breaches of confidentiality and data protection

[dphoenixch]

I write regarding enforcement action for conucil tax, i made the mistake of opening the door and allowing the officer to enter my home Nooooo i hear all cry but hey when you dont know you make mistakes.

 

A walking agreement was made and a ten year old kettle, toaster sandwich maker and a table and 4 chairs approx value £50 if lucky. I started an agreement paying £40 per month and paid in Oct and Nov however the Chandlers group are not open on weekends. We all know when christmas and new years fell, due to uncertantiy of opening hours I called on the 4th first working day for most and paind then.

 

Nothing was said and payment taken 29 days later after making another payment I then received a letter poasted through my door to tell me I had broken my arrangement. I called and explained above but Chandlers did not care even though no payments were missed. then to my horror in Feb 2012 a letter was simply left under the communial door of a block of twenty properties on the stone floor my flat is on the fourth floor of the block. I came home to find the bailliff letter pinned to the notice board for all to see.

 

It caught my eye too so I had a look wondering I feel sorry for whom this may have happened to. To find to my horror it was my name and address on the letter I removed straight away. The letter had my full name including my middle name and my full postal address and council tax number and amount advertised for all to see. I brought this to Chandlers attention and they stated that this happened as they could not get in!! well the post man has never done that if he cant get in neither has any other item been delivered in this manner other than cab numbers and junk mail.

 

I accept that Chandlers did not pin the letter to the board but did they really think a letter in a white envelope left on the floor of a block of twenty would only be opened by me??? who ever beleives that is deluded!!!

 

I have complained and I am on my stage two and I have rasied with the local athority but I am sure under human rights, data protection and confidentuaility this has been breached. I am unsure of what I can do at this juncture and Chandlers are still insisting in collecting the above ten year old goods!

 

Can I bring the iteams to them direct so I do not incurr removal costs? What action can I take about the relevant breaches? Can I make the local authority responsible for the actions of their agent?

 

Any advise on my rights and a way forward will be greatly apprecieated so I dont make further mistakes.

Edited March 19, 2012 by honeybee13
Putting in some paragraphs for ease of reading.

[honeybee13]

Hello there and welcome to CAG.

 

I'll move your thread to the bailiffs forum and hope the guys will be able to help you.

 

My best, HB

[ploddertom]

Start with the following and we'll take things a step at a time.

 

You need to speak to someone at the Council and ask the following questions:

1 - how many Liability Orders they have against you

2 - the dates they were obtained

3 - the addresses they were for

4 - the period of time each covers

5 - how much each one was for

6 - how much is still outstanding

7 - the dates they were passed on for enforcement

[ploddertom]

You also need to find out what charges the Bailiff has made. Here's an example of what to send them, adapt as you see foit and send initially by email followed by a copy in the post:

 

"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"

[outlawla]

I did a bit of research into this a while ago and satisfied myself that this kind of thing would constitute a breach of the Data Protection Act and also contravene The National Standards for Enforcement Agent's Code of Practice.

 

You could make a complaint to the ICO (Information Commissioners Office), but in my experience they are useless and take forever to inform you that they will not be taking any formal action against the company. They will of course tell you that your complaint will go on file in case enough similar complaints are received to trigger an investigation.

 

The following are probably what you need to be looking at:

 

Data Protection Act 1998, references:

i. A breach of the seventh data protection principle in Part I of Schedule 1

ii. Sensitive personal data under section 2 of the Act

iii. Section 4(4) of the Act provides that, subject to section 27(1) of the Act, it is the duty of a data controller to comply with the data protection principles in relation to all personal data in respect of which it is a data controller.

AND:

 

The National Standards for Enforcement Agents

require that “

Enforcement agents should, so far as it is practical, avoid disclosing the purpose of their visit to anyone other than the debtor. Where the debtor is not seen, the relevant documents must be left at the address in a sealed envelope addressed to the debtor

.”

Of course if you complain to the council or bailiff company on the strength of The National Standards for Enforcement Agents, they will probably tell you they are "only guidelines" despite priding themselves that they are governed by them. The phrase "Having their cake and eating it springs to mind."

[tomtubby]

I appreciate that there may well be issues concerning breaches of Data Protection but I am looking instead at the levying upon items of very limited value.

 

Do you know what the amount of the Liability Order is and what charges have been added to the account?

[dphoenixch]

You also need to find out what charges the Bailiff has made. Here's an example of what to send them, adapt as you see foit and send initially by email

 

followed by a copy in the post:

 

"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"

 

I will get on to this straight away many thanks for the advise

I have complained to the council who did not want to take on until I forced them to and they in turn have forced the company to respond also. I am prepared to take this matter to small claims if I have to unacceptable to have my personel information left on the floor of the block and to be charged for the privilege.

[ploddertom]

I will get on to this straight away many thanks for the advise

I have complained to the council who did not want to take on until I forced them to and they in turn have forced the company to respond also. I am prepared to take this matter to small claims if I have to unacceptable to have my personel information left on the floor of the block and to be charged for the privilege.

 

The response you will get from both Council & Bailiffs over this will attribute this to a "one off" error that occurred by mistake as all bailiffs are trained no to do such things. I do believe a Gloucester Old Spot has just floated past the window!

 

PT