Parking Fine and Equita Bailiff Fees

[spetewu]

Hi there, I was just wondering whether anyone out there could kindly give me some advice on this issue.

We travelled to Birmingham last November and parked the car on single yellow line (no sign posted restricted control zone) on a Sunday. We received a PCN and subsequently filed informal appeals to the Birmingham City Council within 2 weeks but it was declined; we then filed the formal representation after received the NtO in January this year and heard nothing until we moved house in April, we therefore assumed the PCN was cancelled.

On 29 November, my partner travelled to Southampton to vist a client. An hour later, she found her car got clamped with a note left on the windscreen which asked her to contact Equita. She didn't know what to do so asked me to deal with it.

After long conversations with this Equita guy as well as someone at the Birmingham City Council, I had to pay £430 from my own debit card to Equita in order to get the car released. Regardless I paid the fees this guy issued a handwritten "invoice" address to my partner with no breakdown of the charges at all!

From the conversation with the guy at the Birmingham City Council, I was told the bill left the Council at just over £100 (although we argued we shouldn't pay for this either given their slow response and kept sending the correspondence to our old address), however, Equita has added another £300ish as their "Bailiff Fees", which I would consider to be excessive.

The question for now is that as my partner is the registered keeper of the vehicle, although I paid the charge from my own debit card on her behalf, will I be able to deal with equita myself or shall I arrange all future correspondence to be sent from my partner?

Any advice would be gratefully received.

[labman]

Re: Parking Fine and Equita Bailiff Fees

Apologies, but I'm not sure what you mean by, "Can I open the call with Equita....."

[spetewu]

Re: Parking Fine and Equita Bailiff Fees

Thanks labman. What I was trying to say was "will I be able to deal with equita myself or shall I arrange all future correspondence to be sent from my partner"? Many thanks.

[labman]

Re: Parking Fine and Equita Bailiff Fees

Initially your partner will need to speak to them, then give permission for you to act on her behalf in future.

If the debt is in your partner's name and the car is registered in her name, they have actually broken the Data Protection Act by talking to you without her permission to do so.

[spetewu]

Re: Parking Fine and Equita Bailiff Fees

Labman, you made a comment that "they have broken the Data Protection Act" at the first place, what does this mean to us? Can we sue them on the basis that they have broken the law/improperly practiced?

Based on the details I gave in my statement above, would you agree with me that their fees were excessive and I should start the process by writing to make a SAR?

Many thanks.

[labman]

Re: Parking Fine and Equita Bailiff Fees

As regards the Data Protection Act, no you can't sue them and I suspect the most you'll achieve is a slap on the wrist for them. They breached the Act by speaking to you about a debt that was not yours. How were they to know you and your wife had not separated on acrimonious terms? They should have got permission from your wife to speak to you first, before sharing her data with you. One has to question how tight their security is if they just spoke to you and told you all about her fine without her permission.
The link below tells you how to complain about this:

Complaints - data protection and freedom of information - ICO


As for your other issue, here are the fees for Road Traffic Debts taken from Equita's own website:

http://www.equita.co.uk/LinkClick.as...0%3d&tabid=202

You can work out for yourself whether or not they are unreasonable.

[ploddertom]

Re: Parking Fine and Equita Bailiff Fees

Please remember one thing when dealing with any matter connected to Birmingham City Council. All their back office procedures have been outsourced to a private company called Capita. Therefore when you ring them to find out information you should alsways ask if you are speaking to a Council employee or one working for Capita. It is in Capita's own interest to drag their heels, be intransigent or refuse cooperation.

Reason for this is that they also own 2 Bailiff companies one of which just happens to be Equita - the other for information is Ross & Roberts.

The chances are that Capita have just refused any appeal or mitigation out of hand.

[labman]

Re: Parking Fine and Equita Bailiff Fees

Indeed - their CEO nearly lost his job for exactly this reason just over a year ago.

[myfutureisbright]

Re: Parking Fine and Equita Bailiff Fees

I don't understand, where do they have the right to clamp the car?

Is this to avoid going to court?

I encounter different messages about DCA's. I am told to ignore them, then i read that some ones car got clamped??!! Is this a different situtation? Confused!

[labman]

Re: Parking Fine and Equita Bailiff Fees

You're confusing a DCA with a Bailiff. DCA's collect debt on behalf of the original creditor (a bank, building society, car loan etc...). They have very little power most of the time, unless an Absolute Assignment has taken place - the debt has been sold with all its rights and duties. They then effectively become the original creditor. Normally there is only an Equitable Assignment where they have pretty much no more power than you or I to ask the person who owes the money to pay the debt.

A bailiff collects debts for a court. There are many different types of bailiff (click bailiff tab at top of page and have a read). Bailiffs powers vary, but they are all to be treated with caution, often lie and bend the law, and can have powers to break into your house etc... in certain circumstances.

[spetewu]

Re: Parking Fine and Equita Bailiff Fees

Hi Labman, hope you had a great Christmas.

I've read your comments in another thread re excessive charge, I have yet to request a copy of their fee breakdown, what is the best way to request this, via SAR or just a normal request letter would do the trick?

Just thinking about wheel clamp, how would they charge for this? As part of their "attendence fee"?

Many thanks.

[labman]

Re: Parking Fine and Equita Bailiff Fees

If you only want the charges, this one will do the trick (with thanks to Ploddertom):

Ref: Account No: 123456

Dear Sir

With reference to the above account, Can you please provide me with a breakdown of the charges.

This includes:
a - the time & date of any Bailiff action that incurred a Fee.
b - the reason for the fee.
c - the name(s) of the Bailiff(s) that attended on each occasion a Fee was charged.
d - the name(s) of the Court(s) the Bailiff(s) was/were Certificated at.
e - the date of the Certification.

This is not a Subject Access Request under the Data Protection Act S7 1998 so does not incur a fee of £10. You are obliged to provide this information.

I require this information within 14 days.



As regards the wheelclamp, I assume they would count this a levying on your vehicle, so there would be a levy fee to be paid.

[spetewu]

Re: Parking Fine and Equita Bailiff Fees

does it make any difference for a simple request letter and SAR (other than providing SAR is their legal responsibility and a £10 fee), in terms of reclaiming excessive charge?

i.r.o levy on the vehicle, it should really be 28% isn't it given the debt is only £112.

[labman]

Re: Parking Fine and Equita Bailiff Fees

does it make any difference for a simple request letter and SAR (other than providing SAR is their legal responsibility and a £10 fee), in terms of reclaiming excessive charge? Nope!

i.r.o levy on the vehicle, it should really be 28% isn't it given the debt is only £112. Correct - 28% for the first £200 of the debt.

If you want to post up the fees when you have them with your calculations, we'll be happy to double check them for you (or even work them out for you as far as we can).

[spetewu]

Re: Parking Fine and Equita Bailiff Fees

will do, thanks VERY much for your help.