Marston have removed my property. URGENT HELP NEEDED PLEASE!!!!!

[cstpatric]

Hi there,
I'm looking for some urgent help please.
On 30/11/2022 a (now proven) certified enforcement agent took control of my car, by way of a clamp, and two hours later removed it via a tow truck.
Since, I have demanded that Marston's produce any warrants pertinent to myself and my car. They have come up with EIGHT.
During last year's lockdown I purchased the car and sent off the V5 to DVLA straight away. Due to an admin error, they only actually received the V5 about a month ago, whereupon they sent me the log book. Before that point, all PCNs, Order for Recovery, Statutory Declarations were being sent to an address that wasn't my own. This address is also on the alleged warrants of control that Marston's have produced.
I am vulnerable and am also in immediate recovery from breaking both of my legs. Taking my car has rendered me housebound but, on top of this, I never received any of the PCNs and any subsequent documentation relating to each PCN.
All 8 PCNs are divided over 3 creditors - a local council, Transport for London and National Highways.
I am looking to lodge an injunction immediately (which I have only just found out I can do this morning) and need any help that can be offered urgently in filling out the N16A form.
The problem is that Marston's are claiming that they are in possession of 8 warrants but I can't prove that they are or that they are not. (All alleged warrants have been issued on behalf of Traffic Enforcement Centre and look bogus to say the least. TEC confirm that they are of the knowledge that at least one warrant has been issued but are they lying?) Therefore, how can I get this injunction whilst being unsure whether each respective creditor has sought a warrant of control against me i.e. how do I know who to record as the 'defendants'?
I'm so severely stuck and have never been so desperate and at a loss as to what to do in my life.
As I say, any help would be much, much appreciated.
Thank you.
FYI: I have written to each creditor and asked if they can confirm whether they have sought a warrant of control however they are trying to dodge the question and circumvent actually giving me a straight answer. I'm afraid that by the time I get an answer, it will be too late to lodge the injunction as my car is set for auction on the 15th!

[R0b]

Hi
First of all, try not to panic otherwise you may end up making mistakes and things could get much worse with the car being sold. I don't believe at this stage the correct process is to apply for an injunction, not least without exhausting all other available options. As a general point of practice, CPR 85 governs controlled goods by way of writ or warrant of control.

You seem to have been told you have a date for the sale of the car at auction which is 15th December so there is still a little time to work out next steps. To help us work out your best options, I've got some questions I would like to clarify - sorry there are a few questions based on the information you have given so please make sure to answer all of them as best you can otherwise what we suggest may not work for you and take you down the wrong path.

1. Have you been given copies of all 8 warrants or any warrants from Marston or have they just said they are in possession of 8 but failed to supply copies?If they haven't given copies, why not? It sounds like you have copies but wanted to be sure.

2. You claim the old address is on all of the warrants of control, did Marston explain how they found you if your DVLA address was only just updated?

3. When Marstons collected the vehicle did they say which warrant was being executed?

4. Just so I'm clear, was the car on private property at your new address or was it sitting on a public highway?

5. You suggest that the vehicle is being sold at auction on 15th December but how did you come about this information, who gave you notice of that and how was that notice given e.g. verbally or in writing

6. Is the car on finance?

7. Did Marstons provide you with a controlled goods agreement?

[cstpatric]

Hi,
Thank you so much for your reply.
In response to your questions, I will detail the answers below;

1. Yes, I demanded copies of all 8 alleged warrants after my car was removed from me. They bear no signature or name of a judge and are so generic that, if one wanted to use it as a false instrument, all they would need to do is just change the respondent’s and PCN details respectively.

2. The address that is across 7 of the 8 warrants is presumably the address of the previous car owner. Due to an admin error on the behalf of DVLA, I have only just been recorded as the ‘registered keeper’ - and within no time at all, my car is seized.
The other alleged warrant has been issued on behalf of my local council, on which my actual address is recorded. Again, I can only presume this is how Marston’s ‘found me’ however I have not confirmed this with them.

3. The bailiff initially made an attempt to control the goods by placing a clamp on the wheel of my car; two hours later, I saw my car in the air from my living room window being placed onto the back of a tow truck. The bailiff did not post anything through my front door or knock to say that he had ‘taken control’ of my vehicle nor that it was to be removed. As I say, I found out for myself when I witnessed my car hanging in the air from my window.

4. At the time the clamp was placed and the car was removed, respectively, the car was sitting in residents’ parking bag outside my front door. This is not private land.

5. I received a letter from Marston’s a couple of days ago informing me of such and that the HPI value (?) is £1,000, albeit the market value as I understand it is just under £5,000.

6. I own the car outright.

7. All I received was an ‘inventory of goods’ which excluded the fact that my medication was in the car at the time of its removal.

Thank you so very much once again.

[R0b]

Thanks, so one thing I missed off, are all of these PCNs related to the previous owner or are they PCNs incurred by you but just never received them?

[cstpatric]

They are PCNs that I have accumulated but, as you rightly suggest, did not have any notice of.

[R0b]

Thanks, I will try to post something up later today when I have time.

[R0b]

Hi,

After reviewing what you have responded to, it appears that the bailiff may have failed or breached his obligations and/or the relevant law. I'm not a complete expert on this area but I have some experience so I'll start with the easy stuff and what I know. I have summarised it for your reference to review at your leisure but here may be things I may have missed out though I think Ive captured the majority.

1. First of all, Part 75 and Practice Direction 75 of the Civil Procedure Rules governs the TEC procedures and it is definitely worth having a read to familiarise yourself at least with some of the basis points. Link here (Part 75) and here (PD75).

2. As I have already mentioned, I do not believe that an injunction is the correct procedural route right now. Under Part 75, you can file an out of time witness statement which has 4 grounds, one of them being that a PCN was issued that you were not aware of. Ideally you would need to provide some evidence that you submitted the form to the DVLA and that they have only just processed that now.

a. The effect of filing an out of time statement means that the warrant of control is suspended whilst the challenge is considered - this is confirmed in para 8.1 of PD75. Para 5.4 of PD75 also says that if the out of time statement is submitted, the TEC will not look at it for at least 14 days after the out of time statement is served on the local authority. That would effectively prevent the bailiff from selling the car at auction on 15th December.

b. There's a brief summary of the process on the .Gov website, link here. I would suggest for the reasons I will explain further down, that it would be sensible for your to make applications for out of time for all of the PCNs as soon as possible.

c. Just as a point to note, all of the warrants for the old address cannot be executed at your new address. Each of those local authorities would have had to apply to the TEC for a new warrant to be issued for the correct address. However, I suspect the bailiff would argue that the one and only warrant that has your new addres was the one he executed the taking of control of goods. You may want to review any paperwork you have (if any) and see if there is a reference to the warrant reference and compare that to see which one it was executed on.

3. In terms of the warrant of control, that is governed by Schedule 12 of The Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act (TCE) link here, Part 85 of the CPR and the Taking Control of Goods Regulations (TCGR). The TCGR largely governs the process (link here).

a. Regulation 6 explains the minimum notice period for attending the premises which is 7 days. The prescribed contents and method of the notice are set out in Regulations 6-7. From the sounds of things, it looks like no notice has been given, so any enforcement under the TCGR is fails. Also in paragraph 7 of Schedule 12 it says that the bailiff must keep a record of the time when the notice was given.

b. Regulation 10 says that a bailiff cannot take control of goods where a vulnerable person is alone at the time of attempting to take control.

c. Where goods are seized, the bailiff must have given you a controlled goods agreement per Regulation 15.

d. Regulations 37-40 explain the minimum notice period for the sale of goods, being 7 days as well as the contents of the notice and the method to be used which is similar to the notice for attendance above.

e.Breaches of Schedule 12 sets out the debtors remedies under paragraph 66 but note a breach of Schedule 12 does not make the bailiff a trespass but you could have a claim for wrongful interference with your goods.

In a nutshell, I think your best bet is to get those out of time witness statements filed with the TEC as that immediately suspends the enforcement by the bailiff. Since there are several of them, I would probably send individual emails with the bailiff company copied in each time as I wouldn't want each of the local authorities knowing which have issued a PCN when they are not privy to that information but how you do that is up to you and how much you care about that. The reason for copying in the bailiff company is that they cannot then deny that they were not on notice about your out of time application in the event they try to sell the car.

Hopefully that should be enough ammo to keep you going, but I would keep everything in writing when corresponding with the local authorities and the bailiff or the bailiff company.

[Sir Vere Brayne d'Emmidge]

Just a quick note Rob, your advice is fine, but you write:

c. Where goods are seized, the bailiff must have given you a controlled goods agreement per Regulation 15.

That is not correct, upon taking control of goods Notice of Goods Taken in Control is required.

The Controlled Goods Agreement is issued when the EA and the debtor agree to pay the amount owed by a certain date, if this does not happen then the good are removed.

The EA in question made a few "errors":

1) Not trying to get hold of the debtor and explain to him that he had taken control of godds and why.

2) Issue and inventory of goods taken in control rather than a Notice of Goods Removed.