Bailiff (TASK) on paid Parking Ticket

[Bailiff Advice]

 

I am a blue badge holder + parked on Disable Bay. But I was issued a ticket as that particular bay was only for a specific Blue Badge holder.

 

After I wrote and submitted my representations I was granted a "discount" of £ 55 to pay within 14 days by Barnet Parking Services (BPS). Unfortunately, BPS’s offer letter was delayed in the post and arrived 24 days later.

 

So I emailed + wrote, explained the reason for the delay but paid it anyway. They accepted this payment and then proceeded to recover the "balance" because my payment was received outside the 14 day window. My subsequent letters citing postal delays were ignored.

 

Now I received notice from TASK demanding £138 stating that Warrant of Control was issued by Northampton CC TEC. (I did not receive any notices from TEC) Of course, I received TASK's letter dated 12 Sept.... yesterday!!.

 

TASK say they are coming to seize goods on 19th Sept - but have not shown up yet. I am really concerned they will show up later today or on Monday

 

I have broken down your query in separate paragraphs as it makes it easier to understand the background.

 

Firstly, the bad news is that I do not believe that you have grounds to file an Out of Time witness statements as you would not be able to satisfy the grounds for the following reason:

 

You did receive the Notice of Enforcement /notice on your car.

 

You appealed and received a reply....(even though it was late arriving)

 

You had not paid the amount in full.

 

Initially when reading your query, I thought that the problem may have been due to the council not sending letters in a timely manner. I don't believe though that this is the case. I say this for the following reasons:

 

The letter from Barnet Parking Services arrived 24 days after being posted

 

The Notice of Enforcement from Task arrived 9 days after posting

 

It is very unusual to have such long postal delays. Is there a particular reason for this?

 

Can you please clarify the date on the Notice of Enforcement and the 'cut off' date to make payment (known as the 'compliance period'.)

[Bailiff Advice]

 

Now I received notice from TASK demanding £138 stating that Warrant of Control was issued by Northampton CC TEC. (I did not receive any notices from TEC) Of course, I received TASK's letter dated 12 Sept.... yesterday!!. TASK say they are coming to seize goods on 19th Sept - but have not shown up yet. I am really concerned they will show up later today or on Monday

 

 

Can you please clarify the position with the date on the Notice of Enforcement.

 

I also need to know the precise time and date that is given on the notice for you to make payment.

[Bailiff Advice]

 

Now I received notice from TASK demanding £138 stating that Warrant of Control was issued by Northampton CC TEC. (I did not receive any notices from TEC)

 

Of course, I received TASK's letter dated 12 Sept.... yesterday!!. TASK say they are coming to seize goods on 19th Sept - but have not shown up yet. I am really concerned they will show up later today or on Monday

 

The forum rules are that a post cannot be edited after 10 minutes...hence the need to make this further post.

 

I am very concerned with the date on the Notice of Enforcement as the regulations are very specific in that debtors must be afforded a period of not less than 7 clear days to make payment. Because of different interpretations etc of 'clear days' and postal delays, it is the case that most enforcement companies (but not all) abide by the guidance given by CIVEA to allow a period of 14 days.

 

In your case, it seems that payment was required by 19th September ( if so, this would not be 7 'clear days'). Despite this, a visit appears to be imminent. If so, the debt will increase by £235 to include the enforcement fee. The enforcement fee may only be applied at the time of the visit.

 

Given that the amount requested is standing at £138, I am tempted to suggest that you make payment in order to stop enforcement. You can then make complaints to the council (and maybe Task) without the risk of bailiff enforcement.

[Bailiff Advice]

Dear all

 

Firstly, - thank you for such fast replies. i am very grateful.

 

I do not have Notice of Enforcement ... should i have received this notice?

 

The only notice I have is “notice of Intended Removal” dated 12/09/2017 from TASK

 

Bailiff Advice – regarding your other comments:

 

TE7 – I am not disputing the penalty. I have paid it as per the original request of Barnet parking services the issue was that it was outside of their 14 day window.

You state that I should pay the £ 138 – OK that’s noted... however i am pretty broke so this will have an impact on my other bills.

 

If I do make that payment is there any chance that I can recover all or any part of it … or shall I just bite the bullet, pay it and walk away?

 

Thank you for your response. I was worried when you indicated that you had received a Notice of Enforcement from Task dated 12th September and that it supposedly only allowed you until 19th September to make payment. Given that most companies (with one or two exceptions) are abiding by CIVEA guidance and allowing a 14 days Compliance period, I was concerned but thankfully, from your response that is not an issue in this case.

 

It may help if I outline the notices that you should have received from Barnet Parking Services and Task Enforcement.

 

The initial notice would have been a Notice to Owner

 

This would have been followed by a Charge Certificate

 

Next, an Order for Recovery would be issued advising that the debt had been registered at Northampton (Traffic Enforcement Centre).

 

The above would be the only notices that you should have received from the council.

 

The next notice would should have been from Task and entitled Notice of Enforcement.

 

Which of the above notices did you receive?

 

Lastly, given your earlier response (that the letter from Task is a 'Notice of Intended Removal' ) I am concerned that a visit will be made at any time now. Although your vehicle cannot be seized (as you are a Blue Badge holder), this will not prevent the debt increasing by £235.

[Bailiff Advice]

 

But i submitted my application for Out Of Time Witness statements on Saturday by email to TEC and notified the council as well as TASK about this.

I will chase up the TEC tomorrow and ask if they received it and instructed TASK to cease their action

 

Please try to refrain from calling the Traffic Enforcement Centre. It is becoming almost impossible for members of the public and advisers such as me, to get through to the TEC and the reason for this, is because local authorities (in particular Highways England who administer the Dart Charge) continually instruct motorists to telephone the Traffic Enforcement Centre to make enquiries about an OOT application. What should be happening, is for authorities to be advising motorists to visit the TEC website and to download the necessary forms (TE7 and TE9 or PE2 and PE3).

 

In your particular case, you state that you emailed the forms to TEC. If so, you should have received automatic emails in response to advise you that your forms were safely delivered. This is all that you need.

 

If your completed forms were sent on Saturday, they will have been processed sometime today by TEC and notification given to the relevant local authority. That particular council (and not the Traffic Enforcement Centre) are under a legal obligation to inform their enforcement provider of the application made (Out of Time witness statement) and to instruct them to cease enforcement of the warrant until your applications have been considered (which is usually in about 6 weeks time).

[Bailiff Advice]

And regarding the Autoresponse - I do not think they send out Autoresponses to emails anymore.

I did not receive any Autoresponse from TEC to the recent emails I sent to them last week but they responded the following day to my request to them for copies of latest TE7 and TE9 forms.

 

I received a number of Autoresponses from TEC yesterday and received another a few moments ago for a witness statement sent to TEC earlier this morning.

 

Have you checked your junk mail folder? That is normally where they go.