Threatened with prison today.

[bluebottle]

Re: Threatened with prison today.

Bailiffs have no lawful authority to make such threats and no power, in law, to have your daughter taken into care or you committed to prison. Is this Kevin Tuttle a bailiff or council employee?

A court will only send people to prison for non-payment of Council Tax if they are wilfully refusing to pay. It is not for those who are having problems paying. If a local authority or their contracted enforcement agents are making it difficult to pay arrears, a court would be duty-bound to take this into consideration if a local authority attempted to obtain a Committal Order. Incidentally, it is an offence for a local authority to refuse to accept payments.

[Amethyst]

Re: Threatened with prison today.

Bailiffs have no lawful authority to make such threats and no power, in law, to have your daughter taken into care or you committed to prison. Is this Kevin Tuttle a bailiff or council employee?

Tuttle is head of debt management at Thurrock council and seems to be employed by Serco, if you look back beginnings this thread you'll see they have form for this in Thurrock.

[tongie]

Re: Threatened with prison today.

I guessed they didn't but it got me so upset I dont want to be at home. Kevin is the debt manger for thurrock council.

[bluebottle]

Re: Threatened with prison today.

Tuttle is head of debt management at Thurrock council and seems to be employed by Serco, if you look back beginnings this thread you'll see they have form for this in Thurrock.

Thank you for that, Ame.

Tuttle's actions may be unlawful. The fact he works for SERCO does not fireproof him or hold him harmless from any form of legal action. If SERCO is carrying out work on behalf of Thurrock Council, they are subject to the Human Rights Act 1998 and must not do anything which is incompatible with Tongie's rights under the European Convention on Human Rights. In theory, Tongie could take Thurrock Council to the County Court, citing incompatible treatment under ECHR. In practice, once put on notice of such proceedings, a lot of local authorities back away because they know if the person whose Convention rights are being violated wins their case, it will impact not only on that council, but every other council in the country. The elected representatives on Thurrock Council need to get a grip on SERCO and, in particular, Kevin Tuttle before he goes too far and lands the Council Tax payers of Thurrock with a hefty legal bill and compensation order to boot.

[wales01man]

Re: Threatened with prison today.

Bet he is Teflon coated.

[Amethyst]

Re: Threatened with prison today.

Can tongie go over Tuttle's head and speak to someone else at the council about this debt and Mr Tuttles threats??.

Prison is ONLY for refusal to pay.

[Kati]

Re: Threatened with prison today.

Can tongie go over Tuttle's head and speak to someone else at the council about this debt and Mr Tuttles threats??.

Prison is ONLY for refusal to pay.

There HAS to be someone that is higher up in the council than him! Formal complaints need to be made asap.

[bluebottle]

Re: Threatened with prison today.

Can tongie go over Tuttle's head and speak to someone else at the council about this debt and Mr Tuttles threats??.

Prison is ONLY for refusal to pay.

It is my understanding that committal to prison is for wilful non-payment of CT, Ame.

I feel Tongie would be wise to speak to a legal professional about Tuttle's behaviour and get them to write to the CEO of Thurrock Council. This could be done through a Law Centre, if there is one in or near to Thurrock, or through the National Pro Bono Centre. Local authorities appear to take letters from legal professionals more seriously than they do letters from those who pay Council Tax.

[Amethyst]

Re: Threatened with prison today.

Not sure theres a difference between refusal to pay and wilful non payment?

[bluebottle]

Re: Threatened with prison today.

Not sure theres a difference between refusal to pay and wilful non payment?

Refusal to Pay and Wilful Non-Payment have a subtle difference -

Refusal to Pay is where a person actively tells a local authority they are not going to pay for whatever reason;
Wilful Non-Payment is where a person deliberately fails to pay and ignores all requests to pay.

[Amethyst]

Re: Threatened with prison today.

Ahhhh, committal is possible for both? (neither of which apply in tongies case)

[bluebottle]

Re: Threatened with prison today.

Ahhhh, committal is possible for both? (neither of which apply in tongies case)

Yes. Committal to prison is for those who refuse to pay point-blank or deliberately avoid paying. There has to be an intention not to pay, usually, from the outset.

This is not the case where Tongie is concerned. In their case, it is Tinpot Tuttle making unreasonable demands and attempting to enforce them by use of threats of imprisonment which I suspect he does not have the power to make. If my gut-feeling is correct, any such application or notice would have to be made by a local government officer, not an employee of a private-sector contractor.

How does Tinpot Tuttle on Twitter sound?

[bizzybob]

Re: Threatened with prison today.

Is Tuttle the titular head of Revenue provided by Serco or just an office grunt? If so Formal Complaint to CEO, and the Elected Leader, and tongie's local member are a must. Tuttle is out of order and potentially a loose cannon, wonder if this is his usual MO? Either way the complaint should highlight the breaches of ECHR andsd a Law Centre would be a good place to start this.

Thurrock need more than just a mild tolchock here they need plod's size 11s tromping through the Revenue Office.

[Kati]

Re: Threatened with prison today.

Thurrock Council - who's in charge

Might it be worth complaints to someone higher??

[tongie]

Re: Threatened with prison today.

Thank you for comments. I want to make a formal complaint about tuttel.
but I wouldn't know where to start. if I was refusing to pay id expect this. but im paying a lot every month. I don't know who is higher than kevin. the magistrates court have made a liability order for 2 different amounts. since the payment plan has been set up and no court letters where sent to me. I did not get the chance to prove I'm paying or that the payment plan was suppose to stop any further balifs. witch I know kevin wasn't happy about it.


I remember saying to him how can he fretten prison I was having panic attacks over the phone and in tears he didn't have anything nice to say. even when I told him what was said about my daughter going into care he didn't want to know.