I've paid over £2200 to Bristow and Sutor for a parking fine! PLEASE HELP with how to complain!

[Miss Vye]

Hi,

I've posted a thread Baliff Bristow and Sutor Unreasonable attendance fees and administration errors ...

Could anyone please help with templates or legal references I can make in a letter of complaint?

Thank you!

[bladeboy]

If it's for a parking fine then the fees are covered by the Enforcement of Road Traffic Debts Order.

 

If you google the aforementioned you'll get the actual act and section required as well as the table of fees. However, there should be various threads on here that give case histories and fees etc.

 

The fees they are allowed to charge are set out in there and they are specific and non negotiable.

 

First off, write and ask for a specific break down of the fees. Then, send' letter before action' if you've been charged above and beyond the scope of the 'order' which you almost certainly will have been.

 

Put particulars of claim together (ask on here for advice re particulars, also refered to as POC) and issue via your local county court. Fee should be £45.00 or so. Due to being on small claims track you won't have to account for the other sides costs so don't be intimidated along those lines if they try it on.

 

Also, if appropriate, make a 'form 4' complaint about the bailiff. This form is available on the HMCS website and can be downloaded as a PDF file which you fill in. Here you will asking the court that issued the bailiff with their certificate to consider removing it. If memory serves me correctly, you have the right to attend the hearing. The grounds for the removal, from your point of view, would be the blatant overcharging of fees over and above the scope of the Stautory Instrument. The fees are the cornerstone of bailiff work so for them to claim that they 'didn't know' would be very weak as a defence.

 

Similarly, write to the council/parking authority that the bailiff firm is acting for and inform them that their 'agents' whose conduct they are resonsible for are profiteering on their back. Ask them to reconsider using the firm.

 

Sock it to them!

[charterman]

I've always found the website ' Screw the Bailiff ' very useful with copies of letters to send and what to do at various stages of dealing with bailiffs.

[bladeboy]

Yes indeed, good site.

 

The way the industry as a whole carries on beggars belief. About time that there were serious sanctions for overcharging and bullying conduct.

 

They usually make charges up as they go along and know that 99% of time they get away with because people don't have the knowledege/resouces to challenge.

[charterman]

I'm pleased that I could help. Now you can challenge their charges and reclaim your money back. It also tells you how to complain about bailiffs to the court and about the Police if they ignore your complaint. Also you may want to check out the regulations on parking tickets and enforcement. The councils are acting illegally on many occassions when they fine people for parking infringements - and they know it! To them it is just another racket to screw money from motorists or people who don't have their resources to fight back.

BE aware that they will drag any correspondence to the utmost limit in an attempt to exhaust you. The more I deal with different councils and their sheer incompetence, the more I realise that a lot of their ' mistakes ' are deliberate to obtain money. Yes, I know this is fraud, but the difficulty is proving it.

[seanamarts]

I've always found the website ' Screw the Bailiff ' very useful with copies of letters to send and what to do at various stages of dealing with bailiffs.

some info on that site is a little out of date