Bailiff attends home, with Distress Warrant.

[Amy]

Re: Bailiff attends home, with Distress Warrant.

You need to sue for non-compliance of the DPA.

See post #5 Legal Beagles

Plus you might want to have a read of this Bailiff Guide - Legal Beagles and submit a Form 4 complaint about this bailiff, which frankly, I think you should.

[frances1p]

Re: Bailiff attends home, with Distress Warrant.

Hi Amy,
Well I have finally received a response from Marstons - though several weeks following the deadline I had urged them to provide all relevant info to me.

Anyway, hope you can offer me further advice - sorry to be a pain! This whole process seems extremely drawn out and very time consuiming, as I feel I have made little progress in this matter - as Marstons have made matters almost worse in their delays in providing requested info/details, even now I am not sure they have finally complied to my request??

Well - here goes, the letter I have received today - dated 15 June 2009, states the following:-

My Ref:
Dear Ms Phillips,

Thank you for your letter dated the 21 April 2009, I apologise for my delay in responding.

In regard to the fees you have incurred. These charges have been calculated in accordance with the authority of the Magistrates Court Act 1980, and on a scale set down by the Ministry of Justice. The breakdown is as follows:-

fine
------------------------------- merged -------------------------------
...../cont...

fine £ 60.00
Admin charge £ 50.00
Bailiff Attendance Fee £175.00
Debit Card Charge £ 1.00
_______
£286.00

In respect of the charges applied I can advise that:-

* The admin charge is set by the Dept of Constitutional Affairs and is applicable to every
warrant
* The attendance to remove fee is a reasonable cost and is set by the company for the
attendance by the enforcement officer at the debtor's premises.
* A standard £1.00 charge is applicable when payment is made by debit card.

I can confirm that Mr Llewellyn does hold a certificate, which was issued by Dartford County Court.

I hope this information is of assistance to you.

Yours sincerely

amy Cooper
Customer care and Complaints Team

Well - thats it! I dont know if I am any further enlightened, as this seems to me to be morealess the same details/info I received in their original response, which was inadequate. There is still no records of any letters being posted to me, prior to a bailiff attending my home?
Is it normal practice for Bailiff to make a random call, without prior notification of any sort, with a view to removing goods (Bailiff Attendance Fee?), without an initial warning/opportunity to pay debt??

Any further info advice, would be much appreciated - I feel that Marstons may have not followed procedures accordingly and are now using 'delaying tactics' in the hope of me simply getting p- - - d Off and giving up?? Afterall if they did write prior to visit etc, surely it would be to their advantage to disclose their records of this??

help !!!¬! Please!!!!
THANK YOU !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ms Phillips

[Amy]

Re: Bailiff attends home, with Distress Warrant.

Right enough is enough of these idiots.

Marston still have not complied with your DPA request. The fees are not acceptable, their fees are capped at £200. They also appear to have overcharged you £75 for the bailiff to attend.

You need to write back to them to this effect and inform that you are now making an official complaint as per post #10.

Did you check yourself whether or not this bailiff is certificated? If not you should do this.

[frances1p]

Re: Bailiff attends home, with Distress Warrant.

Thanks again. I suspect they are somehow trying to evade my specific request for information and deluding themselves into believing that if they present the same 'vague' details, in a different format and new signatory - I will somehow believe that they have upgraded the original details/information provided to me??

Non-complience with a Statutory Request for info, in the first instance - may quite simply be an 'oversight' on their part, easily remedied by releasing the full details/info, once they are made aware of the fact.

But my having pointed out their non-complience, on more than one ocassion now and their still either 'holding back information' or they probably not being able to comply owing to 'their not having followed procedures originally' (thereby not having any additional info to submit to me!) - but still they wont admit their possible mistakes in this, instead just hoping I will give up and they can just archive my records!

Instead it has made me more determined to proceed and seek 'justice' for myself, based on all their failures, but most of all in their total lack of compassion and acting as 'legal thugs' when attending my home for payment.

I am concerned that all my correspondence and dealings are still directly with them and the length of time it is all taking, before I can finally present my case to a 'higher authority' for their consideration (eg: Magistrates Court Judge' etc).

So I shall follow your advice, re: writing a formal complaint to them - but is there not a way I might expand it outside the Marston's Group - in the hope of some form of adjudication and justice being applied to the matter?

For Example: would it serve any purpose to copy my letter (complaint) to the court where original fine was issued, alerting them of a potential problem / my disatisfaction?

Sorry to be a pain and thanks for all your advice, it really is appreciated.

Many thanks in advance.

Ms Phillips

[Amy]

So I shall follow your advice, re: writing a formal complaint to them - but is there not a way I might expand it outside the Marston's Group - in the hope of some form of adjudication and justice being applied to the matter?

For Example: would it serve any purpose to copy my letter (complaint) to the court where original fine was issued, alerting them of a potential problem / my disatisfaction?

You don't have to copy your letter to the court, you can complain to the court by way of filing a Form 4 complaint against the bailiff, but you can only do this if you know the bailiff is certificated.

This is why I asked you whether you had checked he was certificated for yourself in my previous post.

[frances1p]

Re: Bailiff attends home, with Distress Warrant.

thanks for that, I think I will now persue that route - ie: formal complaint, directly to Marstons and lodge a 'form 4' complaint to the court, after making initial checks to verify the bailiff is in fact, certified.

will get on to that right away and aim to post letters (complaints) tomorrow.

will advise outcome as soon as I hear anything.

thanks again,
you have been a marvellous help and an inspiration to us all who have been experiencing, 'alarm & distress' in dealing with bailiffs, in their basically ceasing every opportunity of abusing their powers/authority, against us more 'vulnerable' debtors.

thanks again
Ms Phillips

[Amy]

Re: Bailiff attends home, with Distress Warrant.

.........after making initial checks to verify the bailiff is in fact, certified.

Certificated. Bailiffs are certificated.

[frances1p]

Re: Bailiff attends home, with Distress Warrant.

Sorry, I did in fact mean 'certificated' - I must have subconsciously expressed my thoughts as to my desired outcome for that particular 'bailiff' (ie: "Society order that he be, certified and throw away the key!") Only kidding, thanks for the correction, couldn't help finding some irony in my error!

thanks again, will post you with outcome of my complaints etc - asap.

Ms Phillips.

[frances1p]

Re: Bailiff attends home, with Distress Warrant.

hi there, just posting this quick update - as did not want you to think I had given up on this matter., NO WAY!!!
I completed and posted Recorded Delivery, complaint to the Information Commissioner, re the SAR requested from Marstons.
I received a letter from ICO on 5 August, which simply says:

Case Ref No: RFAXXXXXXXXXX
Dear Ms
Thankyou for your letter dated, re complaint.
The matters raised will be assisgned to one of our casework teams before being allocated etc etc etc.
Please be aware that allocation to a case officer may take some time as we are currently working through a backlog of complaints
Signed - Head of Customer Service
Whilst the matters raised will be investigated - one day!! (its a bit of a slow drawn out proces!) I am a bit peeved by it all, in the fact that Marstons definately did act unlawfully and in a threatening manor to recover an an extortionate amount of money from me (which I had to borrow and still repaying at very high interest rates!) This whole matter continues to cause me distress and significant duress, in this having happened almost a year ago now and I dont feel any closer to resolving my complaint, being reimbursed by Marstons/or Court etc?
It makes me mad, that they can obtain money from vulnerable persons like myself, by means of mental brutality (fear!) and using inappropriate scaremongering tactics, to misrepresent the law applicable to such matters and the bailiffs powers to negotiate and even take back to court to re inforce payment terms.
If there is anything else I might be able to do, in order for me to try and be reimbursed all costs etc please advise, in order to try and move things on a bit!
I know its the 'system' at fault and by no means any of your very helpful advice, but it just gets a bit tedious sometimes in trying to seek justice/financial redress - against those who have extracted monies from you unlawfully and by immoral tactics, but are path to justice, is a very long and winding road to follow indeed?
Thanks any further advice? If not, shall keep you updated as and when I hear from the ICO.
byeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[frances1p]

Re: Bailiff attends home, with Distress Warrant.

Further Update :
This is interesting........... as i mentioned previously, I filed a complaint to the Information Officer re: SAR non complience etc. Owing to the time flying by now, with no firm outcome/result in relation to the Bailiff Complaint/Issue - I decided to check with the ministry of justice, whether Bailiff is in fact certificated.
I have been advised that the most recent list the Ministry received from Marstons, confirmed that Paul Llewellyn (the bailiff I refer to) of Marstons, was due to be granted a license in April 2009/ But no further info received?. I enquired as to his previously being licensed and was told that if license was granted in April 2009, it would have been issued by, Dartford County Court. He suggested I contact direct for further verification - also for me to enquire at the same time, whether this was a new issue or continuance?
So, there is a possibility that he was not certificated at the time he enforced distress warrant at my home address - using ruthless and bullying tactics to procure full payment????
The plot thickens? I am about to contact Dartford and see what I can find out!!!
Will keep you posted.
byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee nadia X

[frances1p]

Re: Bailiff attends home, with Distress Warrant.

URGENT UPDATE: - PLEASE HELP/ADVISE ASAP!!! IMPORTANT INFO RE MY CASE? !!!!!!

Today, ie: Tues 8 Sept - I have established this information, regarding the Bailiff in question? (ie: Paul Llewellyn, who attended my home to enforce distress warrant!)
He was not certificated at the time!!!??? Does this change anything??
ie: Marstons claimed he was (in writing), he claimed he was, at time of enforcing warrant /enforcing extortionate fees/costs etc!! (ie: November 2008)

I spoke to the relevant Court and they advised me that he was 'certificated' in April 2009 (this was a new application - not renewal). He is not certificated currently, after leaving the employment with Marstons in July 2009. I requested that they double check for me, whether or not he had been certificated prior to April 2009 and they re-confirmed it to be a brand new ap.
I would really love some urgent feedback, in particular whether or not this in any way puts a different slant on things, possibly not in my favour?? Baring in mind, the Info Commissioner has received my complaint regarding SAR - Marstons etc?
I am a tad concerned this might impede my prospects of any success in my complaint and any financial redress
Your earliest response much appreciated
thanks

[Amy]

Re: Bailiff attends home, with Distress Warrant.

Do you have any of this in writing? If you do, excellent. If you do not, can you get it in writing?

Marston Group and HMCS state quite clearly that if the debtor cannot pay, then a repayment plan can be agreed. The maximum time scale for re-payment is set at 90 days. So, not only should they have agreed to a repayment plan, the bailiff they sent should have been certificated.

Complaining about a bailiff that should have been certificated, but was not, is the same as complaining about a certificated bailiff - Form 4 and request a hearing.

[frances1p]

Re: Bailiff attends home, with Distress Warrant.

Hi - thanks for the advice. Just wnated to confirm a few things and then ask you what you now think will be the best route for me to take, in complaining about this bailiff and to add to the list, the fact he is not certificated (or wasnt at the time of enforcing distress warrant).
I checked all my paperwork and firstly, Paul Llewellyn claimed to be certificated when he attended my home etc He has signed some of the paperwork, re payment/warrant with a ref no: following his name, which seems to also imply/verify that he is in fact certificated?
In Marston's initial reply to my SAR request, it made some reference to 'bailiff certification' as not being a requirement' for a bailiff to enforce a warrant etc.
However, in the second response (still inadequate?) - it states that Paul Llewellyn is certificated?
So I do have 'pretty much', their claims to his being certificated at the time of issuing warrant. So this will obviously go in my favour/ That is if and when something happens in relation to this whole mess!
ie: still nothing more from the Info Comm Officer? taking his/her time a bit? How long can I be expected to wait?
Anyway, in the meantime,
I wish to initiate a fully fledged complaint against Paul Llewellyn (Bailiff CEO for Marstons) -
1. his unexpected visit
2. Acting Unlawfully
3. Using underhanded methods for obtaining payment of costs in full (original fine for £60, I was charged/paid £286.00)
4. Still no closer to uncovering the full SP of their actions as non-compliance to SAR Request (Marstons)
5. My more recent discovery, of Mr Paul Llewellyns 'certification' being in dispute
6. My desired outcome being, 1. An apology from Marston's group/Paul Llewellyn
2. Admission of their acting unlawfully 3. Non-compliance issues: resolved
4. My money/costs, refunded in full (less the cost of outstanding fine £60)
5 Compensation for the suffering and distress this situation has caused for myself and my son - in trying to access justice and further consideration to 'financial distress' for my time and trouble in accessing the Courts /justice in this matter - owing to the great many delays encountered by SAR Non-Compliance and the investigation of the matter by the Information Commissioner, still pending?

So this is what I am hoping to achieve with this now, given all the above - what do you think my best course of action to be. Still pursue a group 4 complaint - against the bailiff? Or should I now go directly to the Magistrate Court that issued the fine and subsequent warrant and make them aware of everyithing and ask for them to investigate, consider outcomes?
Your urgent advice would be much appreciated, thanks for all your input/help so far!!
Thanks your a diamond! :tinysmile_cry_t:

[Amy]

Re: Bailiff attends home, with Distress Warrant.

Filing a Form 4 complaint or going to the court is the same thing, in effect.

A Form 4 complaint is filed at the court either online or in person at your local court. Once this has been filed the court will send a report to the bailiff concerned who will be given 14 days to respond. If he fails to respond or the Judge is not satisfied with his response in any way, he will order a hearing.

If this happens (and I think you have a very good chance that it will) you should make every effort to attend this hearing.

If your complaint is upheld the Judge may order compensation to be paid to you, which is usually paid from the bailiff's £10,000 bond. He may also cancel the bailiff's certificate (which he may have renewed by now) this normally means the loss of his employment as he will no longer be entitled to levy distress for rent, road traffic debts, council tax or non-domestic rates.

[frances1p]

Re: Bailiff attends home, with Distress Warrant.

Thanks, I shall endeavour to lodge a complaint at my local Court, in relation to this Bailiff/Marston's Group.

1. Do I take this to my local County Court? Or Magistrates? (my fine was issued at Magistrates Court?)

2. How in depth should I go?,
in respect of :-

(i) the facts ,
(ii) my feeling personally threatened and intimidated, forcing me to pay in full (after borrowing the full amount - which I am still repaying!)
(iii) Do I include all the details in relation to non-compliance of SAR and my complaint being lodged with the information commissioner, pending his investigation of the matter?
(iiii) should I also include information/evidence of the fact that I had sent the Court a cheque for £30, only days prior to the 'bailiff attending my home' and the fact that the Bailiff paid no regard to this? (ie: I do have full evidence/proof of this! - shall I include?) Also, should I photocopy and attach all documents I have been issued by Marstons?

(V) any other advice / guidance - would be appreciated.

..Also should I state my desired outcomes? or leave for Judge to consider?

...On a final note, should I also mention the situation re his not being certificated at time of enforcing distress warrant - demanding full payment from me?

At least this should get things moving along now? Such a slow process, unlike when we owe them or any other government body! Immediate Payment / or else.. for us however, its a long old hard and slow slog, the outcome undetermined, until the end!

Thanks again for all your help, if you could just respond to these queries when you can and I shall take it from there.

Will of course keep you posted .........................

Help! Help! Help! Please ........................ byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!