BBC NEWS: Reclaimed Bank Charges using the bailiffs

dalumsden1

On bbc news today they were featuring a man who contested £3500 bank charges and since the Royal Bank of Scotland didn't contest it, he sent the bailiffs into a branch and they seized computers and a till with money in it until the manager ran out and said he'd pay up. Victory

sicandar

I came here just to post this too!

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23382397

Brilliant!

poppy10_2

Great stuff :beer: :j

When Royal Bank of Scotland refused to refund £3,400 charges that Declan Purcell believed he was owed, he sent in the bailiffs.

Stunned customers at his branch of RBS watched as debt collectors seized four computers, two fax machines and a till filled with cash. The branch manager was told that the items would be sold unless RBS came up with the money owed to Mr Purcell. Only when the manager gave an undertaking that the debt would be paid did the bailiffs leave.

Mr Purcell said: "I think the bank was pretty shocked when the bailiffs went in. But my view is that this is exactly what they would have done to me."

In June last year he demanded the refund of £3,400 charges he accrued during the previous six years while running a motorcycle dealership.

RBS ignored the claim so in October Mr Purcell filed an online application to get the money back through the county court. After 30 days the bank had not responded and so on December 10 the court ruled in Mr Purcell's favour. It ordered RBS to pay the charges and £120 court costs. When RBS again failed to respond Mr Purcell got the court to give him a warrant of execution, allowing him to order debt collectors to reclaim items from the bank equal in value to the amount he was owed.

Finally on Monday, January 8, a team of debt collectors walked into the busy Camden Town branch in North London, demanded to see the manager, showed their court order and announced that they were repossessing items.

Mr Purcell, who now works for London Underground, said: "I was dismayed by the bank's reaction when I made my claim for a refund – it was so rude and arrogant.

"They thought they were above the law, so it is great to know that customers can use the law in the same way the bank does to get money they are owed."

riccardo_2

full story in Daily Mail

lewt

brilliant. was he allowed to go with them and gloat?

richashel

Did you see this?

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23382397

Richard

kashie

Fantastic this is what we all want to here!!!

Good for him!

richt71

Genius! Shame I wasn't there at the time. I would have stood and aplauded them! :T

Edinburghlass_2

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=430129&in_page_id=1770

MORPH3US

A spokesman for RBS said: "We are looking into this as a matter of urgency, but early indications suggest that unfortunately due to an administrative error, the bank failed to defend the claim leading to a default judgment being obtained on the branch and a resulting warrant.

Same old excuse.... it really pees me off when people go to small claims court, the banks don't turn up so the court awards the case to the claimant and then the bank says "sorry, we didn't receive the paperwork"

This must cost our country millions and its no wonder the process is so slow... why not just send the papers special delivery and if the have been signed for and the bank don't show then tough!!!

M

MarkyMarkD

I don't see what pees you off. If a defendant doesn't defend a case, then judgement is awarded by default. That doesn't take MORE court time, it takes LESS than having to listen to a defendant's arguments.