Little help please

[Andyr]

Hello

 

Today had a visit from a bailiff whilst I was out (nobody was in at the time) and a letter was posted (not in an envelope) through my door advising all usual threats. Telephoned bailiff (who was surprisingly nice) about payment and have arranged 2 monthly payments of the outstanding amount.

 

Now the issue is for a parking fine dated back to September 2006 where I parked on a single yellow line (badly faded and I doubt that it was legit). Had disputed this with the parking office but nothing had happened about it. Drakes sent me a letter in December 2006 advising we will be visiting your property in the next 7 days and taking things etc, at the time I was a nervous wreck as I had recently lost my job and decided to ignore the letter.

 

Now fast forward to today and I get home from my work and to my absolute shock I find this letter sitting on my door mat advising that somebody had called round. Got straight on the phone to the bailiff and firstly queried the amount (was for £248 and this was the first visit for a PCN originally starting at £30, have been informed that this amount should be £143.10). He replyed by saying that included in this as a fee for his van. I read somewhere on here that they should send you a letter advising that they will be coming with a van 7 days before they come. Could somebody verify this for me please?

 

I am planning on making the payments as per planned but I am then planning on taking the LA who issued the ticket to court for a refund as I am sure that the ticket wasn't valid in many cases.

[tomtubby]

First things first. Unless they have already been into your home and levied on goods they cant come back to remove them. So part of this is a threat to make you contact them and it has worked.

 

The amount does not seem right but very importantly unless a bailiff is certificated he is not allowed by law to levy on goods when collecting on an unpaid PCN.

 

Your best bet would be to send a private message (pm) to Herbie who can check the bailiff register to see if the bailiff is legally allowed to enforce warrants such as this.

 

Just pm with the name of the bailiff and the co he works for. Once you know the answer can advise further.

 

You must not put the bailiffs name on the forum, only pm's should be used.

[seanamarts]

Hello

 

Today had a visit from a bailiff whilst I was out (nobody was in at the time) and a letter was posted (not in an envelope) through my door advising all usual threats. Telephoned bailiff (who was surprisingly nice) about payment and have arranged 2 monthly payments of the outstanding amount.

 

Now the issue is for a parking fine dated back to September 2006 where I parked on a single yellow line (badly faded and I doubt that it was legit). Had disputed this with the parking office but nothing had happened about it. Drakes sent me a letter in December 2006 advising we will be visiting your property in the next 7 days and taking things etc, at the time I was a nervous wreck as I had recently lost my job and decided to ignore the letter.

 

Now fast forward to today and I get home from my work and to my absolute shock I find this letter sitting on my door mat advising that somebody had called round. Got straight on the phone to the bailiff and firstly queried the amount (was for £248 and this was the first visit for a PCN originally starting at £30, have been informed that this amount should be £143.10). He replyed by saying that included in this as a fee for his van. I read somewhere on here that they should send you a letter advising that they will be coming with a van 7 days before they come. Could somebody verify this for me please?

 

I am planning on making the payments as per planned but I am then planning on taking the LA who issued the ticket to court for a refund as I am sure that the ticket wasn't valid in many cases.

what happened after you appealed this fine, and who did you appeal it with

[Recycler]

a £30 parking ticket would end up at £90 max to the local authority + £5 Ct Costs

 

the rest would be bailiff fees

 

of which £13.16 for a letter fee (1 max)

 

Drakes Group has published an itemised chart of its PCN related fee scales enabling the customer to check their charges, and extracts from its Enforcement Officers Code of Practice.

 

Road Traffic Act Fees and Charges

 

Enforcement Officers Code of Practice

 

Van fees can only be reasonably charged after a levy has taken place - (or so I understand) - you could query this part

 

Check the Bailiff is certificated - noting which ct issued the cert

 

Consider using Subject Access Request to discover what actions these fees represent

 

In the first instance you dont want the bailiff to revisit (& recharge which they can up to 3 visits allowable) - so consider (if you can afford it) making your 1st payment for the £143.10 (you could use the old nugget in full & final settlement on the back of the cheque) and that way the parking ticket debt is dealt with, the bailiff has what you believe to be his legal entitlement, & you can then proceed to argue about the rest (a bailiff cannot revisit you for fees alone). However this maynot work for many reasons - the bailiffs may allocate initial payment as fees & claim debt still outstanding etc etc - it is worth cc'ing the council owed money to demonstrate how long the gap is between payment being made to the bailiff & then the bailiff reconciling to the council. Enforcement / bailiff liason officers in councils are often interested to see how their system performs in reality / theory.

 

Postal orders are more tempting I find & count as cash - especially if sent special delivery (counts as served when sent) - this limits the possibility of further enforcement action whilst cheques are in transit & clearance system) - ALWAYS COPY PAPERWORK! & send recorded / special

 

with your payment set out your sums (quoting Drakes scale) & enclose a subject access request to reinforce your determination...