Urgent help needed please! Disastrous tow-away situation!

Ellie007

Dear all,

I really, really need your help please.

I came home tonight to find our car missing (it was parked on our street). I phoned the police and they confirmed that it had been removed by a bailiff working on behalf of Newlyn Plc., who work on behalf of a local council.

Spoke to bailiff, who said that we had 5 unpaid parking tickets. Husband by all accounts has ignored the tickets and subsequent letters (yes - I know. Please - anything you say, I've said ten times over). Total amount owed is just over £2,500. This is 5 fines, which when passed on to Newlyn were at £202 each, then 5 lots of admin fees of £75, two 'enforcement visits' at £235 each (both were in the middle of the day so no-one home, no letters subsequently posted through door, so no proof that these happened). Plus a fee of £120, and £48 per day due for storage.

Husband adamant that he has received no correspondence from Newlyn.

Where on earth do we stand? Do we have to pay the full amount? No notice that towing was imminent. Also no evidence that enforcement visits took place.

Fully aware that we have a big bill to pay - but are all the charges really valid?

Very stressed as we don't have the money, and every day £48 gets added to the bill! Car is only worth about £1500.

Anything you can advise would be very gratefully received.

HO87

Hi there

Get yourself straight over to bailiffadviceonline. Shiela is extremely knowledgeable and occasionally posts here. To sign on for her assistance will cost you (small amount) but she knows what she's on about.

I am in no way associated with the website and see no benefit from pointing you in Shiela's direction - just know that her advice is very sound.

Umkomaas

We only really deal with private parking issues here, rarely council and even more rarely, bailiff issues.

But the received wisdom is that the best person to help you (for a small fee - £10?) is Sheila Harding via the following website. Do try this, and if you are successful it would be great to receive some feedback at some time in the future. Good luck.

http://bailiffadviceonline.co.uk

Coupon-mad

Thirded; go to Sheila with the query, urgently.

Ryan_Bryan

Ellie. Really sorry to hear about this horrible situation. One of the experts will be along to give you proper advice soon but in my opinion I would contact the bailiffs as soon as possible to arrange a payment plan or to pay it all if possible. You need to stop the escalation of the storage. Then you have to explore your legal options. If there has been any clerical errors you need to take the council/Newlyn to court to recover your losses. I can only wish you the best of luck.

Tilt

Ellie007 wrote: »

Dear all,

I really, really need your help please.

I came home tonight to find our car missing (it was parked on our street). I phoned the police and they confirmed that it had been removed by a bailiff working on behalf of Newlyn Plc., who work on behalf of a local council.

Spoke to bailiff, who said that we had 5 unpaid parking tickets. Husband by all accounts has ignored the tickets and subsequent letters (yes - I know. Please - anything you say, I've said ten times over).

First you that and then you say this;

Ellie007 wrote: »

Husband adamant that he has received no correspondence from Newlyn.

Where on earth do we stand? Do we have to pay the full amount? No notice that towing was imminent. Also no evidence that enforcement visits took place.

Fully aware that we have a big bill to pay - but are all the charges really valid?

Very stressed as we don't have the money, and every day £48 gets added to the bill! Car is only worth about £1500.

Anything you can advise would be very gratefully received.

So you can hardly claim that the subsequent action wasn't going to happen.

The thing is, to get to this stage the time it would of taken would of been around 4 to 6 months I reckon along with quite a few letters and then visits by the bailiffs. AFAIK they have to leave a notice that they have visited so unless you can prove that they didn't, I don't think there is anywhere for you to go with this.

There were options available to you even when you receive the docs from the TEC (Traffic Enforcement Centre) but sadly these have now passed you by. Unless anyone else has a suggestion I'm afraid you will have to pay or loose the car.

Ellie007

Tilt wrote: »

First you that and then you say this;



So you can hardly claim that the subsequent action wasn't going to happen.

The thing is, to get to this stage the time it would of taken would of been around 4 to 6 months I reckon along with quite a few letters and then visits by the bailiffs. AFAIK they have to leave a notice that they have visited so unless you can prove that they didn't, I don't think there is anywhere for you to go with this.

There were options available to you even when you receive the docs from the TEC (Traffic Enforcement Centre) but sadly these have now passed you by. Unless anyone else has a suggestion I'm afraid you will have to pay or loose the car.

Sorry - that is me being unclear. What I mean is that he received the parking notices from the council, but has not had any letters from Newlyn, which are the people that have taken the car.

As for there being no notices left from when they visited - I know that this is correct as I am the first one home in the evening. Their last visit was yesterday, which was the same day as they took the car. No letter through the door, no indication of what they had done. The bailiff said that he spotted it, and decided to take it while he was there. This can't be right, surely?

To all others, thank you - I will get straight over there and post.

Many thanks x

Ellie007

By the way, what are the TEC docs? We have had nothing other than the tickets and subsequent letters from the council.

Coupon-mad

You do have to pay a tenner for BAO but they will save you shedloads.

HO87

Ellie007 wrote: »

By the way, what are the TEC docs? We have had nothing other than the tickets and subsequent letters from the council.

Is the vehicle in question registered to either of you at the address at which you live? If not, then the documents may well have gone to a previous address and neither your husband nor you need be aware of them.

BAO will assist you in assessing the charges that Newlyn have added on. I would be surprised if you were not able to achieve a reasonable reduction.

Bailiffs have a reputation for throwing in charges which are neither due nor warranted. At the end of the day its the only way they make their money.

Ellie007

Thank you HO87 - I have registered my question with the website and paid the £10 - hopefully they will help. Yes - the car is registered at our address. I totally appreciate that it is my husband's fault that he didn't deal with the tickets at the outset, and trust me, this is a sore subject!

But we have not had any letters regarding taking the car away - and the bailiff visited both times at about 11am - when no-one is at home. Surely they should leave a letter? Also, surely the onus is on them to prove they actually came? And why not come in the evening, when we would actually be at home? Seems wrong to be charged for these visits when we had no idea, or any proof that they happened.

Sorry - probably ranting now - it's been an incredibly stressful night. Particularly as the car is for sale and I had a keen buyer coming tonight - until I had to cancel on the grounds that I don't actually know where it is!!!!