Urgent Need Help with Equita

[gasman13]

Hello
I desperately need help in dealing with Equita. Please bear with me while I explain the situation. I had two accounts for parking offences which I disputed but still got charged.
I received two seperate letters from Equita asking me to call which I did and set up payment plans on both for payment over 3 months on each. I made the payments each month and when I paid the 3rd payment on one account they said it was now settled. I asked them to check the other account as I had lost track and am 100 per cent sure that they said I was now settled with Equita. that was in August then at the beginning of September 05/09/2011 I awoke to find a letter stuck under my windscreen wiper titled Bailiff Removal stating that he had visited to remove goods under the Enforcement of Road Traffic Debts (certificated bailiffs) Regulations 1993 (amendments 2003) and that if I did not contact him within 24 hours he would return any hour day or night to impound my vehicle. It also stated that this would incur costs of £140.00 or more. I contacted him straight away and was told that I had defaulted on a payment of £67.00 and that I now owed £340.00. I explained that I had been told I had settled the accounts. He then said he would hold off till the end of September to return whilst I contact Equita.
I tried to contact Equita but an automated message just kept refering me back to the bailiff. There were no details of charges to explain how my £67.00 had become £340.00.

As a result of not being able to speak to Equita I sent a letter the same day explaining the situation and that if there had been a misunderstanding on either their or my part that I would pay the outstanding £67 over the phone. As of today I have had no reply.

I should point out that after looking at my statements I did only make two payments and pointed this out in the letter and that there was obviously a misunderstanding on one of the sides and that that I was happy to pay the outstanding £67.00

I then tried to contact the bailiff but he has texted me today saying that he no longer worked for Equita. After reading through the bailiffs section of this site I checked the the Bailiffs Register and his name does not appear on the site either as an individual or under Equita. When I try and phone Equita the automated line still says my case is being handled by this bailiff and must contact him.

At no time from making my final phone payment did Equita attempt to contact me by phone or letter although they have my number and address to advise that there was an overdue payment.

So I really do need advice on where I go from here and help with the following questions.

1) If Equita have sent a Bailiff to my home who is not on the Certified Bailiffs Register have they acted unlawfully and do I have to pay the asked for £340.00 for his visit.

2) Can an Equita bailiff impound my work vehicle as I am self employed and cannot operate without it. It has Large Gas Safe stickers on it and also large signs in the windows with my company name and details on it so is obviously a work vehicle.

3) If equita will not accept my calls or answer my letters what can I do as it is impossible to contact them. I am planning to send them a recorded delivery letter on Monday asking them to put this case on hold until they contact me. Should i also do a SAR at the same time.

I could really do with help with this as I am running out of time and do not want to wake to find my vehicle clamped.

Thanking you for any help in advance.

Gasman13

[WendyB]

Re: Urgent Need Help with Equita

Have you read Amy's Parking Guide? Sorry I can't do a link as I'm on my phone at the moment. Also, Equita are rubbish at dealing with stuff and if you do get through to the office they are worse than useless. I suggest you send a compliant by email, the person to contact is Karen Fowler, I think the email address is info@equita.com or it might be .co.uk I can never remember it, which is silly as it was me that got the contact details in the first place. As I'm on my phone I can't look it up but if you type in Karen Fowler in the search on the top of the forum you should be able to find it.

[Mrs James]

Re: Urgent Need Help with Equita

Here's the link to Amy's Parking fine guide.

Parking Fine Guide - Legal Beagles Consumer Forum

[ExBailiff31]

Re: Urgent Need Help with Equita

Gasman,

My first question would be to ask how this arrangement was made with Equita in the first place, was it over the phone or did a Bailiff levy goods (probably your vehicle) and break down the costs and charges and leave you a copy of this? if it was the former then I'm afraid to say that you had made no formal arrangement, the fact that you sent 2 payments in serves only to back up the case that you knew of this debt but have not paid it and the Bailiffs can attend and remove your vehicle or collect full payment plus costs which may now be several hundred pounds!
To answer your questions about the state of the Bailiff he MUST hold a valid certificate in order to collect any payments, remove any goods or set up any arrangements where a levy is put in place. However some companies do send out trainee Bailiffs to make contact with the charge payer and arrange an appointment for a certificated Bailiff to call and resolve the case this is legal.
You also ask if a Bailiff can impound your work vehicle?, do you own the vehicle or is it another companies property? if you own the vehicle then the short answer is yes, he may clamp and or remove your vehicle what the Bailiff cannot do is take tools of the trade however in most cases motor vehicles are NOT considered to be tools of the trade as your ability to work although affected has not be taken from you if you were a taxi driver and that was your only taxi the it couldn't be touched.
Even if you write to Equita they are under no obligation to respond or even acknowledge recepit of your letter what they will do is send out their Bailiff (with a written sheet detailing all correspondence/payments from you) to clear the matter and charge you for it, it is after all how they make their money!
In your case submitting an SAR would do you no good as you have made 2 payments to the Bailiff office on the account already and to a magistrate this looks like a bit of an after thought on your behalf and I would be surprised if it were granted what it may do is buy you a little breathing space for a week or 2 as normally the accounts are placed on hold while its looked into.
You also state that Equita have told you over the phone that the outstanding balance of £67 has now become £340!! did they give you a break down of this? if no Bailiff has visited you since the first one I frankly fail to see how these charges have acrued the best advice I can offer for you is make the payment (£67) with postal orders (as this is cleared funds) and a covering letter with all your account details direct to Equita, make sure you have taken copies of all of this and from what you have written this should resolve the matter.

[gasman13]

Re: Urgent Need Help with Equita

Ex Bailiff, in answer to your question the arrangement was made over the phone in response to letters sent via royal mail. No bailiff visited the property until the one who left the removal notice under my windscreen.
Secondly as a fireplace installer it is impossible to work without my van as it is in effect a mobile workshop and as well as four drills, three types of electric saws, hand tools I also have to carry 100kg of sand cement and plaster and approx 20 bricks, and various other equipment. So in no way could I possibly carry out my self employment without my vehicle, so clamping it would take away an way of me earning money.
Also I am not disputing the debt what I am disputing is the fact that when I made the final payment on the other pcn I asked their operator to tell the state of the second account and he told me I was clear with equita, otherwise I would have paid the £67.00. I know it sounds strange but I was not sure what the position was and was in no way trying not to pay any outstanding monies owed. I learnt that lesson to my cost a few years back dealing with JBW, so I would not have made five payments on the two accounts and then risk further action for £67.00.
With regards to the bailiff in charge there have been a few developments. When I asked him if he was a Certified Bailiff as he was not on the bailiff register he texted me to say that he is registered by the courts to act on behalf of equita. Does this mean he is Certified Bailiff although he is not on the register as an individual or under Equita.
The Bailiff has also informed me that he quit working for Equita on Friday as he was sick of their methods. He has been a real big help and advised me that I should call Northampton County Court 1st thing in the morning and ask to file a Out of Time Declaration and Witness Statement and ask them to contact their client Richmond on Thames Council to cease action whilst the appeal is heard. also I should contact Richmond Council direct and inform them of this course of action.
The reason for filing would be the fact that I appealed the PCN given at 8.30pm in a side road whilst answering a call out for a gas leak and received no reply or rejection notice. He said that by doing this equita have to cease any action pending the outcome.
I am not disputing the fact that I owe £67.00 but the fact that I was told my account was clear and then no contact was made by equita to say a payment was overdue, although it would be obvious to anyone with half a brain that if I had made five payments on the two accounts that I would deliberately not pay a final payment, that would be just like burning the money.
I hope that explains the situation more clearly . my dispute is that Equita will not let me pay the outstanding £67.00 which I offered to do when the situation came to light.
One final question. The bailiff in charge who left the levy on the vehicle (with no breakdown of costs) made a verbal arrangement with me over the phone that no further action would take place before 30th September and he notified Equita of this. As he has left can Equita go back on this arrangement and turn up at any time between now and then?
I really do appreciate all the help given so far by all on this site

[ExBailiff31]

Re: Urgent Need Help with Equita

Gasman,

In a word Yes equita can send out a Bailiff at any time while this warrant is still out standing and charge you for it despite the old Bailiff making a verbal arrangement with you, as the saying goes "it's not worth the paper it's written on"
as i said before send the £67 by postal orders direct to equita recorded delivery, as far as I can tell the previous Bailiff has not carried out a proper levy on the vehicle and even left it under your windscreen wiper which correct me if i'm wrong is a breach of the data protection act for starters, further more he is required to list all charges in a breakdown on the levy - I would go as far as to disregard this levy as IRREGULAR DISTRESS under Halburys Law, (quote - If a right to distrain has been properly excercised but a subsequent event has been carried out in an unlawful manner, it can be said that the distress is irregular.) the remedies for irregular distress are an appeal to Magistrates' Court or an action for damages in the county court.
I would also make a statutory declaration out of time as previously advised, and yes I would still think that your vehicle could be removed even in your situation as hard as that is to believe.

[gasman13]

Re: Urgent Need Help with Equita

EXBailiff - Thanks again for your advise - One thing I still cannot get my head around is whether the Bailiff who visited and stuck the Bailiff Removal letter under my windscreen wiper is a Certified Bailiff or not. He is not listed on the website I visited either as an individual or as part of equita. If he is not a certified bailiff have Equita acted unlawfully and can they enforce the costs that they claim are now £340.00 without having listed them.
Also what happens if I send them the £67.00 by postal order and they do not accept as payment - does it mean I have lost that money, and can they cash them and still claim I owe them money?
Thanks again for your time and help

[gasman13]

Re: Urgent Need Help with Equita

NEW DEVELOPMENT

I just had a thought that as the bailiff left the company (equita) on Friday that the warrant might not have been assigned to another bailiff so I went on their website and there is an online payment link. I put in my details and bailiff ref and it allowed me to make a payment for the amount of £57.00 (debt was £57.00 not £67.00 as stated earlier) + £1.00 debit card fee. I have a confirmation of payment from equita by email but it does not say if the account is clear. As they have accepted for the original amount outstanding does that mean that they can no longer try and pursue the supposed £340.00 - the amount the bailiff told me on the phone that I now owed even though there was no breakdown of charges on the bailiff removal letter he left under my windscreen wiper. i intend to email equita and tell them that I have paid the outstanding £57.00 online and that the matter should now be closed and that I would like confirmation by return and that I expect no further bailiff visits. I will also copy in Richmond Council Parking Services.
What does anyone think.
Again thanks for all who contribute to this site. You don't know just how much help you are to people like me who feel ripped off

[Amy]

Re: Urgent Need Help with Equita

No they cannot pursue purely for their fees. However, just because your account is showing a zero balance now, doesn't it mean it will do in a few days...

The only way you can find out definitively how much you owed to begin with and how much you have paid, is by sending a Subject Access Request. You might like to do that now or you might like to leave it and see how things pan out. It is completely up to you, but bailiffs do tend to lie.

Lastly, bailiffs are certificated not certified and if you want to check his certification you should call the MoJ.

[ExBailiff31]

Re: Urgent Need Help with Equita

No they cannot pursue purely for their fees.

I'm sorry Amy but I must disagree with you here, if a bailiff has legitimatly added fees to an account which has been subsequently paid minus his fees then the company are fully entitled to claim those fees outstanding from the charge payer.

[tortoise]

Re: Urgent Need Help with Equita

ExBailiff sir, you are a cad and a bounder. Amy, as always, is positively delightful. A subject access request would indeed be in order here. Only then can one determine exactly what has been charged by these rascals.

[Amy]

Re: Urgent Need Help with Equita

I'm sorry Amy but I must disagree with you here, if a bailiff has legitimatly added fees to an account which has been subsequently paid minus his fees then the company are fully entitled to claim those fees outstanding from the charge payer.

If a bailiff has legitimately incurred a fee then yes, he is entitled to be paid it. However, he must have left notice at the property he visited informing the debtor of the fee incurred as per the National Standards for Enforcement Agents "Enforcement agents will on each and every occasion when a visit is made to a debtor's property which incurs a fee for the debtor, leave a notice detailing the fees charged to date, including the one for that visit, and the fees which will be incurred if further action becomes necessary. If a written request is made an itemised account of fees will be provided."

Bailiffs lie about fees and a debtor should not be and cannot be, expected merely to take his word for it that a fee has been incurred.

Furthermore, how does one visit from a bailiff amount to a fee of £283? The only way to ascertain how this fee has been arrived at, since the bailiff did not leave notice of the visit having incurred a fee, only that a fee would be incurred if the debtor did not contact him within 24 hours, which he did - is to send a Subject Access Request.

[gasman13]

Re: Urgent Need Help with Equita

Hello Again,
Firstly thank you for all the help and advise given it has been a big help. Unfortunately this is all still going on. I will happily post copies of all correspondence with Equita and Richmond Council at the weekend as it makes very interesting reading and shows Equita for what they are, incompetent, unable to add up and I would consider almost fraudulent in claiming fees for visits that never took place. However in the short term I really need answers to the following:-

1) Are Richmond Council legally responsible for the actions of Equita as they are saying it has nothing to do with them even though all Equita correspondence has the name of London Borough of Richmond Council.

2) What is the maximum Equita can charge for a 1st visit and can they charge for a visit where the bailiff left a bailiff removal letter under my windscreen wiper instead of putting through my front door with the car in a communal area not a private driveway.

3) Is it legal to charge VAT on the PCN

4) Before Richmond Council washed their hands of this matter they sent me a letter where gave dates of visits that did not take place and totally different figures to letters equita have sent me when I have asked for a breakdown of costs. I also have 3 letters from Equita with breakdowns of 'costs' where the total sum is on 2 letters £35.00 more than figures in the breakdown and in the 3rd letter over £130.00 more than tthe figures in the breakdown. Would this total incompetence now give me a viable reason to go back to The Court and ask them to intervene, given that Richmond Council and Equita have given me 3 different amounts supposedly owed, and different dates for visits.


5) I am sending a SAR with £10.00 to equita by Recorded Delivery tomorrow, would it be worth doing the same to Richmond Council as Equita are obviously giving them different, dates and figures than they are giving me.

All I want is Equita to give me a figure with a breakdown of costs that match the total but that seems to much to ask as they have sent 3 letters where they have been incapable of adding up their own figures.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

[gasman13]

Re: Urgent Need Help with Equita

Please can some help with my last post on this thread, I know everyone is very busy but I am getting desperate with this and it starting to affect my health not mention my home life with with my wife and kids terrified everytime the bell rings
Thank you again all who tried to help me with this.

If it will help anyone in the future I will post copies of all communications with Equita and Richmond Council so you can see just how inept Equita are.

One thing I must say which may seem strange to everyone on here is how helpful the Bailiff in charge has been in trying to sort out this matter in phone conversations

[wiccaqueen]

Re: Urgent Need Help with Equita

Hello Again,
Firstly thank you for all the help and advise given it has been a big help. Unfortunately this is all still going on. I will happily post copies of all correspondence with Equita and Richmond Council at the weekend as it makes very interesting reading and shows Equita for what they are, incompetent, unable to add up and I would consider almost fraudulent in claiming fees for visits that never took place. However in the short term I really need answers to the following:-

1) Are Richmond Council legally responsible for the actions of Equita as they are saying it has nothing to do with them even though all Equita correspondence has the name of London Borough of Richmond Council.
yes Richmond council are full responsible for all actions of there contractors (Equita) most local authority's don't administrate and enforce there parking this work is outsourced you may find that your council use a firm called Capita to administrate and enforce parking Equita are part of the capita group of company's
so when you phone write to your council you are speaking to a capita employee

2) What is the maximum Equita can charge for a 1st visit and can they charge for a visit where the bailiff left a bailiff removal letter under my windscreen wiper instead of putting through my front door with the car in a communal area not a private driveway.

letter should not have been left on the car the bailiff is not a post man he is there to collect a debt which means he must fiscally chap your door and if you are not home then he posts the letter through the letterbox
depending on the amount of the PCN
first letter (posted) from Equita £11+vat

PNC £xxx
Warrant fee £7
letter £11 + vat
you add all 3 together first visit fee would be 28% of total +vat


3) Is it legal to charge VAT on the PCN
yes

4) Before Richmond Council washed their hands of this matter they sent me a letter where gave dates of visits that did not take place and totally different figures to letters equita have sent me when I have asked for a breakdown of costs. I also have 3 letters from Equita with breakdowns of 'costs' where the total sum is on 2 letters £35.00 more than figures in the breakdown and in the 3rd letter over £130.00 more than tthe figures in the breakdown. Would this total incompetence now give me a viable reason to go back to The Court and ask them to intervene, given that Richmond Council and Equita have given me 3 different amounts supposedly owed, and different dates for visits.


as said they cant wash there hands of this if you are getting no help from Equita or the council you must make a formal complaint to CEO of the council


5) I am sending a SAR with £10.00 to equita by Recorded Delivery tomorrow, would it be worth doing the same to Richmond Council as Equita are obviously giving them different, dates and figures than they are giving me.

All I want is Equita to give me a figure with a breakdown of costs that match the total but that seems to much to ask as they have sent 3 letters where they have been incapable of adding up their own figures.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

hope you undersand this

The bailliff registar is not always 100% accurate if your bailiff is not on the register you should phone Ministry of Justice Public Register of bailiffs on 020 3334 6355 and ask
when Mr xxx was certificated, what employer he is certificated to, what court and on on what date he was certificated