Where's the justice?

macman71

I recently won a county court claim against a small 2nd hand car dealer who owes me about £700, let’s call them Green’s Prestige Ltd. I requested that a court bailiff go round to re-claim my cash, or take some property (a car) to sell at auction. The dealer trades under the name Green’s Cars, and all his signage at his showroom and stationary proudly display this trading name. Unfortunately when the bailiff went round, the dodgy dealer told him that all the cars at the showroom were owned by Green’s Trading Ltd, and that Green Prestige Ltd had no assets at all. The court bailiff accepted this, left the building and then unhelpfully closed the claim, stating that there was nothing else he could do. It’s crazy; the same people are still selling cars from the same premises, and still making money under the same trading name! Where’s the justice and protection for the consumer?

I am an honest, hard-working tax-paying family man, running my own small business, and it makes me so mad that dodgy dealers can just get away with this sort of blatant payment-dodging. I don’t want to just give up, but I am at my wits end now, so if anyone has had a similar experience, or has some advice, I’d love to hear about it.

dmg24

Have you checked the status of the two companies at Companies House?

Sounds to me like one had debts, so dissolved, and then, hey presto, they then formed a new company. Not the most ethical of practices, but certainly legal.

Also, I am assuming that it is a limited company that you are going after?

macman71

Both are limited companies, registered at Companies House. Green Trading Ltd (not it's real name) started up recently and has no accounts recorded yet only appointments, but Green Prestige Ltd (the one my claim is against) has been trading for a good few years, has only one CCJ (mine) and according to it's last recorded accounts, they had a fairly healthy bank balance (> £30K). One man is a director of both companies, but they have different registered offices. GP ltd use their accountants office.

I thought about ordering the director in question into court for an "Oral Exam" where he must identify the company bank accounts, then putting a stop on them until I am paid, but the bailiff told me that they would probably just empty the account, and never use it again! Oh, and of course I would have to pay for these activities. I feel like doing it anyway, just to cause him some hassle, but what good would it do?

macman71

Hi Forum
Just wanted to let you know that I finally managed to get all my money back. IN the end I had to forget about the bailiffs, and pay to have the company director summoned to court for questioning. I should have done this in the first place, would have saved lots of time and hassle. Of course he baulked at this, but would be in contempt of court if he failed to show up, so his final choice to avoid going to court was to pay up, and a cheque for the full amount, plus court costs arrived a few days ago. Never give up, and don't let the cowboys get away with it!

Justice does happen, eventually...:D

nellytheelephant

Glad to hear it!

taxiphil

Good for you, and well done. The Oral Examination Order is an excellent tool in situations like this, but not enough people know about it.

gremlin

excellent news

well done you :beer:

nice to see the law working the right way round for a change.

hollydays

Well done for not giving up.

Paparika

macman71 wrote: »

Hi Forum
Just wanted to let you know that I finally managed to get all my money back. IN the end I had to forget about the bailiffs, and pay to have the company director summoned to court for questioning. I should have done this in the first place, would have saved lots of time and hassle. Of course he baulked at this, but would be in contempt of court if he failed to show up, so his final choice to avoid going to court was to pay up, and a cheque for the full amount, plus court costs arrived a few days ago. Never give up, and don't let the cowboys get away with it!

Justice does happen, eventually...:D

congrats, well done

Hold back the celebrations until that cheque has cleared tho, sorry to put a dampner on it

poet123

Really well done,hope the cheque clears OK.

andyrules

That's great news and thanks for letting us all know that it is worth persevering for justice. Don't know why you were claiming initially, but assume you got a bad deal from him. Maybe he won't be so quick to repeat his methods in future. Sorry it's dragged on for you.