Letter received from Bristow & Sutor about debt collection except I don't have any debts

DrDeejUK

I received quite a shocking letter today from a collection firm called Bristow & Sutor claiming that I owe my local council money (or a "Sundry Debt" as they put it). To my knowledge though I don't have any debts with them. I have always paid my council tax on time and I did have to pay some money back a few years ago for a care package but as far as I'm concerned it was all dealt with with. I haven't have any contact from them for about 3 or 4 years at least. So, can you imagine the shock as I had this letter demanding I pay them within seven days (it's dated July 29th) . I have tried to contact a couple of council departments and nobody can find any record of this debt. However, I don't want some bailiffs turning up and knocking on my door. My question is in two parts. How do I get to the bottom of this and what should I do to protect myself from the bailiffs? 

born_again

A (proper) bailiff can only attend for funds after a CCJ & a court order.

fatbelly

The sundry debts dept should have obtained a ccj before appointing bailiffs so there is a possibility that B&S are just acting as debt collectors. 

Bailiffs have no right to force entry, debt collectors have no rights.

Either way, you need the sundry debt dept to explain the history of this. If the original incident was more than 6 years ago and they do not have a ccj, they are out of time. The sundry debts dept of the council is usually where the more competent employees end up so you should be able to have a sensible conversation.

Your local councillor may be able to help, or may be useless You won't know until you ask.

Www.writetothem.com

No point contacting B&S as they won't know what this is

DrDeejUK

born_again said:

A (proper) bailiff can only attend for funds after a CCJ & a court order.

Thanks for that. Just did a check online to see if there any court orders or CCJ's against me and it came up clean. 

sheslookinhot

Have you contacted B&S ?

DrDeejUK

sheslookinhot said:

Have you contacted B&S ?

Yes. It's just a payment number. No way of contacting them to discuss the debt. 

DrDeejUK

fatbelly said:

The sundry debts dept should have obtained a ccj before appointing bailiffs so there is a possibility that B&S are just acting as debt collectors. 

Bailiffs have no right to force entry, debt collectors have no rights.

Either way, you need the sundry debt dept to explain the history of this. If the original incident was more than 6 years ago and they do not have a ccj, they are out of time. The sundry debts dept of the council is usually where the more competent employees end up so you should be able to have a sensible conversation.

Your local councillor may be able to help, or may be useless You won't know until you ask.

Www.writetothem.com

No point contacting B&S as they won't know what this is

What happens if the debt was from a previous authority that has since disbanded? 

eskbanker

DrDeejUK said:

fatbelly said:

The sundry debts dept should have obtained a ccj before appointing bailiffs so there is a possibility that B&S are just acting as debt collectors. 

Bailiffs have no right to force entry, debt collectors have no rights.

Either way, you need the sundry debt dept to explain the history of this. If the original incident was more than 6 years ago and they do not have a ccj, they are out of time. The sundry debts dept of the council is usually where the more competent employees end up so you should be able to have a sensible conversation.

Your local councillor may be able to help, or may be useless You won't know until you ask.

Www.writetothem.com

No point contacting B&S as they won't know what this is

What happens if the debt was from a previous authority that has since disbanded? 

Unless that's just speculative hypothesising, it sounds like it would be worth sharing more details of the situation....

user1977

DrDeejUK said:

fatbelly said:

The sundry debts dept should have obtained a ccj before appointing bailiffs so there is a possibility that B&S are just acting as debt collectors. 

Bailiffs have no right to force entry, debt collectors have no rights.

Either way, you need the sundry debt dept to explain the history of this. If the original incident was more than 6 years ago and they do not have a ccj, they are out of time. The sundry debts dept of the council is usually where the more competent employees end up so you should be able to have a sensible conversation.

Your local councillor may be able to help, or may be useless You won't know until you ask.

Www.writetothem.com

No point contacting B&S as they won't know what this is

What happens if the debt was from a previous authority that has since disbanded? 

Then it would have been acquired by the relevant successor authority, like all its other assets.