Bailiff called to Mother in Law!

[wilsikon]

A bailiff arrived at my mother in laws house today looking for me in relation to an alleged parking ticket received (not by me) in 2007. He told her it was £344 and he needed to have a payment before he would leave. She stupidly paid him £200 and he left details for how to contact the council and arrange payment for the rest of the debt. My car has never been registered at her address and we left the town she lives in (and where the ticket was issued) at the end of 2007 and we knew nothing about the ticket.

 

Is a bailiff allowed to break the Data Protection Act by disclosing all my details to my mother in law? Should he be collecting money against my debt from a pensioner who felt threatened?

[lamma]

this sounds hugely wrong. Hopefully tomtubby will swing by and pick this up (Bailiff expert - and then some !)

[wilsikon]

Thank you - I am not even sure who I should complain to, the council or the courts!

[Vermillion]

I'm no expert - sounds very wrong to me. While you are waiting from input here try

Bailiffs have to have court orders to take property. There are Bailiffs and Bailiffs. These companies/people can be very unscrupulous but that is there undoing. Good luck

Edited February 28, 2009 by Rooster-UK
Commercial website link removed.

[lamma]

I believe the bailiff has to serve the warrant at the address on the warrant. Was the OP living with M-i-L at the time the warrant was created ? then there is the 12 months life of a warrant issue. Does M-i-L have copy of the warrant ? what papers did they leave ? lots of questions. contact tomtubby. sounds as though this bailiff may have been very naughty but we need more information. (and tomtubby)

[wilsikon]

We have no idea how they got her address having never lived or registered any cars to her address. Apparently he left a receipt and a reference number to call the council and they would talk us through paying the outstanding £144. We didn't want to call until we knew for sure he had behaved incorrectly. I will try to message tomtubby and ask him to look at this thread - thank you.

[wilsikon]

bump

[lamma]

could a mod move it to Bailiffs and Sheriff Officers - The Consumer Forums ? or post there.......

[Rooster-UK]

Thread moved to Bailiff's Forum.

[bigegg]

I'm really, really sorry for this, but I saw the title of the thread and thought of the old joke:

 

 

Wife: John, John, come quick. There's bailiffs at my mum's house.

 

John: So what? What do I care what happens to a bailiff?

 

 

Seriously, needs a formal complaint to the council, and courts.

An OC is responsible for the actions of it's agents.

[andie_303]

yes the bailiff has broken data protection by telling your mother in law - they are not allowed to disclose anything about the debt to a third party - the fact that your mother in law has paid him would possibly go toweards proof he must have divulged something to her so you have some proof there.

You can file a form 4 complaint with the court that certifies that bailiff - the best course of action to find out what court he is certified with is contact the bailiff company or the council who will provide you with it.

 

You also need to complain to the council - as the bailiff is acting as their agent his bahaviour is deemed to be sanctioned by them and therefore you should make them aware of your complaint and make them refund the money from the bailiff company.

 

The bailiff will have also added charges for this visit so you need to get those removed as well and your details removed from the debt collection agencies system.

A complaint to the office of fair trading never goes amiss either

[Fair-Parking]

I might add that although everybody assumes that council can instruct a private bailiff (third party) for the collection of alleged decriminialised parking contraventions there is absolutely no provision for this under the Data Protection Act 1998.

 

In this case the bailiff has also taken the illegality of his appointment further on by extracting money from somebody he knew never owed anything and whose identity fell outside of his terms of reference.

[tomtubby]

I can understand why you are angry but if the bailiff has a Warrant of Execution then his job is to enforce it.

 

Our firm have had may involvements in Form 4 Complaints all of which have been successful because they are kept for serious problems. That is not to say this is not serious, but you need to get the full facts first.

 

In the first instance a bailiff is ALLOWED to accept a VOLUNTARY PAYMENT and this is precisley what the bailiff will say that he received ( we have seen so many of these that I know the standard reply) !!

 

On the matter of discussing the case. Again, the bailiff will say that your mother in law ASKED him the purpose of the visit !!!

 

What you need to do is resolve this. You need to contact the local authority for details of the PCN number and once you have this ring the Traffic Enforcement Centre on 08457 045 007 to ask them for the date of the Warrant AND the address on the Warrant. This is vitally important.

 

Can you please post back once you have this. If the address on the warrant is Mum in Law, then you need to ask TEC to send you an Out of Time late Statutory Declaration. This will enable you to seek a refund.

[wilsikon]

The address on the warrant is not my mother in laws, it is an address I left in 2007 at about the time the pcn was incurred apparently.

 

I have since found out that the bailiff came from Marston Group Ltd, he did scare my MIL into paying £200 of my bill and left nothing but a piece of paper with a reference number on it.

[wilsikon]

Ok, I now have the payment receipt he left behind, I also got my facts slightly wrong, still think this situation is wrong though!

 

He arrived and told her all about my debt which was £343.10 but ended up telling her that if she gave him £200 he would write off the rest of the debt. She felt she had to give him the money so he would go away and handed him her card.

 

The receipt he has left behind says he is from Marston Group Ltd, he has written my name down incorrectly and where it says 'Debtors Address' he has put my mother in laws address in. I stress I do and did not ever live there. He has then written down the PCN number and the fee of 343.10 added on £1 for card handling, taken £201 and then under balance due written 'force completed'. He has written 'Card Payment by Phone' even though it was on her doorstep and not bothered to get her to sign the '3rd party form signed'

[tomtubby]

Ok, I now have the payment receipt he left behind, I also got my facts slightly wrong, still think this situation is wrong though!

 

He arrived and told her all about my debt which was £343.10 but ended up telling her that if she gave him £200 he would write off the rest of the debt. She felt she had to give him the money so he would go away and handed him her card.

 

The receipt he has left behind says he is from Marston Group Ltd, he has written my name down incorrectly and where it says 'Debtors Address' he has put my mother in laws address in. I stress I do and did not ever live there. He has then written down the PCN number and the fee of 343.10 added on £1 for card handling, taken £201 and then under balance due written 'force completed'. He has written 'Card Payment by Phone' even though it was on her doorstep and not bothered to get her to sign the '3rd party form signed'

 

 

It is always good to get a bargain or a discount......however this NEVER happens with a bailiff !!!

 

Something does not seem right!!

 

Yes you can certainly file an Out of Time. In the first instance you need to telephone the Traffic Enforcement Centre to get details of the warrant of Execution. You need the date it was authorised...and address. You will need the PCN number. Their number is 08457 045 007.

 

Can you post back with a response.