Bailliff enforcing their charges?

Vezz

Hi,

My daughter received a fine for not travelling with a valid train ticket. She was taken to Court and was fined £182.00. She moved around a bit so didn't know about this until April this year. She then received a letter from Philips (bailiff? debt recovery?) with whom she entered into an arrangement to pay £65.00 per month.

In August she tried to make her normal payment. She tried to do it online but the site wouldn't accept her payment. She then called but there was no answer to her call. She emailed and asked how to pay as she didn't have time to go to the bank. No response was forthcoming for 3 weeks, then they sent her a statement.

A Bailiff appeared one morning, and handed her a notice detailing the debt & the bailiff charge of £215.00. By now my daughter was so upset she borrowed the money to pay the court debt off in full. However, she is being chased repeatedley for the bailliff fee.

Philips didn't respond to her email, sending a bailiff instead. I am thinking that as she has cleared the debt she doesn't need to pay the bailiff fee? She is being threatened with them coming to her flat etc (I've already told her don't let them in), more bailiff charges etc.

Any advice will be gratefully received.

giraffe69

She emailed and asked how to pay as she didn't have time to go to the bank

You'd think it was worth making time.

Notmyrealname

Vezz wrote: »

Philips didn't respond to her email, sending a bailiff instead. I am thinking that as she has cleared the debt she doesn't need to pay the bailiff fee? She is being threatened with them coming to her flat etc (I've already told her don't let them in), more bailiff charges etc.

She owes the money. The fact she couldn't make the time to go to the bank is completely irrelevant, especially as she could've done it using phone banking. The fact she's cleared the debt to the court is a completely separate. The bailiffs were employed by the court to chase your daughter up because she didn't pay a fine. For this they charge a fee to the person fined.

If she doesn't pay it the only thing it'll do is get more and more expensive as the Bailiffs send out more letters and visit her home until the point where they seek a court order to remove goods at which point, she has no option than to let them in.

Any advice will be gratefully received.

My advice to you? Don't give your daughter any advice in the future about such matters until you've found out what the actual truth is. Currently you may have just cost your daughter even more money.

bengalknights

The best thing to do is for her to Pay up of face a CCJ and possible seizure of goods.

arcon5

After a week or two of no response and knowing payment hasn't yet been made... Why didnt she contact them ?

Arg

giraffe69 wrote: »

You'd think it was worth making time.

You'd think you worked for balliffs.

giraffe69

You'd think you worked for balliffs.

Why, because I think saying "I haven't got time" when you know there is going to be a problem is a bit feeble. Make time!

fatbelly

There is no national scale of fees for bailiffs enforcing magistrates' courts fines. But you should still check if what you are being charged is right. Contact the magistrates' court - they should have the local scale and you are entitled to see it if you ask.

Broadly the fees charged are like those for council tax and road traffic penalties -you will be charged for visits, for the seizure of goods, and for the cost of vehicles calling at your home. As with all bailiff fees, you should only be charged for work that was necessary and that was actually done, and all charges should be reasonable. It can be an offence for magistrates court bailiffs to charge too much, so seek advice from National Debtline or similar.

londonTiger

well it was good of her to be honest and put her genuine info down when asked. Some idiot put my address down when they evaded their fares. You know it's one of your neighbours when that happens because it's not possible to make up a random address onthe spot so they probably just give almost the right addres but different door number,.