Bailiffs Trick ?

walkbar

Arrived home Thurs. 10/5/2012 to find a hand delivered 'Notice of Attendance' letter for an outstanding balance of £390 for an unpaid parking fine.

Arrived home today, Tues. 15/5/2012 to find letter ' Notice of Intention to Enter and Search Your Premises'(TNT post) for an outstanding balance of £175 for said parking fine (letter typed on 8/5/2012 apparently......not posted then?)

Shouldn't these two things have happened the other way around?

Surely it's not legal to increase charges over a non-payment referred to in a letter that arrives 5 DAYS after the increased demand.

Can they do this ?

Oh, COMPANY NAMED.....PHILIPS

NB. I should state that these actions relate to my son who hasn't lived here for some time (not on Electoral Roll) but uses this house to receive his post and has registered his van here due to moving fairly often.

HappyMJ

Send the mail back marked "return to sender - no longer at this address"

The bailiff has no right of entry to your property.

I doubt it's a parking fine. Fines are issued by courts and parking offences are no longer criminal offences. They are civil offences and a penalty would apply. If they were actually parking charges issued by a private company then just ignore the letters as they have no enforcement options available to them at all.

Broke_n_Broken

Bailiffs try to scare you, they try to trick you, they try to get you to pay someone-else's debt, just so they go away.
The fact is, they can't enter your home, unless you have invited them in ONCE.
Like vampires.
If it's hot & they say "can I have a drink of water" tell them to wait where they are!
If it's not your debt, tell them to go away. Do not engage them, do not give them any personal information!
If they come back, tell them to go away.

esmerobbo

Broke_n_Broken wrote: »

The fact is, they can't enter your home, unless you have invited them in ONCE.

They can force entry if they are enforcing a fine for a criminal offence, if the OP's son has received a fine from a magistrates court and not a decriminalised parking ticket. However it's very rare they do!

However they do try it on and deliver the wrong letter by mistake very often.

The OP is correct the letters should have come the other way around but then that would not increase their fees would it?

Tell them the son does not live at your address, but if he has used your address while dealing with a court, they may need some persuasion before they go away.

give_them_FA

It probably is just a PCN, by the time the bailiffs have added their imaginative fees it could reach levels like that.

In fact usually a phone call to their office saying the debtor doesn't live at stated address suffices in my experience.

As others have said above, if you don't let them in the first time they never have any right of entry by force. Though they word letters to imply that they do, as they have here. "Can I use your toilet" is another trick to walk in. Best not to open the door to them at all. But if you tell them he doesn't live there, and he isn't on electoral roll, hopefully that will get rid of them.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

when they return, open door, tell them the info and then shut it dont engage any further with them.

ive known a few to lean against the door jar so you cant shut it on them.

their wise to the wait there while i get you a drink trick and often people leave the door open "oops i dropped my pen and its rolled into the house what a shame but the door is open and im in now so lets get the stuff and go".
so always shut the door and lock it when they ask you to go get something.

give_them_FA

Better yet if you have a security chain do not release it. Some of these people have the morality of legalised burglars.

walkbar

Thank you all.
Sounds like a magistrates fine.

I've spoken to my son and it's a parking ticket turned into a fine because he contested it and then missed the deadline due to him not picking his mail up from my house in time.
Can't send the letters back 'cos I phoned him and he got me to open them to see what they were.
They've charged a £215 attenance fee justified by him not responding to a letter we recieved 5 days later.
I know he's foolish to have let this run but surely they can't put charges on him for not reponding to a letter that arrived 5 DAYS after the charge for not responding to it. CAN THEY?

give_them_FA

Bailiffs will try any trick. They are up there with PPCs when it comes to ripping people off. Was the parking notice issued by a Council or by the Police. Very important!

walkbar

Council, I assume but whatever he did about it he's ended up with a magistrates court fine, so he's definitely liable to pay the (now) £175.
The issue now is if they can levy an Attendance Fee of £215 on top of the £175 for not responding to a letter that didn't arrive for another 5 days!

give_them_FA

No, a council ticket never ever ends up in a magistrates' court. It has a civil enforcement procedure. Therefore the bailiff has no right to force entry into the property. Had it been a police ticket that went through the magistrates then the bailiff could force entry as police tickets are still criminal.

You could complain to whatever Council issued the fine; but the simple answer is to say he doesn't live there and do not disclose his address. They can charge what they like if they cannot enforce it. Is there any way of resetting the procedure, are there documents he never received?