They took my car :-( any advice??

Herbie21

Bailiff's can and DO take car but this is not normally the case. What they will do is to post a Notice of Seizure of Goods and Inventory to confirm that they have levied upon the car and to allow you a opportunity to pay the debt.

However, it is POSSIBLE that this action is because you paid the council direct but that you have EXCLUDED to pay the bailiff fees. This would be a different situation altogether.

Will wait to hear your response.

MercMan

I thought councils had to give 14 days notice of transferring your debt to a bailiff in writing and delivered by hand? If you owe a small amount and its the end of the CT year can this not be included in the following years bill?

tmcd01

The bailiff company would have written to you before attending. Its very rare that they actually remove vehicles for such a small debt, the hassle involved means that anything is preferable! Talk to the council before you talk to bailiff firm, if they accept that you have paid then its their fault for not informing the bailiff company. This used to happen often when i was a bailiff, it would usually result in the job being sent back to the council and the fees incurred so far erased as it was not your fault (whether the council paid or not i'm not sure, but doubt it). I have to say though, it never went as far as removal as far as i can remember!!

RobertoMoir

caramelpie wrote: »

As they took the car I needed to be able to collect my 10 month old from nursery, along with the car seat and pram, i'm guessing they were in the wrong?

Caramelpie

Putting aside the question of whether you actually owed a debt if you had already paid the council, I don't see any reason why they couldn't take your car.

The work use thing means that, for example, you're a courier or taxi and the car is a tool of that trade, not "It's a bit of a schlep across town on buses in the rush hour to work".

debt_doctor

Hi,

Firstly you need to find out if the debt was paid before seizure. If it was then you need to make a complaint to your council, especially if it was paid " months ago" as you said, the council had plenty of time to inform the bailiffs. You make your complaint to 'the head of council tax recoveries' and far more importantly you also copy your complaint to the 'monitoring officer' The monitoring officer is the head legal bod.We at our office get considerable success with this method, I will dig out a draft letter for you when I get to work on Monday.

Also even if the debt was still outstanding the bailiffs have committed the 'offence' of excessive levy if the car was worth £1500 for a £ 200 debt then that is indeed excessive, the baillif should have attempted to levy on household goods first to seize goods of a more proportionate level.

The bailiffs fees mentioned are illegal, simple as that. That would need a complaint to the bailiffs company threatening county court action and citing your council as second defendant as they are legally responsible for the actions of their bailiffs.

There are also other methods of action that can be taken such as a 'form 4 complaint' but we find that we have great success with the above. Bailiffs nor the council wants to be examined in court ( especially with those fees!) If there is any wrongdoing then they generally settle.

Best

DD