Protection from Harassment Act 1997 - Damages do I have a case?

[computaboy]

Hi All,

i'm a newbie on here but looking through some of the posts this seems a great resource.

I have a case with a water company who despite me spending 60+ (yes 60 +) phone calls trying to sort out never took payment despite them assuring me each time everything was correct and my direct debit was set up. Rest is a long story but they ended up taking me to court despite me paying them what I could afford. The water company inherited my account from another and thats when the problems started.

The point i'm trying to ascertain is part of the debt collection process I was continually harassed with phone calls despite me having a management level complaint open. I then received a call from the debt collections manager who basically threatened to open the first court case against me again despite me paying them towards the debt each month. He insisted they wanted more money each month and if I didn't pay this he would initiate county court proceedings. He also stated in an email that unless I also paid his legal costs so far (solicitors letters etc) regardless of if I agreed to the higher payment amount he would continue with the case to county court.

I did my research on this manager as I was petubed why he was being so particularly aggressive despite me paying towards the debt they created due to their negligence in the first place by not setting up the direct debit, nor advising me at all of any issues with my account for 11 months. It turns out (with a little searching on google) that he is a barred solicitor who lost his right to practice and spent a year in prison himself for extortion!

I refused and he did in fact open a court case and I received a summons. Upon a complaint to the consumer council for water (who were advising me at the time) I received a call from the customer services manager of the water company stating they would drop the case and my complaint would be taken to the highest level in the company - however, heard nothing although the case was dropped.

Despite all this I still received calls and was told that they would not stop as I had an outstanding debt despite me asking for them not to call as i had an open case.

I wondered if anyone could determine if I have a case for harassment and possibly one under the administration of justice act for causing me distress by attempting to blackmail me in to paying their legal fees or they would open the court case.

As you can imagine this has caused my a great deal of distress through no fault of my own and i'm currently in the second county court case they opened again while I was paying off the debt? They let the debt rise to £1800 without so much as a phone call or letter to me advising me of a problem. The potential harassment, calls etc started after they had sent me a letter demanding payment - the first correspondence i'd had for nearly a year.

Many thanks in advance.

[pt2537]

Hi there

Harassment cases are tricky. The bar is high, one just needs to look at Conn v Sunderland City Council to see that. You will need evidence of the harrasment first of all, you will need to be able to show how many calls you received, ideally you will need transcripts of those calls too.

It may be possible to push forward with a PFHA claim, but i thin we will need more info than what we have here. Worst, you really ought to have brought a counterclaim in the proceedings against the company as that would have been the better way forward

[pt2537]

Hi there

Harassment cases are tricky. The bar is high, one just needs to look at Conn v Sunderland City Council to see that. You will need evidence of the harrasment first of all, you will need to be able to show how many calls you received, ideally you will need transcripts of those calls too.

It may be possible to push forward with a PFHA claim, but i thin we will need more info than what we have here. Worst, you really ought to have brought a counterclaim in the proceedings against the company as that would have been the better way forward

you will need a log of all the calls, date time, caller, number ideally. If those calls were recorded then you really will need to get transcripts of them, this can be done under the GDPR / Data Protection Act or under an application for disclosure, although all court applications carry risks.

I think you will need to show that the conduct of the water co crosses the line into criminal conduct to really have a chance of bringing such a claim, and id suggest reading cases like Roberts v Bank of Scotland etc