Enforcement Agents removing a vehicle worths less than £1350 and necessary for work

[stead.uk]

Hello
Today I had a horrible day and an awful experience. I hope somebody can help me with this.

Today Newlyn Plc, enforcing Penalty Charge Notices, have removed my vehicle, an old 2004 VW Touran which, in its current condition, could never be worth £1350 and which is necessary for me to carry my working activity. I do music entertainment/education for children and I carry around a wide range of equipment, 5 ikea bags full of stuff, 32 foam mats and four instruments including a keyboard. It would be impossible for me to do this job without a car also because often I get last minute bookings for events.

The vehicle was parked on private property on a parking bay which is property of another resident of my building who let me use the parking bay as they don't have a car.

Also I had never received the PCNs and the Notices to Owner because my building over the last year has been targeted by fraudsters and mail have been stolen for a long time. The case is filed as Lewisham Police station which are investigating the matter.

At the minute I've filed PE2 and PE3 Statutory Witness Statement forms and sent them to Northampton Court where I state I had never received the PCNs due to the THEFT OF MAIL crime. I'm hoping this would lead the Court to ask for the reissue of the PCNs and the temporary release of the car.

But I would like to get more info about the fact that I strongly believe my vehicle should be exempt from seizure for being "necessary for my work, study or business, and where there is no alternative public transport you could use instead, as long as it is not worth more than £1350". This is what apparently current regulation say about vehicles which are exempt from seizure.

I've informed many times the Enforcement Agent about the vehicle being necessary for work and worth less than £1350 but they did proceed with the removal anyway. How can I find a way to prove my vehicle should be exempt from seizure and, once done this, can I sue the Bailiff for having removed it anyway? And how could I do that?

I really hope somebody can help with this matter or can address me to the right Solicitors Company, I live in London, Lewisham.

Thank you

Stefano

[Milo]

Re: Enforcement Agents removing a vehicle worths less than £1350 and necessary for wo

Stefano,

As you will probably now realise, all enforcement of the warrant is now on hold awaiting the outcome of your Out of Time witness statement. Unfortunately, a decision takes between 6-8 weeks.

I notice that in your Out of Time witness statement that you have stated that you had not received any notices regarding this PCN as you have ongoing problems with mail delivery. As this matter has been reported to the police, the local authority (who make the decision on whether or not to accept your Out of Time witness statement), would expect that you have alternative arrangements in place for the collection of your post (such as collecting mail from the local sorting office etc).

You need to be aware that in your PE2 and PE3, you are expecting the local authority to believe that the Notice to Owner, the Charge Certificate and the Order for Recovery have all been removed from your postbox together with the Notice of Enforcement from Newlyn Plc.

Unfortunately, from figures recently released, over 60% of Out of Time applications are rejected and personally, I would not hold out too much hope of your application being accepted. I would hope to be proved wrong.

From the information given by you, it may well be likely that the local authority would consider that your vehicle is exempt from seizure as it is vital to your business and is below the £1,350 threshold.

In this respect, the regulations are very clear in that if you consider that your vehicle should be exempt, that you must send a Part 85 Interpleader Notice to Newlyn's outlining the reason WHY you consider that your vehicle should be exempt.

Such a notice is very simple indeed and informal and does not require court proceedings. Once Newlyn's receive your Part 85 Claim, they in turn are under a legal obligation to refer your claim to the relevant local authority who make the decision as to whether your vehicle should be exempt. If the local authority agree....the vehicle will be made available for collection.

In your Part 85 claim, you will be required to provide EVIDENCE. At the very least, you will require some evidence that the vehicle is valued at below £1,350. You will also need evidence of your self employment.

[Milo]

Re: Enforcement Agents removing a vehicle worths less than £1350 and necessary for wo

Sorry Stefano but I have just re-read your query again and I failed to answer two additional questions.

The simple answer is that, no.....you cannot sue the bailiff company for removing your vehicle and the reason for this is very simply because the regulations specifically provide that if a debtor considers that goods of theirs should be exempt, that the debtor should send an 'interpleader' notice under Part 85 of the Civil Procedure Rules to the relevant enforcement company without delay.

As the vehicle was only taken yesterday, the total charges (assuming that this is a London issued PCN) should have been £513 plus £110 for the removal and one day's storage. If you are able to make payment to secure the release of your vehicle, it may be wise to do so. If your Out of Time witness statement is accepted, you will be entitled to a refund (including bailiff fees).

[stead.uk]

Re: Enforcement Agents removing a vehicle worths less than £1350 and necessary for wo

Thanks Milo
Very interesting the part about the "Part 85 Interpleader Notice". Over the past months I've asked all authorities how to properly issue a request of exemption and nobody mentioned the Part 85 as part of the procedure, not the council, not the citizen advice bureau, not the bailff or the court.

Thank you for that, if you can find on the web a good example of how to file it please post the link. That would be very helpful.

I will keep you posted and will write more on everything else once back home later this evening.

Best
Thank you again

Stefano

[Milo]

Re: Enforcement Agents removing a vehicle worths less than £1350 and necessary for wo

Thanks Milo
Very interesting the part about the "Part 85 Interpleader Notice". Over the past months I've asked all authorities how to properly issue a request of exemption and nobody mentioned the Part 85 as part of the procedure, not the council, not the citizen advice bureau, not the bailff or the court.

Thank you for that, if you can find on the web a good example of how to file it please post the link. That would be very helpful.

I will keep you posted and will write more on everything else once back home later this evening.

Best
Thank you again

Stefano

Thank you Stefano for updating the forum.

You mention in your above post that over the past few months you have been making enquiries with local authorities, CAB and the Council about 'exemption'. You say that your vehicle was only taken away yesterday, have you perhaps had other previous parking tickets that you had not know about (because of the postal difficulties)?

[stead.uk]

Re: Enforcement Agents removing a vehicle worths less than £1350 and necessary for wo

Hi Milo, yes I had other parking tickets in the past year, some of which I've received, some paid for, some others I've appealed and of some I've never received anything.

[Milo]

Re: Enforcement Agents removing a vehicle worths less than £1350 and necessary for wo

Hi Milo, yes I had other parking tickets in the past year, some of which I've received, some paid for, some others I've appealed and of some I've never received anything.

Have you raised Out of Time witness statements on the ones that you had not known about and have they been accepted?\

It may be a good idea to call the local authorities that you may have received previous notices from to ask them if there are any outstanding PCN's registered against you.

[stead.uk]

Re: Enforcement Agents removing a vehicle worths less than £1350 and necessary for wo

Yes for one parking PCN at Southwark Council, which reached the bailiff stage, I managed to have it reissued after sending the Witness Statement. I then appealed and had it cancelled by the council providing a job sheet to prove unloading activity on double yellow lines. That was sorted. I contacted the local authorities to have details of any other PCN, there seems to be 3 or 4 more on which I'm working following the same procedure. It's a nightmare.

[Milo]

Re: Enforcement Agents removing a vehicle worths less than £1350 and necessary for wo

I contacted the local authorities to have details of any other PCN, there seems to be 3 or 4 more on which I'm working following the same procedure. It's a nightmare.

You need to ask the council what 'stage' the other PCN's are at (Notice to Owner, Charge Certificate or Order for Recovery). As long as the PCN's have not reached the 'warrant' stage, then you can safely wait for the Order for Recovery to be issued for each PCN and at that stage, you can simply complete the attached witness statement. By ticking box number one (I did not receive the Notice to Owner) your application will automatically be accepted and the local authority may then re-issue you a new Notice to Owner allowing you the opportunity to either pay at that stage or appeal the ticket.

Completing a witness statement at the Order for Recovery stage is an entirely different procedure all together from submitting an Out of Time witness statement.

[stead.uk]

Re: Enforcement Agents removing a vehicle worths less than £1350 and necessary for wo

You need to ask the council what 'stage' the other PCN's are at (Notice to Owner, Charge Certificate or Order for Recovery). As long as the PCN's have not reached the 'warrant' stage, then you can safely wait for the Order for Recovery to be issued for each PCN and at that stage, you can simply complete the attached witness statement. By ticking box number one (I did not receive the Notice to Owner) your application will automatically be accepted and the local authority may then re-issue you a new Notice to Owner allowing you the opportunity to either pay at that stage or appeal the ticket.

Completing a witness statement at the Order for Recovery stage is an entirely different procedure all together from submitting an Out of Time witness statement.

Yes Milo, thank you. I know and I will file the correct documents depending on the stage of each PCN. I will look into it from Monday as on Saturday I can't do much. I've already sent the PE2 and PE3 for the PCN which leaded to the removal. I've now completed the claim to exempt goods under PART 85, I've attached pictures of the car damages and the valuations received and all details about my work. I will email them to both the Enforcement agent and the Local Authority and will also post it to the Enforcement Agent for next day delivery. Let's hope this can help me to have the vehicle exempted, that will give me some time to look into the PCNs left.

Thank you for your help.

[Milo]

Re: Enforcement Agents removing a vehicle worths less than £1350 and necessary for wo

I've now completed the claim to exempt goods under PART 85, I've attached pictures of the car damages and the valuations received and all details about my work. I will email them to both the Enforcement agent and the Local Authority and will also post it to the Enforcement Agent for next day delivery.

I was going to send you a PM to see if you needed a template Part 85 but I'm pleased to hear that you have managed to get it sorted yourself. Did you find a template online?

[stead.uk]

Re: Enforcement Agents removing a vehicle worths less than £1350 and necessary for wo

Hi Milo
I did it myself, not sure it is formally appropriate but it follows the instructions given on this page justice.gov (https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/pr...ted-goods#85.8) at point 85.8

Including pictures and some documents it's 10 page long. Probably a solicitor would be able to be more concise but I thought it was better to include all available information. It includes all my personal details, all details of my HMRC position in regards to my activity as sole trader, all information about the nature of my activity and the equipment used and all the things on which I base my belief that the vehicle can't be worth £1350 in its current condition. It includes a vehicle inspection carried by Volkswagen which underline the car has some issues to be sorted and pictures of damaged parts of the body.

[Milo]

Re: Enforcement Agents removing a vehicle worths less than £1350 and necessary for wo

Hi Milo

I did it myself, not sure it is formally appropriate but it follows the instructions given on this page justice.gov (https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/pr...ted-goods#85.8) at point 85.8

Including pictures and some documents it's 10 page long. Probably a solicitor would be able to be more concise but I thought it was better to include all available information.

It includes all my personal details, all details of my HMRC position in regards to my activity as sole trader, all information about the nature of my activity and the equipment used and all the things on which I base my belief that the vehicle can't be worth £1350 in its current condition. It includes a vehicle inspection carried by Volkswagen which underline the car has some issues to be sorted and pictures of damaged parts of the body.

Thank you very much for posting back and I have to say that I am very impressed to hear that you have managed to draft a Part 85 claim.....and a good one at that. Well done.

[stead.uk]

Re: Enforcement Agents removing a vehicle worths less than £1350 and necessary for wo

Thank Milo. Let's hope it works. Do you think that, should the local authority admit the claim to exempt goods, they will have to release the vehicle as soon as possible? And will I be charged for something?

[Milo]

Re: Enforcement Agents removing a vehicle worths less than £1350 and necessary for wo

Thank Milo. Let's hope it works. Do you think that, should the local authority admit the claim to exempt goods, they will have to release the vehicle as soon as possible? And will I be charged for something?

The enforcement company are under a legal obligation to forward a copy of your Part 85 to the local authority within a few days and the council also have only a few days to respond to advise the enforcement agency whether or not they are in agreement that your vehicle should be considered 'exempt'.

If the council accept your Part 85 Claim, ..then your vehicle is made available for collection. The regulations do not provide for the enforcement agent to return the vehicle to you.

Any storage fees applied to your account will have to be removed.

I am extremely passionate about 'Part 85' claims and pushed the government to include these measures into the regulations way back in 2013. I will see whether I can get a copy of a press article that I wrote on the subject posted onto the forum.