Hi all. Last year I received numerous threatening letters from Civil Enforcement Limited demanding I pay some extortionate fee for allegedly parking my car for 2 hours and 18 minutes in our town centre. I have never parked for that length of time in my town centre so ignored all their letters as I could smell a [problem]... 2 weeks ago a claim form arrived through the post with Civil Enforcement Limited as the claimant. I have until Tuesday to submit my defence but wondered if anyone could help with the wording? My main defence is that a contract can only be between the driver of the vehicle and the land owner. As my partner also drives my car I cannot remember which of us may have 'parked' our car for this length of time last July. As a private company I am aware that CEL have no powers to force me to provide them with the identity of the driver of my car on that particular date (which is just as well as I can't remember!) so can I use this as my main defence or should I just use the standard defence that's been posted earlier? Am I right in thinking I can submit this defence by Email to the court? Thanks in advance for your help

Hi All I have just received a 'Notice of Enforcement' from Collectica Enforcement Services (CES). I got it in today's post but notice it's issued 2nd of May? Anyway, apparently, I owe £10 to HMCTS. CES have now added a £75 'Compliance Stage Fee' thus raising the 'debt' to £85 now due for payment. The Notice states I have until May 15th to 'pay or agree a payment arrangement' with CES. I am OK to pay the £10 but DO NOT agree with having to pay the £75 and would like to challenge it. THIS notice from CES is the first time I am being made aware of this shortfall. The £10 debt is nothing but a shortfall from a court fine from July 2013. I had setup an instalment payment arrangement by DD with the HMCTS payments company to pay the fine in monthly instalments which I 'd been doing up until about Jan/Feb when the full amount was cleared (or so I thought). HMCTS setup the monthly payment arrangement AMOUNTS to clear the debt, not me. I assumed they knew what they were doing and that payments would be taken until the debt amount was cleared in full. Around March/April (have to check not sure), I stopped the DD payment setup on my Online Banking as I had waited until they stopped taking the payments for about 2 months - assuming that the balance had been cleared in full. I originally owed £400, and paid £100 July 2013 and £50pcm from August - January to clear the balance. I am now minded to send a £10 cheque to Collectiva (or direct to the court??) for the O/S £10 I was unaware of whilst challenging the £75 'stage fee' as this is the FIRST I am hearing of the fact that it was oustanding. Surely I should have been notified, as a compliant payer, that there was a £10 shortfall and given the opportunity to clear it rather than straight to a Debt Collector with further charges added on?!? Absolutely not right. Kindly please offer your thoughts on how best to go about this. Regards Btm

PART 2 PROCEDURE FOR TAKING CONTROL OF GOODS Notice of enforcement prior to taking control of goods Minimum period of notice 6. (1) Subject to paragraph (3), notice of enforcement must be given to the debtor not less than 7 clear days before the enforcement agent takes control of the debtor’s goods. (2) Where the period referred to in paragraph (1) includes a Sunday, bank holiday, Good Friday or Christmas Day that day does not count in calculating the period. (3) The court may order that a specified shorter period of notice may be given to the debtor. (4) The court may only make an order under paragraph (3) where it is satisfied that, if the order is not made, it is likely that goods of the debtor will be moved to premises other than relevant premises, or otherwise disposed of, in order to avoid the goods being taken control of by the enforcement agent. Form and contents of notice 7. Notice of enforcement must be given in writing, and must contain the following information— (a)the name and address of the debtor; (b)the reference number or numbers; ©the date of notice; (d)details of the court judgment or order or enforcement power by virtue of which the debt is enforceable against the debtor; (e)the following information about the debt— (i)sufficient details of the debt to enable the debtor to identify the debt correctly; (ii)the amount of the debt including any interest due as at the date of the notice; (iii)the amount of any enforcement costs incurred up to the date of notice; and (iv)the possible additional costs of enforcement if the sum outstanding should remain unpaid as at the date mentioned in paragraph (h); (f)how and between which hours and on which days payment of the sum outstanding may be made; (g)a contact telephone number and address at which, and the days on which and the hours between which, the enforcement agent or the enforcement agent’s office may be contacted; and (h)the date and time by which the sum outstanding must be paid to prevent goods of the debtor being taken control of and sold and the debtor incurring additional costs. Method of giving notice and who must give it 8. (1) Notice of enforcement must be given— (a)by post addressed to the debtor at the place, or one of the places, where the debtor usually lives or carries on a trade or business; (b)by fax or other means of electronic communication; ©by delivery by hand through the letter box of the place, or one of the places, where the debtor usually lives or carries on a trade or business; (d)where there is no letterbox, by affixing the notice at or in a place where it is likely to come to the attention of the debtor; (e)where the debtor is an individual, to the debtor personally; or (f)where the debtor is not an individual (but is, for example, a company, corporation or partnership), by delivering the notice to— (i)the place, or one of the places, where the debtor carries on a trade or business; or (ii)the registered office of the company or partnership. (2) Notice must be given by the enforcement agent or the enforcement agent’s office. The above is taken from http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/1894/made?view=plain

A few days ago I received a notice of enforcement from collectica stating that if I do not pay or agree a payment arrangement by the date above, (april 24th 2014 which is today) an enforcement agent will visit and seize my belongings. I have no money at all till tomorrow and im worried sick that people are going to turn up at my home today. Does anyone have any advice on what to do?

Hi, I received a 'Notice of Enforcement' from Marston today with regard to an unpaid parking fine dated 19/2/13 saying a warrant has been issued by Northampton County Court. This is the first time I have ever received a letter from them regarding this. The letter said I must pay the full amount or agree a payment arrangement by 17/4/14. I therefore phoned Marston to arrange a payment plan of £10.00 per month to be told that the minimum they can accept is £35.00 per week. I told them that this was too much and I only have £17.00 per month spare after paying off all my other debts but they would not accept it saying that they cannot accept anything less as it has already gone to court. I therefore asked them if they could confirm in writing that they would not accept my offer and they said they cannot unless I write to them requesting this. I then told them that I only had 4 days to do this which wasn't long enough so could they put my case on hold but they said they couldn't and I would have to email them. I then asked how long it takes them to reply to emails and he said it could take upto 7 days. Can they refuse my offer and if not do you have a template of a letter that I could send to them please. Thanks

My son has just paid his business rates by credit card after the bailiff levied on goods. The original debt was over £4000. After a visit to the council it was reduced to £2888. I paid the bailiff an amount of £3489 Making a difference of £601. When I enquired as to what the extra fees were for I was told Enforcement. Today on the phone I was advised that the fees were 101 for charges and £500 because the debt was over £3000 . I have been looking into this further and found this web site and the chrges just dont compare what do I do now. I have paid http://www.bdl.org.uk/images/02_EW_NDL_Bailiffs%20and%20Council%20Tax.pdf Any help would be appreciated

Received an email from a friend earlier detailing another success against a PPC at appeal - this time with the IAS rather than POPLA The young lady in question parked in a residential car park managed by Sussex Security Solutions trading as Parking Enforcement. Received a ticket for £100 (reduced to £60 blah blah blah) for a 'breach of terms and conditions meaning that a contractual fee was now due' (parked in a contractor bay due to building work temporarily removing all of the legitimate spaces). Appealed to the PPC at an early stage and (unsurprisingly) this was rejected - rejection letter was mumbo jumbo and insisted that the contractual amount was payable, no GPEOL was required as the PPC was managing the car park in line with their contract with the landowner, which was a service at no cost to the landowner and that the contractual payment contributed to the costs of managing the business and running the parking service. Two types of signs in the car park - one by where the vehicle was parked stated 'Contractors Only' but had no warning of any payment being claimed in the event of a breach, and others elsewhere did notify of a contractual payment being due in the event of a breach. Incredibly the signs also claimed AOS as a BPA Approved Operator despite them having ditched the BPA in favour of IPC several months ago! The driver received the IAS code for independent appeal along with the initial rejection so put forward a case based on 1. Inadequate signage - PPC had claimed a contractual payment but stated a breach on the ticket. Insufficient detail on teh contractor bay sign to form a contract and even the ones elsewhere (which had not been seen due to the font size and height) were insufficiently detailed to form a binding contract. 2. PPC had claimed that no GPEOL was required, but the appellant held that GPEOL was crucial in this case as a payment on a breach must be deemed a penalty in the absence of GPEOL as this was the basis of the ticket wording and the signage. 3. The PPC had not provided more than vague details of the contract with the landowner and the appellant was unable to adequately assess whether the PPC had lawful authority to issue tickets in their own name or to enforce those tickets. 4. The PPC was falsely and misleadingly claiming membership of a trade body (the BPA) IAS considered the case and responded within just three days that the appeal was upheld and the ticket would be cancelled. The grounds were that on the first point - the inadequate signage was insufficient to bind the appellant to a contractual obligation - as the signs stating a 'contractual payment' would become due only said that a payment 'MAY' be payable, this was insufficient and therefore the appeal must succeed. Annoyingly for the appellant the adjudicator stated that there was no need to rule on the other grounds as the first was successful in itself, but nevertheless the win was sufficient. No doubt Parking Enforcement will be replacing the signs as quickly as possible, however the appellant has already notified Trading Standards of the misleading claim of BPA membership on the signs and is asking questions of the local authority as to whether the property is subject to business rates - after all, by their own admission, the PPC is given a free hand to run their business independently of the landowner and is charging amounts in excess of any GPEOL and is therefore presumably generating some amount of profit in the process!

Hello, I'm writing this post mostly out of frustration, rather than expecting any advice. Although any advice or thoughts would be much appreciated. I have won a county court judgement in my favour relating to a business that damaged my personal property while providing a service for me. I'm now at the point of getting the judgement enforced and have found that the sole director of the company has registered a fixed and floating debenture against the company and is saying that all of the assets in the company are owned by a third party so the bailiffs are unable to seize any property to enforce the judgement. I'm thinking of applying for a third party debt order to freeze the business bank accounts, but am worried this will still fall under the floating debenture so will also fail.

Hi all, Long time reader, first time thread poster. As registered keeper of a particular vehicle I have received a Parking Charge Notice from Civil Enforcement Ltd for aledgedly overstaying in one of their car parks. I presume the advice is no longer to ignore these idiots? Issues I have with the notice: 1. The ticket looks very official, almost like they are trying to make you think that it's a council one (it isn't). The bit about "Civil Enforcement Ltd" is very small and only mentioned once. 2. PCN incident date listed as 04/02/14 and pcn issue date as 19/04/14, received letter on 21st or 22nd. Why leave it so long? (attempting to run the grace period down maybe?) 3. I was not the driver at the time of the alledged incident (can be proved), why are they writing to me (I assume they abused the dvla process to get my name as the keeper)? I presume I have no obligation to name the driver (no space to do so on the form anyway), and it's up to them to prove who the driver was? 4. The car was permitted to be there because my other half works in the retail park in question and the car is supposed to be on an exemption list. She has checked the list however, and it appears that the car has been removed with no warning/notification and no explaination given. I have already phoned the number and spoke to the operator. I stated that I will not be paying the ticket. All I got in reply was that I have to appeal in writing (why bother having phone operators then?). So, what do I do next? Ignore? Appeal in writing/email and tell them to jog on? Name the driver and then tell them that I am their appointed rep?

Help urgently needed. My son left home over a year ago, however, a year ago he decided to ride a train with no ticket and got caught. Rightly so he received a fine and he never paid it. He was taken to court and a £20 fine escalated into £400 court fine. Which I have to say he deserves. All through this he has not changed his address and all correspondence keeps coming to my home. To my horror last night when I got home there was a Notice of Distress Warrant on my doorstep. I am petrified that bailiffs will turn up and break into my house and my son doesn't even live there. He is not on the electoral register, no correspondence apart from his debts (much to my disgust) comes to my home for him. Please please please can someone give me some advice.... I have until the 24th December according to the letter. FDAO xx

Hi I have the above mentioned demanding an outstanding amount of £590.00. I do not know what this amount is for or where this originated from. Collectica themselves are not able to tell me either when I contacted them, just that it was for a non motoring offence dating 2007. They put any action on hold for 28days for me to try and trace what the sum is for. They gave me contact numbers for the local Magistrates (Stratford), and for Port Talbot, saying that the debt had been transferred from there. Stratford simply stated they did not deal with transfers and referred me back to Collectica. Port Talbot could not find any information, they said they checked all four systems and nothing was coming up on my name. They said, dating 2007, this was pre the systems they have in place now and without more information about the debt, like the originating Court, could not help any further. I went back to Collectica and relayed to them what I had been told. I was told that was incorrect, even though they cannot tell me the originating Court, Port Talbot can find it, they keep diaries and can locate by date. Collectica put another 28day hold on the account. I contacted Port Talbot again telling them what I had been told by Collectica, only for Port Talbot to inform me that Collectica were incorrect. The lady even checked with a senior colleague if there was any way they could help to trace the information. They were unable to help but advised that Collectica must have the information because they cannot accept the transfer without the information. I am completely confused and don't know what to do next as now I have received a Pre Removal Notice from Collectica dated 5th Feb - (2nd 28 day stay was up 5th Feb) Can they enforce given that I know nothing about this and they themselves cannot tell me what it's for? Is the alleged debt even mine? Thanks for your time

Evening, I'm hoping that someone may be able to give me some advice please. Whilst I was at work today a Task Enforcement 'bailiff' came to my house & when my wife answered the door put his foot on the threshold & then, when my wife tried to push the door shut, pushed it - and her - back into the hallway and stepped into the house claiming that he had gained peaceful entry. My wife called me to say what was happening, I dialled 999, explained what was happening & asked for the Police to attend - which they did very quickly. When I arrived at home about 30 minutes after my wife's phone call, the Police were outside with the bailiff & another officer was with my wife to take down her side of the situation. The officers were reasonable, polite & sympathetic but stated that as the 'bailiff' had entered the house they were powerless to prevent him coming back in & seizing goods. I have no complaints towards the officers nor do I dispute that there MAY be a PCN due to TfL (the notice was served on me as a Director of a Limited Company and the signatory to the lease agreement for the vehicle that incurred the PCN & I'm disputing my obligation to pay now that the Company has been wound up) but my issue is more with a) the conduct of the bailiff & the way he gained entry to the house and b) the fact that he had NO documentation or identification that proved that he was a bailiff and not an unlicensed heavy - when I challenged him on this (in front of the Police officer) he claimed that he'd "had it ten minutes ago" and that he "must have dropped it entering or leaving the property" - I don't believe him & neither did the Police officer so my question is: How do I check whether this individual is a certified bailiff? Is what he did acceptable practice? What redress do I have & how can I prevent him returning to the property when my wife & I are out to seize goods? Any and all advice would be gratefully received as my wife doesn't want to leave the house & is terrified that this man will return when she and the kids are in bed. Thanks

Hi I am hoping someone may be able to give me some advice on a Parking Charge Notice I have received from Civil Enforcement Ltd. I had watched the Watchdog programme a long while ago that said to ignore these if you receive them. I then received the second letter that says about Section 4 and that the owner of the car is liable for the charge. Having now read through the forums I can see that I should have raised a appeal through POPLA, but there has been too much time since the first letter arrive. Can I carry on ignoring these letters?

Hello. I was an employee who was made redundant by my employer. I represented myself at an employment tribunal, who found in my favour on all counts. They judged that it had been unfair dismissal and sex discrimination and made an award of around £10,000 although I don’t expect any of it will be paid. At the start of the hearing my employer’s solicitor tried to wriggle, suggesting to the judge that they were not a legal entity. The business is run by a managing committee of volunteers (an unincorporated association) and is also a registered charity (registered with the charities commission). However, don’t let that draw sympathy, the hearing revealed how badly the charity was being managed and how the charitable funds were being wasted. The judge said that they are a registered charity and therefore a legal entity. So although they may wish to describe themselves as an unincorporated association, they did enter into employment contracts with me and other staff in the name of the charity and have assets in the name of the charity. Question So with the status of the respondent being a registered charity (claiming to be an unincorporated association), who should I address the high court enforcement order to? The managing committee will all be stepping down from their positions and running for cover. Should I put the name and address of the charity, or the present chair of the managing committee, or the then chair of the managing committee at the time of the redundancy, or the managing committee secretary who signed the paper work, or all the managing committee members by name? I’m not expecting to see any money paid to me but I don’t want to make it easy for them to wriggle of the hook and continue operating either. Thank you so much for taking a look at my thread. x

Hi all I have just got back from the school run to find that an Enforcement Officer from Andrew Wilson has been. They left a notice letter in my door. I was over paid by my old job and was taken to court, I filled out the form to ask to pay in instalments and sent it back to the company dealing with the overpayment. I have not received anything from them or the court to say anything after the court hearing??? First thing I got was this letter from enforcing the debt and further charges by the enforcer. Can anyone help with this?? Do I need to call the debter or the court to try and solve this as don't want to deal with the enforcement officer

Please sign and promote this petition: https://www.change.org/petitions/prime-minister-this-petition-is-to-clean-up-the-financial-enforcement-industry-by-creating-a-public-authority-whose-members-are-selected-by-public-vote This petition is to set up a publicly run body overseeing all debt recovery personnel, debt recovery businesses and government financial penalty issuing authorities. The public body members will be selected by a public vote. The public run body will have full authority to grant licences to, investigate, punish or dismiss any court appointment bailiff, debt recovery agent, enforcement officer or their businesses. The public body will have complete authority and autonomy from government or judicial interference to make decisions based on its own findings on any persons or entities working within the UK who are responsible for collecting monies or issuing financial penalties. The public body will oversee all debt recovery businesses and people within these businesses. The public body will oversee and contribute to regulation on the industry and licences to trade. The purpose of the agency is to: · Ensure ‘fit and proper’ people are working within the industry. · Create a culture of ethical behaviour within the industry. · Create transparency within the industry. · Regulate practice that is deemed publicly fit. · Be an authority for the public to raise serious concerns to and have them investigated as an authority. · Grant compensation to people who are caused serious issues through regulatory negligence or unfit practices. To impose fines upon, investigate, punish or dismiss these persons or companies who are not working within the guidelines set out by the public authority.

Hi i am a new user ,last month i received a statutory demand, i applied for it to be set aside. I have been given a court date for 22nd of august, I need help on how to get this set aside, this is from a french judgement, i lost the case in france, i never understood what even happened. But to cut a long story short we had a charge placed on our property in france. We found it dificult to sell and eventually they told us it would go to auction the amount on the valuation was stupid. We drastically cut the price and managed to find a buyer, they agreed to the sale. They have now come on to us and say there is a shortfall and interest and costs. They also say they have a european enforcement order, we have been given no details of this from England or France. Does anyone know if we would be given details from the court? the first thing we knew was the statutory demand landing on the doorstep, it was served by a bailiff but we were overseas at the time. Any help please.

Hi Everyone, I need some advice and confirmation that I should be ignoring a Parking Enforcement Notice which I received from TnC Parking Services on behalf of their client P4 Parking. I live Edinburgh (EH11) and the fight for parking spaces is a daily battle. I'm a musician and after returning home very late one night from work, I parked in the only place available within a two mile radius of my flat. I parked on the street, not in a bay and was not obstructing or impacting access to the car park in anyway. There are just two signs within that area of the car park however nether are on the side of which I parked and none are visible at night due to low lighting. The area in which I parked is used on a daily basis by others and their inconsistencies in who they choose to ticket is somewhat baffling. After reading many posts on here, I have chosen to ignore the two demands they have sent me so far via the personal information they acquired from the DVLA, as there are no trespass laws in Scotland and I believe that only police or council have the right to issue such demands. So my question is, am I right? Should I keep ignoring or do I contact them with my despute? I have no intention of paying this so called 'fine' as I believe it to be unlawful but somehow they've manage to get under my skin and I can't help but worry about it. Please help put my mind at ease. Many thanks in advance.

Hi all, thank you for reading this. I parked at my local sports centre where you have to enter your car reg into a computer to get 3 hours free parking. I am pretty sure I did this but not absolutely certain. Today I got a fine from Civil Enforcement Ltd for £150 (£75 if I pay within 14 days). Trouble is I was using my dads car, so he got the fine. I have read the sticky thread about these types of fines, but I wanted to check that they are still unenforceable as it was posted over a year ago. I am more worried because this fine was sent to my dad and I don't want him to end up with a £150 fine or a trip to the court etc! Any advice appreciated

Just received ‘Notice to Owner’ Six months’ after alleged breach. Also note that BPA (British Parking Association) has terminated membership of this company as of September 18th 2013. This removes the appeals process. I intend to do nothing - any advice welcome

]Hi and hello everyone im new and would like some advice ive just been visited by an enforcement officer and was told i owe £1000 pounds and that 2 letters was sent out(which i haven't received) and taken to court in which i knew nothing about and gave me a letter and a calling card as im on low income and can not give him any money...i was told that if i didn't pay up he would come and empty my house...im disabled and semi housebound and on low income(disability benefits) my question to any one that can give me advice is that what are my options.....if i do owe this money then fine i would have to pay but not the full amount the company they claim i owe money to is LOWELL PORTFOLIO 1 ltd it is worrying me that they can come and take everything in the house thank for your help in advance

The following is a link to an excellent press story featured today regarding the frankly pathetic shambles of private parking enforcement and proof once again that "cowboy clampers" have indeed turned into "cowboy ticketers" . The article also states that apparently POPLA are struggling with appeals and that DVLA have made a fortune from selling personal data. As you will also see, BPA are confirming that CEL are under "investigation" for their failure to abide by the BPA's "recommendations" by capping the maximum charge of their tickets at £100 !!! Only a few days ago local authorities were stunned by the surprise joint Press Release from DCLG and the DfT regarding the plans to curb CCTV cameras because of the damage that was being done to the high street by the excessive ticketing of motorists by local authorities. There can be no doubt that DfT will be putting "private parking companies" under investigation ( if they are not already doing so). http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2442223/Private-spy-cameras-used-tickets-clamping-banned-private-land.html

I realised a default placed by t-mobile on my credit file after which i wrote to them for a copy of my agreement. When the first letter was sent, in response the wrote the following: "I refer to the information you requested and confirm that the service agreement you have entered into with T-Mobile is regarded as "exempt" under the provisions of the consumer credit act 1974 and as such we are not required to file a default notice prior to termination of the service agreement. For the receipt of any correspondence and copy of agreements you can contact our customer relations tem" As I did not have a clue what the above meant in plain english, I wrote to them again for an explenation of the above and the agreement to which they responded with the following: "No signed contract can be supplied as you connected with us direct and a copy of our terms and conditions, and a distance selling regulation letter were sent with your phone. This gave you seven working days to return the equipment to us if you were unhappy with anything. Our T&C advise that we do not need to provide you with the documentation you have requested and a copy of this can be found on our website. Now I am really confused on what to do. How can I challenge this default? with the above agreement, dont they have to send a default notice prior to placing this on my credit file? Can I make a request under the data protection act to see all my details and payment statements? is there anyway that I can get the default removed?

EU court said that various member countries should bring about a change so that individuals could use The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. Has this happened yet or is the only course of action reporting it to Trading Standards via CAB and hoping they will contact you about it? Or can you bring a case in the Small Claims Courts and use that law for yourself?

Hi All Just wondering if any one can help with a problem here goes: Apparently in 2009 i committed a traffic offence ( i was probably at work and the offence was probably made by my x husband) I apparently replied by post pleading guilty ( dont remember doing this either) in may 2010 i apparently called the courts and said i would pay in 2 weeks) during this time i was going through serious domestic issues( evidence from police etc), which required me to move house in Dec 2010 i changed licence etc over to my new address A couple of months ago i received a letter from police to pay this outstanding fine, so i phoned them due to the fact i was unaware of any of this (my mail was being taken) they told me it was for not filling in information on a named driver. explained situation they told me to go to courts and make a declaration. The bailiffs have turned up last week and the fine is now £500 originally £200, been to court today to make deceleration and they told me about the phone call i made and about reply to a guilty plea i explained the situation (fell on deaf ears) I asked if i pleaded guilty why was i being fined for not declaring information (deaf ears again) and why had it took them so long to find me . asked if they could remove the bailiffs and reply was no i have to sort it out. To top it all i have to pay fine £500 (not got that sort of money divorced 2 children,but i am working and on tax credits) Phoned marstons group gave ref etc asked to be put through to welfare officer wont allow it i have to speak to bailiff let message with them. Also on top of all that i am in bankruptcy at present phoned the official receiver and they say i have to pay fine,but i thought the OF owned all my belongings,. In a muddle can anyone help i am willing to pay fine but on monthly basis or in full at original amount. Long winded sorry:|