Please Help!! Urgent. Bailiffs Letter Received

[bonechild]

Hi there

I'm new here and I apologise if this has been answered before.

 

my daughter has just received a letter saying she has outstanding parking fines, 4 in total. she is unaware of them but now a company of civil enforcers have wrtten saying she owes £368.31 each for two fines and £185.46 for the other two. 4 letters were put into 1 envelope all dated and timed exactly the same. the two for the higher amounts are headed ATTENDANCE TO REMOVE and the other two for the lesser amounts are headed FIRST NOTICE.

 

This is the first she has heard about any of this. She is scared witless and worried about this ruining her credit scoring. A clean credit record is a requirement for her job. If its spoilt she may lose her job over this.

 

Can she dispute this? Should she start to pay just to get them off her back first and then dispute it?

 

PLEASE PLEASE HELP

[green_and_mean]

Hi there

I'm new here and I apologise if this has been answered before.

 

my daughter has just received a letter saying she has outstanding parking fines, 4 in total. she is unaware of them but now a company of civil enforcers have wrtten saying she owes £368.31 each for two fines and £185.46 for the other two. 4 letters were put into 1 envelope all dated and timed exactly the same. the two for the higher amounts are headed ATTENDANCE TO REMOVE and the other two for the lesser amounts are headed FIRST NOTICE.

 

This is the first she has heard about any of this. She is scared witless and worried about this ruining her credit scoring. A clean credit record is a requirement for her job. If its spoilt she may lose her job over this.

 

Can she dispute this? Should she start to pay just to get them off her back first and then dispute it?

 

PLEASE PLEASE HELP

 

She needs to find out what the order is for 'parking fines' is not really much help. She needs to contact the company and get clarification what the fines are for and if a warrant has been issued for recovery and if so by which Court.

[Blagton]

Hi there

I'm new here and I apologise if this has been answered before.

 

my daughter has just received a letter saying she has outstanding parking fines, 4 in total. she is unaware of them but now a company of civil enforcers have wrtten saying she owes £368.31 each for two fines and £185.46 for the other two. 4 letters were put into 1 envelope all dated and timed exactly the same. the two for the higher amounts are headed ATTENDANCE TO REMOVE and the other two for the lesser amounts are headed FIRST NOTICE.

 

This is the first she has heard about any of this. She is scared witless and worried about this ruining her credit scoring. A clean credit record is a requirement for her job. If its spoilt she may lose her job over this.

 

 

More details required - name of these collectors and who the claim to be collected an alledged debt from. Some background as to where she is alledged to have received these fines.

 

On the face of it it (to me) I'll take a stab that you need to take an hour or so out of your time this morning and take a read of the numerous threads on here relating to Private Parking Companies (PPC's) as it would seem that at some point your Daughter has been collecting Invoices [1] from a PPC.

 

[1] Unless your daughter has received a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) from the Police or Council then she has not received a Fine - she has received an Invoice.

 

A PCN issued by the Police/Council should not be confused with a similar sounding piece of paper that might come froma PPC - for example a Parking Charge Notice - same acronym (PCN) but designed to confuse the unwary and vunerable into thnking they have something to pay.

 

A official PCN would also have been followed up by other offical documentation such a Notice to Owner - any sign of tone of these in the past ?

 

For a Baliff to get involved the following WILL have happened

 

1. You or your daughter would have been issued official court papers after the Plaintiff has failed to recover the fine (ie your Daughter has refused to pay).

 

2. The judge decided in favour of the Plaintiff case after looking at the facts of the case based on law.

 

3. Your daughter even then chooses to ignore the court decision and refuses to pay

 

Only after Point 3 can Bailifs be appointed to come along - only after point 3 will your daughters credit rating be potentially effected as she would have a CCJ against her name.

 

If all she has is a Debt Collection Agency chasing an alledged debtt by sending correspondence to make he think she is in the deep doodaa then, as you will see in other threads all she needs to do is Ignore them [2].

 

Can she dispute this? Should she start to pay just to get them off her back first and then dispute it?

 

PLEASE PLEASE HELP

 

Even if its official PCN then she can still dispute it however I personally suspect its nothing more than a PPC [problem] but for confirmation we need, as originally mentioned some more information.

 

If its not too late, at the mometn don't make contact with the people on the letters and don't write a letter to them claiming your innocence.

 

[2] If you can post a scan or digi photo of the letters - with all your daughter personal and car reg information removed we will be able to confirm whats what. If no scan then at least provide some more detailed informtion (without personal stuff of course)

 

Blagton

[bonechild]

thanks everybody

the fines relate to parking tickets apparently issued by Poole Borough Council. the letter say the charges are PCN £80 and everything above that is charges incurred and vat.

 

she did move back in April/May but did make arrangements to have her post redirected. these letters say she has 'failed to respond to our previous letters' but she hasn't ever received and notice or letters before this.

 

if they had tried to write to the other address and recieved no reply can this be counted as them going through the correct motions? they obviously have her correct address now but are not treating this as a first contact. the name of the company is Ross and Roberts. the letters are issued by someone there who signs himself as a bailiff.

 

it is possible that these fines were issued by a local government parking official. Presumably if someone removed these from her car or if the wind blew it off etc etc the fine would still be payable. the problem here is a) she didn't know about them so couldn't pay them. b) she didn't receive any notice of non-payment and therefore any extra charges c) we cannot contact the council till monday and these bailiffs may come and take her car or something. d) she hasn't seen any notice to owner or court papers but what if they say these were sent to her other address?

[JimmySpangle]

When she moved, did she update her address with DVLA?

 

Does she have any recolection at all of any parking offences in Poole area?

[green_and_mean]

Stick the car out of the way at a friends house until you sort it out, you should be able to get it taken back to the PCN stage but hopefully someone will be along soon to advise the correct procedure.

[bonechild]

i don't think the dvla has been updated. presumably this enforcement agency found her new address through her new council tax details.

 

her car is now at my house but presumably the bailiff can still go round to the house and take things i her absence. we understand he cannot do this through forcible entry but if her flatmate is in and the patio door is open then we are guessing he can enter.

 

we have called the number he left on his letter but he is unavailable. we have also texted to leave a 'paper trail' and show that an effort has been made.

 

if this conpany has found her address now, then is it possible that they should have given these warnings to at this address as they obviously found out she moved.

 

she has had parking tickets from the council before but believed they were all paid and had no knowledge of these ones

[Jamberson]

The bailiffs are able to act like this because they have a warrant to chase the debt. There is a legal process which she needs to follow to make a challenge to that warrant, with a view to getting it revoked. Assuming she succeeds, the charges will go back to £80, no extra fees on top, and then she can either pay them or appeal them.

 

She is NOT appealing them now - just challenging the bailiff warrant. Here's how: She needs to make "Out of Time Statutory Declarations" on EACH of the PCNs.

 

She has to do this herself - you can't do it for her. She needs to contact Northampton County Court, also known as TEC, and get the forms (I think you can get them from their website: Info about - County Court Bulk Centre - Traffic Enforcement Centre )

 

If not, phone them ASAP and they will post them out.

 

When the forms arrive she needs to tick the box saying she did not receive the Notice to Owner. She also needs to explain why this is, since they are Out of Time and there needs to be a good reason given as to why. She needs to make it crystal clear about the change of address, and if poss, attach proof of when she moved (not essential).

 

You used to have to sign these in front of a Commissioner of Oaths (free of charge, is she goes into at a county court and asks the person at the desk). However I think it can now be done without this step - same basic process but called a Witness Statement. Northampton County Court can confirm the procedure.

 

Then, send the forms back to Northampton County Court ASAP.

 

As soon as they are received, Northampton will tell the local authority (Poole) to place everything on hold while it is dealt with. Until that point, she is still at risk of them clamping the car or blagging their way in, so she needs to be careful until she's filed the forms. If she phones Poole Council (not the bailiffs) first thing Monday, and explains everything and tells them she is filing Out of Time Statutory Declarations, they MAY agree to put a hold on it straight away - that's their call.

 

If you need any more info, post back here.

[Blagton]

thanks everybody

the fines relate to parking tickets apparently issued by Poole Borough Council. the letter say the charges are PCN £80 and everything above that is charges incurred and vat.

 

MMmmm...in which case ignore my comments above with regard PPC's !

 

Not much you can do until Monday but I'd certainly try and contact Poole to confirm when PCN's were issued to your daughters Car (VRM) and where were they sent ?

 

Was your daughters previous address that registered with the DVLA as the Registered Keeper on the V5 ? That would be where the PCN and NTO would have gone - to the RK.

 

it is possible that these fines were issued by a local government parking official. Presumably if someone removed these from her car or if the wind blew it off etc etc the fine would still be payable. the problem here is a) .....

 

Whilst there is a possibility that one PCN may have been taken from a windscreen or never placed there to suggest she has had 4 and receive no notification seems hard to accept.

 

You mentioned she has had tickets before from the council and beleives they were paid - were they actually paid (Cheques cleared etc ?). COuld it be these ?

 

Following Jambersons advice about contacting the TEC and filing the Statutory Declaration is all I could add too but do that Monday morning ASAP.

 

Blagton.