Thanks wonkeydonkey, that makes sense as we have no intention of trying to avoid paying our bills, its just not easy these days and vultures like these are just making things impossible for thousands of families. Thank god(if you follow any) for people like you lot, you're worth your weight in gold! wish us luck! and I'll be sure to keep you all up to speed. Thanks L&S.

Again, many thanks Brassnecked, we are gonna get right on it! As luck would have it I have had work for the last two days and we are in a position to make a payment to the council this weekend,or should we wait until the letters have been sent notifying the council of our intentions before making a payment for the amount we state in the letter of complaint? Sorry for taking up your time folks but we want to get it right and not let these 'hyenas' run rough shod over us anymore!

Brassnecked you have made my day! I know it was only your honest opinion but it is as I thought exactly! How should we proceed as regards having the account returned nullo bono please? Thank you very much for your help everyone and time with this matter we feel like we can maybe take a breath this evening.

morning, thanks very much for your replies. A levy has been made against sofas(25 yr old!),2 portable teles (vcr combo!)washer,dryer a battered telescope! a broken clock, printer(used for work) 5yr old laptop (used for work)ripped computer chair and an old computor desk. We don't own anything of any value.There is no levy on vehicles (again pretty much worthless) we owe almost £900 I understand that they would have to levy £10000 to cover this plus fees. As for signitures, there is no signiture as my wife did not sign it either. thanks.

Hi, we seem to be having the same problems with Bristow & Sutor as manyof you are, To cut a long story short I was made redundant at the start of the recession and found my self on the 'dole' for a while, as we have four kids, two of them lads we don't want them thinking that the'dole' is an option in life, more a crash mat for when life goes wrong! As a result of there being no work other than short term agency work (no good for a family of six) I set up a little company designing and installing kids play equipment. During the last couple of years things have become extremely difficult and we've ended up owing council tax every year, this was handed to Bristow & Sutor for collection. The first debt was 2009-2010 for £34 +£50 costs for the offensive little peon to knock on my door, which we paid there and then. Our next encounter was for 2010-2011 council tax for 6 months outstanding;we set up a payment plan and paid it off at our distress at £35 per week. They are now demanding council tax for 2011-2012, Bristow & Sutor sent another bailiff to our door demanding the outstanding ct, I was not in at the time and the bailiff used all the usual fear tactics to get my wife to agree to a payment plan of £150 per month! The debt is in my name and I haven't signed anything! Does this make the contract void? I am not denying owing the money, Ido, the fact is I have not got any money! We made the first payment which was for £97. we made a reduced payment of £80 the next month, another payment of £80 and then a payment of £125,due to lack of funds we defaulted on last months payment, and a bailiff called at 7:30 in the evening yesterday demanding either a payment of £560, or seizure of goods (which wasn't going to happen!) or committal to prison. This creep has also added £180 charge for a removal team, he was one guy in a car, how is this 'a team with a van' ? What can I do about these 'people'? Can I refuse to deal with them and deal direct with the council? By making payments, have I in theory accepted the payment contract even though I have never signed it? Do I have to pay this ridiculous charge? Please help! Many thanks

please excuse the lack of spaces between words, I've tried to edit it and it keeps happenning!

Hi, we seem to be having the same problems with Bristow & Sutor as manyof you are, To cut a long story short I was made redundant at the start of the recession and found my self on the 'dole' for a while, as we have four kids, two of them lads we don't want them thinking that the'dole' is an option in life, more a crash mat for when life goes wrong! As a result of there being no work other than short term agency work (no good for a family of six) I set up a little company designing and installing kids play equipment. During the last couple of years things have become extremely difficult and we've ended up owing council tax every year, this was handed to Bristow & Sutor for collection. The first debt was 2009-2010 for £34 +£50 costs for the offensive little peon to knock on my door, which we paid there and then. Our next encounter was for 2010-2011 council tax for 6 months outstanding;we set up a payment plan and paid it off at our distress at £35 per week. They are now demanding council tax for 2011-2012, Bristow & Sutor sent another bailiff to our door demanding the outstanding ct, I was not in at the time and the bailiff used all the usual fear tactics to get my wife to agree to a payment plan of £150 per month! The debt is in my name and I haven't signed anything! Does this make the contract void? I am not denying owing the money, Ido, the fact is I have not got any money! We made the first payment which was for £97. we made a reduced payment of £80 the next month, another payment of £80 and then a payment of £125,due to lack of funds we defaulted on last months payment, and a bailiff called at 7:30 in the evening yesterday demanding either a payment of £560, or seizure of goods (which wasn't going to happen!) or committal to prison. This creep has also added £180 charge for a removal team, he was one guy in a car, how is this 'a team with a van' ? What can I do about these 'people'? Can I refuse to deal with them and deal direct with the council? By making payments, have I in theory accepted the payment contract even though I have never signed it? Do I have to pay this ridiculous charge? Please help! Many thanks