Hi everybody, After going through a recent case with Marstons I thought I would post this to offer some help to people who are facing fines and possible removals from bailiffs. If a bailiff comes to your house and tells you that they have a warrant to enter your house to remove goods do not be put off or made to feel intimidated because their is lots you can still do before they can even enter your home. 1) Immediately get the police to come to your property. Tell them you are being harrassed and threatened and that you are in fear for your safety. Remember the police will only be there to keep the piece and they cannot enforce entry into your property for the bailiff. The bailiff will tell you differently but this is only to scare you. 2) Do all your talking to a bailiff either outside your house, or from a window. DO NOT open the door or have door or windows unlocked and open that they can get in because given half a chance the bailiff will force their way past you to gain entry. A bailiff will probably inform you that they have the right for a locksmith to legally enter your property. If this happens then ask the bailiff for a copy of the court order that states this as it will more likely be a lie. The reason it will be a lie is because in order for a court to sanction an order, the court has to have proof that the bailiff has already been to your property and that you have refused entry. This proof would have had to be signed by you. 3) Even though the situation you will be in will be stressful, make sure you DO NOT get angry with the bailiff even though they will do everything to intimidate you, including threaten you. The calmer you stay, the more control of the situation you will have. 4) Ask a bailiff for proof of ID. The reason for this will become more apparent when reading No7. 5) Ask the bailiff for proof of all documents that show that they informed you of the action that was going to be taken against you. This includes any letters that show that the case was being taken to court to have a distress warrant issues. It must also show dates and times that letters or phone calls where made. 6) Make it clear to the bailiff and police that you was never made aware of this and by not being given this information it prevented you from attending court and therefore stopped any fare hearing from going ahead as you was not represented. This is actually illegal as it is your human right that you are not made aware any cases that are against you. 7) Ask the bailiff if they where present at the time of the hearing? There are 2 reasons why this question SHOULD always be asked - a) The lead bailiffs name has to be put on the warrant so if they where not at the hearing the likelihood is that it is not their name on the warrant and therefore it is not legal for them to collect a fine or remove any goods as the only person allowed to do this is the person named on the actual warrant. b) If the bailiff says they where not present, you then have an right to ask how the warrant is legal as they where not present so they can not state whether or not the judge that signed the document was actually under oath when doing so. People think that Judges can do and say what they want but the law actually states that in order for things to be done correctly, a judge must always be under oath when signing documents as they have to declare that they are doing so with the full knowledge of the case, and as you was not present at the hearing this could not have been the case. 8) Tell the bailiffs and police that because you was never made aware of them going to court you are now going to apply to the court yourself for a 'Means Assessment Hearing'. This hearing will allow you to be able to have your say within this matter and allow you to set up a payment plan if necessary. 9) Ask the bailiff for a breakdown of all the charges. The reason for this is because all you will ever be legally obliged to pay is the cost of the initial fine. I have set out below a few points that highlight why this is the case so please read these next paragraphs and remember them because this will save you a lot of money. a) When you look at the breakdown of charges that the bailiff gives you there is most likely going to be an 'ADMIN CHARGE OF £85, and another charge of £200 that they charge you for coming to the property'. Under no uncertain terms are you legally obliged to pay these extra charges, as these are ones added by the bailiffs to try and get more money out of you and are NOT set by the court as they will try to lead you to believe. At no point will the court or bailiff tell you to ask a solicitor about the added fee's as they know your legal advice will tell you that 'Part 52 of the Criminal Procedure Rules 2011 only apply to - as it says at the top of the warrant - "ENFORCEMENT OF FINES AND OTHER ORDERS FOR PAYMENT", and the quoted sum of £85 and £215 are neither an order for payment, nor a fine. b) Because of Part 52 of the Criminal Proceedure Rules 2011, at no point is the bailiff allowed to enforce a payment or remove good to cover their costs. If the bailiff does try to charge you for these fee's they are commiting an offence under "Sections 1 to 5 of the Fraud Act 2006, and Section 40 of the Administration of Justice Act 1970, as all court fines are set by the Sentencing Council, and cannot be increased by a fines officer, HM Court Service or a Bailiff Company" c) As the police should be present whilst this conversation is going ahead, if the bailiff does try to convince you that the fee's are set out by the courts etc and they insist that you will have to pay the fee's set out by them, you will then be within your right to ask the police to arrest the bailiff for 'Intent to knowingly fraud' under the sections of the law pointed out in the paragraph above. 10) If a bailiff offers you an alternate action that allows them to come in and do an evaluation of all goods within the property, do not allow this either. Once this evaluation takes place the bailiff then has the right to enter your property to remove the evaluated goods, as and when they like and without prior warning. They can are also legally then allowed to force entry. Please remember that if an evaluation has been done, you cannot remove any of the goods from the property as this is then classed as breaking a court order and you will be arrested and prosecuted. 11) If for any reason bailiffs do start to remove your goods from your home, make sure that you get an evaluation from them because they are not allowed to remove anything that goes over the cost of the initial fine. 12) Also remember what the bailiffs are NOT allowed to take, these include items that: a) Are on hire purchase or under a contract, ie mobile phones, tv's, laptops, furniture, catalogue things etc b) Anything that is seen as essential for living, eg. Cooker, Fridge, Freezer c) Beds d) Clothes e) Anything that belongs to your children f) Anything that belongs to other people (Bailiffs try and make you believe that the fine is issued on the property but this is not the case, so if you have proof that goods do not belong to the person that the fine is issued, the bailiffs CANNOT remove them. If they try to do this then ask the police to arrest them for theft. g) Anything educational 13) Finally. If you have already been unfortunate enough to have goods removed that cover over the amount of the fine, or have paid more than your initial fine that was set out by the Sentencing Council, you can claim this money back by contacting the bailiffs and telling them that if they do not pay the fee costs back, you will have no alternative but to take them to court. I really hope this will help you in your battle against the bailiffs as it is about time people started standing up against them. If you quote any of this to bailiffs they will try and tell you that it is all wrong and bombard you with legal jargon to try and confuse you more, but I assure you that the things I have stated are true. My partner and I have just been successful in our action against Marstons, who threw everything they had at my disabled partner. Yes you read right 'DISABLED PARTNER'. I think that just shows the morals these people have, as not once did they take her condition into account when threatening and intimidating her, in order to get her to pay for the outstanding fine as well as their added charges. This was despite my partner showing the bailiffs a letter from the benefits agency stating that the fine would be deducted directly from her benefit and that the reason it did not get taken was because something called an FSN letter was not filled in by the benefits agncy when my partners benefits got changed. The letter also stated that the FSN has now been done and the payments would start up again. The total cost of the Fine left to be paid - £45. The total cost Marstons tried to intimidate my partner to pay - £345