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Newlyn - Vehicle removed / excessive charging
Hello All,
I posted this in the welcome section but thought it a good idea to post here as well. Due to an unpaid parking ticket from 2009 my partner's van got removed by a Newlyn bailiff. It is a van he uses solely for work (it is on a hire purchase agreement), it is currently valued at approximately £8,000-£9,000. My partner is self-employed. The last letter we received from Newlyn was in July saying the debt was £394 plus associated costs. We were away between 10 and 19 September and the van got removed on 17 September in our absence. We guessed it was Newlyn upon our return and on 20 September paid £1,046 to them to get it back. The reason we paid was my partner had a lot of jobs to travel between and could not lose another day trying to convince the bailiff and Newlyn that they should not have taken the vehicle.
The letter informing us Newlyn had removed the vehicle was dated 17 September, the postmark on the envelope is 20 September and we received it by post on 22 September. The 7-day deadline to pay the debt before the van would be sold expired on 24 September - basically, had we not guessed it was Newlyn, we'd have received the letter two days before the 7-day deadline expired. My partner has his hands up to being guilty of not paying the parking ticket but there seems to be excessive charging going on here and to my knowledge, an HP vehicle and also, a vehicle used for work purposes should not be removed by bailiffs. I need advice. We paid the amount as my partner already lost one day of work because of them having his van. He stated time and time again to the bailiff that the vehicle is on an HP agreement and it is very obviously a work vehicle. Surely, bailiffs should remove goods to cover the cost of the debt and not goods valued at approximately 20 times the debt. Any advice is greatly appreciated. I wrote to Citizens Advice but their advice was basically to go to a lawyer to see if we have a case.
We have requested a detailed invoice from the bailiff and Newlyn but have yet to receive anything.
I have drafted a letter to send to Newlyns but just wanted to double check in this forum that this is the way to go. Was paying them a mistake? We were just so anxious to get the vehicle back that maybe we handled this the wrong way. Surely, we can still demand a reimbursement?
I posted this in the welcome section but thought it a good idea to post here as well. Due to an unpaid parking ticket from 2009 my partner's van got removed by a Newlyn bailiff. It is a van he uses solely for work (it is on a hire purchase agreement), it is currently valued at approximately £8,000-£9,000. My partner is self-employed. The last letter we received from Newlyn was in July saying the debt was £394 plus associated costs. We were away between 10 and 19 September and the van got removed on 17 September in our absence. We guessed it was Newlyn upon our return and on 20 September paid £1,046 to them to get it back. The reason we paid was my partner had a lot of jobs to travel between and could not lose another day trying to convince the bailiff and Newlyn that they should not have taken the vehicle.
The letter informing us Newlyn had removed the vehicle was dated 17 September, the postmark on the envelope is 20 September and we received it by post on 22 September. The 7-day deadline to pay the debt before the van would be sold expired on 24 September - basically, had we not guessed it was Newlyn, we'd have received the letter two days before the 7-day deadline expired. My partner has his hands up to being guilty of not paying the parking ticket but there seems to be excessive charging going on here and to my knowledge, an HP vehicle and also, a vehicle used for work purposes should not be removed by bailiffs. I need advice. We paid the amount as my partner already lost one day of work because of them having his van. He stated time and time again to the bailiff that the vehicle is on an HP agreement and it is very obviously a work vehicle. Surely, bailiffs should remove goods to cover the cost of the debt and not goods valued at approximately 20 times the debt. Any advice is greatly appreciated. I wrote to Citizens Advice but their advice was basically to go to a lawyer to see if we have a case.
We have requested a detailed invoice from the bailiff and Newlyn but have yet to receive anything.
I have drafted a letter to send to Newlyns but just wanted to double check in this forum that this is the way to go. Was paying them a mistake? We were just so anxious to get the vehicle back that maybe we handled this the wrong way. Surely, we can still demand a reimbursement?
