Trapped in an impossible situation...

[New Bill G]

My first post, sorry it’s lengthy but very serious; I would love to hear some feedback, thanks in advance.

Working as a self-employed courier in London for approximately 1 year, inevitably I would get parking tickets from various London boroughs, and instead of contesting them I would just pay them, and can prove I paid quite a lot in parking fines. If they have a photo of my vehicle parked while the meter has ran out of time, then I have no basis to contest right?

It was not until after I left that job that I learned I could have rightfully contested my parking tickets by showing my daily worksheet, and that I was just doing my job, and I could have avoided paying over half of them! I paid a huge amount of money that year in fines, which I cannot even claim as expenses!!

I moved address towards the end of that year, and almost a year after that I went to my old address to check for mail. I was horrified when the new occupants handed me a bag full of threatening letters from debt collectors, saying I owe ridiculous amounts of money, and the new occupants regularly get visits from bailiffs looking for me and my vehicle. On average they get one or two visits per week, and they ignore that they’re told I don’t live there anymore. I can only imagine that a couple of tickets have evaded me by not being stuck on my windscreen, and “automatically” posted to me.

Not too long ago I found my vehicle clamped with a notice asking for £500, and I paid it promptly (I wasn’t even aware I owed anything to that company), soon after I declared my vehicle SORN and have been keeping it off the road, and did not change my address on my driving license on purpose out of fear.

I am more than terrified; there is no way I can even pay a quarter of what I am being charged! How does a £40 fine become nearly £500+ each? How do debt collectors justify such huge increases, are they allowed to do this by law? I have wanted to sell the vehicle for a while now, but I want these debt-collectors off my back first or else the new owner will probably get clamped on their first week!

Someone advised me to get in contact with the “Northampton County Court”, but I don’t know what to say or how to go about doing this, if it is what needs to be done. Someone else advised me that I should declare myself personally bankrupt, but I have no idea how or what it involves either – for what it’s worth, I am currently unemployed and receiving JSA.

Question: If the relevant London boroughs have passed my debt onto debt-collectors, does this mean they have wiped my parking offences clean, and the debt-collectors are my only concern? This issue has put my life on hold in many ways, and filled me with fear. What can I do?

 

Thanks for your time to read this,

NBG

[tomtubby]

Don't worry.

 

From reading your long post it is clear that all statutory notices had gone to a previous address and therefore it is a simple matter of completing an Out of Time declaration which needs to be sent to the Traffic Enforcement Centre at Northampton.

 

There are new forms to complete if the PCN was incurred AFTER 31st March 2008. If before this time then the forms are the PE2 and PE3.

 

There is a fee of £5 to have the form witnessed or you can take it to the local County Court who will witness the form for free.

 

If you need any help with this form please post back.

[New Bill G]

Oh yes please! How can I get these forms, and what happens after?

 

Although its an ideal solution, I find it hard to believe that these bailiffs will just stop and let me off without paying anything.

 

The majority of fines were issued well before March 2008.

 

What information do I need to supply in these forms?

 

Will I get in trouble for not changing my dvla address when I moved?

 

Thanks, NBG

[New Bill G]

Bailiff advice,bailiffs,parking charges,bailiff fees,congestion charges,fines,anpr,csa,council tax

 

I found quite alot from this website, and have downloaded and printed the 3-page PE2+PE3 forms. I'm unsure about a couple of things:

 

Should I give my old address in the PE2/PE3 forms (which is still the address on my license)? The new occupants will give me a phonecall immediately when they get post for me.

 

On the forms it asks for a list of the PCNs (parking) but there is one which has a photo of me turning left near Liverpool Street station, where there is a tiny little sign saying I can't do so during certain hours. That is not a PCN is it? That (among a few others) was automatically posted to my old address with no way of me knowing about it. So do I include that in my list of PCNs?

 

I literally paid thousands of pounds in fines, can that contribute in any way in my favour? As I am in a bad financial situation at the moment?

[New Bill G]

**the link at the top of my last post wasn't done by me!! It should be "w's, bailiff advice online, dot co dot you kay".**

[palomino]

It seems there is a practical joker about ...

[robin9342]

It seems there is a practical joker about ...

No; commercial links are not allowed on this site. The link the OP tried to post was auto-redirected.

[chris600uk]

Yeah! to teletubbies, I just tried it.

[tomtubby]

This is a link to our website. Because it is a commercial site and thereby one that although provides 63 pages of FREE information does charge for certain download documents.

 

However as EVERYONE here on CAG knows... all info for posters on CAG is free.

 

On the PE2 you need to state your current address. On the part where it asks why you did not receive the documents it would be best to say that:

 

From enquiries made with the Traffic Enforcement Centre it would appear that all statutory notices had been sent to my previous address.

 

On the PE3. This is SIMPLY the part for you to explain WHY you are making this application LATE. You will need to provide something like the following:

 

I was unable to complete this application within time because it was not until I received a visit from a firm of bailiffs that I was made aware of this parking charge notice etc etc...