Philips Specialist Bailiff & Debt Recovery Agents - Distress Warrant

[moufflon]

Re: Notice of Distress Warrant - Philips Debt Recovery / Bailiffs

Hello,

 

I received two of these Philips distress Warrant letters today - different reference numbers - different amounts -

£300 and £317.09

 

With the same '7 days or we'll force entry to your home' threat.

 

Neither letter is dated.

I have NO prior knowledge of either of these alleged debts.

From 'North West London'

 

I will contact the magistrates court if I can find a number on Monday morning and follow your advice above.

 

I will post again to explain how things unfold for anyone else in my boat.

 

These letters are extremely intimidating.

[moufflon]

I was asked to start a new thread so I've copied and pasted my comments from this thread:

 

'Notice of Distress Warrant - Philips Debt Recovery / Bailiffs' -

 

to this one, in case anyone needs to read more.

 

I've never seen such threatening letters completely out of the blue.

 

Been mulling it over for the last couple of hours now I've got over the initial shock.

 

Can this sort of thing be entirely legal?

 

No date on letter & 7 days to respond or else -

Threats of breaking into my house.

 

I'm amazed that our legal system allows this kind of thing.

 

All this with absolutely no previous communication.

 

Never mind Egypt and Libya the **** will hit the fan here if this sort of thing starts happening regularly.

 

This whole thing is truly repulsive!

[hallowitch]

looks like there is a big crackdown going on over unpaid magistrate court fines looks likes it could be going on all over the country there out in force

 

http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&xhr=t&q=Operation+Crackdown+magastrate+court+fines&cp=42&pf=p&sclient=psy&rlz=1W1GPEA_en-GB&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=Operation+Crackdown+magastrate+court+fines&pbx=1&fp=7fbe243709a5691

Eastbourne herald

 

 

 

Published on Thu Feb 10 22:00:00 GMT 2011

 

 

CRIMINALS who try to avoid paying their court fines are to be targeted in a month-long campaign in Sussex.

 

Operation Crackdown has been relaunched this month (February) by Her Majesty’s Courts Service.

It will see court enforcement officers and local police in Sussex engaging in a series of blitzes on offenders’ homes to collect unpaid fines.

Bailiffs will also be issued with warrants to confiscate property.

Where necessary, those who refuse to co-operate will be arrested.

Court time will be set aside to deal specifically with fine dodgers.

The first Operation Crackdown blitz which took place in February last year saw 9,425 warrants executed and £1.02m collected across England and Wales.

The overall result was that 14.7 per cent more cash was collected than in February 2009.

Julia Eeles, HMCS area director for Kent, Surrey and Sussex, said, “Our message to fine dodgers is clear: pay up now or face the consequences.

“The courts will do everything within their powers to trace those who do not pay.

“Money can be taken from an offender’s earnings or from benefits if they are unemployed.

“Warrants can be issued instructing court employed agents to seize and sell goods belonging to the offender.

“Ultimately an offender can be imprisoned for non-payment of their fine.”

In the financial year of 2009-10, 122,316 warrants to seize and sell goods were issued by magistrates’ courts in the south east.

In the 12 months to September 2010, 978 Attachment of Earnings Orders and 16,350 Deduction from Benefits Orders were issued in Sussex.

Edited March 5, 2011 by hallowitch

[Thegreenpimpernel]

Announced in my area too.

 

Seems like they are scraping the barrel for old fines judging from some of the posts lately. Some of them have obviously been paid.

 

How the heck are people to prove past payment beyond 6 years?

 

Need to learn some stuff.......

[moufflon]

Good morning,

 

Would anyone have an idea as to how I go about locating the issuing court ?

 

My 2 letters received from Philips yesterday simply say 'we have been instructed by 'North West London'

 

Is there a phone number that might help?

 

Just to reiterate - I have no idea what these debts are, or where from so I'm completely clueless at the moment.

 

Thanks for any advice

[fork-it]

This is the second post with the same problem of the same bailiff company quoting a fictitious court. It looks like this is a new MO.

 

Contact police and show the document and made a complaint under Section 40(1)© of the Administration of Justice Act 1940. It a criminal offence.

[moufflon]

A quick update for anyone following this thread:

 

Here's how things are right now -

 

I contacted the enforcement office at Uxbridge magistrates court who deal with the North West London area who kindly put the bailiffs action on hold for 21 days whilst I look into whether I can get the amounts reduced on the basis that I knew nothing about them until Saturday. They are in direct communication with Philips the bailiffs.

 

The two actions relate to two fines dating back to Oct 2007 for not displaying a tax disc. I'm not querying those fines because I remember our car being clamped by the police and I had to get it back from the pound. However we never received any subsequent communication and no fines were sent to us until this weekend.

 

The reason why they couldn't get the fines to me is because I didn't update a new change of address with the DVLA. The fines and all subsequent communication went to an old address.

 

I wonder if its worth doing a stat dec and trying to get the amounts reduced.

 

I suspect that I will be held fully accountable because I didn't let the DVLA know of change of address?

 

Any scope for reduction or should I jut pay the bailiffs? (horrible thought!)

 

Probably worth mentioning that a call to Philips although dealt with in a polite manner by them (and me!) did not provide me with any more detail than what was on the original bailiffs letters (ie nothing)

 

It is definitely not in their interests to help you at all so they don't.

 

Thanks for your thoughts and thank you to TomTubby for your help.

[fork-it]

Thanks for your thoughts and thank you to TomTubby for your help.

 

tomtubby hasnt posted on this thread. Has anyone tried to contact you via PM?

[moufflon]

No,

 

I pm'd her actually. after reading a thread she had responded to.

[moufflon]

hi Fork-it,

 

thanks for your suggestion, which I did.

 

The police were happy to talk about it all at length but their advice was to phone the bailiffs with 141 inserted in front of number and ask for more information.

 

It was also implied that if bailiffs are knocking on your door you deserve all you get.

 

Probably right in some cases but these letters are something new and quite sinister in terms of subtle bullying - a lack of information leaves you with no sense of control and makes you crack eventually just to be done with it.

 

anyway thanks for your advice.

[Vee365]

Thought it was best to offer this advice to everyone concerned as my husband has also been through exactly the same thing:

 

1. Contact your local magistrate office, and go and make a statutory declaration (it's free!!!). Be very nice to whoever you speak to. They are usually sympathetic and can give you a little more information about what the fine is for.

 

2. Send a letter of complaint to the named person below:

 

Vicky Savage Philips Collection Services (Bailiffs)

Faverdale industrial estate

Darlington Co Durham

DL3 0PH

3. Make copies of the statutory declaration & complaint letter in 2 above, as well as the letter received from the bailiffs and send it to the Central Accounting Office of the court in question, along with a letter explaining the situation.

 

4. You can search on google for the name of the court by typing in south west london magistrate court, or north east london magistrate court etc. We found more details of south west london magistrate by visiting the 'lawontheweb' website.

Hope this helps?

 

PS: I REALLY DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY THIS COMPANY ARE STILL IN OPERATION, GIVEN THAT THEIR PROCESSES ARE 'DODGY'. WE NEED A CAMPAIGN TO STOP THIS AND CLEAR PEOPLE'S RECORDS OF ILLEGAL CONVICTIONS