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Re: Newlyn Bailiffs RE: Council Tax
Dear Ms Lucas,
Your Ref: abcd 9876
I am writing with regard to the above bill for Council Tax.
You will see from your records this debt to Coventy City Council was discharged in full on dd/mm/2013. At the same time an offer was made to pay your appointed enforcement agents, with whom you are vicariously liable, their legitimate fees of £42.50 for two visits to my property.
I was therefore shocked, not to mention exceedingly distressed, by a letter received from your enforcement agents, Newlyn, dated 29 July 2013 (copy enclosed). As you can see this letter is clearly headed ‘BANKRUPTCY PROCEEDINGS.’ It goes on to state that failure to pay the sum of £42.50, “will result in us taking our clients instructions to file for your personal bankruptcy.”
As you can imagine this caused severe distress, especially as the debt for the Liability Order to which they refer had already been fully discharged.
The threshold for bankruptcy is £750. I would be interested to hear your explanation as to how Coventry City Council feels they can threaten their residents with Bankruptcy Proceedings for such a small sum. I imagine I am not the only person against whom this threat has been made.
As you know, Coventry City Council has attracted much publicity over its dubious collection practices. The MP Jim Cunningham secured a debate in House of Commons early in January, following a scathing article in The Telegraph about your appointed bailiffs, their treatment of vulnerable people and unlawful overcharging practices.
Coventry City Council were proud to become the UK’s first council to sign up to a national good practice protocol in council tax collection on July 5th 2013 as a direct result of the appalling publicity it had attracted, yet just 24 days later, I receive an illegal threat of bankruptcy for the sum of just £42.50, a staggering £707.50 below the legal minimum threshold.
As Leader of the Council, I imagine you were fully aware, and somewhat ashamed by all the publicity. I imagine also that you were involved in your Council being the first to adopt the new guidelines.
Please explain why, after all of this, I have been put through the distress of receiving a bankruptcy threat, clearly, according to the letter from Newlyn, instructed by you, or one of your staff.
I trust you will investigate this matter thoroughly, and in the depth it merits. I trust suitable disciplinary action will be taken against the council employees who authorised Newlyn to act in this way. It is questionable whether they are actually capable of carrying out their job description if they can make such crassly idiotic errors of judgment and law. I would suggest you give serious consideration as to their future employment by the council.
Also, I trust a suitable and comprehensive review of the practices of Newlyn will be conducted. They act upon the council’s instructions and you and Newlyn are vicariously liable over this issue. Given new instructions and guidelines were issued to Newlyn on July 5th, it is clear your appointed agents are taking no notice whatsoever of them. They appear to be acting purely for profit, and continuing to use the bullying tactics for which your council was (and is) becoming notorious. This is clearly unacceptable. Newlyn seem incapable of changing their appalling collection practices and I question whether their contract should be terminated forthwith.
I will await your response to this letter with interest, and feel strongly a compensatory gesture should be made to me for the significant distress caused.
If your response is unsatisfactory in terms of assuring me this type of conduct will never happen again to me, or any other resident within your Council area, I will take the issue to the Local Government Ombudsman for a ruling, I will pass on copies of all correspondence over this issue to Mr Les Reid at The Telegraph and a duplicate copy to Mr Jim Cunningham MP.
In order to resolve this I would expect to see:
i) Disciplinary action (and possible dismissal) of the elected officers who issued this instruction to Newlyn.
ii) An in-depth investigation into Newlyn’s collection practices to ensure their full compliance with the new guidelines.
iii) An assurance that action will be taken by Newlyn to remove the certification of any bailiff found to be in breach of the new guidelines.
iv) Serious consideration of Newlyn’s fitness to hold this contract.
v) A suitable compensatory gesture towards myself for the immense distress caused which is already fully documented on a major consumer website on the internet.
Yours sincerely,
[Sign Name]
Mr C. Pasty
12 Pasty Street
Cornish Village
Pastryville
Bailiffshire
BI9 T1T
23 August 2013
Your Ref: abcd 9876
I am writing with regard to the above bill for Council Tax.
You will see from your records this debt to Coventy City Council was discharged in full on dd/mm/2013. At the same time an offer was made to pay your appointed enforcement agents, with whom you are vicariously liable, their legitimate fees of £42.50 for two visits to my property.
I was therefore shocked, not to mention exceedingly distressed, by a letter received from your enforcement agents, Newlyn, dated 29 July 2013 (copy enclosed). As you can see this letter is clearly headed ‘BANKRUPTCY PROCEEDINGS.’ It goes on to state that failure to pay the sum of £42.50, “will result in us taking our clients instructions to file for your personal bankruptcy.”
As you can imagine this caused severe distress, especially as the debt for the Liability Order to which they refer had already been fully discharged.
The threshold for bankruptcy is £750. I would be interested to hear your explanation as to how Coventry City Council feels they can threaten their residents with Bankruptcy Proceedings for such a small sum. I imagine I am not the only person against whom this threat has been made.
As you know, Coventry City Council has attracted much publicity over its dubious collection practices. The MP Jim Cunningham secured a debate in House of Commons early in January, following a scathing article in The Telegraph about your appointed bailiffs, their treatment of vulnerable people and unlawful overcharging practices.
Coventry City Council were proud to become the UK’s first council to sign up to a national good practice protocol in council tax collection on July 5th 2013 as a direct result of the appalling publicity it had attracted, yet just 24 days later, I receive an illegal threat of bankruptcy for the sum of just £42.50, a staggering £707.50 below the legal minimum threshold.
As Leader of the Council, I imagine you were fully aware, and somewhat ashamed by all the publicity. I imagine also that you were involved in your Council being the first to adopt the new guidelines.
Please explain why, after all of this, I have been put through the distress of receiving a bankruptcy threat, clearly, according to the letter from Newlyn, instructed by you, or one of your staff.
I trust you will investigate this matter thoroughly, and in the depth it merits. I trust suitable disciplinary action will be taken against the council employees who authorised Newlyn to act in this way. It is questionable whether they are actually capable of carrying out their job description if they can make such crassly idiotic errors of judgment and law. I would suggest you give serious consideration as to their future employment by the council.
Also, I trust a suitable and comprehensive review of the practices of Newlyn will be conducted. They act upon the council’s instructions and you and Newlyn are vicariously liable over this issue. Given new instructions and guidelines were issued to Newlyn on July 5th, it is clear your appointed agents are taking no notice whatsoever of them. They appear to be acting purely for profit, and continuing to use the bullying tactics for which your council was (and is) becoming notorious. This is clearly unacceptable. Newlyn seem incapable of changing their appalling collection practices and I question whether their contract should be terminated forthwith.
I will await your response to this letter with interest, and feel strongly a compensatory gesture should be made to me for the significant distress caused.
If your response is unsatisfactory in terms of assuring me this type of conduct will never happen again to me, or any other resident within your Council area, I will take the issue to the Local Government Ombudsman for a ruling, I will pass on copies of all correspondence over this issue to Mr Les Reid at The Telegraph and a duplicate copy to Mr Jim Cunningham MP.
In order to resolve this I would expect to see:
i) Disciplinary action (and possible dismissal) of the elected officers who issued this instruction to Newlyn.
ii) An in-depth investigation into Newlyn’s collection practices to ensure their full compliance with the new guidelines.
iii) An assurance that action will be taken by Newlyn to remove the certification of any bailiff found to be in breach of the new guidelines.
iv) Serious consideration of Newlyn’s fitness to hold this contract.
v) A suitable compensatory gesture towards myself for the immense distress caused which is already fully documented on a major consumer website on the internet.
Yours sincerely,
[Sign Name]
Mr C. Pasty
)
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