phillips baliff threat please help

voyager162

i stupidly ended up with a magistrates fine of £3500 (long story) and have been paying £150 per month and 2 months ago it was down to £2100, then i lost my job, and as a result missed 2 payments,
i now am working 2 days per week part time as its all i could find.

10 days ago i recieved a letter from Phillips debt recovery asking me to pay the full amount within 7 days or they would send the baliffs in to seize goods to the value of the outstanding debt.

i called them the same day and explained my position, they said that they do not means test and that i had to pay £800/pm to stop the balifs coming round, well of course with my salary this was impossible after explaining again i offered to pay them £250 there and then and £200 per month until i find some full time work.

i paid £250 over the phone and set up a standing order for £200 per month.
yesterday i get another letter from Phillips saying i have to pay the full outstanding balance or the bailiffs would be collecting goods.
i called up again and was told that a voluntary offer to pay was not the same as an agreement and as such the bailiffs would be dispatched to collect my goods.
although they are still happy to take the £200 due by standing order.

i am so stressed and worried and really at my wits end, i was already low with loosing my job and now this, i just dont know what to do.

Phillips wont budge and just threaten me with bailiffs despite paying them more per month than i was paying the court directly, i am so overwhelmed by this that i am a wreck and am putting my new part time job at risk as i cant think of anything else,

i just cant do any more and seem to be wasting my life trying to do the right things.

please can anyone offer some advice as to how i should proceed, sorry for the long post but i tried everywhere else to no avail.

Dave

taffy056

I am not an expert on situations like this, but I know https://www.bailffadviceonline.co.uk are, on the parking forum we advice people to contact them for a small fee. I know magistrate fines are different to civil ones so they can advise on this. The owner of the site posts here so may offer advice on the thread.

Best of luck

sgtbush

sorry to hear your postion, but yes you have defaulted on an agreement, the whole outstanding amount becomes enforcable.philips report back to the client, the magistrates court for instruction. the norm is for for the arrears of the broken agreement to be paid before they will accept a new arrangement, the magistrates court will give guidlines to how long they are prepared to wait for payment in full. let me say this again.... the magistrates court set out the guidlines, this means its not philips setting the monthly payments, its the courts saying what they will accept to stop full enforcement of the warrant of distress.
if you do not catch up, and make volentry payments, you are still in default and enforcement may still take place, you ARE liable for all assosiated costs. these costs are set by the magistrates court, not philips. £215 fee and an £85 admin fee spring to mind.

WARNINGS FOR YOU.

because this is a magistrates court fine, the bailiff CAN force entry into your propert on the 1st visit, with or without you being present to do a search of the property for you or your assests to seize on the spot. the relevent leg is paragraph 3 of schedule 4A of the magistrates court act 2004 and the DVCV act 2004

if you cannot pay the fine or do not have enough goods to settle the debt iin full, then it gets handed back to the court as non-enforcable and the courts will issue a warrant of commital for you, this is happening more and more often.
A bailiff, the police or both will come to your house, or any other place he belives you may be and arrest you on the spot, take you to the originating court and you will see the judge at next available sitting

PLAN OF ACTION FOR YOU
ask philips what the arrears are and pay to get up to date, make the monthly payments or it will get sent back to court

sorry if my reply sounds harsh but their is no good reason to sugar coat replys, you need the hard facts to make an informed decision on what to do

hope you get it sorted

Candy53

That was a really good post 'sgtbush'. It should be made a 'Sticky'.

Candy

voyager162

thanks for the replies, i will try get as up to date as possible, the trouble is i am now only working part time and being able to pay large sums is just out of the question until things improve, although phillips seem deaf to this problem, and the court wont discuss the matter. i am willing to do anything i can to realistically pay the outstanding debt its just no one involved wants to listen or make reasonable suggestions.

HappyMJ

voyager162 wrote: »

thanks for the replies, i will try get as up to date as possible, the trouble is i am now only working part time and being able to pay large sums is just out of the question until things improve, although phillips seem deaf to this problem, and the court wont discuss the matter. i am willing to do anything i can to realistically pay the outstanding debt its just no one involved wants to listen or make reasonable suggestions.

Sometimes the only way to get them to listen is stop paying. The bailiff will return the debt to the court and you can then speak to the fines officer about making a realistic payment considering your new circumstances. They will not put you in prison if you cannot pay. They only put you in prison if you refuse to pay.