Need help

[snorepatrol]

I've just had a enforcement agent at my door (bayliffe) trying to get me to pay £392 and saying if I don't take it he will be back tonight to come into my house to seize property or to remove my crappy car for payment of debts.

The debt is for a parking find I received last July for going 2 minutes over my parking time.

This was because my daughter with ASD had a seizure in my gp surgery.
I appealed and heard nothing of it again and assumed my appeal had been accepted. About a week ago I got a letter from an egorcenent agency about the fine saying it was £180 for an unpaid fee. It was literally the day we were going away on holiday so I put the letter to one side with the intention of phoning today.

This morning a bayliffe has turned up saying I need to pay him £392 now or he will come into my house and seize property. I told him I know for a fact he is not allowed to do this and explained the appeal letter I sent and said I could show it him. He basically said he didn't care he would be back at 9pm and if I didn't allow him entry or pay the £392 in full he was towing my car away.

I really don't know what to do I have never been in this situation before. I cannot afford to pay almost £400 I'm moving house in a few weeks so need every penny I've got does anyone have any advice on how I can sort this?

[snorepatrol]

Sorry for all typos writing this fast he's already been back once just sat in his car staring in and another time to make quite a show of writing all my car details down

[Tequilamockinbird]

Who issued the original parking fine? Was it the LA, the police, or a private company?

First of all, don't panic. I don't think Bailiffs have as many rights as they threaten to have - as long as you don't let them in. Make sure your windows are closed and locked as well as your doors.

[snorepatrol]

It was a council car park 8 months ago. I was literally 2 mins late ( not that it makes a difference) but it was genuinely because I took my daughter because she was acting strange and then she had a fit in the surgery we ended up going to hospital by ambulance. My DH followed us up but got to the car two mins late.

We sent off doctors details, ambulance details etc and appealed the fine then never heard anything back again until the letter a week ago.

Then he turned up today I wish I'd just paid the bloody fine now instead of appealing but when they didn't get bank I assumed they'd accepted the circumstances.

I've not had any notification of the fine being passed onto anyone else or any court documents.

[snorepatrol]

I'm just worried about my car they said I'm not allowed to move it. It's just a crappy car but if they take it I can't get to work uni or to take my dd to speech therapy I could cry!

[Tequilamockinbird]

I would contact the council, explain that you'd appealed but not heard back etc, and see what they say.

If they have refused the appeal, and you do have to pay, then ask them if you can pay them directly and they'll call the bailiffs off. The bailiff will have added all sorts of charges on to the original debt.

Disclaimer: I've no legal training but I've been unfortunate enough to have had to deal with bailiffs before

[snorepatrol]

Thank you I'm just on hold with the council they have told me that they never received an appeal thankfully it was saved on my computer (scanned) and I did get a reply from them at the time which thankfully I scanned again. Just given them all the reference numbers she told me that she's not sure what's happened and has put me on hold!

[Tequilamockinbird]

Good luck. Hopefully they'll cal the bailiffs off until it's resolved.

[Tequilamockinbird]

call

[snorepatrol]

I think its sorted I have to re fill in a form online now and get it back to the debt company by 3pm, they will then refer the whole matter back to the council at 4pm and if I ring up at 4.30pm they will give me a reference number to confirm this has happened and confirm that the bailiff has been notified that they are not to attend our property even if they don't get hold of them for whatever reason we can apparently give them this reference and they can phone it in to confirm.

The whole matter will then be referred back to my local council where 'for some reason the appeal wasn't processed properly'

They seemed to imply that even if the appeal is refused now; that I will only have to pay the original fine now anyway as the added costs have only been added due to the ticket being processed as unpaid and as me refusing to pay subsequent fines, which obviously hasn't happened.

Going to do my form now and hope that they manage to sort it out and process it in time but either way I'm moving my car now whether the bailiff said I wasn't to or not I cant loose my car!

[Tequilamockinbird]

Hopefully they'll accept your appeal and this will all be forgotten about .

Be prepared though for the bailiff to come back anyway. They'll tell you all sorts of rubbish to get you to pay them. Whatever you do, don't let them in though - talk to them through the letterbox so they can't force their way in. Just give them the reference number and tell them you will not enter into any further conversation as the council are dealing with it.

Again, this isn't legal advice, just what I did when in the same position a couple of years ago.

[DrE678]

They would be pretty bloody heartless not to accept your appeal. I hope they send a big fat apology too.

[Creampastry]

Isn't there a new regulation now in force whereby you are allowed up to 10 minutes after the parking end time? Could you query you thought that was in effect?

[snorepatrol]

Is there? I'll have a look hopefully it was in place in July last year I think DH was two minutes late at the absolute maximum.

We were due back at 10.42 the ticket was issued at 10.43 and the guy was at the car sticking it on when DH got to the car.
Dh told the traffic warden the situation and he told him to appeal as he had already issued the ticket which we did.
The town we live in is well known for being a bit eager with tickets and this car park is right outside the doctors surgery. It's nowhere near the shops and only people going to the doctors tend to use it. The tickets are 30 mins and then 4hours with a big pay difference so lots of people like me pay for 30mins but if you get caught up in the surgery, which to be honest is pretty rare you will without any doubt come back to a ticket.

The traffic wardens tend to come back to this car park every 15 mins or so, so I think it's a good money earner for the council.

I've been told the bayliff has been notified that he isn't to come back and been told it's been passed back to the council now and they will make a decision within 2 months about whether my appeal is accepted. We are moving in a few weeks so I'll have to keep chasing this up don't want it to crop up again in another few months.

I'm still worried the message won't get across and he'll come back but I've locked all the doors and moved my car to my friends house so if anyone knocks on at 9pm they'll be getting ignored.

[cdtaylornats]

Whenever a bailiff comes to the door record what he says and make sure you record you telling him its being recorded and his acknowledgement.