Baliff Charges

[auberries]

I hope someone will be able to answer

I was fined for not having tax on my car and doing a sorn. Although I was dealing with family issues at the time its still no excuse and I accept that I had to pay. The amount of the fine from the court was £351.

I paid this direct to the court on the 9th October

On the 2nd November I had a visit from Excel Enforcemen. They informed me that whist the payment of £351 had been received on the 9th October, that they had sent me a letter on the 22nd September and as such there was an outstanding charge of £75. I told them I was not aware of any letter, and still haven't had one. I appologised and said I would pay the additional £75, at which point the agent told me there was an additional £235 to pay. Making a total of £310

I asked as to why no one from excel had contacted me via letter or phone to say there was a shortfall rather than trying to extort additional funds by sending an agent round. I told him surely common sense should say that If i paid the fine I wouldn't want to have an outstanding amount to be faced with further charges. He just it would have been common sense not to get in trouble in the first place.

It took all my tax credits and what little i had to pay this and left me with no money.

i feel very aggrieved as i feel that they could have easily communicated that there was a shortfall rather than trying to extort further monies from me.

Do I have any recourse to get this £235 back.

[ploddertom]

Re: Baliff Charges

On the face of it the charges applied are correct. Can you prove you never received the initial letter from Excel?

What prompted you to pay the court on 9 October?

[auberries]

Re: Baliff Charges

On the face of it the charges applied are correct. Can you prove you never received the initial letter from Excel?

What prompted you to pay the court on 9 October?

I accept the level of charges are correct, the reason I paid the court fine was simply due to the fact that it was outstanding and paid it directly to the court.

My argument is, even if I had received this letter ( which I have not) then why would I leave an outstanding amount of £75 to allow them to chase me and charge me a further £235. Had they communicated this shortfall and acknowledge they had received the other payment direct from the court I would have been aware of the shortfall irrespective of the letter being sent on the 22nd


I don’t think receiving one letter, then not having a letter of confirmation of payment or that an amount is outstanding is too much to ask. Failure to provide this allowed them to charge me further fees. Surely there should be due process regarding communicating payments received and outstanding amounts due.

[ploddertom]

Re: Baliff Charges

Sorry it just seems strange that the 9 October would just about tally up with the date that would have been given in the Notice of Enforcement and to the Bailiffs this would certainly seem suspect as this is something they come across all the time. Of course there are some companies who are a little evasive when it comes to proving that letters have been sent. In an ideal world the very least proof they should provide should be a Certificate of Posting as they refuse to pay for the Signed For service. Most enforcement co's use 3rd party mailings which in some cases may take 10 days to be delivered. Unfortunately it appears to accepted that all they have to do is show that the letter was written and on that basis is that the probability is it was posted to you.