Bailiffs take over the nursery

[Mosschopz]

So I dropped off DS this morning at nursery, except I didn't. The staff were on the curb outside crying as the bailiffs - with police - had moved in early in the morning to take over the building. Apparently the owners of the nursery had racked up arrears spanning 12 months and the staff knew nothing until the police broke in this morning.

DS had to come to work with me, it was ummm interesting, but I had no choice.

We now are faced with negotiating any of our personal belongings that may be left back from the building. I don't know whether I'll see his file and photos of him on the displays around the nursery again.

AIBU to think kicking us all out with no warning is disgusting behaviour from the police and bailiffs where there are children concerned.

you're spectacularly missing point and blaming police and bailiffs.they not at fault
nursery allowed this to escalate and told you parents nada,nothing,deceiving you
the police and bailiffs have an obligation to enact certain duties they did so

Would you rather they appeared halfway through the day when all the kids were already there having a nap or eating their lunch and the police appeared and threw them all out?

The owners would have been given plenty of notice, you can't honesty expect the bailiffs to just write off the debt for the sake of the little children do you?

But I'm also angry that police and bailiffs saw fit to launch the heavy action on a kids nursery FFS

Missing the point the nursery is a business and will (and should) be treated as one.

The only person to blame is the owner. They knew it was going to happen that ay and could have pre warned everyone.

Actually, a lot of bailiff companies are licensed thugs who lie, threaten, overcharge and absolutely love making a big show of how tough they are. It's not impossible that the owners were trying to negotiate a repayment plan but the bailiffs went ahead anyway. I do think the OP should get on to the police about her child's paperwork as soon as possible, because the bailiffs will throw the lot in a skip; they don't give a toss.

The trouble is the bailiffs will have been approved to try to secure assets for some other business/individual - quite possibly a business/person who will go bust if they can't get their cash. The nursery owners have clearly fucked up big time, but if it's got to the bailiff stage then they presumably haven't tried to engage with creditors/sort it out themselves through IVAs, administration etc. Creditors will have gone to court, the court will have appointed bailiffs and the police will have gone along in case of trouble (which would be potentially likely given that a) the owners have presumably been difficult and b) there are upset parents blaming it all on the bailiffs).

It also wasn't for the police/bailiffs to warn you, that was for the owners to do - it's the owners you need to be raging at and in all honesty although I can't imagine the hassle you're now having with trying to sort out childcare at such short notice, perhaps in the long run it will be for the best. Plenty of businesses try to cut corners if they're in financial difficulties, be thankful that that presumably didn't happen whilst your kids were at the nursery and that it can't happen now.

If the nursery was failing to collect the fees over a long period of time, then that would be their fault. They could have been taking massive dividends or paying themselves a huge salary also their fault.( esp when there are huge overheads in nursery sector and not huge profits) However they could have been slowly losing income because fewer hours were taken up (we are still in recession in real terms) they could have hoped that by continuing to offer a full service, hot meals, full hrs and a full complement of staff that things would pick up in time.

If they had been open and told the parents, parents would have left thus the business would have failed sooner. It may have been in the interests of all concerned to be kept in the dark.

We went through similar with DS1 pre-prep/nursery. It was a small school and parents didn't always pay up on time. What started as a temporary cash flow problem ended with the school closing. Their major failing was their honesty, as soon as people knew they started to remove their children.

I don't think anyone is to blame and I feel most sorry for those poor staff, never paid much at the best times, now having no work.

solid that's not true about the paperwork,you're guessing or embellishing a post
the stuff won't get skipped.1988 data protection act re storage of confidential data

If they had been open and told the parents, parents would have left thus the business would have failed sooner. It may have been in the interests of all concerned to be kept in the dark.

There is some truth in that, but only up to the point when the court order was issued and the bailiffs instructed. From then on the owners knew that the business was finished, and they should have told their customers not to bring their children any more.

To carry on trading like that and taking in payments when they were insolvent was not only irresponsible but very likely illegal.

The situation on that day was unnecessary, and the fact that it happened was 100% the fault of the owners.

Scottishmummy: Depends on the bailiffs, which depends on who the debt was owed to. IF the bailiffs are civil servants then they may well handle the data properly. If it's a private bailiff company then they are quite likely to be goons with badges and no training: complaints about private bailiff companies' repeated breaches of the law (trespass, harassment, threatening behaviour, fraud etc) are very high.

I know Sallyingforth, but it may also be that they were not permitted to inform the parents. The receivers will have wanted the business to take as much revenue as possible right up to the last.

No. If the official receiver, or a court-appointed administrator had taken control of the business they would have taken over the premises and there would have been no need for bailiffs.

The owners knew what was going to happen they could have contacted the parents and staff the evening before.
right now the baliffs have done nothing wrong. Until the op calls them or the police there is not point in the 'most baliffsvare thugs' some are, some aren't.

It's complaints against debt collectors that tend to be high bailiffs are different.

Sallyingforth, you are probably right I used to run a limited company, I was just going on the fact that I had a legal duty to collect money owed to us.

Yes Minx. But there a clear difference between collecting monies owed, and trading whilst insolvent.

I really don't get your upset at the police and bailiffs. The bailiffs are there to collect on the debt, the police are there to take care of any um, upset owners. It's not aimed at the parents and children, neither really the staff.

Simply because there is quite a lot of evidence of private bailiff companies breaking the law in pursuit of debts; dishonesty, intimidation, clear fraud (making up charges and insisting that they are paid when there is a legal limit on the fees they are allowed to charge), and this sort of heavy-handed action could well be a bailiff company exceeding its legal powers. The police attend in order to prevent a breach of the peace, they are not necessarily experts on the ins and outs of debt collection law.

police and other statutory agencies who don't handle data appropriately are fined
this isn't comarable to domestic bailiff work.it is completely different
I agree some ballifs exhibit poor practice.big thing in r4 about it