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To cut a long story short I have had to deal with my local authority and their bailiffs rossendales over council tax collection, it has been going on for over a year mainly due to the farce which is the formal complaints procedure with the council and later the local government ombudsman.
There was absolutely no need to call in the bailiffs as the amount owed was negligible and was almost completely paid off by the time rossendales took on the debt.
Luckily I sought advice and didn’t respond to their calls etc, and definitely didn’t allow them entry to my property. Eventually after several months they gave up and handed my case back to the council but not without threatening recommendation of a prison sentence.
As is the case of so many accounts I have read about on this site, lies and fraudulent charges were administered by rossendales on several occasions.
First and second visit fees of £24.50 and £18 were added to my account respectively were no proof that a visit actually took place.
Updates of my council tax balance were not sent to rossendales by the council as they should of resulting in overcharging. The council refused payment insisting I deal with rossendales, which they can’t do. A tip here is to pay direct into their bank account by obtaining their sort code and account number when they try this one.
Probably the worst though was an illegal levy on a vehicle to add a fraudulent fee and a levy fee. £60 a figure that was plucked from the air was added to the already dubious fees of £24.50, £18, £25 and £110.
The worst of it was that he visited my premises and allegedly created a Notice of Seizure of Goods & Inventory advising me that he had levied against a vehicle near where I live. I didn’t receive the legally required notice of distress. The fees I was charged by rossendales were not itemised, until several weeks later in response to a subject access request in which a levy fee was listed. (I knew nothing about the levy). I was unaware that the bailiff had levied on a vehicle until several weeks later when I was sent a copy of the document in response to a formal complaint about the conduct and application of fees by Rossendales.
What is more the vehicle is not owned by me. I do not know the owner of the vehicle and it would appear that the bailiff has randomly selected this car because it was parked close to my home, despite confirmation from the DVLA that Rossendales have access to driver/vehicle data on a next day basis.
I contacted the Police early on in the procedings about the criminal activities of rossendales which resulted in them wriggling out of their responsibility to investigate the matter. Though at the time the illegal vehicle levy was not known about, so it maybe worth a second try.
I have also tried through the several stages of the councils formal complaints procedure which resulted in them wriggling out of their responsibility of adequately addressing their appointed bailiffs failings.
I have complained to the Local government ombudsman, where two of the three ombudsmen are ex council chief executives, and it is said that the odds of getting a satisfactory outcome from a complaint at the York office is 1000:1. Well I bet you can guess that my complaint wasn’t the one in the thousand. Their final decision which took weeks to come by was an embarrassment, and it only incompetently addressed issues of their choice and obviously did not bother to accurately read the complaint. I wonder how many £millions the LGO costs the country.
I have also appealed to the magistrates court about the illegal levy which would in my opinion be a dead cert for successfully prosecuting the council/rossendales. But the council even wriggled out of this, as the time of the actual levy happened over 6 months ago and the complaint was time barred. The council knew what they were doing when they dragged out the complaints procedure.
I have resorted to a couple of form 4 complaints directed at the two bailiffs involved, but have yet to find out whether or not they will be effective.
If any one has any advice on getting the council/rossendales successfully prosecuted I would be extremely grateful.
There was absolutely no need to call in the bailiffs as the amount owed was negligible and was almost completely paid off by the time rossendales took on the debt.
Luckily I sought advice and didn’t respond to their calls etc, and definitely didn’t allow them entry to my property. Eventually after several months they gave up and handed my case back to the council but not without threatening recommendation of a prison sentence.
As is the case of so many accounts I have read about on this site, lies and fraudulent charges were administered by rossendales on several occasions.
First and second visit fees of £24.50 and £18 were added to my account respectively were no proof that a visit actually took place.
Updates of my council tax balance were not sent to rossendales by the council as they should of resulting in overcharging. The council refused payment insisting I deal with rossendales, which they can’t do. A tip here is to pay direct into their bank account by obtaining their sort code and account number when they try this one.
Probably the worst though was an illegal levy on a vehicle to add a fraudulent fee and a levy fee. £60 a figure that was plucked from the air was added to the already dubious fees of £24.50, £18, £25 and £110.
The worst of it was that he visited my premises and allegedly created a Notice of Seizure of Goods & Inventory advising me that he had levied against a vehicle near where I live. I didn’t receive the legally required notice of distress. The fees I was charged by rossendales were not itemised, until several weeks later in response to a subject access request in which a levy fee was listed. (I knew nothing about the levy). I was unaware that the bailiff had levied on a vehicle until several weeks later when I was sent a copy of the document in response to a formal complaint about the conduct and application of fees by Rossendales.
What is more the vehicle is not owned by me. I do not know the owner of the vehicle and it would appear that the bailiff has randomly selected this car because it was parked close to my home, despite confirmation from the DVLA that Rossendales have access to driver/vehicle data on a next day basis.
I contacted the Police early on in the procedings about the criminal activities of rossendales which resulted in them wriggling out of their responsibility to investigate the matter. Though at the time the illegal vehicle levy was not known about, so it maybe worth a second try.
I have also tried through the several stages of the councils formal complaints procedure which resulted in them wriggling out of their responsibility of adequately addressing their appointed bailiffs failings.
I have complained to the Local government ombudsman, where two of the three ombudsmen are ex council chief executives, and it is said that the odds of getting a satisfactory outcome from a complaint at the York office is 1000:1. Well I bet you can guess that my complaint wasn’t the one in the thousand. Their final decision which took weeks to come by was an embarrassment, and it only incompetently addressed issues of their choice and obviously did not bother to accurately read the complaint. I wonder how many £millions the LGO costs the country.
I have also appealed to the magistrates court about the illegal levy which would in my opinion be a dead cert for successfully prosecuting the council/rossendales. But the council even wriggled out of this, as the time of the actual levy happened over 6 months ago and the complaint was time barred. The council knew what they were doing when they dragged out the complaints procedure.
I have resorted to a couple of form 4 complaints directed at the two bailiffs involved, but have yet to find out whether or not they will be effective.
If any one has any advice on getting the council/rossendales successfully prosecuted I would be extremely grateful.
