DCBL Bailiff did not comply with rules and regulations

[effy]

can any one advise on the situation! basically a bailiff turned up at my home address and clamped my vehicle with no notice, no warnings, no inventory left, he did not comply with the rules and regulations at all, also another employer of the same company wrote a statement of the truth of the actions that took place that morning which were completely incorrect, I made a formal complaint to the company, but the complaint got rejected and the director sent a statement of events that took place the same morning which were completely different to the employee's statement of truth and to the actual procedure that took place. How would I go about the next steps to take. please help!

[ploddertom]

Need to know moLre info before commenting. What it was for & when. Have you submitted a SAR to DCBL?

[effy]

an individual (old family friend) took me to a smalls claim to court, did not receive the original claim form as the address was incorrect. so they enforced a bailiff. I wasn't aware of any of this before until the officer turned up at my home address our CCTV surveillance has motion detection alarm so I immediately ran outside on the front and got into my vehicle, little did I know until I started the car and began to drive down the street it had been clamped already, after a few attempts applying to set aside my case (due to my defense not being in the correct context for the judge) it finally got set aside, bailiffs refused to remove the clamp, in the end, my car was recovered and I removed the clamp, still have the clamp too. complaints were made to the company as the officer did not comply with rules and regulations and also a statement of truth was made by an employer of the same company stating what actions took place. but were not true, this letter was hand delivered along with the writ of control a few days after. finally, after making a written complaint to the company the director sent a letter & rejected the complaint and also making a statement of what took place that morning completely different from the (employee that sent the first statement) and also not true. thanks for your response.

[ploddertom]

So, the sum of money claimed must have been for more than £600 as I assume the claim was transferred to the High Court for enforcement - the reason why DCBL had become involved. Before they attended you should have received a Notice of Enforcement which gives you time to contact them to try and resolve the matter - however DCBL have form for not doing this and the first you know about matters is when they turn up.

For this to have happened it must have been before lockdown started as all Bailiff enforcement is on hold for another 3 weeks yet.

[effy]

yes, the sum was £5080, the individual stated there was a contract but it had got lost in the post, there was no contract made, nor actual evidence to support their claim. No, I did not receive a notice of enforcement also the statement made by the employee of DCBL stated the agent spoke to neighbours that morning which was 6.05 and the neighbours confirmed that the vehicle was owned by myself, but the reply I received from the director of DCBL stated the enforcement agent knocked the door of the premises, both gave wrong statements. My partner present at the time of the enforcement wrote a witness statement of what took place. The whole case including the enforcement has made a devastating impact on our lives, and yes the agent attended 25th September 2019, the trial was supposed to take place end of March this year but was cancelled due to the pandemic, postponed till the end of July but received a letter last week there won't be a case until after 31st August, now I have no Date for the trial. sorry to go on, there's a lot of wrongs in this case and just not sure where to start, the claimant has also altered their side to the claim when exchanging evidence, & hand-delivering unnecessary (additional information) towards the claim, but yeah a lot to the case. just unsure what to do next? Thank you for your advice. appreciated

[ploddertom]

This is a little confusing at present as to where you actually are. You say you have been granted Set Aside - so what is the next Hearing for? Did you ever apply for a Stay of Execution against DCBL for the Writ they have? And as asked previously have you served a SAR on DCBL?

[effy]

yes it was set aside by the judge, the next hearing is the trial for the case. sorry no what does SAR mean? thanks

[ploddertom]

SAR = Subject Access Request - see Shortcuts on right hand side of the page. there is one there.

I see where we are up to now. You received an Interim Set Aside pending a full Hearing for which you now have a date. This makes sense of what DCBL are doing as there being a further Hearing there is no guarantee you will win it they can hang on to your vehicle until such time the case is decided. You say you have freed the car and have the clamp - have you advised DCBL of this and the address where they may collect it.

The next question has to be did you owe the money demanded in full or in part. Although you may indeed apply for Set Aside because all went to a different address you still need a defence if you owed any of the money as otherwise you could be just swapping 1 CCJ for another. There are better people than me that can advise on your Set Aside.

[effy]

The order that was made, stated by the court of its own motion it is ordered that the judgment is hereby set aside, then the next order said this is now a defended claim, next step was directions questionnaire, then evidence & documents served, finally, the hearing date for the case was going to take place 25th March 2020, obvs hearing could not take place so was then postponed till 31st July 2020. but this hearing was also canceled and now there is no date for the hearing, the order just says the case will be relisted after 31st August. But it's not right as they did not send a notice of enforcement, nor any warning of taking goods or even attempt to knock the door and speak to me face to face and most importantly produce relevant identification & documents on behalf of the claimant, there were 3 cars parked outside my property that morning as parking is limited, so to go straight ahead and clamp my vehicle is so wrong on many levels, which then he has failed to recognize we are considered to be vulnerable, due to personal reasons, partner pregnant also our 1-year-old son in bed too.DCBL would not communicate with me after making several phone calls regarding the clamp and the matters that happened, the agent sent a text message asking where the car was located demanding to tell him. when the court order was made to be set aside they still refused to come and pick the clamp up. The individual had given a certain amount of money to me, firstly as I was saving for a car so he insisted to help me out (as it was a close family friend at the time too) secondly he wanted to move the cash swiftly as he had just inherited a large number of moneys from a family member, my father also witnessed this exchange at the time. I deposited the cash straight into my account, then bought a car week later which I have statements to prove this, and also the whole amount was paid back to the claimant again I have my bank statements showing this, so I defended the whole claim. How would I go about the subject access request? Thanks

[effy]

And also just to add would you recommend or advise, myself making an application to the court to make an order, the question leaves me what order would I make as there's so much wrong within the case? thank you

[ploddertom]

Just so you are aware - the enforcement & DCBL are nothing to do with the claim procedure. Yes they are a result of the original Judgment by Default but as that has been Set Aside pending a further Hearing it is as if you have just been served with the original documents.

I really think you need some help or otherwise you are going to possibly lose and get stuck with some large costs for HCEO fees.