hello - bailiff problems - philips

[colicabcadam]

hi - i have joined the site to gain some help in regards to a bailiff completely taking the ****


as of spet 2011, i was fined £690 for a speeding offence, i paid it off monthly, around £110 (give or take a few) a month, a slight mis calculation meant i stopped paying a little too early as I had £20 still remaining to pay - i received a late reminder from the court and i paid it straight away, however the letter from the court took 10 working days to arrive, so by the time it arrived my £20 debt had been passed onto Philips, however it had obviously still been paid to the court. all of the above is my fault, i made a small mistake.

but this is where it get's stupid, philips sent me a letter (distress warrant) asking for £105 (£20 debt, £85 charge), i spoke to them and told them i would not pay them £105 because £20 had already been paid to the court, i have recently chased them again to be advised the debt is now £300 !! the £20 was removed from the account but an attendance fee of £215 was added to it! no one attended my property, i was in all day yesterday as i had a day of work with wisdom teeth problems (when they say they attended).

so now i have a £300 debt for what was a nothing other than a £20 (out of £690) court fine, this is outrageous

they have told me i have to write to head office in regards to stating that no one attended my property to have the charge removed, however, it seems like they will just ignore it

can they keep adding charges like this ? what can i do ? how can they charge £215 to visit a property property ? and more importantly - what can they do ? i own various vans, can they take them ? can they force entry even though i live with my parents ?


thanks in advance for any responses, i did try to post this in the bailiffs section

[Hurricane Puffrose]

Re: hello - bailiff problems - philips

Hi welcome,

As far as I am aware, the charges they are claiming are illegal, if they have not been out at all they are not entitled to anything. I would suggest complaining to the court as they are responsible for the behaviour of the baillif even though will try and say they are not!

The charge for a visit is £28 i believe, and there is a limit to the amount they can charge, but may i suggest parking the vans a couple of streets away just until this mess is sorted, I will ask to have this thread moved to the right place for you hun.

[cards down]

Re: hello - bailiff problems - philips

Hi Colicabcadam. You may want to look at the bailiff threads, Tabs at the top of the page, lots of useful information on there. Help is on its way though so fear not

[colicabcadam]

Re: hello - bailiff problems - philips

thanks - after reading the bailiffs sections quickly, i believe they have lied and stated that they can obtain entry using a lock smith, is this another lie? the funny thing is all my calls with them have been recorded

it seems the charges are legal, which completely takes the **** how can they justify £215 for an attendance fee, what muppett agreed this being legal ?

what annoys me though is that they did not even attend !!!!

[teaboy2]

Re: hello - bailiff problems - philips

If they did not attend then they can not charge you the attendance fee!

[Hurricane Puffrose]

Re: hello - bailiff problems - philips

if they didnt attend it isnt legal, and the whole locksmith thing is bull!
especially if you can prove you paid the bill!

[colicabcadam]

Re: hello - bailiff problems - philips

but it's my word against there's right ? there's no way of me proving that they did not show up is there ? i am kind of glad i was off sick yesterday when they "visited" because if i wasn't i'd be none the wiser of these dodgy people and the way they act !!

[teaboy2]

Re: hello - bailiff problems - philips

The onus off proof is on them, they must prove they did show up and thats dam impossible if they didn't!

[Hurricane Puffrose]

Re: hello - bailiff problems - philips

its their word against yours, and if you can prove there was no bill for them to collect, then they have no case, they may not chase you for charges on a non exsistant bill.

I suggest complaining to the court about this, as they responsible for their agents.. and if they do arrive at the door call the police.

[labman]

Re: hello - bailiff problems - philips

Hi and welcome to Legal Beagles!

If I have read correctly, as soon as you received the 'Further Steps Notice' your brought your account up to date. As the letter was delayed somewhat in the post, your account was passed over for enforcement action.

I would write to the Fines Officer at the court explaining what has happened, and emphasising your completely reliable payment history up to that point. Ask for him/her to mark the debt as fully satisfied and call off the bailiffs.

I don't know whether or not you will be successful by doing this, but it is certainly worth a go.

I would also put in the letter that you have been charged a £215 Attendance Fee when you were in all day and know for a fact they did not attend. Technically they can charge the £85 Admin fee, but it seems as though the court were a little over zealous in passing your account to the bailiffs.

Do you by any chance still have the letter and the envelope in which the Further Steps Notice came? The envelope would have the postmark on it which would help prove your case.

Finally, you have the right to see the Distress Warrant when a bailiff attends in these circumstances. I would put in your letter that had they attended you would have exercised this right and asked where and when you could see this. Obviously you were aware of this right before today, and would indeed have asked IF they had attended yesterday. The fact that you know about this right might just let the Fines Officer know you have some knowledge of bailiff law and so may be telling the truth.

Finally again (lol) you might state that the bailiff threatened to return with a locksmith for a debt of just £20.00 which is ridiculous. Technically it may be lawful, but it would never ever be given the go ahead in reality for such a small amount. Say in your letter that you have the call recorded and are happy to make it available to them to listen to should they so wish, and that you believe this level of threat for such a small debt is totally unreasonable.

It's a case of throwing as much mud as possible and hoping some sticks.

Good luck with the letter, and if you want to run it past us on here, just post it up.

Following that, I would write to the bailiff company and ask for a copy of their complaints procedure. Keep those recorded calls!

As things progress, please post up to keep us updated.

[bluebottle]

Re: hello - bailiff problems - philips

The cost of collecting an unpaid fine is incorporated into the fine itself. I have to agree with other posters that the court involved has been a little too quick off the mark and instructed bailiffs when, in fact, they should have established whether or not there was good reason for not paying or being late in paying the final £20.

Philips are treading on very dangerous ground legally and need to be kept well away from your home and property. In the meantime, get in contact with the Fines Officer at the court involved and tell them what has happened and to call off the bailiffs. If Philips turn up, film them, if you have video recording capability. If they whinge, tough. You are completely within your rights to film them if they come onto your property and in a public place.

One way of dealing with bailiff misconduct and fee fraud is to threaten to lay an information before the Magistrates Court against the bailiff involved. In order to do this, you will need the name of the bailiff. You will also need to first serve a notice on the bailiff giving them the opportunity to withdraw all demands, threats and unauthorised charges.

[labman]

Re: hello - bailiff problems - philips

I don't believe the court would take this step over this matter. The laying of information leads to an arrest warrant or summons being issued against the bailiff.

Although technically you are right that this could, and quite possibly should happen, I don't believe it would in reality.

[colicabcadam]

Re: hello - bailiff problems - philips

thanks for the replies - sadly I am in my iPhone which makes replying a pain, I will give you an update tomorrow

thanks

[labman]

Re: hello - bailiff problems - philips

One way of dealing with bailiff misconduct and fee fraud is to threaten to lay an information before the Magistrates Court against the bailiff involved. In order to do this, you will need the name of the bailiff. You will also need to first serve a notice on the bailiff giving them the opportunity to withdraw all demands, threats and unauthorised charges.

A word of warning to the OP here. We are seeing a lot of advice to posters of late to pursue criminal action against bailiffs. In my opinion this is quite dangerous advice, especially in this case.

Why?

Well, put simply, if you follow the above advice, you will be saying you are willing to pursue criminal action against the bailiff in question. The chance of any criminal action being taken against a bailiff for a debt of just £20.00 (or indeed any amount) is miniscule. Were you to pursue this through a Magistrates' Court you would risk incurring huge costs and almost certainly losing the case.

I would caution anybody reading this to be extremely cautious about ever pursuing criminal action where there is not a realistic chance of winning a case, or even of any action whatsoever being taken. At best you would look ridiculous, at worst you could end up losing a huge sum of money.

For anyone giving the advice, I would encourage real caution and think about reality before posting theoretically at the possible (albeit unintended) expense of posters.

[Guest]

Re: hello - bailiff problems - philips

Hi

Yes i must endorse what Labman says here, although I fully understand the sentiments and sense outrage that is behind wanting to take such actions, i think it unwise.

Peter