Parking Ticket - Statutory Declaration

The_Edge

Hi Guys,
I have a friend who is having problems with Parking Tickets issued when she is parking outside of her own house.

I won't bore you with the complete details but she has been told by the Council that she cannot appeal at this stage, and now needs to wait for the Statement of Witness that will be issued by the Court.

She has received these previously, titled Statutory Declaration - unpaid penalty charge.

This is a pretty simple form to complete but there is one part she would like some help with.

The form states:
'You must then have the form sworn before a commissioner for oaths (e.g. a solicitor), a Justice of the Peace (at any Magistrates Court) or an officer of your local County Court, and declare that the contents are true before sending the declaration to the Traffic Enforcement Centre at the above address. You may have to pay a fee.'

The thing is, she is on benefits and can't afford to pay any fees - how can she go about getting her statement sworn without having to pay a fee?

She also has a couple of other tickets that have reached Bailiffs, and continues to ignore them (not the best idea) despite increasingly threatening letters, and visits. The outstanding amounts continues to increase after every visit (even though sometimes they don't actually visit!!) so I have a couple of questions about this:

As the outstanding amount increases how high can it go?

What can / will happen next? Will this Bailiff sell the debt or if they go back to Court what will the final outcome be if she just continues to ignore everything?


Thanks in advance for your help!

Neil_B

She needs to be slapped back to reality mate!

the one bit of good news is that taking the Cty Ct Officer option is free - and can be done at you local Cty Ct.

The answer to 'how high?' - is no limit! AFAIK.

Can't say much more without seeing docs but for any post march 08 then a Stat Dec isn't necessary anyway. just a witness statement that then doesn't need to be witnessed as SD.

just an aside - wouldn't it be frustrating to find out that the Council concerned had seriously flawed docs/procedures/signage etc - and none would have needed paying in the first place >>>> give her a wake up call!

show docs if you want.

The_Edge

Thanks for that, much appreciated. So, if she continues not to pay the Bailiff will the Court demand the money & send her to prison if she doesn't pay?

Is there anywhere she can get help at this point, or can she only speak with the Bailiff.

I did a bit of research on this site, and it is a Civil Penalty if that makes a difference!

Neil_B

No she can't go to prison. She can lose a lot of posessions though. First target is always the car.

It is worth checking that the bailiff fees are correct and maybe query with the Council the claims of visiting when you say they haven't.

i suppose you could try and plead poverty to the Council and ask them to intervene to make an arrangement - but unlikely.

CAB IME are not so good at decriminalised parking issues but once at bailiff stage they may be able to help with an arrangement.

i don't think the bailiff has any right of entry for these if there is no open access - but that won't keep them at bay for long.

sorry - but it's reality.

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Where you earlier mentioned Stat Decs - you also mentioned she ignores these PCNs and correspondence? - so no grounds to make a Stat Dec - what for?

The_Edge

As I said it is extremely complicated. We are talking now about 4 Tickets, one that the Council cancelled, 2 that are with the Bailiffs and one that is approaching Stat Dec....

We can use the Stat Dec to take the process back to the start, because she didn't received the original notice in the post so didn't have the chance to appeal.

This is because....she doesn't even own the car!! I own it, but live abroad (even though the car is registered in the UK) and as she looks after it, the Council have her as the Keeper, and send her the Tickets!!

That is probably why the Bailiffs haven't taken the car already.....

The house she lives in is rented furnished and she has very little else, so even if they did get in there is nothing to take!!

I am assuming they can't attach anything to her benefit, so basically the Bailiffs (as I have told them by email, even though they ignored it) are wasting their time.

I said it was complicated.....:rotfl:

The_Edge

I have spent a few hours on the Net researching this because I was a bit concerned by your phrase: but that won't keep them at bay for long.

Probably going a bit off topic here but I found some info about a law that could be going through Parliament that allows Bailiffs to break the door down and even restrain people. Maybe I missed something but has this been passed?

Also, they already can break the door down after the first visit if they believe the property is occupied (e.g. see a curtain twitch).

Is there any stage of the process when this can happen?

There really is loads of advice but some conflicting. Totally off topic, but just a theoretical - if I got a UK credit card when I lived in the UK, but now the card is registered abroad what the hell do they do if I don't pay? Do the Bailiffs get a free holiday? :rotfl:

Neil_B

It originally sounded worse - but now you say 4 PCNs.

i'm confused - making Stat Decs --(not explained why not a simpler Witness Statement) because 'notices' not received then you say things ARE being received by her???

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Anyway best available advice on the matter IMO is 'bailiffadviceonline'. Simply nothing she doesn't seem to know!
-

Herbie21

This post does appear to be rather confusing. In the first place she needs to go to the County Court as they will witness her signature for free.

With regards to the PCN's that are with the bailiff....if she does not own the car then she needs to file Out of Time late Statutory Declarations. These are not the simplest of forms to complete in particular that she needs to explain WHY she has completed this LATE. If you need help with this then please PM me.

An Out of Time Declaration will FREEZE all bailiff action and all charges stop.


PS: As to the question of bailiff costs....the bailiff can charge for a maximum of 3 VISITS.

Bailiff Advice Online.

bristollad_2

The 3 visit thing is news to me i was one...
That new act has not been passed and wont for some time
The CAB might like to think they can help they cant we used to ignore them
I knew people who went even harder after the cab to 'teach them a lesson'

Neil_B

Interesting. am I reading that right? Are you saying you are a bailiff involved in this case?