An eventful morning off work yesterday brought a conclusion to this mess. I spoke to Bristow & Sutor head office first with no success. I calmly explained the missing payment was an oversight and was corrected as soon as I was made aware, but they clearly weren't interested in my views. So I decided to contact Bolton Council who owned the original debt to inform them how their "contractor" was behaving. I eventually managed to speak to a manager in the recoveries department who conceded that Bristow & Sutor were being unreasonable and agreed to intervene. The manager agreed to contact Bristow & Sutor and get the £140 charge removed and to reinstate my original payment plan. I spoke to Bristow & Sutor this morning who begrudgingly confirmed the council had been in touch and they had done as the council requested and closed the matter. I now have 7 x£10 fortnightly payments left, which I'll probably clear off early next week when I get paid. Hopefully that will bring my dealings with Bristow & Sutor to an end. I'd like to thank this forum for giving me the confidence to not lie down in the face of unreasonable behaviour on the part of these Bailiff's. I spent a few hours on Thursday night reading through posts of people who'd had similar experiences. The advice was on point and gave me a lot of new knowledge that helped me in dealing with both the Bailiff and my council. I will be making a contribution to the site as a sign of my gratitude and to keep this valuable resource available to the distressed and vulnerable who come here looking for advice when they have nowhere else to turn. Thank you again! Mark

This looks like a great forum, I hope someone can help. I got myself into some financial difficulty a few years ago and some council tax debt was referred to Bristow & Sutor. A Bailiff visited me in 2012 and he issued a "notice of seizure of goods" that i signed. He also took inventory of several items in my living room. TV, computer, couch, mirror etc. We made an agreement on 22/03/2012 that I would repay a £740 debt at £10 a fortnight over just less than 3 years. I have honoured the repayment agreement since, never missing a payment until..... I came home from work this evening to find a hand delivered notice from a Bristow & Sutor bailiff advising me he had visited to remove goods today. The letter also states the initial charge for today's visit is £140 and the total amount now due is £230 I called the bailiff who advised I missed a payment in September. I checked my online banking and he was right. I missed one £10 payment due at the end of September as there were no funds available in my account at the time the standing order was due, frustratingly this was just 4 days before payday too. Given the facts that i haven't missed a payment in 2 1/2 years and the debt was down to £90.00 before today's visit. Is it not a little heavy handed and a massive overreaction on the part of Bristow & Sutor to send a bailiff to my house today without any notification? I told the bailiff I was unable to pay him anything at the moment and he told me my case would be passed to another team who would revisit at a future date to try and obtain payment or goods. He couldn't specify when this would happen. Presumably any future visits will be charged again and a debt that i'd nearly cleared has trebled today. I guess at this point, i'm just looking for some general advice on my options. Many Thanks Mark