Bailiffs just been...what a mess :(

[qwerty12345]

Hi, I havent posted in a while but will start with saying, i was in alot of debt and had various bailiffs visits, but i have been working hard on paying them off and they were all cleared in the last month apart from this one.

 

The only debt remaining was an unpaid council tax bill of £170. Bailiffs are bristow & sutor, i sent them a letter last month via recorded delivery stating (used a template letter) that i was a vulnerable person and a payment and offer to pay the debt off via monthly direct debit. Previous to this I have had two visits by bailiffs who were actually very reasonable and told me to contact head office (which i did)

 

Well at 7pm this evening, there was a very loud knock at my window...a rather erm well, a woman (i think) saying she was from b&s (bull &**** possibly??) and that i owed £380 and if they were here to seize my car (apparently it already had a levy on it but i have no paperwork for this) i dont know what the need for the van was as she had no intention of coming into the house, she said she was there to seize the car and that if i didnt pay the full amount in 5 minutes then they would call for recovery and add another £170 on.

 

At that point i said im sorry but i have a disabled son and its not a case of wanting my car, but i NEED it, i offered to pay an amount off it until i could gather the funds but she said no way is that a possibility.

I think it was when i said i had a disabled child and she came out with "i dont care who's f***ing disabled" I then got a bit arsey and went to sit in my car and told her she is not taking it.

 

Well she then said "its just gone up to £550, you have 5 minutes to get someone to pay it before i call recovery at £170 and for every half an hour we are here you get an extra £50 added on"

 

To cut a long story short, a family member has paid it over the phone (with them only mentioning the 4% charge AFTER accepting payment!)

 

So ok, thats another debt paid off, but surely they cannot do this, im so upset/angry and embarassed about this. And it has also landed me in a huge financial mess (have to pay family member back on fri)

 

Oh one last thing...she gave me a receipt for payment, but i asked for info on the charges and why they were charged and she refused to tell me or give me any paperwork- just told me to ring head office.

 

Thankyou in advance.

[hallowitch]

how much did you pay her not including the 4% charge

[qwerty12345]

£550

[hallowitch]

£550

 

 

no way even with a levy this debt cant be £550

 

is the car

on HP/finance/mobility

what did you write in your letter to B&S did you send a copy to the council what date did you send it (did you keep a copy of it)

 

I take it you didn't receive a reply

[ploddertom]

Get this sent off ASAP. Adapt to your own needs and send initially by email tonight and a copy in the post tomorro.

 

"From:

My Name

My Address

 

To:

Acme Bailiff Co

Bailiff House

 

Ref: Account No: 123456

 

Dear Sir

 

With reference to the above account, Can you please provide me with a breakdown of the charges.

 

This includes:

a - the time & date of any Bailiff action that incurred a Fee.

b - the reason for the fee.

c - the name(s) of the Bailiff(s) that attended on each occasion a Fee was charged.

d - the name(s) of the Court(s) the Bailiff(s) was/were Certificated at.

e - the date of the Certification.

 

This is not a Subject Access Request under the Data Protection Act S7 1998 so does not incur a fee of £10. You are obliged to provide this information.

 

I require this information within 14 days.

 

Yours faithfully

 

Ripped off customer"

 

PT

[qwerty12345]

Sent by recorded delivery and a copy sent to the council too.

 

It basically was the template from this site i think, it read along the lines of "I write further to your visit....i confirm i am classed as a vulnerable person for the purposes of civil enforcement agents directives...etc etc."

 

She said the debt was £380 when she first arrived...it seems because i annoyed her she then put it up to £550 in a matter of 5 minutes. Is there any way she could possibly do this? I pleaded with her to take the original £380 (even reduced to tears) but she would not budge.

 

Oh and she also said she would have the police come and remove me from my vehicle if i didnt get out (my OH is a police officer but unable to get hold of him at the mo as he's working, to find out whether this is true or not)

[qwerty12345]

Get this sent off ASAP. Adapt to your own needs and send initially by email tonight and a copy in the post tomorro.

 

"From:

My Name

My Address

 

To:

Acme Bailiff Co

Bailiff House

 

Ref: Account No: 123456

 

Dear Sir

 

With reference to the above account, Can you please provide me with a breakdown of the charges.

 

This includes:

a - the time & date of any Bailiff action that incurred a Fee.

b - the reason for the fee.

c - the name(s) of the Bailiff(s) that attended on each occasion a Fee was charged.

d - the name(s) of the Court(s) the Bailiff(s) was/were Certificated at.

e - the date of the Certification.

 

This is not a Subject Access Request under the Data Protection Act S7 1998 so does not incur a fee of £10. You are obliged to provide this information.

 

I require this information within 14 days.

 

Yours faithfully

 

Ripped off customer"

 

PT

 

Thankyou, i will do.

[hallowitch]

Is this related to this thread

 

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?223935-rossendales...help!&highlight=

[qwerty12345]

No, nothing to do with that, i cleared that one in full last year.

[morsy]

Just a quick question your car is it tax as a disabled vechile?

 

My understanding is baliffs can not takes cars or property that you do not own. So if the debt is your and the car ownd by HP / loan or another person or lease hold (such as motability) they cant touch it. I also belive that the registered keeper and the owner do not need to be the same thing. So if i own the car and my other half uses it most it maybe registered in there name, they are olnly the keeper not owner.

 

I also belive that if its taxed as deisabled it cant be towed, clamped or taken by a baillif without a court order? Not sure how correct that is ... can any one clarifiy?

[qwerty12345]

Its not a motability car, its my own, its also an old banger so they would not have got much at auction!...i dont know anything about disabled tax...its in my name, but i use it mainly to get my disabled son around as he cant travel on public transport.

 

I am now pretty much debt free, but i feel they have taken double the amount they should have.

 

Would they need to have put a levy on my car at a previous visit? (thats what she said) but i have no paperwork supporting this (recieved a letter through the door - well- stuck to the outside of my door not even in an envelope a while back but nothing about a levy)

Is there a governing body i can complain to? ... i want my money back that i was overcharged!!

[RaeUK]

Qwerty, I'm so so sorry but you weren't overcharged at all. You were damned well conned! The one 'good' thing is this debt is paid. Cool. That means you have all the time in the world to deal with this. Please take your time, believe me, you have so much on your side! I would like to help and any help I offer is alongside what others suggest. Can you tell me about your disabled son? What's wrong? How old is he? Does he get DLA? Or ESA? Or both? If you feel some information may be too personal for a public forum then please PM me as this is important info. Also, do you have a Blue Badge?

What you will need to do is compile a pretty damning Formal Complaint to the CEO of the Council and, from what I have read thus far, you have pretty good ammo.

My personal view, and I appreciate others may differ, I don't like 'template letters'. I think their day has gone. Can you imagine how many copies of the same letter a bailiff or council must receive? Probably with the unhelpfull view of 'oh, here's another one pulled from the internet'. I think you need to heavily re-write them in your own style.

If you bear with me - I have an ESA Tribunal on Thursday that I'm trying to brush up for - I'd happily write you a letter to adapt. If, for some reason, this thread slips passed me then do not hesitate to PM me and draw my attention back. I reply to a lot of threads and it's often difficult to keep track of where I've wanted to help!

Best wishes

Rae

[qwerty12345]

Hi, thanks for the reply. My son is severely autistic and suffers from hypermobility, he gets DLA at the highest rate care and we are currently appealing the mobility component. I dont have a blue badge at the moment.

thanks

[qwerty12345]

I have just spoken to the council that the laibility order was from. I was slightly wrong about the original debt...the liability order was for £224.

I have also emailed B&S asking them for a breakdown of fees charged. In the meantime i looked online at my account with them and it is showing i paid £50 in october and a further £21 in march, which would take the original balance down to £153. Meaning that they have charged me £397 in bailiff fees.

[ploddertom]

Make sure you also send them a copy of the breakdown request in the post. The reply from them could be intersting although I suspect they will be obstuctive.

 

PT

[hallowitch]

Meaning that they have charged me £397

 

1st visit fee £24.50

2nd visit fee £18

 

levy fee £29.50

van fee approx £150

total bailiff fees £220

[qwerty12345]

Meaning that they have charged me £397

 

1st visit fee £24.50

2nd visit fee £18

 

levy fee £29.50

van fee approx £150

total bailiff fees £220

 

Although they came in a van they had no intention of using it to seize my goods from my house...i offered her the chance to come in and take belongings from inside the house but she declined...said they were specifically here to take the car. She also said that to call for the recovery of the car would be an extra £170 for the tow truck.

 

So what was the van needed for??

[caledfwlch]

Cant the relative now contact his card provider and have the payment reversed due to fraud, since an unlawful 4% "handling charge" was added?

[hallowitch]

Although they came in a van they had no intention of using it to seize my goods from my house...i offered her the chance to come in and take belongings from inside the house but she declined...said they were specifically here to take the car. She also said that to call for the recovery of the car would be an extra £170 for the tow truck.

 

So what was the van needed for??

 

 

you will find when you receive a reply to your breakdown of fees that a van will have been charged a week or two after the alleged levy took place

 

once a van/attendance to remove fee has been added there can be no other fees unless goods are removed

[qwerty12345]

you will find when you receive a reply to your breakdown of fees that a van will have been charged a week or two after the alleged levy took place

 

once a van/attendance to remove fee has been added there can be no other fees unless goods are removed

Ok, so just to be clear the only amount they are allowed to charge is what you said in an earlier post...

1st visit fee £24.50

2nd visit fee £18

 

levy fee £29.50

van fee approx £150

[hallowitch]

Ok, so just to be clear the only amount they are allowed to charge is what you said in an earlier post...

1st visit fee £24.50

2nd visit fee £18

 

levy fee £29.50

van fee approx £150

 

yes legislation does not allow for further fees to be charged unless goods are removed

 

http://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/docs/Enforcement_Agent_Charges.pdf

 

 

Make a freedom of information request to your council (you can do this on line through the council web site)ask them for a copy of there service level agreement /code of conduct between them and rossendales for the enforcement of council tax

[morsy]

hi just catching up on your thread

 

If you get DLA for mobility at the highest rate you are entittled to free road tax which changes you cars tax class to 'disabled' .

 

This is what I was hinting at ealier in post # 10. You also qualify for a blue badge.

 

If you have both a disabled tax classed vhecle then a baliff can't take it, is my understanding ... can any one confirm?

Edited May 4, 2011 by morsy

[seanamarts]

hi just catching up on your thread

 

If you get DLA for mobility at the higest rate you are entitkled to free road tax which changes you cars tax class to 'disabled' .

 

This is what I was hinting at ealier in post # 10. You also qualify for a blue badge.

 

If you have both a disabled tax classed vhecle then a baliff can't take it, is my understanding ... can any one confirm?

If I read correctly the OP only gets care component, however the household is classed as vulnerable so the bailiff should back off and the council should in hindsight take the debt back.

As for mobility cars, no they cannot take them. I am almost 100% sure that they cannot take cars that are taxed as disabled.

[brassnecked]

hi just catching up on your thread

 

If you get DLA for mobility at the higest rate you are entitkled to free road tax which changes you cars tax class to 'disabled' .

 

This is what I was hinting at ealier in post # 10. You also qualify for a blue badge.

 

If you have both a disabled tax classed vhecle then a baliff can't take it, is my understanding ... can any one confirm?

 

I think as long as the car is on the Motability scheme, either leased or being bought on HP through the scheme, then the bailiff cannot take it, if it is owned outright even with a disabled zero rate tax disc, which means it is in the disabled taxation class,I think they would be able to levy, technically, but in practice the adverse publicity that may well result if the press got wind of it, and a complaint to the council CEO, Councillors and MP, regarding the bailiff, their agent who the council are joint and severally liable with for their actions, would not go down well. if they are exposed ignoring obvious vulnerability. Others may know more but contacting the council stressing the vulnerability of one member makes the whole family vulnerable would be a good option

[hallowitch]

is this the same baillif that came to your home

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?304213-Secretly-filmed-baillif-officer-shocking-behaviour(2-Viewing)-nbsp