Bailiff emergency help please

[Bailiffhelpplease]

I’ve just been called at work by a bailiff to say he is standing in my property and has a warrant for an unpaid dart charge of £2.50. He wants £425 off me.

I’m at work, he’s threatening to remove property from the house or come to work and get my car. I have not got £425 what the hell can I do?

DD must have left the door open.

Just got home. The receipt is on my kitchen side and the door to upstairs is wide open and so is my bedroom and kids doors. He’s clearly been upstairs.

I’m well aware there is a dart charge. I have a prepay account with them. The charge is from a day when I drove over twice but only had £2.50 in my account and didn’t realise. When I logged on three days later the crossing wasn’t on there. They remove it to stop people paying £2.50 late and it instantly goes to the £70/£35 charge.

Yes it has escalated from there, which is my own fault. Tbh I was incensed at having to pay any amount of money over £2.50. It’s £2.50 ffs. I’ve crossed the bridge 100s of times and always paid. When the tolls were there it was much simpler, the traffic congestion hasn’t eased, it’s all money spinning bullshit.

I actually feel sick that I’ve just paid £425 for a £2.50 debt. Nothing anyone is going to say here is going to make me feel worse. Feel like I’ve let the kids down at Xmas, wasted money we desperately don’t have and feel like a silly fucking idiot. Plus I’ve had a random man walking around my house whilst I wasn’t here.

Pretty awful day all round really

You do need to have strong words with your DD about leaving the door unlocked.

Not her fault about the dart charge but her fault that the enforcement agent got into your house and you felt you had to pay in full today.

You could have been burgled.

Also you could have challenged the penalty charge if you'd done it within the deadline.

Or just paid £35!

Op some people have really stuck the boot in here. It's an easy mistake to make. Just be glad it's all over

You’ve had a shitty time, sure you have had shitty times in the past and you’ll also have them in the future it’s bloody hard on your own but you plow through, it’s what we do and I don’t know how old your children are but it does get better. Give yourself a break. Chalk it up to experience, an expensive one but don’t give yourself such a hard time. They are gone now you won’t hear from them again.

@Villanellesproudmum yes this was a first visit. The paperwork he left on the side is not a receipt but a “we have called at your house today” letter. He has not been here before.

I’ve messaged him and asked where the receipt is, he said he will send a photo later. I’ve asked him to clarify he could not set up a payment plan at that point. He’s read that message and ignored it. I sent the message again and he’s ignored it again.

How did you pay? In cash?

All my bank cards were in the house as I don’t take them to work with me. I transferred the money to my ex and he called the bailiff and paid it.

DART waived DH's fine a few weeks ago after he forgot and paid late. A few others in his office have had similar experiences. I get the impression they have rather good CS if you call them and explain.

Obviously that comes too late for you now.

The charge is from a day when I drove over twice but only had £2.50 in my account and didn’t realise. When I logged on three days later the crossing wasn’t on there. They remove it to stop people paying £2.50 late and it instantly goes to the £70/£35 charge.

That explains why I couldn't find the crossing they were charging us for last Xmas.

That's pretty sneaky!

I do agree that a debt shouldn't be allowed to just keep escalating. Paying £425 for a £2.50 debt is highway robbery. There should be something in place that freezes any debt beyond a certain amount, as that is really ridiculous.

Similar thing, we have an account with them and because we'd used it more often than usual, it was only about 20p short (at the time it wasn't set up to top up automatically as we don't normally use it very much), and we received a letter at the beginning of January for £70, with a 50% discount for paying quickly.

I phoned them in a panic and explained the situation (relative had died suddenly and we'd gone up to help sort things out).
Before we went, I had asked my oh to make sure there was enough in the account, but because of the death he'd been distracted and forgotten.

Luckily for us, as it was a first offence, they let us pay just the £2.50 charge, as long as we topped up the account immediately as well. We now have it on automatic top up every month.

Have you got his licence number ?

Highway robbery but yes as OP now knows ignoring these things is not the answer and reading the fine print is essential. I would also be having words with your DD about leaving the door unlocked. If they had not been able to access the property things may have turned out differently and the6 might have accepted a payment plan. Never let bailiffs enter.

Prioritise this months pay so you pay your rent above all else. You don't need an eviction notice on top of this. Priorities are rent, council tax, utilities. Cancel all non essentials. Not ideal with Christmas coming up but maybe family will help. Can you sell anything?

All my bank cards were in the house as I don’t take them to work with me. I transferred the money to my ex and he called the bailiff and paid it.

That significantly complicates things. Taking the rights and wrongs of the dart charge out of this; it's possible to claim back money if you've paid it under duress and couldn't afford it. From what you've said about "desperately needed" money; you might fit that criteria.

Usually you'd call your bank, explain and ask them to recall the money urgently. You'd then send an offer of a reasonable payment plan to Marstons along with a complaint (and any evidence of vulnerability if you fit that criteria too).

You'd need your ex to do this now and I don't know how easy he'd find it; but you can suggest it to him if you're close enough.

Do be aware that you are still going to have to pay; though.

@Cornishclio, he wasn’t going to accept a payment plan full stop. Irregardless of access to the property he told me he could wait until 9pm if he needed to for the car and he had a recovery team on their way to get it.

I told him DD would be home at 3.30pm on her own and he wasn’t allowed on my property he said he didn’t need to as recovery team would be taking the car.

He would have accepted the payment plan if he did not know about the car or the car was on finance. He took the easy option for him. Can you sort out rent by cancelling other stuff or do you have the option of shor5 term borrowing on an overdraft or money transfer card, preferably at 0%?

I have heard Marston's are particularly aggressive when enforcing charges.

He sound horrid.
I’m so sorry op, what a shit of a day don’t be too cross with add, as fuming as you must be

add not add

dd!!!

Sound very much like scare tactics Marstons are famous for it.
I’m all for people doing their jobs but there’s no need to bully people just to get a result 🤬🤬

That is really shocking. Unbelievable that that can happen. You poor thing.

He knew about the car as I had driven it across the toll! I asked him repeatedly if I could have a payment plan and he repeatedly said no.

I’m not cross at DD for the door. We all make mistakes, clearly!

At least your ex knows first hand that you've had to pay this so hopefully he'll help you out a bit if you need it.