I have been bullied and manhandled by my local authority contractors

biscit

ckerrd wrote: »

"Whilst it is probably fair to say that you contributed somewhat to bringing about the situation you describe, I have every sympathy with you and hope things work out for you."

Interesting use of the word "somewhat."

Well maybe the person you quote has done too many online opinion polls!

Anyway what are you saying contribute is like unique, a contribuition is always partial?

ckerrd

People tend to use "somewhat" to mean a minor or incidental contribution.

I don't think starting an assault falls under that.

Ivory_Tinkler

Nukumai wrote: »

It's hardly Jingoism...'ignorance' and 'intolerance' would be more apt.

I don't think it's ignorance or intolerance when we all pay our council tax for services received but the OP feels that he is above this because he already pays tax and vat and shouldn't have to use his savings to fund this bill. We are all dismayed by his attitude!

I'm also not a 'native' Brit (having moved here from NZ some years ago) and find such an attitude contemptible - members of my own family (and countless other families, of course) gave their lives fighting in the British and NZ forces during World Wars I and II, having immediately and resolutely followed the lead of the "homeland". Such lives were lost, in part, to preserve the very rights (well, what is left of them) that are enjoyed today by people making such obtuse statements.

I now have British citizenship and more than pay my way; if anybody cares to suggest to me that I should feel "free to leave" because I complain about something...they can kiss my hairy @rse! I prefer to contribute towards changing things for the better than to walk away.

If you read the thread properly then you will see that only one person invited the OP to feel free to leave and this was in response to the OP's ridiculous statement of "welcome to Great Britain" (when he's been here 20+ years and knows how things work)

And, OP, as for the bailiffs entering your house...I'm a fairly laid back, easy-going guy, but would not think twice about sorting out anybody who either threatened my family or forced their way into my house without being invited. As for any legal niceties? Well, I'd deal with them after the event.

The OP runs a business yet ignored bailiffs letters - the legal niceties could have been dealt with way before it got to this stage

Whilst it is probably fair to say that you contributed somewhat to bringing about the situation you describe, I have every sympathy with you and hope things work out for you.

So you think it is fine for the OP to have a stash of savings for an emergency but not pay a bill for services received? As I stated before, I used to have savings for a rainy day or an emergency but no longer have this luxury as I have had to use them up to pay for bills. I worked on the theory that my boiler might break down but my council tax must be paid otherwise there could be trouble in store. If the OP had no money to fall back on then I think some of us might have been a little more sympathetic but he had the means to pay and should have done.

The "fight" between the bailiffs and the OP was something that shouldn't have happened. The bailiffs shouldn't have been as aggressive and the OP shouldn't have acted the way he did but all this could have been avoided.

supermezzo

It could have been avoided with a two minute search on the very site you're posting on now! Then your wife would have known about the threat of bailiff action and not to open the front door or leave any windows open.

woody01

Over the past twenty years, I have contributed to all my taxes and paid an average of £20,000 in income tax every year.

So what?
So have i (and quite alot more than that), but i still have to pay my council tax, which increases year on year because of people like you that decide you don't have to!

This fund was for absolute emergencies

We would all like to ignore our bills and save for a rainy day. Can you not see how ridiculous your statement is regarding that?

And has the more jingoist of you lot have said, I can always p... off to my own country and may well do so.

Rubbish!
No-one here knows you from Adam.
It was YOU yourself that stated you may leave as it's so bad here.
Playing the 'race' card is pathetic when it has no baring on your self inflicted situation

timberflake

An average they were 4 times heavier than your wifes 45kg?? They must have been big guys to weigh 180kg's, thats 28 stone!

hr100

What is an emergency if its not your council tax being very overdue?

Why should the rest of us pay whilst you dont bother?

RobertoMoir

Meromanche wrote: »

Bailiffs came to our door this morning while I was out. My wife is Japanese and weighs around 45kg, the three people who came to my door where on average 4 times heavier than that. Although her English is good, she did not quite understand why a council employee, as they announced themselves, would barge in the house in such a way. She tried to keep the intruders out of the house but was unable to do so.

Without seeing exactly what happened or, with the greatest of respect, at least having a first hand account of what happened its hard to comment on this. It may meet the legal definition of peaceful entry as bailiffs are required to do (despite being bad practice) or it may not.

Is this the first you heard of the debt being enforced by the way? Bailiffs do not usually turn up at a house mob-handed like this for the lols. It sounds like they intended to enforce the debt from the get go, which suggests they have dealt with you before and were ignored. Is that the case?

Meromanche wrote: »

I approached one of them who was by then seating in a car outside and asked him to come out, which he did not. I then went into my house where two people were standing in the entrance. I asked them which one was rude to my wife and grabbed that person’s jacket to make him move out of the way. The other person grabbed me from behind in a headlock and told me to release his colleague.

So you assaulted a bailiff and his colleague tried to intervene to stop you. That's arguably allowable if the force used to stop you is reasonable. I know this isn't what you want to hear but you can probably be glad you were not arrested.

Although by then I was no longer a threat as I was outside surrounded by two of the thugs, the other one took the opportunity to enter the house further despite my wife’s request and begging not to. My wife suffers from OCD and does not allow anybody but my son and I in the house. By then she was very distressed. One of the persons outside with me eventually told the guy inside to come back to the entrance, which he reluctantly did.

Has she been diagnosed formally by a doctor? I am asking this for a reason, not merely curiosity by the way.

It seems that the police already sided with the thugs.

The Police are there to prevent a breach of the peace. A peace you breached. I understand you were upset and angry, fair enough, but this part of it you brought on yourself.

I was told that the only way I would be able to stop them taking goods from my house immediately would be to pay the full amount due and the bailiff fees immediately. I agreed to pay the amount requested by cheque, which was refused. I then offered a credit card payment, which was accepted. While one of the bailiffs was processing the credit card, the other one, who assaulted me stayed inside the house and was taking notes. Once the policeman had moved away, he said to me: “I’ll see you around” in a threatening manner. The police refused to take this threat seriously. The same person, requested £40 in cash from me for apparently ripping his jacket. I refused to pay this. A receipt was issued by the same person who threatened me and his parting comment to my wife was: “see you next year”.

I asked for their names, which they refused to give and left us with the receipt for the money paid.

What fees did they charge? This should be on the receipt. What visits, if any, have you had previously?

Your answer to this may be the best route to helping you challenge what happened today. Unless you'd prefer to rant and rave about it of course.

I will admit of being wrong for not paying my council tax. However on an income of £490 per month, I really cannot see how I would be able to afford to pay this. The council made it very clear when I called them about the debt, that it was not possible for them to take my application into consideration as it had already gone to court but that my application would stand for next year’s council tax.

Let's be clear about this - Council Tax is what we call a priority debt. While it is rare that this would actually happen, it is technically possible to go prison for non-payment of council tax. You mention in a subsequent post to the one I'm replying to that you had an emergency fund that you had to dip into... fair enough. Non payment of council tax is an emergency.

The method used by Equita staff to recover the money is absolutely abhorrent. Pushing their way into a house while a lone woman is at the door is reminiscent of the method of shark money lenders. The threatening behaviour of the thugs that came to my door and more particularly one of them, who made a direct threat to meet me another time, threat that incidentally the police chose to ignore, is totally out of order and should not be tolerated by a caring local authority.

Make a formal complaint to your local councillor on this point. Though don't do it just yet until we've cleared up whether or not you have other things to complain about.

Do those people really have the Courts authority? Are they acting on my local council’s behalf?

Yes and Yes. In general terms anyway. Whether or not the specific individuals did is an issue we may need to come to later.

Although I understand that bailiffs have a job to do, there is surely a way of doing it without resorting to violence and thuggish behaviour.

Absolutely. This sounds like an horrific case. You didn't help matters, to be honest, but neither did they. The difference between you and them of course is that they are supposed to be dispassionate and professional and its entirely natural that you'd be upset at this kind of thing.

I believe that the bailiffs did not have the right of entry in this case.

Depending on what we mean when we say "right of entry", you'd be very wrong. They have the right to gain peaceful entry. And "peaceful entry" may not mean what you think it means.

I am happy to try and help you do something about this, but you have done much to complicate matters and make them worse for yourself I'm afraid.

Widelats

If they had no warrant they were not allowed in your house in the first place.

You should not have started the fight, however, saying that i totally understand as i would have attacked him too and did him some serious damage.

Never pay these people anything, that is how they work, do not pay, no cash, no credit cards and sign nothing, maybe you should have told your Mrs to call the cops when she was on the phone to you.

Norant

Two years ago we had a male and female baliff call at my house,i opened the door to them and the male baliff immediately put his foot in the door to stop me from shutting it.

He then produced a piece of paper and told me that he had the right to enter my home in order to make an inventory of my goods that would be taken away if the debt was not paid in a substantial percentage of the full amount or the full amount itself.

I very politely asked to see the piece of paper that he had in his hand,i looked at it and then directed him to number 43,we lived at 34 he looked very embarrased,the female baliff put her hand to her mouth and walked away,i think she was suppresing a laugh! he apologised removed his foot from the door and away he went to the proper address.

The following week out of the blue i recieved a letter in the post( i had not complained) apologising for the error.

True story......i have to say it did make me giggle when i shut the door.