Bailiff advice?

[2girlssoon]

Sorry I know this is the wrong thread but I’m worried out of my mind and this is the most popular one, please feel free to move my thread if it isn’t in guidelines.
Just wondering if anyone has any knowledge or advice -

I received a parking ticket a long time ago and in short I’m now being chased for £500 by a bailiff working on behalf of the council. I’m a single mum to a toddler and I’m also pregnant. I genuinely could not afford to pay the ticket even at £60 so I’ve buried my head in the sand I will admit. I obviously have no funds to pay it as I’m on universal credit and after my rent is paid I genuinely only just about scrape food and bills.
The bailiff knocked before Christmas and said he wants the payment in full by the 27th jan (yesterday) or he would come back for my car. He’s been messaging me via WhatsApp today saying he will be attending my property in the morning.

Now my question is that for this very reason i have changed my v5 and registered the car to a different keeper at a different address but I still insure the car and drive it. It is taxed by the new keeper (a friend) It’s currently on a public road outside of my house. Can the bailiff still seize the car? What kind of proof can I provide that I “don’t own” the car? Or should I just hide it somewhere?

If anyone can advise the best thing to do I would be so grateful as I’m so stressed at the moment! It’s not that I don’t want to pay the debt as I accept it’s my debt and would be happy to make small monthly payments but the bailiff won’t accept this.

Have you got a copy of your MATB1 certificate? It is always useful to have medical evidence of any health conditions when you have Bailiffs knocking at your door. Legally you don't have to answer your door to them & unless you have left a door or window open it is illegal for them to enter your property. I made the mistake of answering my door early one morning, I had been in hospital the day before for an operation & was still dopey, it was a bailiff for unpaid parking fines, I told him I was disabled & had mental health problems, he asked me for proof, I locked the door & got my tablets to show him, after writing down all my tablets he made a phone call to his office & all my parking fines were wiped, I didn't have to pay anything even though I had 6 outstanding parking tickets. I would advise anyone who has a health condition to provide proof to the parking company or Bailiff as it could save you a lot of money.

• He can clamp and take the car, he doesn't want to, he will have to wait for a van, it's paperwork and he only gets paid once the cat had been sold.
• If the car is on somebody else's private property (somebody else's drive) he can't take it. He can't clamp it.
• Depending on how pregnant you are (over 35 weeks) you can usually get the company to put a stop on the debt, this will last up until about 6 weeks pp.
• Phone the company, speak to them regarding setting up a payment plan. (Although they may refer you back to the enforcement agent.)
• You will have to prove your incoming/outgoing. Being on benefits or having young children won't mean that you are classed as a vulnerability case necessarily.
• It the enforcement agent had attended your property once, he has already added his fees on (£235) he won't be able to add any more for his fees no matter how many times he attends.
• If you make a statutory declaration (phone a solicitor, they're usually about £5 to have actioned. And then phone the body which have issued the ticket, tell them you have not been receiving mail, but that you are getting a statutory declaration, the fees added will be removed, the debt will revert to the original price. (But you have to actually produce a statutory declaration.)

I believe, if the car is parked on someone else’s property ( so a friend with a drive) then the Bailiff can’t trespass on that property to clamp your car, unless they have a court order specifically allowing them to do so. On a first visit they will not have this, so it would give you a bit of breathing time. If it is parked on a public road, then obviously they can clamp.

This is obviously not a long term solution though.

Agree with pp about getting medical proof of vulnerability plus you have a small child and are on benefits so they should not be harrassing you at your door.
Stepchange can write a letter getting them to put your debt on hold for 28 days while you prepare financial statements of incomings and outgoings.
As for the car, draw up a bill of sale listing your friend as the buyer with a cost on it/money paid on such and such date/witnessed by a third party.
Good luck, i know how scary this is but parking fines are NOT a priority debt and bailiffs must come to a reasonable agreement.
Call the office and ask to speak to the welfare department for vulnerable clients.
They have to treat certain people differently and i think that includes pregnant women and people on benefits.
Can you say what bailliff company? I ve had dealings with a few over the years.
Some much better than others.

Things like this usually go to court before council enforcement officers get involved.

It's probably too late to provide income and expenditure at this point, the court would have asked for that.

From my experience by they time somone comes to your home it's a bit late for payment plans.

You've avoided it for too long. Why would they believe that you would stick to a plan when you haven't done anything to pay up to now.

All councils are different tho.

We can't help you. You need to phone them.

*I know it's hard. I have autism and I'm terrified of phones, I'm a head buryer - hence my experience.

You sound pretty irresponsible tbh. You're a single mum with no money and are having another baby. You've ignored a debt and are now worried about bailiffs. You're lying about where your car is registered. Ye gods! They will take your car, and rightly so.

I needed to get that off my chest. You need to go to the CAB pronto and ask for some advice on how to dig yourself out of this mess.

Did you sell your car or transfer ownership? A V5 doesn't prove ownership, it states that very clearly on the form. If you can afford to drive and insure a car you could have paid this debt off instead of burying your head in the sand, however, it is too late for that now. You won't be able to add this to your IVA but should have declared it at the time.

They will take your car, and rightly so.

The enforcement agent won't remove the car unless the car will cover the cost of the debt and the fees added, including a removal fee which is an extra £110 and then storage fees. It's not worth their time, effort and paperwork because I'd it doesn't fetch the price at auction, the enforcement agent don't get paid.

If it doesn't*
**(it's also a ballache)

They also can't clamp or remove it if it's on someone else's drive. Regardless of who's name its in or if you've 'sold" it or not.

Having a child and being on benefits doesn’t make you vulnerable but as you are pregnant they have to stop enforcing until after the baby is born
Did you receive paperwork from a court? If you didn’t receive this then contact the company the bailiff is from and ask them for the issuing court. ASAIK it all goes through the traffic enforcement court TEC but just make sure. You can then file an OOT to say you didn’t receive the paperwork

If you did receive it and just ignored it I would really recommend accepting you owe the money, did nothing about it and that’s on you, so you are going to need to come up with the money or lose the car, if the car is worth enough money

Having a child and being on benefits doesn’t make you vulnerable but as you are pregnant they have to stop enforcing until after the baby is born
Imminently due/recently postpartum has specific allowances for cessation of enforcement.

Being classed as officially vulnerable (by the company enforcing the debt) will mean that OP has to prove her vulnerability status to their standards. So, recently bereaved, they will want a copy of death certificate. Disability they'll want to see medical proof of medication/hospital letters etc.

Being referred to the welfare department will mean that OP will have to prove her income/outgoing and send it all to the company dealing with the debt in order to have the end goal of setting up a direct debit with a "reasonable" amount to pay off the debt.

I proved I was vulnerable just by showing the bailiff my antidepressants with my name on the packet. They accepted it & I never heard from them again.