Parking tickets from 2010....

**leclerc** · 5th July 2012, 16:10:PM

Re: Parking tickets from 2010....

Originally posted by mumisskint View Post

Hi.
I have a long standing health issue which resulted in major surgery last month and I remain in recovery.
I come home from hospital to find 6 parking tickets waiting for me on TE3 forms totalling nearly £1000 - all but one are from 2010.
I phone and email the Council asking if they will stop enforcement and let me pay £100 pcm until it is clear outlining that I have health issues, cant work right now, my home is being repossesed, two children and absolutely no money and no assets for a bailff to seize. This means I wont be able to pay any money off the house arrears for 10 months but I cant face the intimidation of the Ross and Roberts henchmen. I am told no - and no recognition of us being a vulnerable household or their duty of care. I have now made a formal complaint but these will be on warrants by the time that is looked at.
Would someone give me some advice please?
a) can the council do this?
b) are the tickets recoverable at 2 years old?
c) is their rules / regs I can quote at them as to their responsibility?
d) can I submit N245's to Northampton the way you would with normal civil recovery?
e) can the bailiffs break in as this is civil not criminal and I thought thisnew domestic violence et al act only allowed break ins for magistrates fines?

Thank you v. much
Mum.

Mum: quick thing. Find the name of the council's Chief Executive Officer. Write him an email detailing everything with a chronology and with a list of the issues that you are experiencing explaining how each intertwine with each other and send it to him(you could CC it to your local MP as well if you like---cos it might help with getting a faster result). DO it TODAY

**mumisskint** · 5th July 2012, 16:18:PM

Re: Parking tickets from 2010....

Hello! I did that on Monday, I got told to use the complaints department and 'official channels'. Our MP is more interested in diabetics and my sugar levels are all good! xx

**mumisskint** · 5th July 2012, 16:24:PM

Re: Parking tickets from 2010....

This is what I said. I also thought it was high time to complain about the Bailiffs too so I added that in to be dealt with in conjunction as the two come together....

Dear Sirs,

We wish to make a complaint regarding a decision made by Parking Services to refuse a payment plan against parking tickets.
Due to my partners disability, she has Type 1 Brittle Asthma, we incur a huge number of parking tickets. Generally, her condition does not respond to medication and is so indiscriminate in what triggers it and the severity of attacks, we often do not make it back to the car in time. When an attack hits I have approximately ten minutes to get her to A+E to try to avoid admission to their resus unit. Usually I do not make it. Aly has an attack of this severity approximately 6 times in an 8 week period.
Whilst we have a motability car we applied for a Blue Badge approximately five years ago to ease the situation but to date have had no response despite the application being completed at the old Connexions Office in Paignton who took it in with photo’s and medical evidence to pass on to the correct office.
Aly’s health deteriorated further some two years ago. We have been existing on the bread line and selling anything of any value to feed our children and keep a roof over their heads. This continues today and our home is now being repossessed as we have nothing left.
Unexpectedly Aly was admitted to hospital initially in March 2012 and underwent an emergency procedure. This resulted in her needing major surgery at the end of May from which she remains in recovery.
I contacted Parking Services regarding the parking tickets which were outstanding to ask if I could pay them by instalments of £20 per week at the start of June. The decline in Alys health was unexpected, I have two young children at home who were both scared for their Mum and I did not need the extra stress of bailiffs on my door step demanding money we do not have. (I would note a separate complaint regarding the Bailiffs is attached )
I provided details of our income and expenditure and a copy of Aly’s sick note signed by her Surgeon. I received a response dated June 13^th stating that as an instalment order had previously been in place Parking Services were unwilling to consider another. They stated that they had sent letters to our home address regarding this not being kept up but to date we have not had sight of these despite asking for copies recently. Instead a Bailiff arrived to recover a ticket which was two years old.
I brought further information into the Connexions Office at the Town Hall. I was told by Parking Services over the phone as we had provided evidence they would look at it again.
Two weeks has now elapsed. I contacted Parking Services this morning to ask what the state of play was as I wanted to start making payments. I am told the decision of June 13^th would stand and recovery would continue. Again I reiterated that as a vulnerable household the Council has a duty to provide non-confrontational enforcement but from the email responses we have had today from an L Drennen Aly could be on her death bed and the enforcement would continue.
I would note that I have also asked twice now for details of what tickets are outstanding and where each is in the recovery process and have been told to wait another 10 days for this information. I have been told again by L Drennen that we have tickets against a car we have never owned and don’t know what it is which is very worrying.
I am now very concerned about this situation. We have dire financial difficulties and cannot afford to pay the fines when they occur so do not understand why it assumed that we can pay them some way down the line when they escalate beyond reason. I do appreciate they need to be paid and I apologise for not having them / an instalment order in the fore front of my mind whilst dealing with a very ill partner, a house repossession, a huge drop in income, two children and my own mental health.
I would note whilst recovery through the courts for Parking Fines is different to usual recovery procedures the Civil Procedure Rules still apply to ensure correct administration. It seems the system in place within Torbay Council goes against the very essence of these rules. If my understanding is correct Parking Services issues a variety of notices informing people of increases in their fine and refuse to accept any instalment order to pay this. Without notice they refer them to the bulk processing centre at Northampton County Court enabling a recovery order to be given enabling Bailiffs to attend. The Bailiffs then send notification of their attendance.
If we were notified that the order was applied for we would be able to submit evidence giving details of our financial situation and our physical and mental health. The Court would apply the vulnerability test and an instalment order would be granted. Instead with Torbay, no notification is given and so our civil rights are taken away. In this process the order is given to the Bailiff who sends notification of their visit by second class post. As a person is allowed 5 days to respond to the Court order, this time is removed as the notification arrives after this time has elapsed and in our experience after the Bailiffs visit. It means a person cannot submit an N245/N244 to the Court to have the order varied and the warrant of execution suspended.
We would also note that we have made you aware of our situation at numerous times over the last two years but at no point has the Courts been made aware of this in your application.
Next up we then have the behaviour of the Bailiffs – please see the separate complaint attached for them regarding their behaviour.
In all of this we have never not paid a parking fine. To assume we will not pay is then ridiculous and it is very clear the Parking Services Assessor who has no idea what it is like to have to learn to live with an unexpected and devastating disability. It also seems clear they have no idea as to the Councils enforcement duty towards vulnerable people / households.
Simply then we are a vulnerable household under considerable emotional, financial and physical stress which we have evidenced for you. We are asking that the decision to not allow us to pay by instalments be looked at again. We are happy for any council officer to visit our house to see just how little we have.
We would be grateful if enforcement action could be stopped whilst this complaint is looked at. I have asked for details of how I can make some payments in the interim but to date have received no information.
The complaint enclosed against your Bailiffs outlines why we are so scared.
We would be grateful if you cannot overturn this decision if you can specify your reasons why enabling us to take this to the Local Government Ombudsman for further support.
We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

Yours faithfully

Dear Sirs,
Complaint against your agents Ross and Roberts.
We wish to bring a substantial complaint against the enforcement agents Ross and Roberts who you employ to recover Council Tax and Parking Fines owed.
As background – we are a vulnerable household with physical disabilities and mental health issues. Given the sudden and unexpected deterioration in my partners health meaning she has been unable to undertake full time work following surgery in March and June we are a household with dire financial difficulties which will result in the loss of our home very shortly.
We have issues with parking fines given my partners condition and given the loss of a Council Tax Relief application with Council Tax (this has now been assessed). Despite an application for a Blue Badge being made some four or five years ago we have been given no information as to why it was not awarded. We cannot pay our tickets and so end up with Bailiffs on our doorstep. We have over the last 3 years sent complaints about their behaviour to the issuing departments but these have been ignored. We can if needed provide the email correspondence for these.
The behaviour of these men breaches the National Standards for Enforcement Agents, of which Ross and Roberts ironically are founding agents and signatories. Below are just a few examples of what we have experienced:
a) They refuse to give their names or license numbers. This means you cannot verify if they hold a license to act or make a complaint to the issuing Court about their behaviour. If you ask Ross and Roberts for details they refer you back to the Enforcement Agent leaving you completely powerless.
b) They falsely represent who they are stating they are either ‘officers of the court’ or ‘county court officials’ whilst flashing their unreadable badge up from their pocket. This breaches section 40 ss(1d) of the Administration of Justice Act as a bailiff cannot falsely show a document represented by him to have some official character or purporting to have some official character which he or she knows it has not.
c) They do not provide details of the debt they are recovering. They allege they have no paperwork and so you cannot check if you hold liability for the debt, who it belongs to or if you have already paid. Recently a fine was paid, we held an email receipt and still enforcement action continued.
d) They falsely state in correspondence and verbally that under the provisions of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 they can force entry to our home for parking fines. This is only the case in fines of a criminal nature of which parking fines are not one.
e) They do not provide details of their charges when asked. It is only after you have paid the debt that a receipt with a general fee structure is given. As you have no means of getting this before the transaction any attempt to challenge what has been paid is ignored. The fees have been astronomical and in no way relate to guidance given in law.
f) They are not allowed to clamp cars that either have a disabled badge (ours has a tax disc noting it is a disabled car) or a car that is known to be used by a disabled person, which they have been aware of for at least two years yet they continue to clamp.
g) They do not knock to attempt to recover a debt before clamping vehicles parked outside houses as they are required to do and we have watched them clamp the car, sit in their van for twenty minutes and then come to the house. Acting like this means before they even get to the door they have increased the charges by £100, raising the debt by nearly 100%. We have had incidences of our car being clamped at 5 am, witnessed by a neighbour, with a letter left in our open porch with no attempt to contact us being made. Always they say they knocked but as one of us is in most of the time and we have a dog who barks at the slightest tap on the door this is a totally false representation.
h) They willingly clamp cars which do not belong to us. They clamp our car which is owned by Motability on their lease scheme and a car owned by my father in law which was parked on our driveway whilst he was visiting. Despite ownership being established they still refuse to remove the clamp until the fee is paid.
i) The requirement with levying is that they levy on items which are non essential, are equivalent to the debt owed when sold at auction and belong to the debtor. Ross and Roberts pay no attention to these rules. They levied on children’s toys, my partners work laptop etc. etc. Whilst the burden of proof is with us to prove ownership it is very clear that no adult will be using a Vtech music and light machine for toddlers aged 18 months to 3 years bought at a car boot for £5.
j) Some incidents of harassment and intimidation that we have endured are:
1) On two occasions they have knocked at 7.30 am and our son who was 7 at the time and a visiting minor of 14, that it would be their fault the car was being towed and all their toys would be taken away if they didn’t get an adult to come and pay. With minors they can enquire if an adult is in the house or walk away, not threaten or scare them in anyway as per their National Standards Guidelines.
2) When my partner told them I had mental health issues, which were very bad about 2 years ago following a break down, rather than referring it back to the Council they sent two men of considerable size more likely to be found working on the door at the harbour side night clubs to the house to enforce the debt. I was in no fit state to argue and let them into the house after they told me they could break in if I didn’t let them in. Given it was the same two men who always come they know we have very little and levied on items which were worthless. They then insisted that we could afford £300 per month as a repayment figure and left. I was in pieces during and after their visit and at no time did they consider my condition or indicate they would source help. My GP had to increase my medication to prevent me from being sectioned. My partner called Ross and Roberts and made a complaint about their behaviour. The repayment figure was reduced to £30 per month and the fees were waived.
3) We had our second child in 2010. Very shortly after his arrival the same two bailiffs as above arrived at the house, claimed as they had been in before they still had the right of access and barged their way in whilst my partner was breast feeding with no regard for her dignity. This left her very distressed to the point where even now she will not open the door unless she knows who it is.
4) Most recently they blocked our driveway with their van so the gates could not open and prevented my partner from getting out of the drive on foot using their physical size. She was unable to go and collect our son from school. They reduced her to a heap on the ground with her begging to be allowed to go and get him but they refused saying she needed to pay first. This was done in public, with neighbours watching and the bailiffs did nothing to stop or appease the situation. Our son has learning issues and was left at the gate confused and scared until she was allowed to go back into the house to phone someone to collect him. Another Bailiff then arrived as she had refused to pay for a debt she knew nothing about and started making threatening comments about ‘being careful she didn’t fall as her shoe laces were untied’ yet she was wearing sheepskin boots with no laces. They sat at the gate for two and a half hours. Constantly they threatened that a van had been called to take our car away but no van arrived. My mother, who is a pensioner with very limited money, paid the debt for us but again could not believe the behaviour of these men.
It is very clear that they have identified and take full advantage of us as a vulnerable household We have asked time and time again for instalment orders with them which have only been agreed once after their bad behaviour was recognised.
We now live in fear of any action which will result in Bailiffs at the door knowing it is inevitable as we have no money and no assets left to sell. The impact on us has been:
a) My partner will now not stay in the house on her own –we are all scared to be here – the impact they have on your ability to feel and provide a safe and secure environment is phenomenal.
b) My partner or my eldest son will not open the door if they do not know who is there. On one occasion I came home to find them huddled together in an empty bath believing the postman with a recorded delivery was a Bailiff.
c) My partner does not sleep and wakes at the slightest noise outside the house in the early morning – the stress this has caused has impacted on her health, stress being one of the main triggers for her asthma and resulted in her being prescribed anti - depressants.
d) She stopped breast feeding much earlier than she wanted to after the visit described above.
e) Any money we were trying to save to pay our mortgage arrears and save our house or for rent / deposit on a home when our house is repossessed giving us a safety net has been taken by their illegal clamping fees.
f) My medication for my depression and anxiety has been increased as a result of their intimidation. I was doing well and having counselling, now I am reluctant to go out alone in case I see these men in public which has happened on more than one occasion.
We believe that the Council is liable for its Bailiffs as per the The Local Authorities (Contracting Out of Tax Billing, Collection and Enforcement Functions) Order 1996. As per page 9 of the National Standards for Enforcement Agents they are required to use a non-confrontational means of enforcement when dealing with vulnerable households / groups; the debt should be referred back to the council and no goods can be seized.
In our case as you already know we are a vulnerable household an instalment order as offered should be accepted or you are as guilty of harassing vulnerable people as your Bailiffs are.
It is also worth noting we have paid every fine / council tax bill we have had when we have been unable to secure an instalment plan using money which we had promised against our mortgage arrears. This is not a case of ‘won’t pay’ it is very much a case of ‘can’t pay’.
We would be grateful if you could help us to understand what has happened and detail :-
a) If this standard / manner of enforcement is acceptable to you as the Commissioner?
b) If it isn’t why the Council allows it to happen.
c) What vetting procedures you employ for these agents / the contractors you commission.
d) What you will do to ensure the money they have taken from us illegally will be returned to us. We would note that we did complete a SAR under the Data Protection Act for Ross and Roberts after my partner was imprisoned in the drive but unsurprisingly no information has been forthcoming. As a result I have now referred this to the Information Commissioners Office to investigate.
e) The terms and conditions of the contract you have with Ross and Roberts that specifies what their duties are, that this is the conduct you want etc and any sections which are specific to dealing with vulnerable households.
If you are unable to answer this complaint please mark your response as “Final Resolution” and we will forward to the Local Government Ombudsman for further advice.
We would be grateful if you could withhold all enforcement action against us and accept the instalment order we have recently requested whilst this is being dealt with.
We look forward to hearing from you as your earliest convenience.
Yours faithfully

**labman** · 5th July 2012, 21:17:PM

Re: Parking tickets from 2010....

There is one sentence which leaps out at me here more than the Parking Tickets issue, "Whilst we have a motability car we applied for a Blue Badge approximately five years ago to ease the situation but to date have had no response despite the application being completed at the old Connexions Office in Paignton who took it in with photo’s and medical evidence to pass on to the correct office.'

Surely there must have been some follow up to this. Have you not pursued why you never had any response to your application?

Beyond that, wait and see what reponse you get and do not worry, it appears you are on strong ground.

Parking tickets from 2010....

Parking tickets from 2010....

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