I am extremely grateful for your help JH101, I really am. But forgive me for thinking that last statement almost seems too good to be true :) !

Due to the fact that these people in the council don't really know what they are doing. Would it be wise to send in a Formal Subject access Request to make sure I get a copy of the warrant of execution. Then I will be able to cross check to make sure that the amount on the Warrant is in fact £185.00 ( as I have only ever been told this over the phone ) Their Sketchy letter only states that I have paid £185.00 it does not confirm this is the amount on the WOE. ( this I see is the crucial part ) However judging by the other PCN I'm pretty sure it is... Once this has been confirmed I could send them a letter advising the amount on the warrant has been paid etc. If I then decide not to pay their charges, could they pursue me to recover their costs any other way ?

One more thing I have noticed with the short and hasty letter from the council. It makes no mention of whether the amounts given are inclusive or exclusive of VAT. !

Inhouse Baillifs :The debt seems to have changed slightly since I spoke to a member of the council staff last week and has actually gone down. I am not sure why this is, to be honest I am starting to find it extremely difficult to get anyone to take responsibility for dealing with my PCN and seem to get passed from one department to the next. In an extremely short letter ( a scanned copy of this letter on headed paper was e-mailed to me today ) the following has been listed : Original debt to council for PCN : £185.00 ( paid ) 1st letter ( no date listed ) £11.20 2nd letter ( no date listed ) £11.20 one bailiff visit ( no date or record given ) £130.00 total : £337.40 Outstanding balance £152.40 which they are requesting payment within seven days. External Bailiffs : Unable to contact via e-mail. Unable to discuss account on the phone other than " Please make a full and final settlement! " No Response to Subject Access Request ( too early as it was only sent last week) No Response from letter to advise amount on warrant of execution has been settled. All mail correspondence sent recorded delivery.

Seanamarts I would rather PM you the e-mail address if thats ok ? I have just had a response back from the councils inhouse collection team who have sent me a very short response to my request for a detailed breakdown of charges and dates of visit etc ( if you remember I did not SAR them, just politely ask for detailed information. ) They have one bailiff visit which they have not given dates / times or bailiff details on. . ( I must have been out at the time, plus nothing through the door / phantom visit ? I'm not sure ? ) and two letters at £11.20 each, again which I cannot remember receiving !

Yes, copied exactly from their website.

Many thanks JH101. All sent off recorded to companies registered address and not the Po BOX. All my attempts at e-mailing the external bailiffs have failed with the e-mails bouncing back, despite trying a couple of accounts.

Ok I tried to be reasonable. Thought I'd try .C as I need my van. They were totally unreasonable, refused to take my payment in realistic installments. At the end of the conversation i was so annoyed I paid the remaining balance on the warrant of execution directly on the councils website. I'm going to dedicate the rest of the afternoon e-mailing the counicl. I've decided to keep my van locked away in a secure location over night, every night and will just have to get a bus pass for the short journey everyday !

apologies for the depressing post yesterday, however after the call from the CAB, and reading the current thread " Urgent help. bailiff took my work van and tools. " I could feel my stress levels rising. JH101, you are correct on all accounts. I have very little information regarding the first debt, I think they have attended to levy, but failed to place any levies, however I am still waiting conformation from the council. Again I only found out about this debt when I was trying to resolve the other one. So much for their efforts to contact me ! Regarding the second debt with external bailiffs. As of this morning I now have the funds available to clear the remaining 50% of the amount on the warrant of execution. I am debating with myself who to pay A) Force the council to take payment again - this will not doubt annoy the external bailiffs. B) Pay through the external bailiffs. . again requesting the stop enforcement action while charges are investigated. C) Pay through bailiffs, make this payment the first of a repayment plan, expressing that I am paying under protest. As with your exellent advice in an earlier post, its all about risk assesment. My van is an essential to work, while I am confident I could prove this without reasonable doubt. If they come and take it I cannot work and therefore have no income.

I just thought I would update this thread with recent developments. I have spent quite a bit of time towards the end of last week and yesterday on the phone to various departments regarding my parking debts. Unfortunately I have since found out I have another outstanding PCN, this time with the councils own bailiff's they are wanting another £400 pounds. I had previously paid a proportion of this fine but hadn't kept up payments ( which I fully except responsibility for ) they wouldn't except Direct debit, told me I could pay at a paypoint and I honestly forgot to carry on after two months ! I have sent the council a very pleasent e-mail asking for a full breakdown of costs applied to this account. I have not submitted a full SAR as I don't want to get their backs up and am hoping for a deal where by they may reduce the costs under the circumstances. I have also cleared the original amount on the warrant of execution of £185.00 leaving just the costs outstanding. Situation with the original PCN debt. I have now submitted a formal SAR inc £10 costs and e-mailed them explaining what I'm doing and that they should hold my account activity until I have had a chance to review the information. I have also managed to get the council to except a part payment ( approx 50% ) of the original amount on the notice of execution, with the intention of paying the other 50% by the end of the week if I can afford it ! Until this afternoon I was feeling quite confident with my actions however I have just had a Chat with a fellow from the Citizens Advice Bureau. While it was nice to chat with a friendly voice and I am very grateful for the return call, what he said wasn't really what I wanted to hear. He advised strongly against challenging the bailiffs in any way. Said even though my van is sign written and insured on a business policy, they will still try to clamp it as they will say it is a mode of transport and not a tool of my trade. . he said there is a 50/50 chance they could get away with this if I decided to fight it out in court. I was also told that should I decided to re-register the vehicle in my partners or a friends name it might still be fair game for them to place a levy against it provided they can prove I have done this with the sole intention of disposing of assets. When asked about the my charges ( which he had a copy of as posted above ) he said that the Credit check and Enforcement Charge would very probably stand in a court of law as they would provide say an experian credit check receipt and the Enforcement charge would be deemed as reasonable admin costs. I now feel very depressed. These tickets were issued while I was trying to make a living, both were issued to a commercial vehicle in a loading bay. Not while I was out day tripping or shopping ! ! ! I honestly feel like saying ******'s, business is not great, closing everything down selling my equipment, going down the job centre and pleading poverty ! ! ! I think its about time the "Great" was dropped from "Great Britain" this place is becoming unbearable !

Many thanks JH101 your post has been a great help. I have since been in touch with the council in question who refused to deal with me, saying it was in the hands of the bailiffs. They also refused to take my payment for the initial £185.00 I have e-mailled the bailiffs stating that I do not consider their charges to be correct. I have asked the charges to be reviewed and my file put on hold for 7 days while I contact the citizens advice bureau. ( which they will probably laugh at! ) I have also thought about making a direct payment to the council via their website, With the PCN number as reference. Then sending a copy of the details to both the council and the bailiffs. Then fighting it out with the bailiffs regarding the charges, happily knowing the original fine has been paid ! Once again thanks for your post

Hello everyone. I run a small business installing shop signs and fascias. Unfortunately my van does get a fair few parking tickets issued against it over the course of a year. While I do try my best to keep on top of these there has been the odd occasion where I have forgotten. Yesterday I received a text from a bailiff office saying to contact them immediately as goods were due to be seized. Naturally I called the bailiff and asked for the details. I was told that the balance was now £571.82 I was informed that they had sent out one letter by post and personally delivered 3 letters. The first contact I have had with this bailiff was the text message. I have not had any letters via post, and I have not had any letters put through my door ? I realise I am liable for the outstanding PCN and enforcement charge but as I have not received any letters hand delivered or otherwise feel they are unfairly charging me. Is there anyone who can comment on these charges ? council / pcn debt = £185.00 First letter = £11.20 ( never received ) finance check = £20.00 Enforcement fee = £105.00 Visit Fee 1: =£57.00 Visit Fee 2: =£66.00 Visit Fee 3: =£70.00 VAT: = £57.62 Total Balance = £571.82