In a terrible mess with bailiffs bleeding us dry - please help

[Ajanuarysunset]

I am desperate for help. I will report this post when I finish it because I want MN to post the usual message and so hopefully people understand it is advice I am seeking, not any sort of financial assistance.

My young adult son has ASD and is high functioning but vulnerable and very naive - like a younger boy in many ways. He drove through the dartford tunnel around a year ago. He did not know it was chargeable (we aren’t local to the area and I’ve never been.)

I got a phone call from a neighbour at a flat we let to say there had been a visit from a bailiff - it transpires DS put this as his address on his driving licence; he passed his test at 18 and thought it made him ‘cool’ having ‘his’ flat. That’s what he said anyway. Hence the letters about it have not come home and we were unaware of this.

I had to pay nearly £600 in bailiffs costs and obviously I was horrified, but thought it was a one off and so put it down to one bad experience.

However there have now been three of the things and there is another - I emailed the company and was told to call them urgently on Friday and then when I was at work I was getting phone calls from an unknown number, one after the other after the other.

It’s utterly horrendous. By now they have had nearly three thousand pounds from me.

I just desperately need to know my rights here. They say they can change the locks at the address DS put down even though there are now tenants there - I don’t know if this is the case. I’m actually terrified.

Thank you.

Are they all from the dartford charge?

Yes; it seems he went through more than once

Hi OP

Thanks for flagging your thread to us and really sorry to hear about what you're going through. We hope you get some useful advice and support soon.

Folks on the thread, we always ask everyone to remember that not everyone on the internet is who they say they are – and remind folk not to give more to another poster, either financially (in cash or gifts) or emotionally (in time or care and support) than they'd be prepared to lose if things went wrong. We can never vouch for anyone, so please do bear this in mind.

Sorry to hijack your thread briefly there, OP – we really hope you get it all sorted soon.

Have you had evidence that it was your son driving through the tunnel on all those occasions?

Have you also changed the address on his licence?

I think you should speak to the CAB for advice on this, £3000 with more costs occuring is a huge sum for 3 or 4 crossing charges.

Sorry I can't be of any help I hope someone with experience in this comes on to give you advice.

How much does he owe the tunnel?

Didn't you get letters from them with lots of threats before the sent bailiffs?

Can't you still pay off the tunnel and get rid of the bailiffs? (Not something I know about).

How much does he owe?

You can put a card on tunnel so it charges automatically FYI

I’ve explained that above nothing, it’s help I need now not recriminations (not meant rudely just factually)

I'm not having a go

I can't see where it says how much he owes them

Didn't you get any letters?

If they have fucked up and not warned you then they can't send bailiffs in surely

I'd have thought you'd get multiple letters getting more and more red before they did this

Nothing op explained in the first post that her son put a different address on his licence so the letters went there. She's now wanting advice after realising what has happened.

Do you know how many times he went through and over what period?

Oh sorry OP I totally misread what you wrote. My mistake.

What about CAB on Monday and call them again try and explain what has been going on

Is he registered disabled if so it says there is no fee for the tunnel

Ask the bailiff company for the details of the issuing court
Call them and explain that your son does not live at the address so you are not receiving the initial letters
Your ds then needs to follow the process as advised by the court to file a statutory declaration saying his address has changed
The court will then put the bailiff action on hold until til the hearing and after this it will go back to court stage , the bailiff costs will be removed and you can set up a payment plan with the court

Op, I'd also say, I'm sorry, it's impossible to not know it's chargeable, there are huge signs all the way up to it for miles, and all the way after it for miles reminding uou to pay. The charges are clearly articulated. I'm afraid your son either knew it was chargeable, or, and I mean this gently, he should not be driving if isis situational awareness is so low as to miss the signs, for his sake and everyone else's.

I have to agree with Bluntness, I’m not sure your son should be driving. Do the DVLA know about his ASD? It’s worth checking if it is reportable, especially if you use it as mitigation.

I've forgotten to pay it
Easily done TBH
I don't go through very often and while I'm generally pretty organised somehow I just forgot. Preferred it in a way when you had to put the coins in!

It's easily done, 100s of thousands of motorists every year do it - as I found out when I realised I'd forgotten! I called them and as it was within a few days they let me off + I have added a card now (go through about once a year!).

If he is registered disabled then he doesn't need to pay anyway

First off you son needs to inform the DVLA of his correct address. It is an offence to have an address you are not residence at on your license. He's risking a £1000 fine for that alone.

Secondly he needs to be honest with you because it sounds like he's bullshitting you. Sorry but he is. I also have ASD and have driven through the Dartford tunnel a few times. It's terrifying and overwealming because there's so much to process. However, there is absolutely no way, whatsoever that you can drive through and not realise you have to pay. The signage is everywhere and done in a way that even foreigners with no English, who've never driven that way before, can understand.

As for the flat. If you own it then the baliffs can't change the locks. They can only go after assets of your son. You can easily prove that the flat is not his and the tenants can prove that he doesn't live there by showing their tenancy agreement.

I don't want to make it worse, but did he have his doctor confirm his and would not affect his ability to drive? This is also an offence and comes with a fine if he didn't and did not declare it.

Ultimately these charges are your sons. They cannot take what he does not own, so the bailiffs cannot touch your property. Or demand money from you. He is an adult and legally responsible. They can only take what he has.

However he may face prosecution, if I was you I'd take him to see a solicitor bloody fast, because anything you disclose about his autism, lying on his licence application etc could cause further trouble.

Don’t the letters go to where the car is registered, rather than to the address on the driving license of the person driving the car?

I can’t imagine they can change the locks on the flat unless it belongs to your son.

Sorry - what do doctors have to do with this please?

My son is not ‘bullshitting me’, no one with asd should need me to point out that if you have met one person with ASD you have met one person with ASD. Sigh. Are we still here?

Thank you tantrums, I’m worried about DS getting into trouble. His address was (he sheepishly admitted) him wanting to feel ‘grown up’ - not having mums address but ‘his’ flat.

If your son's ASD is so very different from mine that he can drive through the Dartford crossing and fail to notice that he needs to pay then he shouldn't be driving. End of. So he's either bullshitting you or he shouldn't be on the road as he's a danger to everyone else.

Is he in receipt of PIP? If so could they cancel it with evidence of his disability?

And ignore the people saying that its impossible blue to miss. My ASD son would also not register something like this despite there being huge signs. He's also known the tell lies to want to appear more grown up.

Because asd is declarable on a licence application if it impacts the persons driving, the doctor would confirm if it impacts your sons driving.

If he has not declared it, then using it as a mitigation is problematic, because it indicates he knew it impacted his driving.

However I think it's a lesser point, because honestly op, if he didn't know it was chargeable, he should not be behind the wheel. Those huge signs start miles before the crossing to give people the option of turning off the motorway before getting to it. And they continue for miles after reminding you you have 24 hours to pay. They are enormous and repeated.

Even if he was over come at the crossing, the fact he didn't see them in the miles leading up to it, or the miles after it, indicates he should absolutely not be on the road. At all. He is not safe to drive...driving requires situational awareness, to see signs, hazards, and if he can't do that to this extreme extent then he could get badly hurt, or hurt someone else.

The money and the offences are one thing, but If you are sure he is not lying to you, then the much bigger problem is he is not safe to drive.

You owe the bailiffs nothing though- your son does. What is he doing to repay his debt?

You need to check this is legit bailiffs etc.

How you can end up owing £3000+ for passing through Dartford tunnel a few times and not paying is beyond me?

Ask them for evidence of the original charge. The court orders. All letters they sent with charges etc. Something just doesn't add up here.

FWIW my ds has asd and he'd just not get the importance of the letters.