HELP - Bus Lane ticket - Collection Agency!

CatDew

Please help..
I received a penalty notice for being in a bus lane on the Uxbridge road in West Ealing – (a notoriously questionable spot!). Unfortunately as I had moved address it didn't get to me until after the council had sent it to the collection agency and it had gone up to £190! I tried to contact London Borough of Ealing to dispute the claim as I do not believe it was correct. They refused to acknowledge me or give me any of the evidence that I requested, instead forwarding my email to the collection agency who refused to acknowledge my dispute.
The collection agency has in turn, been very intimidating, threatening me with bailiffs etc and have since raised the fine to £260! I have had no option but to send them several post dated cheques for £50 in the hope they won’t raise it any further as I just cannot afford it!
I have recently had to sell my car which was only worth £250 but as they are still holding onto about £160 worth of cheques. I was hoping that in the meantime I could view the photographic evidence, but again I have been denied any access to it!
Do I have any legal rights here and is there any chance I can claim back the fine if the council cannot/will not produce evidence?
Any advise would be much appreciated. Thank you.

Coupon-mad

Oh dear, you could possibly have got off this completely with advice from pepipoo forums, there are ways and means to make your chance of successful appeal very good.

Go there NOW and post for advice on what to do. There is a danger bailiffs will call if it's been allowed to get this far. Register and post asap:

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showforum=30

I think you will need to contact TEC to get an Out of Time Declaration and ultimately have the case re-set to NtO stage (due to the change of address). So you can then appeal, and hopefully win. But get pepipoo advice on what forms to complete etc.

HTH

peter_the_piper

Definitely second CM's advice urgently.

CatDew

Thank you so much for your advice. This whole thing has been so stressfull I just wish I had posted something earlier.
Fingers crossed.
Thanks
Cat

rev_henry

I'm no expert in this, but tell the debt collection agency that the debt is DISPUTED. This means they cannot lawfully pester you for it until it is resolved. Then get your bank to stop the cheques.

peter_the_piper

rev_henry wrote: »

I'm no expert in this, but tell the debt collection agency that the debt is DISPUTED. This means they cannot lawfully pester you for it until it is resolved. Then get your bank to stop the cheques.

Unfortunately AFAIK, this will not work with a council moving traffic offence.