Excessive Balliff Charge For A Fine I Paid!

[greengrass1]

Hello, I'm new to this forum and would like some guidance and help.

 

In Feb 2007 I receieved a parking fine in London. About 1 month later, received a letter "Notice to Owner" from the council which I stupidly ignored. In July had letter from Newlyn Balliffs requesting payment which had doubled to £250 which I paid end of August. A Few months later i received a letter form Newlyn requesting payment which I presumed I had already paid. So contacted them by phone and the guy confirmed to me, yes it was paid. Yesterday afternoon 9 months later and no contact since, they ring a leave a answerphone message stateing they will call and remove goods the following day unless I paid them £650!! Outrageous!

 

The £250 was paid direct to the council concerned and have bank statment to prove. If I had incurred further charges around the date of requested payment from Newlyn, surely they should inform you.

 

Any advice or help would be appreciated.

 

Many thanks.

[WWOW]

Make your car safe. If a bailiff turns up at your house, hand this to him through an open window. NEVER open the door. NEVER confirm or admit your name and address. Tell him you can’t answer any questions.

 

To: [NAME OF BAILIFF]

 

BY HAND

 

[DATE]

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

Re: Your visit to [ADDRESS AND POSTCODE]

 

The council appears to have instructed you to recover an unpaid parking ticket from me however, as I have already cleared all debts relating to this matter, no money is due.

 

This letter gives you notice that you are being denied peaceful entry to my home or to levy goods contained within and I will not be signing anything for you. This notice revokes your eligibility to charge a Walking Possessions fee or other fee relating to the handling of goods.

 

Please be advised it is not a "criminal offence" for me to deny a bailiff entry to my property, if you suggest to me otherwise I will automatically report you to the police and you may face a criminal record and I will make an official Form 4 complaint against your bailiff at his certificating court.

 

This document was passed to you by hand, and a photograph using a mobile phone has just been taken showing you standing outside the above address reading it.

 

Yours Faithfully

 

 

YOUR NAME

 

You can also send a copy to the bailiff by post and replace the last paragraph with the following...

 

This document is delivered by Royal Mail and I deem it good service on you by the ordinary course of post under Section 7 of the Interpretation Act 1978 and therefore it is your responsibility and in your own interests this letter is handed to the relevant person within your organisation. I regret I am unable to discuss this matter by telephone or in person.

 

If you get any trouble you can assk the Local Government Ombudsman for compensation and get resourse from the court.

[greengrass1]

Thanks for your advice.

Have more facts to hand now, which leads to more questions.....

 

The Harrow Council issued a warrant on the 24th July 2007. They employed Newlyn baliffs to execute this warrant. Letter received from Newlyn in early August demanding payment of £250 which was the fine payable to the council. This was paid end of August and the council confirms this.

 

Newlyn baliffs now want to recover their costs which mount up to £612.

 

3 questions:

 

1. Am I correct in saying warrants only last for 1 year and can't be renewed.

 

2. Would the baliffs be operating under the warrant issued by the council in reclaiming their costs.

 

3. Would they need a new warrant issued to themselves to reclaim costs.

 

The original warrant issued by the council is satified, and is due to expire tomorrow. Grateful for any advice or assistance in the matter.

Edited July 23, 2008 by greengrass1

[WWOW]

1. I dont know if the warrant (liability order?) has an end date, but in any event it has been satisfied so its not relevant.

 

2. Bailiff fees cannot be enforced using a liability order (warrant?) for the original debt. The bailiff needs to open a civil claim against you in the small claims track. I doubt they'll do this because their fees of £612 doesn't look right.

 

3. No, bailiffs fees are not on the liability order, only the unpaid debt (fine? what kind of fine?).

 

If a bailiff gives you trouble then Form 4 him for defrauding you with his fees. If the liability order is satisfied then no fees are due.

Edited July 23, 2008 by WWOW
typo

[greengrass1]

VICTORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Will write post on receipt of letter from Bailiffs.

[tomtubby]

Looking forward to hearing about your VICTORY.

 

In the meantime, a Warrant of Execution is valid for just ONE YEAR and CANNOT be renewed. That it is...gone. The bailiff has no legal authority anymore.

 

 

However...a word of caution. The Warrant of Execution DOES state quite clearly that the bailiff can recover from the debtor........ the amount of the debt....."and his reasonable fees"

[greengrass1]

Received letter from Newlyns (bailiffs) Saturday, but before I disclose the letter and contents let me recap the past events........

 

Feb 06 my wife received 2 parking fines in London. She stupidly ignored them. Harrow council issued a warrant on the 24th July, and shortly after my wife received letter from Newlyn requesting payment of £250 (which has now doubled). Payment was made end of August direct to the council as requested. End of story, or so she thought. Fast forward now to July 2008, I received a phone message from Newlyns demanding £612 immediately or the bailiffs will visit the next day (Sunday) 20th July. You can imagine my rage, which I took out on them on the phone pronto. They would not give me any response to my request how these fees were calculated. All I got was PAY UP OR ELSE!!.

 

My wife decided to pay this money a week later and informed them on the phone. I myself decided to look for help and advice from this forum, which I gratefully received (thanks guys) I hastily put together a request for Data release under the 1998 act and enclosed a £10 cheque and sent by Recorded delivery to Newlyn head office. Also, sent the same document via tracked email...(proof of opening) and informing them the email will be lifetime tracked. The email was 1st opened 21st July Monday 09:32:16.

 

On the Wednesday, I called Newlyn for an explanation of the fees once again. They said it was for visits to the property and letters sent. (crap). She did say it was £260.43 + vat for each parking fine totalling £612. I ask them for proof of such fees, and said would not pay them a penny until they prove they were legal and geniune fees. Her "tone" changed to being aggressive and stated my wife entered into a legally binding agreement when she agreed to pay the fees on the phone. Also warned my that further charges would be added.

 

Now for fear of making the situation worse, I called them back and agreed to pay by Saturday, and would pursue them in court for my money back. Now would you believe.....they added another £10 between calls!!!! +vat! (go figure). Saturday morning arrived, and I called them to make payment, but before I could say a word she told me the balance to pay was £26.32 (ha? go figure again) A letter is in the post to us. We paid the money.

 

Letter contents:

 

We would like to confirm that all fees have been raised and applied correctly in accordance with Enforcement of Road Traffic Debts Regulations 2003. 2 letters £11.20 + vat = £26.32.

 

I have reviewed your file in depth and can confirm that some fees have now been removed from your file. I have spoken to my manager and we have come to this decision owing to the fact that you made direct payment to our client, Harrow Council for both PCN's very promptly.

 

Please advise if you still require the Data access request, or if this now resolves the matter.

 

I will write back and request the Data as I still do not know what the extra fees were. I am convinced the request for Data release has saved me a lot of money, and they want me to drop the matter......no not for the moment at least. "It stinks"

 

Imagine.....1000 demands like the above, how many people would just pay through fear!!!! 50 60 70%....outrageous!

 

Will advise on any further developments. Once again, thanks guys!!!

Edited July 28, 2008 by greengrass1

[greengrass1]

Just another line of thought..................

 

Maybe the fees were correct, but they had run out of time due to the warrant expiry date???

 

Be interesting to view Data on this case.

Edited July 28, 2008 by greengrass1
typo