Notice of Distress - Marston Group (tv licence)

[beclee]

Hi

 

I would appreciate any advice

 

A bailiff from Marston came to my house this morning regarding an unpaid debt of £550, i was fined £250 by magistrates for no tv licence. I paid £50 and presumed the rest was being taken from JSA. I pay £5 a week but it only states fines, not a particular reference.

I explained this and asked for time to pay/check it out and was told that was impossible. I asked for it to be referred back to court - again no.

The bailiff then came in and filled in a Notice of Distress. He listed two sofas, a coffee table, 1 alba tv, 1 xbox 360 and 1 excercise bike.

 

He has given me days to pay. I have no money to spare so wont be able to but after finding this forum I am hoping i can appeal against the validity of the Notice of Distress??

 

My coffee table only cost 60 new, tv 250, xbox belongs to my 18 year old son, leather sofas are both ripped and have no fire tags? and the exercise bike is actually a cross trainer - does this make it invalid?

Also i phoned them asking for a cost breakdown and was told 85 admin and 215 for the visit, is this acceptable?

I am trying to get hold of the court but not having much luck, if i dont pay can the bailiff take these items and what can i do in the meantime to prevent him taking them and give me time to pay. I hope i have included enough info but will happily post anything else that might help.

Thanks

[hallowitch]

I would go to the court and give them the proof that your fine is being paid from your benefits

[beclee]

I have just got off the phone to the court and they have said its a fine for a parking offence that is being taken from benefits, know nothing about that but thats a new subject.

[hallowitch]

did you receive a further steps notice from th Court before the bailiffs visit

have you moved house

 

if not you can file a statutory declaration

 

sounds like you need to go to the court if they are also taking money from your benefits for a Parking offence you knew nothing about looks like the court have made mistake how would they get hold of your national insurance number /benefits ref no to deduct for the fine and I'm sure you would have have to have given the court permission for this deduction

[beclee]

Im not sure about the parking offence, the court were really helpful though and are sending me the details.

 

With regards to the tv licence and marstons the court refused point blank to help in anyway, they told me all dealings have to be with the bailiff.

I dont recall receiving a further steps notice but the court insist they sent two, i was aware of the fine but had believed i was paying it.

The fine is from 2011 if that makes any difference

[ploddertom]

As HW says - have you moved since the "offence" was committed? Did you have any notification about the original hearing or were you fined in your absence?

[tomtubby]

You asked the bailiff to give you time to make enquiries etc and he refused. What needs to be understood is that the bailiff is "commanded by the court" to execute a Distress Warrant and he cannot "go behind" his instructions.

 

The Magistrates Court have responsibility for the warrant and they can...if they wish...instruct Marston Group to stop action whilst this matter is being investigated.

 

The bailiff can return the warrant on the grounds that there are "insufficient goods" on which to levy. From what you have said about the condition of the items, it would seem that the bailiff could in fact return the warrant on this ground...if he wished to.

 

The National Standards for Enforcement Agents clearly provides that enforcement agents should "satisfy themselves that the value of goods impounded in satisfaction of the judgment is proportional to the value of the debt and charges owed"

 

It would seem to me that the value of the goods seized today would not even cover the cost of their removal !!!

 

It is worth remembering that bailiffs rely upon the threat of a bailiff removing goods to obtain payment.

[beclee]

Thanks, I have no way of getting the money and the court only tell me that i have to deal with Marstons now so my only option appears to argue the items he has listed on the notice of Distress.

How do i go about arguing this with the bailiff? He didnt ask me to sign the notice and there is no space on the form for a signature anyway, he also doesnt list his fees.

 

To make things worse the tv actually randomly stopped working last night anyway, its 2 months out of guarantee and argos are offering to still look at it. So now im stuck with no tv at all.

 

I offered repeatedly to pay in instalments but the bailiff didnt want to know, surely as i havent had a plan before this should be an option?

 

what are my next steps to try and get additional time to pay? Im a single parent on JSA if that makes any difference

 

Thanks

[beclee]

Any advice please, I really cant get the money to pay but would willingly set up a payment plan I just dont know how to get the bailiff to agree to one

 

Thanks

[wonkeydonkey]

It would help if you reply to the questions in post #6

 

WD

[lookinforinfo]

The reason you are being asked about change of address etc is in relation to the parking offence. You appeared to be unaware of it and yet before it goes to court

you should have received 3 notifications, plus another after the fine has been handed down. If you received none of those letters, then either that offence is not yours

or you can get the Court ruling set aside as you had no notification about it. But there would need to be a good reason why you had not received any letters about it.

 

Hopefully the letter from Court which should be with you soon will make the picture clearer.

 

If there is a problem with the parking fine [eg it's not yours or the Court has made a mistake], you may be able to transfer the payments you made on it over to the TV licence fine

and maybe get the bailiffs out of your hair.

 

So the more we know about the parking fine and why you seemed to know nothing about it, the quicker we may be able to resolve your problem with Marston.

 

The other way is to contact the JSA people and ask them why they are paying a parking fine when you thought it was going towards the Tv fine.

[beclee]

The parking fine is from my previous address ( i moved 18 mths ago and 3 times in the year before that) which is why I knew nothing about it. This is being paid out of benefits so not causing me problems, but until i get the info from court I have no info to know where i stand with this.

 

The TV Licence was at this address, i think the bailiff said the date was feb this year.

He has visited this morning and asked for the money again, i repeatedly told him I cant pay and would like it sent back to court as I could be classed as vunerable due to single parent/benefits. I also pointed out that the Xbox belongs to my son, paid for on his dad's CC (can get proof) the sofas have no fire tags and the TV stopped working the night he visited (typical of my luck)

He started getting stroppy so i again offered to pay in installments if he wasnt willing to pass it back to court, he told me he is ordered to collect goods/money and thats what he will be doing. He repeatedly told me I dont want to go back to court, i argued that i do as it would give me time to start making payments and save as much as i can. I also suggested that if i appeared in court it would allow me to offer a decent payment plan. He insists thats not the option i want and that it will be a million times worse, than having my goods taken??

He then tried to point out that even if the items on the levy arent worth the value of fine when the van comes they will jsut take extra stuff, pointed out to him that we moved here from a refuge and have nothing, he didnt like that.

I pointed out to him that i have a job offer from DWP and will be working by the end of Sept so able to pay more by then, he seemed a bit happier and suggested giving me till friday next week to come up with something, already told him what i want so dont know what else he is suggesting i offer but at least i get a bit more time to maybe get a loan or what ever.

Thanks for all the advice, it was brilliant to be in a stronger position when he knocked and i felt quite empowered

Bec x

[lookinforinfo]

That is wonderful that you stood up to him and got him to go on his way with nothing and some breathing space. You will feel a lot better for that.

You realise that he cannot take extra things that are not on his levy.

 

Trouble is that as he gained access to your property the walk in possession is costing you money each day so you really do need to have that levy quashed as the levy

appears to be for the bailiffs benefit rather than paying off the fine.

 

Did the parking fine get all the way to Court and if so, how much did you have to pay?