HELP baillifs threatening letter

monkeychops

In September 2004 my husband forgot to pay the congestion charge. He totally in all honestly forgot all about it until we received notification in March 2005. We had moved house in that time and although we had post redirected we had not received any communication about it. He went to the local Court and swore a Statutory Declaration stating that he had never received any correspondence or forms, Penalty Charge Notice etc. We had an acknowledgement but never heard any more.

Last week, nearly 2 years after the original offence he received a letter from CCS Enforcement Services Limited stating that he owed :-

Penalty charge and costs - £155
Bailiff fee - £599 totalling £754!

I wrote and explained the situation and said we had never heard anything more. Today they have sent a letter saying he is liable for the debt and if the sum is not paid with 14 days bailiffs will attend. What should we do now? There is no way we can pay this money and as I am home all day I do not want bailiffs coming up and harassing me. Do we really have to pay the full amount and, if so, will they accept it in instalments?

I have tried phoning them but they do not answer. I will send a fax but am unsure as to how to word it.

chloe99_2

i can't really help but if you mean you've tried phoning the congestion charge people than i have heard people say that you are wasting your time as you will never ever get any sense out of them. they will only say/do what it says on their flow diagram and will not budge. Dosn't mean you shouldn't keep on trying though til you get some more advice on here ;o)

Hope someone comes along to help you soon

Plutos_2

How terrible for simply forgetting to ring that infuriating number. I hope someone else can help with stopping the baliffs, but you should certainally put what you have just told us in writing to:


mayor@london.gov.uk

or

Ken Livingstone
Mayor of London
Greater London Authority
City Hall
The Queen's Walk
More London
London SE1 2AA

Livingstone is not everyone's cup of tea, but I'm sure if he heard this was the effect of his personal policy and incompetent baliffs, he'd be very interested.

pl

**purpleprincess**

In my office we used to use CCS Enforcement Services as our bailiff company. Have you tried ringing this number 01527 576115??? I suggest you send them a fax if you can't get through to them on the phone, in my experience at this stage you will have to pay the costs incurred. BUT you can try asking them to make an instalment arrangement with you. State your income and your outgoings in the fax along with a proposed amount for repayment. And ask for a prompt response. Good luck hun x

Dr.Shoe_2

Has this case been to court? Bailiffs can't "attend" unless they've been directed to do so by the court AFAIK.

monkeychops

No, it's never been to Court to my knowledge. I think a lot of the problem is that I have never received anything and I don't think the bailiffs believe this.

What I really want to know is do we have to pay the £700 and if so can we pay by instalments. Well to be honest whether we can or not we will have to as we do not have £700 just lying around

monkeychops

Thanks for that reply. I think we will let it go to Court and fight it. OH goes into the congestion zone at least a couple of times a month and always pays it. He genuinely did forget on that occasion and how can it be our fault that we never received any correspondence about it?

One day last week he went into the zone and intended paying on line when he got home. Unfortunately something happened on the way home and he had to spend all that evening and night in hospital. So he then had to pay £50 - so considerate of Ken Livingstone!!

Dr.Shoe_2

Don't get me started on that evil back-stabbing !!!!!!! He's only got where he is at the expense of others.

rog2

I read that the London congestion charging scheme was designed to make more money from people who didn't pay - I'm not sure if that is true, but these posts would certainly point that way.
Some of us 'country bumpkins' do not even know how to go about paying. I visit customers in London, who are just outside (by one mile) of the charging zone. It would be so easy, for someone who is not sure of their way, to stray, inadvertantly, into the zone.
I can sympathise with people who are innocently caught up in this 'make more money from the motorist' scam.

**purpleprincess**

Please contact them straight away as it *has already been to court* hence the reason the bailiffs have been instructed. If you just wait then it will get worse. It would have been through Northampton County Court, this is the court that congestion charging people use.

**purpleprincess**

Basically you get your basic charge, if this isn't paid then it goes up to £50, if not paid within 14 days then goes up to £100, if again not paid within 14 days goes up to £150. At this point it goes to the debt registration stage which costs another £155. This is done at Northampton County Court. They send confirmation, if the situation still isn't addressed then they send the account to the bailiffs which incurs additional costs.