Bailiff from Task Enforcement...Terrible day.

dilemma10

Hi all,

I am not sure what I am looking for here and am bound to get some straight talking replies for my idiocy. What can I say, I am extremely disorganised.

I drive a 2009 Toyota IQ2, which in my mind should be exempt from the Congestion Charge but isn't but anyway...

Last SEPTEMBER I got a fine for travelling in the zone, me being me forgot about it. It then was escalated to Task Enforcement and stated my fine was now £200. First letter came about January time, second letter around February time and I kept thinking to myself 'Argh, annoying, I will pay it soon'. Never did.

Today who knocks on the door but a bailiff threatening to take my car away unless I paid £548 on the spot, there and then, no negotiations, no nothing. Now he car is HP anyway so he would not have been able to take the car but he did threaten police etc.

I gave up and paid it but am now miserable and upset because, I know the error of my ways but the fee is so disproportionate to the original fine.

I've contacted some cow boy no doubt from a website who assures me 95% he could get all of the money back except the fine for the price of £125...but is there any way I can contest this due to 'unreasonable fees'?

I am lost for words....

It was particularly distressing for my Mother who had the day off today!

Coupon-mad

If you contacted BailiffAdviceOnline then you would get the right help and they aren't a cowboy outfit. We often recommend them re Bailiff issues.

peter_the_piper

I doubt Herbie will be able to help with a TFL congestion charge fine, they seem pretty watertight.

dilemma10

Coupon-mad wrote: »

If you contacted BailiffAdviceOnline then you would get the right help and they aren't a cowboy outfit. We often recommend them re Bailiff issues.

Hi there, not tried Bailiff Advice Online before but will do thanks, it was an independent individual on a website I found who I thought I might try...

Thanks

peter_the_piper

dilemma10 wrote: »

Hi there, not tried Bailiff Advice Online before but will do thanks, it was an independent individual on a website I found who I thought I might try...

Thanks

No Win no fee then its worth it, up front i would consider that that would just be an extra £125.00 on the bailiff fee never to be seen again.

esmerobbo

As advised try bailiff advice online, you will probably be stuck with the initial costs but they will examine the fees added by the bailiffs are correct.

However they do have inventive ways of increasing their costs. Like knocking at your door with a feather then putting a letter through saying no answer, so they can charge you for calling!

Herbie21

I have the Bailiff Advice Online service so please do not contact us as I will instead provide a response for you here on the open forum.


What you have done today is admit that you have been silly and I would hope that you will not let this happen a second time.

With all other London boroughs, if you get a parking ticket the initial figure is either £40-£60 but, with Congestion Charging the fee is ONLY £8 and Transport for London allow you to make payment of this fee by midnight the day after incurring the charge. I am sure that you will have learned a harsh lesson today.


With regards to the fees, when the PCN has gone to warrant stage, it would have led to the debt rising significantly to nearly £200 with the statutory letter fee.


As the initial letter was sent to you in January, I would assume that the bailiff would be claiming that in that 2 month period that he has made the statutory 3 visits with the final visit being charged as an "attending to remove" visit.


At the warrant stage, this PCN would be £180 and the court registration fee is an additional £7. The warrant is therefore for £187.


The bailiff company can charge a statutory letter fee of £11.20 bring the total to £198.20


The Statutory visit fees are charged at 28% on the amount of £198.20 and therefore the visit fees are as follows:


1st visit fee charge at £55.50


2nd visit fee charge is £71.04


3rd and final visit fee charge is £90.93


As I have said above, an "attending to remove" fee has very likely also been added to the account.

vax2002

Please explain why the car should be exempt and secondly you were not given a fine, only a judge can give you a fine, this was a civil penalty charge issued under legislation .
Which means you can sue for it back if it is proven to be incorrectly served.

Herbie21

VAX 2002

So many people refer to an ordinary parking charge notice as a FINE. This is a simple error.

The congestion charge is simply a civil parking charge notice.

nomoneytoday

The Kengestion tax is more than a simple parking ticket.

Non payers will get a "Penalty" charge notice, not a parking charge notice.

AFAIK if your car has less than 100 carbons, you can register it for a 100% discount on the kengestion charge

dilemma10

Herbie21 wrote: »

I have the Bailiff Advice Online service so please do not contact us as I will instead provide a response for you here on the open forum.


What you have done today is admit that you have been silly and I would hope that you will not let this happen a second time.

With all other London boroughs, if you get a parking ticket the initial figure is either £40-£60 but, with Congestion Charging the fee is ONLY £8 and Transport for London allow you to make payment of this fee by midnight the day after incurring the charge. I am sure that you will have learned a harsh lesson today.


With regards to the fees, when the PCN has gone to warrant stage, it would have led to the debt rising significantly to nearly £200 with the statutory letter fee.


As the initial letter was sent to you in January, I would assume that the bailiff would be claiming that in that 2 month period that he has made the statutory 3 visits with the final visit being charged as an "attending to remove" visit.


At the warrant stage, this PCN would be £180 and the court registration fee is an additional £7. The warrant is therefore for £187.


The bailiff company can charge a statutory letter fee of £11.20 bring the total to £198.20


The Statutory visit fees are charged at 28% on the amount of £198.20 and therefore the visit fees are as follows:


1st visit fee charge at £55.50


2nd visit fee charge is £71.04


3rd and final visit fee charge is £90.93


As I have said above, an "attending to remove" fee has very likely also been added to the account.

Thank you Sheila, however, I received one letter and one visit only - there were no other letters or visits otherwise they would have posted other letters through the door?

So their fees are blown out of proportion?

Regards,
Gemma