Bailiff clamped my car on first visit

Bugsy1980

I have a couple of questions about Equita Bailiffs and a situation I found myself in today:

I woke up this morning to 2 letters shoved through my letter box from an Equita Bailiff. One is a "form 7 Notice of Seizure and Inventory of goods", the second a removal notice. When I got to my car it has been clamped on the residents' parking private road.


Now, I keep hold of letters etc and have found the original parking ticket from the council from august 2013, that says my car is silver (its purple!) and yes, I had forgotten all about it. I have the notice to owner, but thats it. I have had no letter off Equita in regards to this fine, or even from the TEC at northampton. This is their first contact and have gone straight to removal.

The Bailiff knocked at my door this morning while I was in the shower at 10.30am. Theres a stamp on the form 7 saying "this vehicle will be removed if no contact is made by 10am" and a mobile number. The second letter that has "final notice" written over it in red says contact within 24 hours; "If you fail to contact then I will have no alternative but to reattend your property to impound your vehicle/remove goods".

I did ring straight away and he said that the car was scheduled for removal 20 minutes later and the only way to stop it was to pay the £313. As I'm disabled and need my car, I did this - which now means that I have just enough left in my bank to pay rent and loan which is due out tomorrow (or I will have when my DLA goes into my account tomorrow).

I have dealt with Equita in the past over my old car and at my parents' address - but that was all settled a couple of years ago. So I know the company and that if I speak to them when I get a letter they do accept installments. So I KNOW I haven't ignored any correspondance from them.

Like I say I keep any letters and stuff because I was in a DMP and have cancelled that to go with the CAB, so keep everything to show my advisor to see if he needs/wants it - but my advisor is off this week and I'd like a bit of advice in the meantime if possible!

Can Bailiffs go straight to a "final notice" without any prior letters or phone calls?

Also, I think there is a limit to how much bailiffs can charge. Does anyone know if this is true?
The original Parking fine for staying over my paid time by 10 minutes is £60 full charge, reduced to £30 if paid within 2 weeks.

On the form 7 it says
amount owing: 317,
Bailiff Costs (incl VAT) £97

On the Final Notice that came with it is says:
Visit Fee: £80
Attendance to Remove: £120
VAT: £18
Current Balance: £313

So for a £60 parking charge and 1 visit, that delivered 1 letter the bailiffs appear to be charging £253 or £223 if you take it from the £90 increased parking ticket notice. Which seems excessive and like they have jumped the gun somewhat.

Any advice gratefully recieved.

Fergie76

Go to http://bailiffadviceonline.co.uk/ pay the £10 or whatever it is, as by all accounts this is the best advice you can get when dealing with bailiffs.