EQUITA Bailiffs

[BerryN]

TezViper - thank you for your PM. I had amended but hadn't thought - thank you!

[BerryN]

With a bit of help from TomTubby we have amended and printed the following letter:

 

EQUITA Ltd

42/44 Henry Street

Northampton

NN1 4BZ

12 September 2007

Dear Sirs

Re: Parking Charge Notices Numbers:

 

 

I understand from previous correspondence from your company that you are attempting to pursue me for the above unpaid PCN’s.

 

As these PCN’s were incurred over 3-4 years ago, I have now contacted the Traffic Enforcement Centre at Northampton who have confirmed to me that the Warrants of Execution are all expired and are neither valid or enforceable.

 

Accordingly, I am advised that your company cannot pursue me for any of these PCN’s and I would be grateful if your records could please be amended to reflect this. Due to the extreme stress and anxiety that this situation has caused to me, I would be grateful if you could please confirm to me that your records have been amended.

 

I am copying this letter to both Southampton City Council and Bournemouth Borough Council.

Yours sincerely

 

-------"------

[tomtubby]

We have exchanged quite of few e-mails over the past few days and I am delighted that at last confirmation has been received that all the warrants of execution are out of date and non enforceable.

 

Although I am delighted with this...what would have happened if you had paid this debt.........many people fearing a bailiff knocking at the door do pay...then what???

 

Pass this information on to anyone you know with old parking tickets. Check with the Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC) to confirm whether the warrant is out of date. All these were.

 

PLEASE keep us all informed on any response.

[tezviper]

Excellent work as usual TomTubby. You should do this for a living!!!

 

Lol

 

TezViper

[BerryN]

I will definately update if I receive a response. If it hadn't of been that Equita suddenly went from extreme non stop contact (ie telephone calls and letters) to nothing overnight I probably would have continued to pay them....

 

No I have had it quashed - is there any way of getting my money back as the tickets themselves were unenforceable???? sorry for being a pain and pushing things but they have given me a lot of heartache over the years and I have paid them a fortune!!!!!

[BerryN]

anyone?????

[Trader Jim]

This is a letter I sent to equita regarding my problem yesterday, today the bailiff tells me the woman who I sent the letter to has left the company, but when I called them they said she still works there.

These people will lie through their teeth to get as much money out of you as possible. I have spoken to the OFT about my case and they are very interested and say eveything they have done is wrong even TFL say the same.

 

 

Dear Ms ********,

I am writing to you regarding my case with your Company and the problems I

am encountering.

I have never had a problem owing my penalty charges but due to

circumstances have had a problem with paying them and that is where this

situation has gotten totally out of hand it seems.

Back when you first sent the bailiff (Mr. ******) round to clamp my car he

claimed that approx £493.00 was owed on each fine, being there are 6 of

then, this would total nearly £3000.00!

This amount to me seemed excessive so I applied to the courts for it to be

looked into, I admitted that I needed to pay the original fine but

couldn’t pay your fees which even the Judge agreed seemed excessive and

asked TFL to look at it.

TFL just sent it back again to you and I spoke to a guy called **** at

Equita about it, he said that if I paid the original £155.00 on each one

the original debt to TFL would be paid and the account held until we

sorted out the Fee situation. I paid the amount by Debit card and he

apparently set up a payment plan to be taken from my card without my

permission.

I then spoke to a lady last week who told me about this payment plan,

which I cancelled and she told me to contact yourself and I sent you a

letter which has not been replied to.

She also said the amount seemed a lot and said that without a bailiff

calling there is a nominal charge of £13.00 on each amount which I am more

than willing to pay to settle this as my letter explained.

Then today I get a call off of **** from your company saying that it has

been passed to another bailiff who will add more charges and the amount I

paid previously never paid off the original debt as promised but went to

yourselves.

He told me the bailiff will charge an extra £200.00 per charge (£1200.00!)

on top but no one seems to be able to give me an answer to how these fees

are justifiable. I also spoke to Mr ********** who claims this is how

much it costs to send out an automated letter and send a bailiff around

once.

I have also spoken to ***** *** who is now dealing with this who tells me

the amount owed is £1710!

I honestly don’t know what I am paying for and how much and no one seems

to be able to give me a true and honest answer!

I have contacted The Office of Fair Trading who told me that the fees are

excessive and owed they also say that you should never have set up a

payment plan without my actual permission I also spoke with TFL who also

agree this is not right.

Please would you contact me tomorrow so that we can sort this situation

out amicably for once and for all.

My phone number is ************

 

Yours Sincerely

[tomtubby]

We have had 3 more or less identical situations like this with Equita.

 

Have they provided you with a breakdown of their fees?

 

Also have you checked whether the tickets are compliant , as they require the two dates.? What dates were they acquired?

 

VERY interested in your reply !!!

[tomtubby]

Carly and Trader Jim

 

 

It would be far better if you both started a new thread for you postings it would make answering far better otherwise it can be confusing who we could be assisting.

[Trader Jim]

TomTubby, thanks for your reply, They refuse to give me a breakdown over the phone and have not replied to my letter. Their reasoning is that they are a big company and this is what it takes to cover their overheads, complete B******T as far as I can see all they have sent me is an automated letter for each fine and the bailiff attended once to clamp my car. Does anyone have any info on the fact this was done at 6.30am ish without knocking on my door first and on private property.

[Trader Jim]

Sorry i will start a new thread as well

[BerryN]

UPDATE

I have recieved a letter from Bournemouth Borough Council thanking me for my letter and they are investigating the content.

[BerryN]

UPDATE

Letter from Bournemouth Borough Council:

 

Dear BerryN

 

Road Traffic Act 1991

 

PCN No: ....... & .........

 

Thank you for your recent correspondance regarding the above Penalty Charge Notices.

 

I have made enquiries with Equita Bailiffs regarding your comments. The Warrant for ..... was returned on 23 March 2007 and the warrant for ...... was returned on 9 May 2007. It has also been confirmed by Equita that no further action was taken after the dates the Warrants were returned to the Council.

 

Bournemouth Council can confirm that both cases are closed.

 

Yours sincerely

[BerryN]

UPDATE

Letter from EQUITA!!!!

 

Dear BerryN

 

I refer to your letter of 6 September and note that you object to the level of fees that were previously applied to your cases.

 

I am pleased to confirm that all 19 cases we were previously pursuing have now been returned to the Council as the warrants have all expired, and all outstanding fees previously demanded have been cancelled. Indeed these were all returned prior to June and the records have now been archived on our system.

 

Under the circumstances we return herewith your £10 fee.

 

I trust you find this in order, but please refer back if you have any queries.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Adrian Bates

Data Protection Officer

Equita Limited

[BerryN]

I actually got a cheque from Equita themselves not my cheque back!!!! I will photocopy it and frame the photocopy!!! have to bank it to prove a point!!!

[BerryN]

I sent them an SAR which is what the £10 was for............. What do I do????????

[tomtubby]

This is a perfect example that demonstrates that you can challenge bailiff companies over the fees that they have charged and the local authority as well over non -compliant parking tickets.

 

WELL DONE !!!

[BerryN]

That means that I won on the paying them front but as the tickets are non-complaint is there any way of getting my money back????

[BerryN]

anyone??????

[BerryN]

nobody?!? come on... at least tell me if i am asking too much but as far as i was aware the original tickets were unenforceable and should i not therefore be trying to get my money back that i have paid??

[tomsimpson22]

nobody?!? come on... at least tell me if i am asking too much but as far as i was aware the original tickets were unenforceable and should i not therefore be trying to get my money back that i have paid??

 

I notice that this is quite an old thread but I would imagine that if you have paid them money on unenforceable warrants then you should be legally entitled to claim the money back from them, at least from the dates when the warrants expired.

 

Go to your local county court and ask for an N1 form (you can also download this from the HMCS website) and fill it in with the particulars of your claim from Equita (this must be done in triplicate). Also, if you are receiving benefits then make sure that you take evidence with you that you are in receipt of them - This will ensure that the court fee is waived.

 

It's my guess that if Equita know that they have been breaking the law with regards to trying to enforce expired warrants then they will buckle and pay up. You are almost certainly entitled to reclaim any money that you have paid them (but only from the time that the warrants actually expired).

 

I hope this helps.

[Badnews Again]

Hi People, I have just joined this forum just so that I can give you all a piece of advice with regards to our friends at Equita. They are the most lawless, uncomprimising, lying bunch of people that you will ever have to deal with. As difficult as it may seem you have to PAY THEM. Beg borrow or steal to get the money or they will just keep racking up more and more fees and your debt to them will just go up.

 

I have just finished my final payment to them for three parking tickets that I had with Southampton City Council and ended up paying over £1500. I set up various payment plans with Equita that crippled me every month and they would write to me regualry after I had paid them saying that I had broken my agreement and that my case was now passed to a Ballif and my account has been increased by 300 ish pounds. The main number puts you on hold for ages and then no one ever knows anything about your account. If you want to complain they say write in or email and they never respond. Its like they are above the law. They do not give a monkeys about anything. I lost my Dad in the final month of payment and was one day late paying so they made me pay another 300 on top despite me ringing and explaining why. They wont come round your house. They cant be bothered. They will just say they have been and stick more cash on.

 

I think that its a disgrace that our local councils employ such people. They are evil.

 

You will read on forums like these that you can find a loophole or get money back etc etc. Its very very rare if not impossible. Dont try just pay them what ever way you can.

 

I deal with all sorts of people in my business and I have never wanted to injure anyone until I dealt with this bunch (especially Mr Ridgers the Ballif himself). They make they own rules up as they go along and will string you up for as much as they can get away with.

 

PAY THEM

[madmax1973]

Badnews again,

 

I would never advise people to "just pay them" The baillifs think they are above the Law ..... they are not.

 

I am fighting them as far as the Law allows.

 

They are the **** of the earth and play on the most vulnerable people in society.

 

I have paid them so far £1500 for the first and only visit they have ever made... and still the fees increase.... no more. I refuse to pay them another penney.

 

I WILL FIGHT THEM.... IF ITS THE LAST THING I DO

[Special1]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm new to this site, but have found a lot of helpful info here.

 

I'm wondering if enyone can help.

 

Last Thursday I found a letter pushed through our letter box. From Equita Bailiff, saying "Bailiffs Removal, Final Notice". The letter itself did not have a date on it nor the amount due, it only had a TFL ref number. So I called the office of Equita first to find out what this ref relates to. I had a hard time getting info from them, two ladies there got to non-stop line "We don't have this info on our records you should contact the Bailiffs himself", as soon as I quoted ref number from them and the rudness was getting worse by the minute, one of them hang up on me. They couldn't tell me when was formal notice sent from them Before I called the bailiff himself, I called TFL, found out to which vehicle it relates to, as we have 2 vans in our company. Apart from that we never had NTO in the first place for that vehicle. It is actually quit confusing, as our door is next to the shop, and a bailiff himself agreed it was a bit difficult to find us.

So I called bailiffs to find out that the amount due is £440. I questioned the amount, he replied these were bailiffs costs. Although I requested a breakdown along with dates when notes from him were sent, he replied that he was too busy as he's got work to do and he does not have any records with him.

My next step was to call Northampton(actually I was looking for info when PCN was issued in the first place), the men on the phone was very helpfull, he explained that I qould request PCN to be revoked, he e-mailed me forms, explained that the must be signed & stamped at Local CC.

I done all that next day, sended to them recorded delivery, they got it on Monday. I'm aware that it will take 19 days to process, but while I'm waiting, my question is: "If this bailiff will turn up again, what to do?", can he take our van away if it used at work on daily basis?

 

Thanks.

[rambos]

Hi everyone! I hope someone can help me! I keep my car registered at my mums house because my mail kept getting lost going to my new house and ending up in a derelict house on the next street of a similar name. In July my mum came home to a bailiff letter saying they were coming to sieze goods and wanted £108.16 immediately. I was confused as i didn't remember getting a ticket. So i phone the bailiff to get the PCN number off him and called the council. The man said that there was a PCN for my car, it hadn't been paid so had been passed on to a bailiff. Then he adds that there was a letter with the ticket from someone who had picked it up off the pavement. SO I NEVER GOT THE TICKET IN THE FIRST PLACE!! I called the bailiff back and he said he doesn't care if i didn't get a ticket, i would have got the letters in the post. I never got letters from the council for the fines, and i imagine this has something to do with when my mum decided to not speak to me for a few months because she's crazy, and when any mail came for me she'd post it back to the sender. All's i know is i've got this bailiff telling me he's going to hunt me down and take my car unless i pay immediately. I couldn't be arsed with having the bailiffs after me, so called Equita to pay them even though i was skint and the girl tells me that i can make an arrangement to pay if off over a few months at no extra charge. All i had to do was give them my bank details and pay an initial £31 of the debt. I put the phone down relieved and thinking that maybe bailiffs aren;t so bad after all...

 

My mum got home from holiday today to a letter from the bailiff saying i owed £334.49 for a parking fine. I took down the reference numbers and phoned the council to see what it was about. They confirmed that it was the PCN that i had got in the July and made a payment plan with. I called the bailiff to tell him he'll have to call his office as there's obviously a mistake because i've paid it. He says i didn't make my payments. After speaking with this vile man, he initially refused to give me the number to his head office, then gave it to me, i spoke to one useless boy who put the phone down on me when i asked to speak to his manager. In short, this is what they're telling me. I entered into a payment agreement in July and made a payment of £31. I then defaulted on my Aug and Sep payment and they sent me a letter 26th Sep, then sent the bailiff out 1st Oct. Today is the 2nd. I tell them that i gave them my bank details to take the money, hand on heart that's what i thought. I asked why they didn't send me a letter asking for payment or even a letter detailing the payment plan, they said it wasn't their responsibility. So i make a payment in July thinking i'm entering a payment plan, don't hear ONE WORD from them until 26th Sep (which didn't arrive by the way) to tell me Mr Bailiff is on his way.

 

I've since pacified the bailiff by telling him i'm paying tomorrow and now i'm trawling the net looking for help!!! I've got at least 20 hours to hold him off me, i've hidden my car and everything. The good thing is, he doesn't know where i live. He said he'll find my car through the DVLA, but my car is registered to my mums house and i don't live there so he'll be back where he started. I also told him if he steps foot on my mothers property he'll be speaking to my solicitor. That's if my battleaxe mum doesn't get to him first.

 

HELP PLEASE!!! WHAT DO I DO??? Thanks!!!