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Hello,
A couple of years ago bailiffs forced entry into my house to fit a pre pay electric meter, but they had got the wrong house. The warrant was for a house with the same number but a different terrace.
The main problem was that my seventeen year old son was upstairs on his computer with a headset on so didn't hear them knocking or forcing entry, he was on his own in the house. The first he realised that someone was in the house was when he heard mens voices in the kitchen directly below his bedroom. He is a very placid lad and was scared enough to try and find something to use to protect himself, if needed, before he came downstairs, the stairs lead into the kitchen.
The bailiff asked his age and as soon as they realised that he wasn't eighteen and was on his own they left.
My son rang me and I managed to speak to the warrant officer who was outside in his car he was very apologetic when I explained he'd got the wrong house.
There was no damaged done to the lock and as he didn't knowingly break into the wrong house I left it at that. I did ring the police as I was fuming at what had happened but they said there's not really been any offence commited if nothing has been damaged, as again the bailiff wasn't knowingly trespassing .
My problem is that two years down the line I have seen a marked change in my son's behaviour. As an outgoing seventeen year old he tried to play the incident down but I could tell it had really shaken him, he didn't like being in the house alone any more and would always be asking how long we'd be (my wife and I) or what time will you be back when we went out. We haven't been able to stay away overnight since the incident. He has recently admitted to his Mum that he gets very anxious in crowds now and has other anxiety issues which are affecting getting a part time job (he's still at college) .
Now I know that a young man at that age can change a lot anyway but I can't help but feel that the bailiff incident has triggered the changes.
I don't really know what I want from this but does anyone have any advice on maybe getting him some help, or what to do in this situation.
Thanks, Al.
A couple of years ago bailiffs forced entry into my house to fit a pre pay electric meter, but they had got the wrong house. The warrant was for a house with the same number but a different terrace.
The main problem was that my seventeen year old son was upstairs on his computer with a headset on so didn't hear them knocking or forcing entry, he was on his own in the house. The first he realised that someone was in the house was when he heard mens voices in the kitchen directly below his bedroom. He is a very placid lad and was scared enough to try and find something to use to protect himself, if needed, before he came downstairs, the stairs lead into the kitchen.
The bailiff asked his age and as soon as they realised that he wasn't eighteen and was on his own they left.
My son rang me and I managed to speak to the warrant officer who was outside in his car he was very apologetic when I explained he'd got the wrong house.
There was no damaged done to the lock and as he didn't knowingly break into the wrong house I left it at that. I did ring the police as I was fuming at what had happened but they said there's not really been any offence commited if nothing has been damaged, as again the bailiff wasn't knowingly trespassing .
My problem is that two years down the line I have seen a marked change in my son's behaviour. As an outgoing seventeen year old he tried to play the incident down but I could tell it had really shaken him, he didn't like being in the house alone any more and would always be asking how long we'd be (my wife and I) or what time will you be back when we went out. We haven't been able to stay away overnight since the incident. He has recently admitted to his Mum that he gets very anxious in crowds now and has other anxiety issues which are affecting getting a part time job (he's still at college) .
Now I know that a young man at that age can change a lot anyway but I can't help but feel that the bailiff incident has triggered the changes.
I don't really know what I want from this but does anyone have any advice on maybe getting him some help, or what to do in this situation.
Thanks, Al.
