Newlyns Bailiffs - Please help with a fight on my hands.

[JimMW]

Hi All,

I really hope that you can help me, unfortunately an unpaid PCN has resulted in charges from Newlyns for £303.64 pence. I am contesting this charge with them currently but I hope that somebody can give me some guidance just to put my mind at ease that I am taking the correct action.

I have spoken with Newlyns twice this evening, both times only succeeded in making me more angry!

Firstly I called Newlyns this evening to get a breakdown of costs, as I got a letter through the post in the week, claiming that a bailiff had visited the address ( I was working from home all day ). The letter sent was without a date, signature or bailiffs name.

I was told on the phone this evening, that the breakdown of costs was as follows:

Costs Passed to them from the TEC: 97.00
First Letter sent £13.44
HPI Check: £20.00
First Visit to the Address: £175.00 (failed to make levy)

(prices include VAT)

Total Amount Owed: 305.44

I then asked for the bailiffs name that attended the address who had attempted to make the levy so that I could check his General Certificate was valid. I was told that all of their Bailiffs were certificated, that they were not allowed to tell me who visited my address. Their advisor then hung up.

About an hour later, I called them back to make arrangements to pay what I believed were the costs incurred as set out by the enforcement of traffic debt regulations.

I approached them and said that I was willing to pay the following, today, in full:
£97.00 as passed to them by the TEC.
First Letter sent £13.44
1st Visit Made: £33.60

Total Costs £144.04

I was told on the phone that their costs were correct as laid out by the above regulations and that I was in the wrong, they refused to allow me to speak with the team leader and threatened to send a bailiff with locksmith tomorrow during the day.

I informed them that they were again in the wrong and that whilst there was a warrant of execution issued by the TEC, there had been no entry allowed to the house and there was no walking possession order made and so if they entered the house they would be acting otherwise in accordance with the law.

I said to them that I was going to send them a SAR, yet they refused to tell me who their data controller was and just asked for it to be sent to Newlyns PLC.

They also informed me that whilst the account was in dispute they would continue to add charges and send bailiffs to the address until they can successfully levy goods.


As mentioned my next act is to send in an SAR and covering letter detailing the above. This company has caused me a lot of stress with this and put the frighteners on my family with their threat of breaking into the home.

Can anybody advise the best course of action from here or am I doing the right thing?


Thanks in Advance

James

[ploddertom]

Re: Newlyns Bailiffs - Please help with a fight on my hands.

In my view a SAR will be pointless as they will actually have very little info on you and they will pocket the £10 and probably only produce 2 sheets of paper. You may obtain basically the same information by sending a written request for the breakdown in charges see Letter No 1 at http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...Useful-Letters .

You seem to have a handle on what fees they can charge and it is probably this that has rattled them. As they are now being obstructive it may pay to make a complaint to the original issuer of the PCN.

[JimMW]

Re: Newlyns Bailiffs - Please help with a fight on my hands.

Hi PlodderTom,

Thank you for your reply and the link to the letters, it was very helpful. I have used some of the information that you have provided and adapted some further information I have gathered so far. I will be sending them a letter first thing tomorrow morning as well as sending a letter of complaint to the London Borough of Hillingdon.

I thought I would share the letter with you and others:

NewlynPLC
BatchworthHouse
BatchworthPlace
ChurchSt
Rickmansworth
WD31JE


[HOME ADDRESS]


10^th October2012
Newlyn Reference:xxxxxxxx

DearSir or Madam,

Home London Borough ofHillingdon appearsto have instructed you to recover an outstanding Penalty ChargeNotice and I am in receipt of your document sent without date afteryour bailiff apparently visited my property on 4/10/2012.

Thisnotice directs that you (Newlyn PLC and those working on your behalf)are expressly forbidden entry to my home or permission to levy goodscontained within. This notice revokes your right to charge a walkingpossession fee and fees incurred by attempting to remove goods.

Thefees outstanding that were quoted during my telephone conversation on10/10/2012 with one of your advisor’s appear to be inconsistentwith prescribed regulations, hence I am writing to you requestingthat you provide me with a breakdown of your fees so that I can makea more informed decision on whether they are lawful.


Thisincludes, but is not necessarily limited to the following:

Thetime and date of any bailiff action that incurred a fee or charge.
Thereason for the fee or charge.
Thename(s) of the bailiff(s) that attended on each occasion a fee wascharged.
Thename(s) of the Court(s) at which the Bailiff(s) was/were Certified.
Thethe date of certification.
Theinitial balance, and any amount currently outstanding on theaccount.

This isnota Subject Access Request under the Data Protection Act S7 1998 andtherefore does not incur a fee of £10. You are obliged to providethis information.


Forthe avoidance of doubt that in your failure to provide me with thisinformation within 10 working days, I will automatically pass thematter to the Certificating Court and to the police for investigationunder sections 1 to 5 of the Fraud Act 2006.


Inaddition to this, your advisor also expressed that whilst the accountwas in dispute, you would continue to attempt to levy goods at myhome and that fees would continue to be added to the account inrelation to these activities. I must advise you that by doing so youare in breach of the Debt Collection Guidance as laid out by theOffice of Fair Trading, to which you must comply under S5(3)(b) ofTheConsumerProtection From Unfair TradingRegulations 2008






Thisdocument is delivered by Royal Mail and I deem it to be served on youby the ordinary course of post in the meaning of Section 7 of theInterpretation Act 1978 and therefore your responsibility.



YoursFaithfully






JamesMarshall – Wilkinson






P.S.References Used; Interpretation Act 1978 S7. Data Protection Act 1998S7. Fraud Act 2006 S1-5. Enforcement of Road Traffic Debt 2003 S1.S5(3)(b) of TheConsumerProtection From Unfair TradingRegulations 2008. Debt Collection Guidance Notes – Office of FairTrading.

[JimMW]

Re: Newlyns Bailiffs - Please help with a fight on my hands.

Ive just noticed that for some reason the text has reformatted itself with more paragraph breaks and less spaces between words.

Don't know why!

James

[bluebottle]

Re: Newlyns Bailiffs - Please help with a fight on my hands.

I would strongly advise you to remove references to the Fraud Act 2006. Until Newlyn actually attempt to enforce that part of their fees which are not provided for by legislation, you have little chance of getting the police interested as, technically, Newlyn are not, at that stage, committing an offence. Once they attempt to enforce them, then you have a better chance of getting the police interested as they will almost certainly be committing an offence. I am speaking as a retired police officer.

To the best of my knowledge and belief, the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 applies only to tickets issued by Private Parking Companies, not PCNs issued by local authorities.

The fees you refer to in your draft letter cannot be imposed unless they successfully gain entry to your home, or levy on goods outside your home, and they cannot force entry to your home without a court order.

I would certainly remove Paragraphs 2 and 6 of your draft letter.

[JimMW]

Re: Newlyns Bailiffs - Please help with a fight on my hands.

Thanks Bluebottle,

Having read your reply and re-read the letter I completely agree with your opinion on this, I think that letters written in the heat of the moment do not always get the desired effect.

I will remove 2&6 before sending.

Thanks for the pointer on the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, I didn't realise that these regulations only applied to Private companies and not local authorities. I did not come across a reference to this. I wanted to use this as a means to stop them piling on charges etc whilst the account is effectively in dispute. Is there other legislation that covers this?

Thanks Again for the Heads up.

Regards,

James

[bluebottle]

Re: Newlyns Bailiffs - Please help with a fight on my hands.

Yes. The Enforcement of Road Traffic Debts (Certificated Bailiffs) Regulations 1993-2003 and the Enforcement of Road Traffic Debts order 1993 (applies to London). I'm attaching these statutory instruments to this post. These lay down what fees certificated bailiffs enforcing PCNs can legitimately charge.

One way of p*ssing-off a bailiff or bailiff company is telling them you are going to have their fees formally scrutinised by a County Court Registrar. If the Registrar considers a bailiff's conduct has been, how shall we say, less than reputable, he/she can send a report to the bailiff's certificating court.