Whyte & Co 'Bailiff Removal' Notice.

richard300

Hi All, Desperate to receive some advice before contacting the company (Whyte & Co) on Monday morning.

Had a call from a friend who i used to live with. He was rather irate as he had just had a letter through his door from W&Co that read as follows......

EDIT: I cant post link to picture as i am a new user, but the letter read:

NOTIFICATION OF INTENDED
BAILIFF REMOVAL

Take formal notice that Bailiffs today called to remove goods to satisfy an outstanding liability

Due to: Worthing Borough council Road Traffic Fines

As you have failed to respond to previous notifications. Further preparations are underway to remove sufficient goods and chattels to satisfy the amount due

You are advised to contact the removal bailiff within the next 24 hours to avoid such action

TAKE NOTE, YOUR VEHICLE MAY ALSO BE CONSIDERED BY THE BAILIFF FOR SEIZURE

DATED: 10/11/11
BAILIFF: S. KENNY 07973 745695



He (my friend who lives at the address they have for me) called up the mobile phone number at the bottom and found himself talking to a very aggressive person on the phone, demanding my friend tell him of my current address, and if he didn’t them it didn’t matter as they would just come back and take from my friends house as that is my last registered address (They obviously have not checked the electoral register or anything like that).
The Man also said the fines are for two unpaid parking tickets via my local council.



Now, sadly this could be true as i went though a stage of getting caught up at work (I worked at the local hospital at the time and couldn’t exactly leave when caught up, to move the car)- Anyone who knows Worthing hospital knows that they closed the staff car park (it's shocking)!!!
I did pay all the ones i knew about (I think).

Sadly, when talking to my friend he said there were a few bits of mail there, that all looked relatively official (But sadly he had never mentioned this to me before, and so I have been blissfully aware of this escalating situation).

My then car (that the letter refers to) V34 ELK was never registered at my current address as I sold it not long after i moved from the address listed.

I just want to know what my options are. I genuinely don't mind paying for the parking fine if i was illegally parked (and there could be a good chance of this) but i fear that if this situation has escalated to the extent that Bailiffs are looking for me, then the costs/fines might have substantially increases, and I just physically can not afford to pay out any money as I'm covering my wife’s wage whilst she is on maternity leave, and its literally ruining me... And also, the thought of having bailiffs turn up when I am at work and my Wife, 6 month old son and 3 year old daughter are home, doesn’t sit well with me at all.

Any ideas? and advice?

Thank you in advance,

Richard.

vax2002

They have used the word liability, that is a legal term for an order signed by a magistrate or judge , ask them to produce this document, not a copy, or other letter referring to it, the actual document they claim to have that gives them removal powers, complete with a wet signature of magistrate, or judge, case number and court details, move any vehicles, lock all doors and windows and use a video camera to record the demand for the order.

richard300

Thanks, VAX...... So can i assume i have no way of ending or clearing this matter up without paying whatever (no doubt large) amount of money that these people are going to want from me?

Trebor16

It may be possible to make a statutory declaration that you never received the notices to owner and other documentation relating to the outstanding tickets. I would suggest you go to www.pepipoo.com and post the situation there.

But don't sit on your hands, you need to act fast.

On another issue, the threats made by the bailiff to your friend were totally out of order and an abuse of his power. He has no power whatsoever to go to your old address and seize goods owned by another person. I would suggest a complaint about the bailiff would be in order. www.consumeractiongroup is the place for that and go to the bailiff section.

poppasmurf_bewdley

They can't just take 'any car they fancy', it has to be either the one on the original parking ticket or one registered in the name of the person named on the warrant. And they can't take one that is on Hire Purchase or on a Lease even if it is registered in the name of the person on the warrant. Neither can they take goods belonging to anyone other than the person named on the warrant, so they can't take goods belonging to your friend - car, TV or anything else.

If you genuinely have not received notice of the parking fines, you can contact the council to explain and ask them to take them back from the Bailiffs, which they should do. (not a lot of people know that!!!).

peter_the_piper

This is the sort of posts that bailiffadviceonline.co.uk is there for. Small cost £10.I think but way worth it.

Hammyman

richard300 wrote: »

Thanks, VAX...... So can i assume i have no way of ending or clearing this matter up without paying whatever (no doubt large) amount of money that these people are going to want from me?

No. That horse has long since left the stable.

proactive

they were the company featured on that fly-on-the-wall documentary 'bailiffs' a few years ago

vax2002

I have dealt with Bailiffs on behalf of vulnerable tenants on many occasions in my last position on behalf of a housing trust.
The first line of attack and I say attack was to demand the actual order they claimed to have in full.
This stopped most of them straight in their tracks as no such order existed, this would be followed up by an application to the courts for a restraining order if they refused to suspend action until they could serve correct paper work.
Some would start the long process of obtaining the paper work they claimed to have, others would drop the action as soon as they heard the words court .
Bailiffs claiming to act upon authority are a legal process and like all legal processes all documents have to be in order and produced upon demand by those they claim to hold.
The number who could not produce, warrants and orders was quite staggering and when challenged at court they would back out short of the court room claim to be acting as "debt collectors" on behalf of a bailiff company.
Unfortunately as an individual they tend to use rubber necked thugs and intimidation and refuse to produce paper work.
The industry is out of control and local councils and parking services departments were the biggest thugs of them all and could rarely produce a court case number, never mind paper work.
As said on parking matters you can apply to have it reset to NTO stage, you need a legal form from the court, the number escapes me, but as said some on pepipoo have good knowledge of how to do this.
In this case I would suggest switching to that forum.