Bailiff coming in the Morning _ Help Urgently Needed!

[niterider]

Hello Everyone

 

OK, I'm in a little trouble over a court fine that has gone unpaid for £225. A bailiff popped round tonight whilst we were all out, and I'm expecting them back in the morning!

 

Absolutely bricking it, as the note he has left is pretty strong about removing everything inside your house and selling it at public auction and is all written in red etc. etc. etc.

 

The thing is, I'm in a position to pay the £225 tomorrow, but the bailiffs want an extra £250 on top:o !!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Does this sound about right, or have they bunged a load of extra quid on top? Tonight has been their first try to contact me, I've had no letters, phone calls or anything!

 

What are the bailiffs allowed to charged on civil recoveries, I would have thought there was a a cap/limit on what they were allowed to charge?

 

Can anyone give me some advice on how to deal with them in the morning so at least I have the confidence to discuss this with them?!!!!

 

PLEASE HELP, ANYONE!!!!!!!!!!!

nite:sad:

:sad: :sad:

[louise35]

Then if this is their first visit they can only charge you £22.50 on top of your original fine...DO NOT LET THEM IN...dont be bullied by them and keep calm,theres lots more on here who can give you more help than me...i know its easy to say but dont worry.

[Bailiffchaser]

If a bailiff turns up tommorrow then do not open the door whatever you do. If you have a car park it away as far as possible from your house. make sure all doors and windows are locked. Whatever he says do not open the door. Answer from the front bedroom and so on. call 999 if he gets stroppy.pm zooman he should be about.

[MARTIN3030]

Ditto that advice.

They are regulated by fixed fees,and you should ask to see a full brakdown of these extra charges.

First of all,there will be a number on the letter they left,usually a mobile.

If you are concerned,call the guy and ask why the figure is so high.

Tell him you are prepared to pay the fine and the 22.50 for one visit.

Do not discuss this face to face on your doorstep If he wants to come lock the doors and move away from the house to speak with him.If he insits on having full payment and is not prepared to give you the breakdown,tell him that you will be making a complaint to the Court Manager and the local ombudsman.

[Guest MizzPiggy]

Removed - as fine was not clear on whether Magistrates or County court for traffic and post was in relation to traffic.

[Guest MizzPiggy]

I am confused as my post was in reply to the first person who is Nite rider.

 

As for the person who needs to make a complaint, I will happily send you the complaint form that is used by the courts to complain about a certificated bailiff.

 

Do you know his name? Do you know he is definately certificated? If not, please find out or email me.

 

Alison

 

As for the letter we suggest people download after a visit, it is annoying the companies, but it is actually gaining a result!

 

Good luck everyone.

[stan5131]

Alison, from reading this thread, he has already paid them.

[Guest MizzPiggy]

I know, confusing as the names were different, so I thought it was someone different. Silly me, long day.

 

Bailiffs. Rogue ones like he has had just amaze me, but the complaints form I will happily give anyone!!

[stan5131]

Alison, sometimes two members of a household post on each others thread. I think that it was has happened here.

[rambo]

NIte rider, sorry for your troubles.

Welcome to the wonderful world of Drakes!.

Have a good read through this site and you will get all the information you need abouts bailiffs.

Be prepeard for a long hard slog with Drakes.

[niterider]

NIte rider, sorry for your troubles.

Welcome to the wonderful world of Drakes!.

Have a good read through this site and you will get all the information you need abouts bailiffs.

Be prepeard for a long hard slog with Drakes.

 

Rambo

 

How did you know it was Drakes?

 

nite:)

[Guest MizzPiggy]

Sadly, it is true. If it is Drakes, it is a long haul.

 

The form for Bailiff complaints is on this link below.

 

http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/courtfinder/forms/form4_0606.pdf

 

sorry my post was too late.

 

Can I ask what council the fine was?

 

Alison

[niterider]

Sorry I think I'm messing this up, it was a fine for not having a TV License. I was having a few difficulties and forgot about it as one of my bills!

 

The fine was issued by North & Central Kent HMCS, and so was the distress warrant.

 

Does this change the circumstances on how the bailiffs are allowed to act, because its not a council fine?

 

nite:)

[Guest MizzPiggy]

A little.

 

Unfortunately, in April this year, it was deemed acceptable by the Magistrates Court to allow uncertificate bailiffs to operate on their distress warrants.

 

The reason being is that there was a lot of revenue to be collected. So thuggery at a higher level began and just about anyone can collect on fines in this area at the moment. There are however, still rules around collections!

 

We have a link on our site that is about Magistrates Courts and warrants, however often knowing too much is not good and is confusing, so perhaps, if allright with you tomorrow, I will send you the information about how to make a complaint about a magistrates court bailiff.

 

Is this ok?

 

Alison

[stan5131]

Is that in all areas Alison?

[niterider]

Hello stansfield

 

I wanted to send you a PM, but your inbox is full, could you clear a bit of it for me so I can still send a PM to you?

 

nite:)

[Guest MizzPiggy]

Much to our Companies concern, yes in all areas.

 

I have calls daily from people that are being collected upon for magistrates fines that everything and anything from tv licences to traffic debts to various others.

 

Outraged, but still nothing changes...for now that is.

 

If anyone has any concerns, what we are trying to do on our site, is give people information and encourage them to be confident when dealing with a Bailiff. It is people that do not know their rights that are vulnerable and untill they meet with a Bailiff, and come to places like here or contact us, the reality of what they are like can only be what you think you will never personally go through.

 

Bailiffs are finding it hard at the moment as it is the festive season. Tough we think however, for every person they do not find at home, the one person they do, they push the hardest to collect on.

 

The more people are aware, the more things will start to change. Using complaint forms and everything that is out there helps. That is why for every complaint we take, we forward it to the OFT and have it registered against their credit licence as a formal complaint. It is all we have to fight with, as even for us daily we are up against it.

 

The British Mafia sound familiar? smiles..hang in there though, if you fight back you can win. We have several stories where we have.

 

Check paperwork!! If in doubt find out!

[stan5131]

my message box is now clear

[stan5131]

Alison, registering complaints is a great idea. Its about time the bailiffs felt some of the fear they inflict onto the poorest of the poor! They abuse their powers and the more I read on this site, the more outraged I become.

[seylectric]

I'll tel you what worries me the most - the fact that despite the fact that there are plenty of sites that offer help and advice and the fact that public are becoming more knowledgeable, far from improving the situation seems to be getting worse.

 

I believe the authorities are turning a blind eye because most bailiffs are acting on their behalf, i.e. they are getting in revenues from unpaid council tax, parking and other fines etc.

 

If they clamp down they lose money. Not as much wil be collected, simple as, and in the days when we are fined for a growing number of misdeameanours without trial, e.g. speeding fines, parking tickets etc. we are not going to get any help from the authorities in doing something about these mercenaries because quite frankly they are doing what the council or court want them to do - collecting their (your) money.

[Guest MizzPiggy]

Seylectric is very right.

 

The more people are finding out their rights and the harder it becomes for the Bailiffs it is correct to note that they will use tactics that are worse again.

 

However, with this in mind there is only so far and so much that they can push as the outrage is now getting worse.

 

Our service has calls from Police that are going through it now, so there is credability from everywhere that the system is out of control.

 

There will be a bad phase again we predict, though the end result will be that things will have to change.

 

In the meantime, we battle on like very many other sites and other places that are up against Bailiffs. What we are pushing for, is attachment to earnings rather than the use of Bailiffs. We hope as we start lobbying the councils, that this will be a fairer way of collection.

 

Alison

[Bailiffchaser]

People actually think that what the bailiffs are saying is correct. What a load of so and sos. I would personally get my little finger out and go after them. I know what they ca and cannot do. Our advice is no good if nobody acts and when some people do as they please it backfires on them !!!

[seylectric]

The problem is although we think there is only so far they can go, nobody does anything about it so there is nobody to stop them. I'll tell you how bad it is - the council have just made my partner bankrupt for council tax arrears, a situation which is now going to cost us around £10,000 in legal fees etc. to annul the bankrupcy despite the fact that we had no idea a hearing had taken place until after the event.

 

We feel we are owed compensation for the stress and trauma the bailiffs have caused ILLEGALLY through such actions as the original poster described in this thread.

 

For example:

 

1. Intimidating letters wrongly claiming that they would be coming round "with a locksmith and the police" - wrongly forcing us into believing that the police were coming round to help them!

 

2. Loss of earnings having taken days off work to prevent them from breaking in only to find that they did not turn up.

 

3. Letters stating that we had broken a "Walking Possession Agreement" despite the fact that they had never had one, we have never signed anything and they have never set foot inside the door.

 

4. Illegally telling me that they could take my car despite the fact that it is the subject of a H.P. agreement and it is required for businerss use (I'm self-employed). When challenged the bailiff actually told me I was WRONG to claim that they couldn't take it and asked me to hand over the keys or expect a tow truck.

 

5, 6, 7.... Letters pushed through the door without envelopes, bailiffs shouting through the letterbox, talking to neigbours and so on. No itemised statements, stealing the £50 I offered towards my council tax and giving the council NOTHING after claiming that the £50 only covered their fees, the list goes on.

 

I feel that this is worthy of an investigation and compensation - it's certainly affected our health and I can't remember the last time we laughed about anything, but nobody you speak to seems to think you have a chance of taking them on and the council just don't want to know.

 

The trouble is you get so stressed out you get to the point where you just don't know HOW to deal with it.It's not right but as much as I want to fight you just never get anywhere, and the authorities know that those in debt do not have the money to be able to mount a legal challenge.

[niterider]

Hello bailiffchaser

 

Did you get chance to read my second thread last night, its now been removed because I used the wrong username to post it and wanted to keep it discreet!

 

About 30mins after my first post last night, the b*****d came back, I was left on the back foot! He'd parked his small van across the drive so I could'nt get my car out(I was going to do as you said in the morning!) I thought it was my wife coming back from a school play with my 6 year old girl, but it was'nt, and he was very forward and intimidating and demanded payment there an then. Before I knew it he had his foot in my door, and when I told him I did'nt want him in my house and he was'nt allowed to anyway, he said he had a Distress Warrant in his hands and WAS allowed to:o !!!!!!!!

 

By now my wife has turned up and I told her to get the police as he would'nt step back as I was holding him at the door(the guy's about 6'3" & 20 stone!) In the end my wife did'nt want the commotion at the front door, and he has bullied us into making a payment. As I did'nt have the means to do it I had to get my Nan to do it on her credit card until this morning! Yes, he was'nt even going to wait for me to make the payment this morning when my wages went in!!!!!!!!!

 

I'm sorry, bailiffchaser, but I had to deal with this at the time, and it is'nt easy when you are under that much full-on-pressure! He's threatening to have my car towed away every 2 mins, and your not going to believe this, but its parked on my drive, again he's not allowed to touch it!!!!!

 

By the time I'd spoken to my Nan and gone back down stairs to see him, he's looking all round my downstairs taking notes on what I've got!!! Then he has the audacity to sit down on my sofa and take payment!!!! To be honest, bailiffchaser, I feel like I've been burgled, that is how much I feel that mine and my families privacy and castle have been invaded!!!!

 

Even now I realise that although he had a distress warrant, he still should'nt have been allowed in!!!! These type of people are **** of the earth, and you would'nt p**s on them if they were on fire!!!!!! (Quite the opposite, I'd party round them!)

 

With hindsight, and your great advice, I would have acted a lot differently, but it all happened so quickly and I did'nt get all your messages till after the event!

 

Sorry if this post is stronging it, but I've had my eyeballs deep into it all this morning!!!!!!

 

Now I'm a lot wiser after the event, it turns out he was uncertificated, overcharged me and acted totally outside of any law and codes of practice!!!!!! I'm on their case as I write this post, don't worry about that, and I'm more than determined to get these b*****ds eventually!!!!!

 

I'll keep this thread updated as to what's going on!!!!

Onwards & Upwards!!!!!!!

nite:)

[seylectric]

Er, just one small but very, very important point - a bailiff IS ALLOWED to remove a car from your driveway but not from a locked garage.

 

If possible, if you know the bailiffs are coming get the car out of there! Alternatively you can chain up the gates to the driveway - they cannot physically damage them and break in unless they have a walking possession agreement so NEVER sign anything - you have no legal obligation to do so!