Hi all , We have been paying for council tax arrears for our previous property , we moved out and was paying for 2 council taxes for previous property and paying £30 a month. We came to conclusion that we could only afford £20 one month we asked council to lower it to £20 and defaulted one month as we simply couldnt afford it - we wrote to explain and they have now slapped on a DEO. They have imposed 2 orders - I think its in order to get the maximum money from us. We wrote and emailed them to no response as yet, explaining to them (with financial statements attached) that we could not afford it , and as we were previously paying £30 we asked to reduce to £20 ,and now they are going to take 10% of our wage. I feel this is wrong as we simply dont have the money, only one of us is working part time, the other is unemployed and not entitled to jsa due to my salary.. This DEO is now going to put us in hardship, just because we requested a lower payment and have already been paying previously , is there anything I can do? The chap at the council has said we can appeal to his supervisor against his decision, which we have done but no response as yet..I have already had copies of the deo which have been sent to my employer so I think its too late to do anything, but I do know that when they take the money, I wont be able to afford to live as we litrerally scrape by as it is.. Is there anything I can do?

Hi Tomtubby here is what we have got from Hounslow council today: Ok got the email at last here goes: the dvla confirmation letter stating the new keeper aquired vehicle was on 15th JUNE 2010 the contravention from bailif it says the contravention date is 18th JUNE2010 AND the email from Hounslow is :>> Thank you for your email. The initial DVLA enquiry was carried out on the 21st of June 2010 and the response was received on the 22nd of June. Regards, Parking Services Business Support Officer Environment Department -Parking Services t 020 8583 6666 f 020 8583 4889 e [email protected] w www.hounslow.gov.uk

Ok got the email at last here goes: the dvla confirmation letter stating the new keeper aquired vehicle was on 15th JUNE 2010 the contravention from bailif it says the contravention date is 18th JUNE2010 AND the email from Hounslow is :>> Thank you for your email. The initial DVLA enquiry was carried out on the 21st of June 2010 and the response was received on the 22nd of June. Regards, Parking Services Business Support Officer Environment Department - Parking Services t 020 8583 6666 f 020 8583 4889 e [email protected] w www.hounslow.gov.uk

Do you think it may be best to contact the bailiff first, and tell them we plan to do that, or jut go ahead and try? I cant see the police being interested to be honest and as we dont have any witnesses, it would be my wifes word against the bailiff...

OK thanks , will wait for TomTubby , thanks for all your info too , We have all the papers in our file infront of us ready for bombardment etc.. thanks again appreciated.

Hi thanks , I am looking at the yellow slip now part of our file , and it even has our previous address on it, then it has the previous address scribbled out and our current address written on the slip, he said he tracked us down. Trust me you CANT get through to Hounslow via phone as they ave so many complaints it all automated, I have just emailed , bear in mind they are slow n rubbish so reply will be by next week, I wonder what else I can do Ill just bombard them with emails you see ! as they dont reply when you send them just one email I have to keep numbering them as part of bombardment and CC myself for copies, please let me know , we have our file at the moment so please feel free to ask us whatever , also note I have been court and had to pay £25 for the revoke to go through had to swear oathes etc.. took all morning out of my working day, many thanks again people , thanks alot for info thus far. we have the dvla copy of V% and their confirmation letter stating the new keeper aquired vehicle on 15th JUNE 2010 we have the yellow contravention from bailif it says the contravention date is 18th JUNE2010 , and date of ticket and money handover is 5th April 2011 I dont know how quick dvla change details over (within days /mins / hours) but the parking via new owners happened 2 daysafter and any previou info would definetly have gone to previous address.

Yes, he did, although the paper he gave me, the bill, had our old address on it, but he came to our current address and said he had tracked us down..

Hi I have called the TEC and they confirmed they had the our previous address, where we had recently moved from, not our present address, and that the correspndence had gone there.

No, we didnt recieve any of these....

We did advise the DVLA immediatley, and sent off the V5 the day the car changed hands. I have evidence from the DVLA which shows the v5 andthe date that it was sold which Is why we thought it would be a very straightforward case and would be refunded swiftly, which is what the bailiff kept telling my wife... I cant undertsand why it was me that recieved the warrant as I did everything correctly. Even had a receipt for the sale of the car but the magistrate was only interested in teh DVLA evidence which is why he approved my sta dec i suppose.. Not sure if this helps but this is the first email I had from the council.... Thank you for your e-mail. We have noted your comments, however unfortunately the Witness Statement and Revoking Order to which you make reference only relate to unpaid penalty charge notices. As payment of the outstanding amount was made prior to the Witness Statement and Revoking Order being issued they do not apply to the case. Please be advised several notices were issued by the London Borough of Hounslow to the address which was registered with the DVLA prior to the case being handed to Collect Services Limited. It was your responsibility to ensure the details held by the DVLA were up to date and that either a mail redirection service was set up or that you collected your mail from your old address on a regular basis. Unfortunately as payment has been made, the case is considered paid and closed. A refund therefore will not be issued in this instance. The London Borough of Hounslow can only suggest that you take the issue up with the person you sold the vehicle to separately.

This is a copy of the email I recieved from the council today... We have noted your comments; however, the revoking order is only applicable for an unpaid penalty charge notice. Our records show that you made payment and then filed the out of time witness statement and therefore it is not valid as the Local Authority does not consider the witness statement valid. There are no provisions made in the Traffic Management Act which permits you to contest a PCN after payment has been made. I appreciate this may not be the response you were expecting; the Local Authority are required to follow the regulations in accordance to the Traffic Management Act 2004.

Thank you for that.. So you think I should go after the Bailiffs as opposed to the council? when I rang the bailiff they said that they would refund the money once the council got in touch with them and ordered them to revoke it, which is what I thought the stat dec did..

I originally posted this on the parking fine thread but someone suggested maybe posting here... I sold a car several months ago and a few days later the new owners committed a parking contravention. First I heard of this was when a bailiff called and said that i we didnt pay the fine, he would return with a locksmith and remove our goods. My wife was terrified and intimidated, so paid up, about £400, and the bailiff then said that as we claimed to be innocent, and all we had to do was file a stat dec and we would be refunded the money in about two weeks. We did as we were told, went to court, explained we had paid and we were innocent - even showed the dvla proof we had to show we were not the owners therfore could not have commited the offence and that went through ok.. we then had a letter from TEC saying they had sent the revoking order to the council but they did not respond to the forms in the given time. I am now in the process od communicating with Hounslow council and they are refusing to repay the money at all...They told me to take it up with the new vehicle owners as they refuse to refund me.. Is there anything i can do here? I know we should not have paid but the bailiff threatened our stuff so I felt we had no choice.. Is there anything I can do to get my money back? why should I have to pay the fine for a stranger in a car I had sold!.. Please help...

Thank you for your help.. Im not sure if the bailiff had a valid warrant to be honest as he didnt show anything.. he just said that he would be returning with a locksmith to remove goods, hence the panic..I wil try posting on the other thread. What would it mean if the bailiff didnt have a vaild warrant?

Hi This is quite a messy case but hope anyone can offer some advice.. I sold a car several months ago and a few days later the new owners committed a parking contravention. First I heard of this was when a bailiff called and said that i we didnt pay the fine, he would return with a locksmith and remove our goods. My wife was terrified and intimidated, so paid up, about £400, and the bailiff then said that as we claimed to be innocent, and all we had to do was file a stat dec and we would be refunded the money in about two weeks. We did as we were told, went to court, explained we had paid and we were innocent - even showed the dvla proof we had to show we were not the owners therfore could not have commited the offence and that went through ok.. we then had a letter from TEC saying they had sent the revoking order to the council but they did not respond to the forms in the given time. I am now in the process od communicating with Hounslow council and they are refusing to repay the money at all...They told me to take it up with the new vehicle owners as they refuse to refund me.. Is there anything i can do here? I know we should not have paid but the bailiff threatened our stuff so I felt we had no choice.. Is there anything I can do to get my money back? why should I have to pay the fine for a stranger in a car I had sold!.. Please help...

I did do as you advised and they provided me with all the details.. It is one order, and i have all the dates and amounts and stuff and it appears to be correct..

I have now spoken to the council, who refuse to take the debt back, and wont recalculate the order until we have actually left.. I was told i have to dela with the bailiff and when i rang them, they want the payment over 3 months which i cant afford... I dont know what the hell to do now

I have been paying the council every week, but i dont think its good enough for them, and they dont seem to have deducted it from the order....

Have spoke to the council and the order is correct..they wont reclaculate it until i have left my house, so the full order still stands.. The council wont take debt back and told me to deal directly with the bailiff.. What should I do? offer the bailiff something? will they take payments spread out? what will they do with my car? own it until the debt is cleared?

Thank you.. Do you think I have any chance of getting the council to take the debt back, or should I just try and pay the bailiff something? I dont know what the best thing to do is and I have 4 days before he is coming back to remove my car..I feel ill with worry and my wife is heading for a breakdown i think..

Our council tax bill has been very high, about 240 a month, and due to money problems this is why we fell behind... they have also added on court fees and then the bailiff charges so its escalated..It is for the one order.. Do you think the fact im about to lose my home and my job will make me vulnerable...

i forgot to say that my mum is actually owner of the car, but I am the registered keeper.. I dont have any proof of this though, as my mum just gave me a cheque for the car..

the order is for the current year, so its worked up until 2012... as im leaving the area next month once i lose my job i wont be here for the remaining months so i think it needs reclalculating.. i have asked the council to do this but no response as yet.. does anyone know why they didnt clamp it? will they sell it at auction or hold the car to ransom?

Can the council just change the liability order and if they just reduce it, will the bailiff still come and take my car? I dont have any money at the moment at all, so i couldnt possibly pay off by five days.. im really panicing now..Also, I have been paying the council weekly through their website against this order as I offered them a payment plan and they refused it but i have been paying what i can afford but they havent taken these payments into account against the value the bailiff is chasing.. Im also gpoing to be unemployed in a week - does this help?

just the one order - this curret one which they have acted on....