Baliffs took my neices car within 1 day of contact

[ccs3]

My neice (single parent on benefits since her husband left a year ago) had her car taken by the baliffs on Saturday for an unpaid parking fine. I have just paid the £596 required to retreive the car and I beleive she is in her way to pick it up.

I would like some advice over wether the balifs treated her fairly and if not who should she complain to and what the likelyhood of getting some of the fees back are.

About 4 months ago she got a parking ticket. She did not beleive she was parked illegally so appealed it. Parking enforcement provided photographic evidence that she was parked too far way from the kerb (she had not realised this at first thought it was a standard parking ticket) so she lost the appeal. By now the fine had gone up from £40 to £120 because of the time elapsed. She offered to pay £10 a month (on the phone) as thats all she could afford and she was told that was not acceptable and they would get a court warrent if she did not pay in full. She thuoght this meant they would go to court and a means test would be done so the court would decide how much she could afford to pay each month.

She has heard nothing since untill Friday when she got up and balifs had put a note through the door (at 7.15 am)saying they had called and would call back unless she phoned a number. She did not hear them knock.

She phoned them and explained she was a single parent and offered to pay £10 per week. The person she had to speak to was in a meeting and his secretary said she did not think this would be acceptable but she would speak to him when he came out of the meeting.

On Saturday morning at 7.30 they came and took the car, again putting a note through the door saying they had taken it and again she is not aware that they knocked.

As I said at the beginning to get the car back the bill was now £596 with all the fees.

I beleive they acted too hastily, it was not made clear they would seize goods so quickly if she did not pay in full straight away, she was not even given a fair chance to pay (24hrs from initial contact to taking car).

Having never had dealings with Balifs before can someone advise if they acted correctly.

[stan5131]

Bailiffs do many things that they should not. They believe they are above the law. The add unlawful extortionate charges. Im sorry no one more experienced with bailiffs has answered your post. You should try private messaging Zooman for his advice. Can anyone else help?

[Guest The Terminator]

did the baliff have a court order if not it's theif

[ccs3]

Thanks for replies have been away for weekend so could not answer.

My neice has since contacted the CAB by phone, they said the Baliffs were entitled to take the car for a parking offence and would not enter into a discussion about the quickness of them doing so.

She also spoke to a solicitor by phone and he said basically the same although agreed the Baliffs seem to have acted hastily but he would not take the case on.

I have since found out that when the baliff left the note on the friday my neice phoned him on his mobile and offerd to pay £10 per month, or she would pay it all by end January. He said he would have to speek to his office.

He did not get back to her and in the meantime her freind said she would loan her the money to pay the balifs. As the Balif had not got back to her she phoned the office and was told the manager was in a meeting and she left her number for him to phone her back.

As I said the car was lifted the next morning.

I do understand that they were entitled to lift the car but feel my neice was treated unfairly in not beeing given a chance to pay.

As CAB and solicitor seem that they will not help, it seems if she can appeal or complain she has to do it herself but we do not know how to do this.

We are presuming they had a court order but she was never shown one, is it right they have to have one for an unpaid parking ticket. How would we find out if they had one or not.

My neice is going to email me copies of the letters they left. I live 90 miles away so have only spoken to her on the phone but am going to see her at the end of the week so hopefully if anything can be done I can advise her then.

Thanks

[Bailiffchaser]

You should have reported the car as stolen and thats that. The bailiff can only do certain things in his/her short lived exciting life. Check with the county court where his certificate was issued and then find out which company he was working for when he applied for his certificate. Also could you name the company in question ?

[ccs3]

The Company is Drakes so they are definatly a bonafida company.

Seems they are within their rights ti have taken the car. Goes against there code of practice on their website the speed at which they took it though without giving my neice a chance to pay, but then I suppose its only a code of practice, the law seems to be different and they havn't broken the law.

[falcon185]

Hi ccs3 I would print off the codes of practice from their website then challenge them on it, if they then decide to change their codes of practice on the website at least you have a copy of the original.

They should have been in posession of the court order in order to enforce it, if they didnt show it then it could be bad practice by them, a little mediation might help but Drakes are one of the companies who tend to do whatever they think fit at the time. Sorry I couldnt be more of a help.

[JonCris]

Go here you'll get lots of help http://www.bailiffwatchdog.co.uk

[ccs3]

I challenge them by FAX about not keeping to their code of practice.

They phoned me back and said they had, as a letter had been sent to my niece and a visit had already been made and a letter left by the bailiff on a previous occasion. (both of which my niece emphatically denies). I asked for the dates of both the letter and the previous visit and was told the information was not available at the moment and she would phone me back. She has not phoned back yet. She also said that as this was the 3rd contact the amount had to be paid in full and my niece had only offered a payment plan which was not acceptable. I said my niece had phoned to offer to pay in full and was told the manager would get back to her as he was in a meeting. She said my niece should have phoned back or phoned the mobile number.

 

I have received copies of the paperwork from my niece and there seems to be inconsistencies

 

The first letter on the Friday is a removal notice and it does say despite previous visits..... and the amount my niece has to pay is £346.09. This does seem to be the right amount for the fine, the letter and 2 visits.

 

The second letter when they removed the car gives charges as:

Parking penalty inc court fee £125.00

Bailiffs Attendance costs £155.43

Removal costs £266.00

Vat on Bailiffs costs £ 27.20

total amount £573.63

 

As the costs on Friday were £346.09 if you take of the penalty of £125+£27.20 vat the bailiffs charges on the Friday were £193.89 yet on the seizure notice the bailiffs fees were £155.43 a difference of £38.46 in my nieces favor.

 

I presume the Bailiff was with the people who lifted the car would his fees for that visit bee included in the £266 removal fee or have they forgot to add them on.

 

Am not that good at figures so maybe I have worked it out wrong but am now a bit concerned that they may not have charged her enough and if I pursue this they may ask for the underpayment, does anyone know if they can ask for it if it was a genuine mistake on their part.

 

Thanks all for help

[Bailiffchaser]

With bailiffs if you want to persue them then you have to be prepared for everything. intimidation threats(unfounded laws). In a word alot of B******s.

i have written to one where i have had to use some very very serious language. I also issued against them. I am waiting for a reply(on behalf of my associate)

[TUTTSI]

Did the Bailiffs take the car from the road or on the drive

It is illegal for the Bailiffs to enter on to your property and take the vehicle without your permission.

[niterider]

Hello dsilverstein

 

Even with a distress order?

 

nite:)

[TUTTSI]

Hi Niterider

Even with a distress order they are not entitled to take a car off your property, ie drive on private land. If the car is in Street then they can take it.

I had a problem a few years ago with VW Finance - when I was ill and did not know that I had a default notice untill the Sunday before the Default expired. At 6:40am in the morning their was banging at my door, the truck had hooked up my car he threatened me, he told me to hand over the keys or he was going to smash the window to break in. I wanted to phone the police but he told me that he had a distress warrant to take the car. I gave him the keys as he was making a disturbance. I then received a demand for money they sold the car for a huge loss, they dumped on me the recovery fees, the Bailiffs fees. I have been fighting them and during my quest I came accross the part of the Consumer Credit Act which states quite clearly that they cannot enter your private driveway. The Bailiff lied and gave a false statement and I could not prove what happened even though I had family members as witnesses. I thought the best way was through FLA and have it mediated. I lost because of the stack of lies they put to the mediator. As soon as they were exhonerated they issued court procedings against me for the monies. We eventually agreed to settle part way and they accepted. It was a huge trauma for me and the whole thing made me very ill. So I do sypathise with your daughter thiese credit sharks are bad news.

I have given you a brief outline of what I went through and maybe if you look in the library you might find the appropriate sections of the act that this refers. Remember this is what actually happened to me and I know if I had had better info I would have cracked this. VW had a lot to loose as if I won and my story was published they would not be able to get away with this type of sharp practice.

If I can be of any more help - just let me know.

Regards

DS

[niterider]

hello ds

 

I feel terrible for what you went through! I can't believe they are allowed to flout all the laws in the land like they do, basically telling lies, and get away with blackmailing you to get off with your possessions the way they do!

 

Take a look at my thread earlier tonight, had them on my door at 8pm. He had a distress warrant and was arranging a pick up to come and collect my car if I did'nt pay up and forced his way into my home!

 

Hope all is OK now!

nite:)

[chris600uk]

Go here you'll get lots of help http://www.bailiffwatchdog.co.uk

 

Tried it, but it's a parked domain with adverts for bailiff services.

Not sure I'd consider it that helpful, unless you're at bailiff:lol:

 

lots of luck,

 

Chris

[ScarletPimpernel]

Try asking a Mod to move this to Bailiff forum here - there are some people there who will be able to advise you on checking that the bailiff was properly certified, what fees they can charge and so on.

[JonCris]

Tried it, but it's a parked domain with adverts for bailiff services.

Not sure I'd consider it that helpful, unless you're at bailiff:lol:

 

lots of luck,

 

Chris

 

It didn't used to be but a lot has happened since I originally posted the info.

 

They where hounded out of business by you only have to guess who.

[chris600uk]

That's a shame.

 

Ah well,

 

regards,

 

Chris

[JonCris]

It is but there are others who have picked up the cudgels in the fight against these bullies