as we need the money - Christmas is coming. Anyway, thanks for you reply! Highly appreciated!

Hi, this is my first post so please be nice to me. We had a visit from a bailiff working for Swift Credit Services. The bailiff came into our house saying that one Lynette XYZ (never heard that name before) owed council tax to the Bridgend Council. My wife told the bailiff that she didn't know about XYZ whereabouts and the bailiff ask her for her ID. She showed him her passport but as we got married recently her password was still in her maiden name. The bailiff said that the passport was a fake and insisted on her paying the amount of £445.60. I also managed to call the bailiff and tried to explain the situation but the bailiff said that my wife was not my wife and hung up. My wife was at home with our 3 months old boy who was crying so she decided to use her debit card to pay the amount. Note that the debit card she used was in her name - nowhere on any document she showed the bailiff was mentioned the name XYZ. He left some paperwork and drove away. Is there any advice how to quickly recover the money the bailiff stole from us? I called the company (Swift credit) but they were deaf to my arguments. I also called the police (afterwards) but they told me that was a civil matter and didn't really help me. The main question is: can a bailiff accused my wife of falsifying her passport. Is a bailiff allowed to collect money from someone else. Is a bailiff allowed to threaten someone to cease possessions which don't belong to the debtor? And where to complain about such bailiff? Many thanks!