Are councils obliged to tell bailiffs when payment has been made?

diva888

Was hoping someone can help me out there!

I had a parking ticket that I stupidly omitted to pay.
However, I paid the full amount of the ticket using the councils on-line system in June.
In September, I went out to find that my car had been clamped and was told that I had 40 mins to pay the fine of £600 or my car would be towed away and extra expense incurred. I therefore paid the bailiffs in full at the time.

I have just received a refund from the council for the price of the ticket as they acknowledged that I had paid twice- once online in June and again with the bailiffs!

On ringing the Council, I was told that they are not obliged to tell bailiffs when a debt has been cleared.
My point is that they should not have accepted payment if they had no intention of informing the bailiff.
I would have thought that by accepting the payment the debt should have been cleared!
There were two and a half months between receiving payment and the bailiffs coming.
I don't think it is fair that I am given a refund £125 just for the price of the ticket when the actual amount I paid to the bailiffs was £600.

Please help!

shinyhead

How long was it between getting the ticket and paying it off? Did you get any other correspondence between that time, and then any between paying and getting your car clamped?

diva888

I got the ticket in Sep 2007 and paid in full in June 2008. Heard nothing from either the council or the bailiffs between paying in June and bailiffs arriving in Sep.
Ticket was logged as paid using the on-line system but they do not give a reference no with it.

MrsTinks

Do you have proof of payment to the council and proof in writing from the council when they refunded the money due to the bailiff marking it as paid?
I would definitely follow it up a) £600 sounds excessive for bailiff charges if the fine is £125... You might want to have a look on http://www.bailiffadviceonline.co.uk/ too - it's run by a forum regular and it's genuine
I would definitely contest it. Possibly the financial ombudsman would be of help here... failing that contact your local MP and provide proof of overcharging from the bailiff and also letters proving when you paid the fine and when the bailiff actually came to get payment and then when the council refunded the initial payment.

MrsTinks

Speaking of the devil That's the person who runs the site and she's VERY VERY good so listen to what she has to say

diva888

I have just spoken at length with the Council but feel I am going around in circles!
They say that because they handed the debt over to the bailiffs in June, they were under no obligation to contact the bailiffs and tell them the ticket had been paid. Also, they could accept the payment but were not required to tell me that I shouldn't have paid them- how can this be right?

I am furious that they accepted my payment and then did nothing!!!

It has taken their 'accountants' 3 months to notice that I have paid twice for the same thing!

I have phoned 5 other London councils and they all say that they will not accept any payment when a bailiff is involved- so at least you know where you are with them....

I have also spoken to the bailiffs who say unofficially that they would have expected to have heard from the council that the pcn had been paid in June and then things would not have gone so far. But I bet they won't admit to this if it means giving up any of their fees- also, they are hardly likely to bite the hand that feeds them!!

Any ideas what to do now?!!