Rossendales / Peterborough City Council

[uptomyneckinit]

Good evening

 

This happened around two years ago I must confess and although I stumped up the fees the bailiffs wanted, this has been eating away at me ever since as I feel I have been completely stiched up.

 

Background:

I went through a very messy marriage breakup and moved away from down South to East Anglia. My now ex-wife left me in all kinds of crap. Long story short, I then got made redundant from East Anglia and found myself somewhat qucikly back down South whilst going through a severe bout of depression. Anyway, I had a rented flat and I fully admit that I didnt manage to keep on top of things including council tax.

 

Bailiff:

One day in October 2010, I had just come home and come through the front door. There was a knock at the door and there was a bailiff and their monkey boy standing next to them. They asked if I was Mr blah blah to which I confirmed I was and the bailiff pushed past me and stood in the hall refusing to leave.

 

My now fiancee was very scared by this and called 999. The Police initially refused to attend until I said that we were concerned for our safety and they then decided to arrive

 

Police:

The Police were particularly arrogant and were of the view that there was nothing wrong and claimed I had made threats to them (this is for the record completely untrue but the officer who attended has issues with telling the truth)

 

Debt:

The fee from memory was about £1700. We paid this as we had no choice

 

Why am I posting this?

I dont understand how a bailiff can walk into someone's house without permission, surely this is trespass? I was never left details of their "totting up" of my valuables which I understand I should be and surely from reading the other posts, should the Police have allowed this to happen as surely as the home owner it is my choice if I let someone into the house?

 

I realise this is some time ago but it is really upsetting me even now and I remain very angry. Rossendales were as you would expect somewhat disinterested and didn't feel anything wrong had occurred although they never provided me a breakdown of fees

 

I would welcome your advice because this really upsets me and I am very down over it all. I realise some of this was my fault and that is fair enough but I certainly have not been treated fairly at all

 

Thanks everyone

[seanamarts]

This is all very typical of bailiff behaviour im sorry to say, however if you can find out some information, its not too late to get a complaint in.

 

How much did you owe the council?

 

How much were the bailiffs charging?

 

How many times did they attend.

 

Did you know the names of the bailiffs.

[uptomyneckinit]

Hi

 

I am going from memory here I am afraid but it was around £1200 as a guess, the bailiffs charged a lot on top. They appear to have been to all my old addresses (I moved four times in a year). The bailiff was a Polish chap. I cant remember his name and cant find the paperwork.

[ploddertom]

Can you remember who the Bailiffs were? Can you remember which Council they were collecting for? Can you remember the address the Liability Order was for? If so you have 6 years in which to reclaim any overcharged fees.

[dx100uk]

schhhhhhss dont tell PT its in the title of the thread...

 

dx

[seanamarts]

schhhhhhss dont tell PT its in the title of the thread...

 

dx

 

 

 

Sadly, unless you have information with details of the LO, then you may find that complaints etc will be a little difficult to get processed

[ploddertom]

schhhhhhss dont tell PT its in the title of the thread...

 

dx

 

See what happens when Aunt Stella visits, glasses don't work properly.

[Conniff]

How did you pay the bailiff?

 

If by debit card or the like, there would be a record of the payment.

[brassnecked]

Might be worth a SAR if an enquiry at the Council Revenues Dept doesn't get you the information, as to

 

how many liability orders they had for you

the tax years they applied to

when they were obtained

when sent to bailiffs

 

From this information you can start to put together what they were after, and possibly an account number, you could also speculatively send the Acme letter to Dossers, using your house number and postcode as an initial reference to see if they remember whether they ripped you off.

 

"From:

My Name

My Address

.

To:

Acme Bailiff Co

Bailiff House

.

Ref: Account No: 123456

.

Dear Sir

.

With reference to the above account, which was with you 1n 2010, 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"

 

 

It may be worth a punt as you have 6 years to claim any overpayment of charges back, as has already been mentioned.

[uptomyneckinit]

Hi thank you all for your replies

I think the total amount was £1300 from emails I have found which has been paid

What I am really unhappy about is the fact that the bailiff has forced his way into the property and I did not allow him access - the Police let him carry on and I understand this may be a breach of Article 8 of the Human Rights Act but I am not entirely sure about this

Thanks

[seanamarts]

Well they certainly didnt have a qualified right, but they would argue that they did.

 

But its interesting and could be argued.

 

The police, unless instructed by a court, cannot aid the bailiff at all in entering a property. They are there purely to stop any breach of the peace.

[brassnecked]

Sadly the police are often persuaded to assist, quite unlawfully as it happens to assist a Certificated Bailiff to enter a premises when there is no right, the Lo is misrepresented as a Court Warrant, which it isn't and the police are in awe of the bailiff so like little children they help the scrote, and become criminals themselves.

Edited January 9, 2013 by brassnecked

[uptomyneckinit]

I think for me the main sticking point is the Police really as they did nothing to help me and as you say tried to attempt to stop a breach of the peace (I think it is safe to say I was not very happy) - my fiancee triple 9'd the Police to say someone had forced their way in and they said that they were not initally prepared to attend

Based on this, can I now put a rocket under the Chief Constable of Dibbleshire Police to have the officer held account

[Conniff]

Do it by recorded delivery, and drop one off to the IPCC as well.

 

There are too many cases where the police are called to bailiffs and have the attitude of 'should have paid your bill' about them.

 

https://secureforms.ipcc.gov.uk/Pages/form_complaint.aspx

 

Who can make a complaint?

 

You can make a complaint if you:

• experienced inappropriate behaviour from a police officer or member of police staff
  
• witnessed an incident – for example, you were present when an incident took place or were close enough to see or hear the incident
  
• have been adversely affected by the conduct of a police officer or member of police staff, even if it did not take place in relation to you. 'Adversely affected' has a specific meaning within the police complaints system. It is defined at page 143 of the IPCC's Statutory Guidance.
  

You could be acting on behalf of someone in any of the categories listed above if you have their written permission to make a complaint on their behalf.

What can I complain about?

 

You can complain if you are not satisfied with the service you have received from the police. People who work in the police service should behave appropriately at all times. Expectations about the behaviour of both police officers and members of police staff are set out in their respective Standards of Professional Behaviour. These expectations include a requirement to:

• act with honesty and integrity, fairness and impartiality
  
• treat members of the public and their colleagues with respect
  
• not abuse their powers and authority
  
• act in a manner that does not discredit or undermine public confidence in the police service.
  

If you feel that someone working for the police has not met these standards, you can make a complaint.

You can also complain about the way a police force is run – this is called a ‘direction and control’ issue. For example, you can complain if you are not happy with operational management decisions, general policing standards, or policing policies.

[uptomyneckinit]

I should point out that I did try to bury the police officer but because he was up for a bravery award, he was defended without investigation by his superior officers