Bailiffs - help

RiffRaff

PS - apologies that now we've moved away from talk of bailiffs, this isn't now really DFW/moneysaving but legal advice... if a moderator wants to close the discussion I'll understand!

NorthernMonkey_2

Riff Raff

It will not effect your criminal record (if you even have one) as the offences you have been found guilty of in your absence are "non recordable offences" as are most traffic offences only the more serious traffic offences go on to the Police National Computer such as drink driving, dangerous driving, driving without due care etc.

Regarding the non payment of fines. I doubt very much if the court issued a warrant for this and it is probably not on PNC. I have never seen a warrant for non payment of fines relating to traffic offences before. People I have nicked for non payment of fines warrants have always been for non payment of fines for "recordable offences" eg robbery, theft, assaults, drugs etc. I think this is why it has been put in the hands of bailiffs to collect rather than an arrest warrant. You'll probably find that the reason you owe the bailiffs so much is that they add on charges every time they visit you (including your old address where your car was registered at the time of the offence). Your punishment from the court was perhaps 3 points and an £80 fine and possibly plus costs. It will have spiralled once the bailiffs became involved.

My experience of Bailiffs is that they are very reasonable people who want the minimum fuss. They will be able to provide you with verifiable ID and should have a breakdown of the charges. Talk to them and tell them you need to dispute the amount/conviction with the court and ask them to stall. Perhaps offer them a token payment of what the original fine was as a gesture of goodwill and ask them to hold off until you can verify the matter with the court. Police will not get involved and if they do it will only be to prevent a breach of the peace. Police will not make you hand over money and will not take any of your property. You have already done the right thing by checking with the court about the fine & conviction.

When you do find out the details of why you received the fine then check it thoroughly. Cars/plates are cloned so make you sure you were in the location at the time of the offence. A neighbour of mine was recently summonsed to a magistrates in Manchester for traffic offences even though he has never been there and his car was 250 miles away at the time of the offence!

How did you know you had been caught speeding at the end of July? Where you physically stopped by police or are you presuming this because you were flashed on a speed camera? A magistrate may well ask you why you failed to inform DVLA of your address change (also an offence) and why if you knew you had been caught speeding you did not make efforts to check if you had eg did you check at your old address to see if the NIP had arrived, did you have a mail redirect set up etc. They may also say "tough luck" as if you had complied with the law and notified DVLA of the change of address then you wouldn't be in this situation, this is why you need a solicitor to help you out with the talking!

Good luck sorting this one out.

martonman

Northernmonkey,

You said

"My experience of Bailiffs is that they are very reasonable people who want the minimum fuss."

:rotfl: :rotfl:

Maybe you've only ever met bailiffs who are in the employ of a magistrates court, and never met any of the private firm 'certificated' bailiffs.

I'll refer you to the following link

http://www.dadsplace.co.uk/bf.htm

There's lots more where that came from.

Including http://www.stopthebailiffbullyboythugculture.piczo.com/?cr=1&rfm=y

RiffRaff

NorthernMonkey,

Thanks for your helpful post. I know I was caught speeding at the end of July as the court told me. I checked back in my diary and I was in the place I was caught speeding on the day in question (and it's not somewhere I go often) so it's a fair cop, guv. I wasn't physically stopped and I hadn't seen a camera - so I wasn't aware and so didn't make an effort to find out!

Basically the situation at the moment is that I've hired a solicitor who has written to the court and asked for the case to be re-opened. The court have asked the bailiffs to stay away until next Friday. Hopefully if I get a new court date the bailiffs will be asked to hold off longer. In the meantime, I'm going to work out where the £600 will come from if the worst comes to the worst...