other TFL Bailiffs Clamped my Car without Statutory Notice of Enforcement for £535

[Joemo2007]

I'm wondering if you could possibly offer me any advice, like you have kindly given to many before me.

 

The Task Enforcement came this morning at 7am to tell me that my car had been clamped, and that I could un-clamp it by paying a fee of £535

 

It all started on 22.07.2015 when I was contacted by my old landlady. She told me I was being chased by Bailiff's for unpaid Congestion Charge Penalty Notice.

 

I realized that DVLA must still have my old address, so I immediately sent off my driving license, and also called the Congestion people. They said that I now owed about £270 from entering the congestion area on 26.02.2015! But was too late to pay them. They kindly advised me this happens all the time and not to worry. There was another procedure. They put me in touch with the TEC. It was all very friendly. Having looked in my diary, 26.02.2015 I was on a job on Curtain road and retracing my steps on Googlemaps, I had turned around just inside the congestion zone without realizing at the time

 

The TEC then sent me the PE3 & PE2 Statutory Declaration application forms, which I completed and had signed by a local solicitor (£10 charge)

 

The TEC then sent me a letter on 04.08.15 to say that my APPLICATION WAS REFUSED without a hearing. There were options to apply for a review but they both had extra costs.

 

I presumed I would have to bite the bullet and pay the full amount, and have been waiting for a final bill.

 

Then the first correspondense from the Bailifs came this morning with a clamp. Aparently they are called Task Enforcement and I had to pay them £535 so that I could take my kids to school and drive to work

 

I must add that the bailiffs were actually nice guys, and it saddened them that there was nothing they could do. They said they would wait in the van for five minutes whilst I had a think

 

Is there any way of getting some of the money back now that I have paid it in full?

 

Breakdown of payment below

 

debt £202

Compliance stage fee £75

Enforcement stage fee £235

 

 

Thanks and best wishes

 

Joe

[unclebulgaria67]

I'm wondering if you could possibly offer me any advice, like you have kindly given to many before me.

 

The Task Enforcement came this morning at 7am to tell me that my car had been clamped, and that I could un-clamp it by paying a fee of £535

 

It all started on 22.07.2015 when I was contacted by my old landlady. She told me I was being chased by Bailiff's for unpaid Congestion Charge Penalty Notice.

 

I realized that DVLA must still have my old address, so I immediately sent off my driving license, and also called the Congestion people. They said that I now owed about £270 from entering the congestion area on 26.02.2015! But was too late to pay them. They kindly advised me this happens all the time and not to worry. There was another procedure. They put me in touch with the TEC. It was all very friendly. Having looked in my diary, 26.02.2015 I was on a job on Curtain road and retracing my steps on Googlemaps, I had turned around just inside the congestion zone without realizing at the time

 

The TEC then sent me the PE3 & PE2 Statutory Declaration application forms, which I completed and had signed by a local solicitor (£10 charge)

 

The TEC then sent me a letter on 04.08.15 to say that my APPLICATION WAS REFUSED without a hearing. There were options to apply for a review but they both had extra costs.

 

I presumed I would have to bite the bullet and pay the full amount, and have been waiting for a final bill.

 

Then the first correspondense from the Bailifs came this morning with a clamp. Aparently they are called Task Enforcement and I had to pay them £535 so that I could take my kids to school and drive to work

 

I must add that the bailiffs were actually nice guys, and it saddened them that there was nothing they could do. They said they would wait in the van for five minutes whilst I had a think

 

Is there any way of getting some of the money back now that I have paid it in full?

 

Breakdown of payment below

 

debt £202

Compliance stage fee £75

Enforcement stage fee £235

 

 

Thanks and best wishes

 

Joe

 

Think you are stitched up due to failure to notify DVLA of change of address. The notice of enforcement would have gone to the address they had at the time. They don't issue another to the address you later notify. The compliance and enforcement fees would be due, as would the debt. So not sure what grounds you have to appeal.

 

There are others on here who know more, but they would want to know the basis of your declaration to TEC which was refused.

[Joemo2007]

Think you are stitched up due to failure to notify DVLA of change of address. The notice of enforcement would have gone to the address they had at the time. They don't issue another to the address you later notify. The compliance and enforcement fees would be due, as would the debt. So not sure what grounds you have to appeal.

 

There are others on here who know more, but they would want to know the basis of your declaration to TEC which was refused.

 

My main beef is that I tried to pay TFL £270 back in July and was told I could not pay them and had to appeal instead.

 

I was happy to pay the owed amount. But how could I? I needed the statement with correct company/department/amount

 

Why didn't the TEC pass on the right payment details and amount owed when they rejected my appeal in Augyust?

 

I only found out today that it was Task Enforcement Ltd

[unclebulgaria67]

My main beef is that I tried to pay TFL £270 back in July and was told I could not pay them and had to appeal instead.

 

I was happy to pay the owed amount. But how could I? I needed the statement with correct company/department/amount

 

Why didn't the TEC pass on the right payment details and amount owed when they rejected my appeal in Augyust?

 

I only found out today that it was Task Enforcement Ltd

 

Wait for a reply later from someone who knows This better

 

If they refused your payment back in July, you might have a claim against TFL

[Bailiff Advice]

I will respond in detail later on.

 

One quick point is that I note that you have now updated your driving licence. Whilst this is very important...have you also updated your vehicle records (V5c) at DVLA?

[Joemo2007]

No! OMG!

 

Perhaps this is where it came unstuck. Just found my V5C and sending off now.

 

Thank you

[Bailiff Advice]

No! OMG!

 

Perhaps this is where it came unstuck. Just found my V5C and sending off now.

 

Thank you

 

With you enter the congestion charging zone, the cameras will read your VRM (Vehicle Registration Mark). A request is then sent to DVLA for keeper details and the address provided by them is the one used by TfL to send the Notice to Owner. When you spoke with TfL did you ask them whether there are any more tickets on their sytem for you?

[Bailiff Advice]

 

They put me in touch with the TEC. It was all very friendly. Having looked in my diary, 26.02.2015 I was on a job on Curtain road and retracing my steps on Googlemaps, I had turned around just inside the congestion zone without realizing at the time

 

The TEC then sent me the PE3 & PE2 Statutory Declaration application forms, which I completed and had signed by a local solicitor (£10 charge)

 

The TEC then sent me a letter on 04.08.15 to say that my APPLICATION WAS REFUSED without a hearing. There were options to apply for a review but they both had extra costs.

 

I presumed I would have to bite the bullet and pay the full amount, and have been waiting for a final bill.

 

Joe,

 

When you completed the Out of Time Statutory Declaration did you provide an explanation as to why you had not received any of the statutory notices? (Notice to Owner, Charge Certificate or Order for Recovery)?

 

If so, did you also provide any evidence in support as to the date that you moved (new council tax bill for example).

[Joemo2007]

Er no. Was only asked to send off the forms (attached) With Solicitors signature. In hindsight I should have posted on here for more advice back in July.

[2ltr16valve]

Joe remove the attachment urgently. Shows personal details. Edit and repost

[honeybee13]

Joe remove the attachment urgently. Shows personal details. Edit and repost

 

Thank you for the heads up, 2ltr, good spot.

 

I've removed the attachment, Joe, you might care to edit and then repost it.

 

HB

[Joemo2007]

Thank you. I just informed them of my new addressSorry about that.

 

Joe

[Bailiff Advice]

Er no. Was only asked to send off the forms (attached) With Solicitors signature. In hindsight I should have posted on here for more advice back in July.

 

I quite understand and you cannot be blamed. Who was it that advised you to simply send the signed form off to the Traffic Enforcement Centre?

[Joemo2007]

The TFL Congestion charge customer services

[Bailiff Advice]

The TFL Congestion charge customer services

 

The customer service staff are experienced to deal with congestion charging in general and would very likely only have limited knowledge of Out of Time witness statements. These applications are very much misunderstood and this is not helped by the fact when a bailiff visits (or a letter arrives) many people take to the internet for 'advice' and the unlucky ones will come across the many 'Beat the Bailiff' Facebook pages or other sites advising ways in which to avoid paying bailiff fees.

 

A common feature of these sites is that if the debt is a road traffic one....to file an Out of Time witness statement.....if the debt is a Magistrate Court fine...to file a Statutory Declaration and with council tax debts....submit a 'vulnerable' letter and write a formal complaint to the Chief Executive of the council. Very rarely will advice to given on how to complete the necessary forms and this in turn leads to thousands of Out of Time witness statements being submitted that are at best useless, and at worse, exposing the individual to the risk of perjury (because they are lying on the forms). Naturally this leads to a high percentage of forms being rejected.

 

Over the past 10 years I have assisted with over 7,000 Out of Time applications and because the forms have been properly completed (and for the right reason) they are mainly all accepted. Each application is individual and requires an explanation as to why notices had not been received and the REASON for the delay.

 

In the case of Transport for London I have always found them to be by far the best authority to address bailiff complaints and to consider Out of Time Applications. Unfortunately in your case, you did not complete the form correctly and worse still, did not seek a 'review' by way of an N244. This was not your fault and personally I think that you will probably have to put this matter down to experience. Fortunately you have now updated your records with DVLA and also updated your driving licence.

 

The following is a link to the Guidance Notes on completing the Out of Time statutory declaration.

 

http://hmctsformfinder.justice.gov.uk/HMCTS/GetLeaflet.do?court_leaflets_id=2523

[Joemo2007]

Thank you.

 

In you opinion, should I still proceed applying for a review of this decision? And if so, is iit better the £50 or £155 option? I just spoke with the TEC again and they said it's not too late. See beow

 

 

Thank you for your enquiry

 

Your application to file a Statutory Declaration/Witness Statement out of time was referred to the Court Officer for a decision without a hearing under Part 75.5 (1) of the Civil Procedure Rules. Your application has been refused.

 

 

 

The Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC) is unable to assist with any queries you may have regarding why the application was refused. Reasons are not held on court record and the Court Officer is not required to give an explanation for refusal. Please be aware that any enforcement action may be reintroduced by the Local Authority pursuing you and the TEC do not have the authority to stop such enforcement action.

 

 

 

If you wish to apply for a review of this decision, you should complete an Application Notice form N244 for each penalty charge number. To assist you, I am taking the opportunity to enclose the N244 form with this letter. Please copy as required. The application should be filed with the TEC within 14 days of the date of service of the Court Officer’s Order or if your application is late you will need to give reasons why you have failed to file it within the time specified (see Guidance Notes Part 3).

 

 

 

For a review by a District Judge at a hearing to be arranged at your nearest County Court, the fee payable is £155.00 for each penalty charge number. Or for a review by a District Judge without a hearing, the fee payable is £50.00 for each penalty charge number.

 

 

 

Cheques made payable to HMCTS.

 

 

Card payments for application fees can also be taken by contacting the Helpdesk on 0300 123 1057 number between 9.30am and 3.30, Monday – Friday. On the last court working day of the month between 9.30am and 3.00pm,

 

If you have already paid the application fee you can file the completed scanned forms via email:

 

You can see if you are eligible for help with court fees by checking the attached EX160A booklet.

 

Post to:

 

County Court Business Centre

Her Majesty’s Court & Tribunals Service

St Katharine’s House

21-27 St Katharine’s Street

Northampton

NN1 2LH

[Bailiff Advice]

Thank you.

 

In you opinion, should I still proceed applying for a review of this decision? And if so, is iit better the £50 or £155 option? I just spoke with the TEC again and they said it's not too late.

 

Such an application is going to incur you in additional fees and if the application were to succeed, you would not be able to recover that additional charge. Personally, I think that you would be better placed having your enquiry reviewed by Transport for London and in this respect I will send you a PM with the relevant contact details.