Bloomin' Bailiffs!! Parking agro.

tonym11

I get up to around 15 PCN's per week and contest them all. Generally either the council cancel them or it goe's to PATAS and they cancel them. The reason for that is I am always able to produce a delivery note stating what I was doing there.

Between July and November 2007, I seem to have 3 outstanding tickets, ALL TAKEN BY CCTV IMAGE, that I did contest at the time but which Westminster Council didn't respond to. I got a letter from a company called Philips, (bailiffs), saying I now owed X amount. I then called them to challenge this saying that because the council hadn't responded to my appeals I wasn't going to pay anything. I then wrote to them confirming this and even suggesting that they take me to court for the amount owed so that I could present my evidence.

This week, I was making a delivery in Soho and got back into the car when the door was pulled open by someone flashing a warrant card who said, "get out of the car" and then grabbed my keys from the ignition. Once we were on the pavement he said, "don't worry, I'm not the old bill, I'm a bailiff".

After a bit of consultation with his office, it transpired that this guy was a court appointed bailiff from Philips and he was now offering me 2 choices. Either pay £1989 or have my car towed. I payed him but upon getting back into the car, I thought sod this and called my card company and told them to cancel my card and fortunately I had got there in time and the payment was declined. So at present, I still have these parasites after me, the council won't respond to my appeal of the PCN's and I'm a bit flumoxed as to what to do next. You can't complain to Westminster as they just don't respond and the bailiffs company won't do anything as they have been instructed to recover the money. I did try a solicitor but they wanted £2000 lodged with them before they would even look at the case.

Anyone got any ideas about this??

PS: If you are in my situation I have learnt a couple of lessons from this. If someone who looks like a plain clothes cop approaches you with a warrant, lock yourself in the car and just drive off.

I am now driving around with spare keys and only getting in the car when I know the coast is clear but obviously can't continue. The only other thing I can think of is to "sell" my car to my partner and that should clear my involvement with it.:T I was also wondering if maybe I just bought a cheap personalised number plate and changed the current one to that it might throw them off the scent.

By the way, for anyone not familiar with Central London, there are CCTV's everywhere and there are also vans driving around with number plate readers waiting to catch people in my position.

BE VERY WARY!!
Anyway, any help or useful comments would be appreciated.

Neil_B

Stop wittering and listen! Heard it all before.

bailiff behaviour was dubious - but that's another matter. Let's concentrate on what you need to do.

You need details of the PCNs. You then need to contact Northampton TEC immediately (google it). If you don't have PCN details they may be able to tell you what warrants are outstanding and give you the references.

TEC are the issuer of the warrant. helpful but struggling with phone calls at the mo.

You will need to make Out of Time Statutory Delarations for each PCN on the basis appeal made and no response. this suspends all bailiff action. Speak to TEC and they are helpful and will advise and provide forms. Also available via their website. PE3 I think?

Get these witnessed by a Court Officer at your local County Court for free. Do not sign until in the presence of the Court Officer.

immediately this is done advise both the Council and the bailiff quickly.

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Did you not receive Charge Certificates and Order for Recovery for these?
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tonym11

Wow, great stuff, I'm stopping wittering already!! I received the PCN by post originally as there was no physical ticket due to them being generated by CCTV. I then contacted the council to present my defence, delivery notes etc and then I just kept getting notices to keeper. I did try and respond once but it appeared that Westminster didn't respond. The next I heard was the bailiffs letter which I replied to as stated in my post.

I'll get onto this right away and thanks again

tonym11

OK Neil, it's all done. I have e-mailed the TEC and asked for those forms and all the info you suggested. I'm so grateful for your help and am hoping I might finally be able to resolve this.

Neil_B

Ok good so far. Thanks for listening and acting.

You mentioned several further notices. It is important to see those to understand the progression of the case. Scan or pic 'em and post up. One of each document will do and you could then say - 'got the same for another PCN on xxxx date.'

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The Stat Decs you are now making can be opposed if you are out of time. Hence we need to know exactly where you are with this.
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