bailiff came to my house over 2015 ticket that was wrongly issued!!

lea1079

HI

Im new here and I'M very lost and confused about what to do.

yesterday i received a visit from a bailiff/enforcement officer about a parking ticket that was issued back in 2015! It was issued in whitby, North Yorkshire in September 2015 - i remember it well because it really annoyed me at the time.

My partner and I went for a day out to Whitby and we parked up in the car park but i ended up not having enough change. I used the Ringo App on my phone to pay for 4 hours parking - 12.18 until 4.18 (thankfully i have the full receipt with all details on). We left earlier than the 4 hours and when we returned to the car there was a yellow ticket on the windscreen claiming that we had overstayed. The ticket was issued at 13.13 - 55 minutes into the 4 hours that i had paid for. i was really annoyed and posted a copy of the receipt to appeal. i didn't hear anything back but to be honest id totally forgotten about it... until yesterday

Yesterday afternoon there was a knock on the door and a bloke was stood there who said he was from Scarborough Borough Council about the ticket. My partner answered the door and we didn't initially know what he was talking about - since that was the only parking ticket we've ever had from them i told him that i had a copy of the ringo receipt to prove that i had actually paid and that i believed that the ticket had been cancelled. He came in to look at the receipt then started making demands to collect goods from the house. it was only at that point we realised who he was and what he was there for.

he refused to show us any identification or documentation relating to the parking ticket. i told him i had heard nothing at all about it and assumed it was sorted since i clearly had evidence that i had paid for parking at the time the ticket was issued. he pushed past me and started lifting things to remove from the house.

I am 39 weeks pregnant too and the stress was unreal. we were really shocked and my partner said he was going to phone the police and the bloke did so. i found out the receipt for parking but he ignored it. we asked if we could get it sorted out and he told me there was nothing i could do - i had to pay £400 or he was going to leave the house with loads of my stuff. I was shaking and crying - how i haven't gone into labour as a result is amazing to be honest because i have barely slept at all.

the police came and they saw that i had a genuine reason for disputing this - to be honest, why would i avoid it when i have clear evidence that parking was fully paid for at that time. but the bailiff was putting more and more pressure on me. my partner offered to pay for me but then the bailiff refused to accept his card because "he couldn't see the security code on the back" it seemed to me he was intent on just taking stuff rather than resolving anything. i was genuinely afraid - he was actually picking up my new pram and baby things and i thought he was going to take them away. The police officer asked him what i can do to sort this out given the genuine dispute that was evident. he said the only way he was leaving was if i paid in full or with my goods - i handed over my credit card and he took payment of £395. i have no idea what this was for - no breakdown of charges or anything at all just a random figure to me. he told the police officer that if i paid in full then i can sort it out and get the amount refunded along with compensation? i asked him how i go about this but he wouldn't tell me.

can somebody please help me or point me in the direction of how to sort this out. i feel like i have been absolutely ripped off because i paid for parking and the ticket was issued incorrectly and now this. the conduct of the bailiff was horrific and has left me feeling really vulnerable and afraid to answer the front door, particularly if i am alone. i was in total shock because i wasn't expecting him and couldn't get my head working to figure out how to deal with it

Redx

as this is a council ticket and has bailiffs involved , you need to talk to sheila at bailiffadviceonline (search the forum for the details)

if anyone knows the answers , its herbie (sheila)

also, pepipoo forums tend to help people with council tickets, whereas we do private ones mainly on here

use a gmail email to sign up to pepipoo , but contact bailiffadvice asap first

Fruitcake

That is absolutely awful.

I would contact the card issuing company and tell them someone forced their way into your house and made threats against you until you feared for your life and that of your baby, so gave the thug payment details. Tell the card company to put the charge into dispute.

Then go to the police station and make a formal complaint about the officer who attended, and also report the crime of theft by deception with menaces.

I can't understand why the copper didn't arrest the alleged bailiff so you should ask to see the duty sergeant or the officer's superior.
Bailiffs cannot take things like prams, or essential living needs such as kettles or fridges, and the copper should have known this.

lea1079

thank you, I've sent an email over to ask for help xx

lea1079

it was such a horrible experience, I'm getting some work done on my house at the minute and one of the workmen just knocked on the door... i had a panic attack and freaked out until i saw his high vis through the door glass

thankfully i had the foresight to pay on my barclaycard for that reason... i think it was the only moment my head switched into gear. ill have a look at the barclaycard site now and check the process, thank you

Fruitcake

I am told Sheila is vey nice and very helpful. You can trust her advice.

I think local and national press might be interested in this as well.

Police stand by and let intruder force pregnant woman to hand over credit card details.

Redx

post #3 here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5563062 has the contact details for sheila (unless that is who you emailed)

so for anyone else reading this and needs bailiff help, contact SHEILA (herbie21 on here I believe)

Herbie21

lea1079 wrote: »

HI

Im new here and I'M very lost and confused about what to do.

Yesterday i received a visit from a bailiff/enforcement officer about a parking ticket that was issued back in 2015! It was issued in whitby, North Yorkshire in September 2015 - i remember it well because it really annoyed me at the time.

My partner and I went for a day out to Whitby and we parked up in the car park but i ended up not having enough change. I used the Ringo App on my phone to pay for 4 hours parking - 12.18 until 4.18 (thankfully i have the full receipt with all details on). We left earlier than the 4 hours and when we returned to the car there was a yellow ticket on the windscreen claiming that we had overstayed. The ticket was issued at 13.13 - 55 minutes into the 4 hours that i had paid for. i was really annoyed and posted a copy of the receipt to appeal. i didn't hear anything back but to be honest id totally forgotten about it... until yesterday

I am 39 weeks pregnant too and the stress was unreal. we were really shocked and my partner said he was going to phone the police and the bloke did so. i found out the receipt for parking but he ignored it.


The police came and they saw that i had a genuine reason for disputing this - to be honest, why would i avoid it when i have clear evidence that parking was fully paid for at that time.


I handed over my credit card and he took payment of £395. i have no idea what this was for - no breakdown of charges or anything at all just a random figure to me. he told the police officer that if i paid in full then i can sort it out and get the amount refunded along with compensation? i asked him how i go about this but he wouldn't tell me.

Lea,

I hope that you do not mind, but in order to help other viewers who may have a similar experience, I will address your query on the forum.

A parking ticket was put onto your vehicle and you appealed the ticket to the council. With your appeal, you provided a copy of the receipt.

It would seem that you did not receive any further documentation and without you knowing, the council requested a warrant. Here is what should happened:

If the local authority had accepted you appeal, they would have written to you to advise of the outcome.

If the local authority reject your appeal, they must provide you with a Notice of Rejection. If you failed to reply, a Charge Certificate would be issued followed by an Order for Recovery. There would be no more letter from the council.

The next notice would be from a bailiff company and that would be called a Notice of Enforcement. If you had not received ANY of these notices , then it is always always that there had been something wrong with the address and in most cases, this would be due to the person moving house and not updating their address details with DVLA.

Have you moved address?

Did you update your address details?

If you had not received any of the notices, it is a simple matter of submitting an Out of Time witness statement with the Traffic Enforcement Centre. Before doing so, you will need to ascertain what address all notices had been sent to.

Have you spoken with the council to ask whether they received your 'appeal'?

If you can post back, I will gladly assist you with drafting the Out of Time witness statement. I will NOT be charging you a fee.

(Text removed by MSE Forum Team)

Coupon-mad

Thanks for that information, Herbie21. Good to see you posting here about these bailiff cases.

Guys_Dad

Fruitcake wrote: »

That is absolutely awful.

I would contact the card issuing company and tell them someone forced their way into your house and made threats against you until you feared for your life and that of your baby, so gave the thug payment details. Tell the card company to put the charge into dispute.

Then go to the police station and make a formal complaint about the officer who attended, and also report the crime of theft by deception with menaces.

I can't understand why the copper didn't arrest the alleged bailiff so you should ask to see the duty sergeant or the officer's superior.
Bailiffs cannot take things like prams, or essential living needs such as kettles or fridges, and the copper should have known this.

If you put the card payment in dispute, the bailiff will simply return with added fees on top.

You need to get the matter sorted out with the council because, of course, there is a possibility that your credit file will also reflect the debt.

Herzlos

I thought bailiffs didn't take credit cards?

As said though, cancelling the payment may only make things more expensive, you're best leaving it for now, finishing the appeal and getting refunded.