Bailiff attends home, with Distress Warrant.

[frances1p]

In October, a bailiff attended my home to enforce a Distress Warrant issued by the Magistrate Courts, in respect of unpaid fine (tv licence summons) - fined 60.00 by the Magistrates Court, with time to pay.
I attended Court re no TV licence earlier and was fined only 60.00, thus being the Court Costs. I explained I was disabled and on benefits and was given time to pay.
I admit - I messed up and owing to 'deterioration' in my health, requiring hospital admissions on two seperate ocassions, my health became a real priority as major concern to family (my health problems are related to my heart)..
During this time, all manner of everyday tasks and finances, just went out of the window - I admit to being neglectful of many matters, which had been trivialised by the major health concerns - partly stress induced.
Anyway - out of the blue (ie: no prior notice given). I awoke to the sound of very loud and persistant knocking on my door. It gave me quite a start and when I fully awoke, I immediately began to panic as it crossed my mind it might be the police and maybe bad news re: family etc (I have grown up sons, living independantly with their own families/children) anyway, I looked out and could see no such signs. But the knocking continued and was extremely irritating, I proceeded to the front door and opened it. There stood a man introducting himself as a Court Enforcement Officer/Bailiff - Marstons and that he was calling at my house to enforce a Distress Warrant, issued by the relevant Mag Court - for non payment of 60.00 fine. I did not let him into my house and he continued to tell me the purpose of his visit, which was to take with him the sum requested (now 286.00GBP) which must be paid today in full, or he will be required to contact local locksmiths and the police in order to enter my property and ceaze goods to the value of. He also threatened to take my car until realising it is owned by Motability as I am disabled. But he went on to say he could still cease it, preventing me from using/driving it!!
He said he was going away for an hour, allowing me time to get dressed etc but more importantly decide how I want this Warrant to be executed, ie: MONEY OR GOODS. I was beside myself with worry, I explained to him my health problems and also referred to my only means of support/income was State Benefits. He would not budge on this, sticking to stating he must recover full costs or goods . He kept saying he would hold the Locksmiths/Police off to allow me time to consider payment first.
Anyway, he went off I got dressed and tried calling CAB - but not open! It was about 8.40am by now.
The bailiff returned and for a few moments I considered not responding to him/opening the door? But on no response to his knocking, he started shouting through my letter box, re enforcing previous threats of payment required in full now, dont be silly open the door etc. I am trying to help you etc etc. I felt a bit intimidated and embarrassed as I live in a small cul-de-sac
and my neighbours (only four houses) would certainly have heard chapter & verse. This prompted me to open the door directly and I st ated my case once more, saying that there was no way I could find that amount of money etc etc. He was adamant that there was nothing he could do, but act on the Distress Warrant issued against me and full recovery required. He was really stressing me out now and I became very anxious and adjitated, not knowing any of my Rights, or if indeed I had any. (judging by the bailiffs, I did not!!)
I pondered on the possibility of my car being ceased and feared this happening and my sons schooling/education being affected, as I have to drive him and pick him up from school, he is disabled and has SEN and a Statement - furthermore, I was worried about the bailiff calling the locksmith/police and my and my sons goods being ceased and the effect it might have on my son, in returning from school to find his possessions gone! As he does not go out to play, he is reliant on home entertainment, in the form of Computers, Consoles etc I was dreading these might be taken as would not be considered 'basic essentials'.
Anyway, he remained posistioned outside the front of my house, and eventually I had to telephone a 'loan shark; to secure payment. Which would at least get the bailiffs off my back and remove the threat of my car being ceased and my home ransacked.
I am now repaying this loan, at an extortionate rate and regret my decision. Unfortunately my health is an issue, not always allowing me to battle things out as much as I would like, as any exertion really does take its toll on my heart/breathiing and anxiety. So I really had no choise.
Sorry this is so long winded - but wondered if you might be able to give me your professional opinon and any advice on complaining about this to the Courts. Also, if poss your opinion on the likely 'success rate of complaining in this matter' and the likely outcome I might expect.
Many thanks in advance:tinysmile_cry_t:

[Amethyst]

Re: Bailiff attends home, with Distress Warrant.

Hi Frances and welcome to Beagles Having a read of your post just wanted to say Hi first.


Do you have the name and certification number of the bailiff who attended you ?

Ame
xx

[Guest]

Re: Bailiff attends home, with Distress Warrant.

This is totally unacceptable and will not stand.

First, write to the bailiff firm with the following letter and include a £10 cheque or postal order.

Your Address

The Data Controller
Their Address



Dear Sir/Madam

Data Protection Act 1998 Subject Access Request

I recently received a visit from (bailiff name)

I am fully au fait with the Statutory Fees that a bailiff can charge when enforcing a warrant for distress and must express my surprise at the charges you have applied to my account.

Accordingly, kindly provide a copy of all data you hold which relates to me and my history with your company. This is my right under s.7 of the Data Protection Act 1998. I am aware that you are entitled to request payment, the maximum allowed by law being £10. For the avoidance of doubt, take note that the enclosed cheque is payment for the fee relating to my Subject Access Request only and not a payment of any other kind or to be used for any other purpose. If you do not require a fee in order to process my Subject Access Request then kindly return or destroy my cheque and confirm in writing that you have done this. (a postal order must be returned to you, not destroyed)

You are required to provide a detailed breakdown of the costs you have charged, showing in each case the reason for the cost and the actual cost against that item. For any cost which relates to an attendance fee, please state the date and precise time of the attendance and the name of the certificated bailiff making each attendance with the name of the county court where the relevant bailiff obtained his or her certificate and provide a copy of that certificate.

I will also require copies of all relevant paperwork created as a result of any and all visits made. This should be straightforward for you to produce.

Accordingly, kindly provide full and complete copies of any and all data you hold which relates to me and my entire history with your company.

For your convenience I have detailed below a list of what I require, although this is not an exhaustive list by any means and is just an example of some of the information I require with regard to any accounts I may have had or may still have with your company.

1. Computer screen notes relating to the conduct of my account
2. Computer screen notes relating to transactions that have gone through my account
3. Internal messages or notes relating to the conduct of my account
4. Internal messages or notes relating to transactions that have gone through my account
5. Recordings of any telephone conversations, whether internal or external, relating to my account
6. Copies of any e-mails, or other electronic communications, whether internal or external, relating my account
7. Copies of letters relating to my account
8. All information relating to litigation that has taken place on my account
9. A detailed statement of account showing a breakdown of all costs charged, showing in each case the reason for the cost and the actual cost against that item
10. Copies of all reviews conducted relating to my account
11. For any cost which relates to an attendance fee, state the date and precise time of the attendance and the name of the certificated bailiff making each attendance with the name of the county court where the relevant bailiff obtained his or her certificate
12. Copies of all relevant paperwork created as a result of any and all visits ever made to me along with details of the results of each visit
13. Copies of any and all documentation issued to me or left at my property after each visit was made including details of the date and precise time of the visit and the charges incurred; this must include the name of the bailiffs who attended

I trust that the above is clear and that you will make a serious effort to understand your legal obligations with regard to the Data Protection Act 1998. Should you be in any doubt as to your obligations as a Data Controller, then I would advise that you consult your corporate counsel.

As detailed above, I enclose the statutory maximum fee of £10. You have 40 days in which to comply.

If there is specific information which you require in order to satisfy yourself as to my identity, please let me know by return. However, please note that the above address is the one which you normally use to communicate my private business to me and which you have hitherto found to be acceptable.


Yours faithfully

Send this letter as soon as possible and ensure that you do include the payment - even if they do not require it, their obligation to send you the data within 40 days does not commence until they receive payment.

There is a formula for calculating the scale of fees that may be charged and for a bailiff to charge fees that have not been “actually and necessarily” incurred and are unreasonable and disproportionate to the amount of the debt being collected is de facto unlawful and actionable.

[frances1p]

Hi Frances and welcome to Beagles Having a read of your post just wanted to say Hi first.


Do you have the name and certification number of the bailiff who attended you ?

Ame
xx

The Company is, Marston Group Limited and the name of the Bailiff (who actually stated he was a Court Enforcement Officer, reporting directly to the Magistrates Court)
Name: Paul Llewellyn I dont know if this is the number you require, but under his name it has the number : 2687
I forgot to mention in my thread, that 2 or 3 days prior to the 'bailiff' visit, I had in fact sent a cheque to the Court in respect of fine, for 30.00 (which is half the fine). I had put covering letter with my details. I told the bailiff of this and he said it was irrelevant.
However, the following day, my cheque was returned to me by the court, with a covering letter stating "we are unable to find any account for you held at this court . . . . . . . "
I dont know if this might add a bit of 'credibility' to my case, as I have no doubt the bailiff thought, "oh yeah, likely story - heard that one a few times!" But surely he should have checked anyway? or not??
I really am grateful for any advice you might be able to offer at this stage. The bailiff issued me a receipt and a copy of the distress warrant.
Many thanks in advance
Frances

[Amethyst]

Re: Bailiff attends home, with Distress Warrant.

thanks for that will ask Cetelco to take a look Send that letter to them he has posted above to Marstons.


Have removed your surname from the end of your post.


(edit he's already looking lol)

[Guest]

Re: Bailiff attends home, with Distress Warrant.

The Magistrates Courts (now under HMCS as from 1st April 2005 the management of all courts: civil, criminal and family (with the exception of the House of Lords) in England and Wales, were integrated to form a single, unified organisation. HMCS replaced the Court Service and the 42 Magistrates Courts Committees) do not employ bailiffs. Instead, they employ their own civilian enforcement officers (CEO’s or Warrant Officers) to execute warrants of arrests. All Distress Warrants (and some arrest warrants) are dealt with by Contractors (also called bailiffs) who are contracted to HMCS by the Ministry of Justice under the terms of the Courts Act 2003.

For not having a TV Licence the fine is issued by the Magistrates Court. You must treat a Magistrates Court fine as a priority debt because you could be sent to prison if you default on payments and, although very rare, this does happen. After the fine is imposed, notice of the fine and the repayment rate (if one has been agreed) is sent out to you. If payments are missed or not made at all, a reminder is sent to you. Failure to bring the payments up to date will result in a court hearing and you will be informed of the date. If you do not attend the hearing, the court can issue a warrant without bail. This means that you can be arrested and brought before the court. The court also has the power to issue a Committal Warrant to commit you to prison (but only if there is a suspended sentence already on the fine.)

If, as in your case, a warrant has been issued, you are required to either pay this and if you are unable to do so, you must contact the Fines Department of the Magistrates Court to arrange a date when you can attend for a Means Enquiry Hearing. This should be done immediately. At this hearing, you will be required to complete an Income & Expenditure form in order that the Magistrates can agree repayments at an affordable level.

Send the letter in #3 above and you may be able to recover some of the fees that you have been charged. Since you have paid the bailiffs then there is little point contacting the court, unless we discover from the reply to the DPA request, that Marston Group have acted unlawfully.

[frances1p]

Re: Bailiff attends home, with Distress Warrant.

Thankyou so much for all your help and advice in relation to this matter.
I have this morning, posted your recommended letter to Marstons, with 10.00 cheque. So will sit tight for up to 40 days now to see what they come back with.
In the meantime, a small query in relation to the Court Process of dealing with 'unpaid fines' (HMCS), which you kindly clarified (above). Part of the process for non-payments, is that you are taken back to Court - which in my case, wasn't so. Is that not in itself deemed 'unlawful' if not 'totally unreasonable' as the Court have skipped this part of the process and swiftly moved on to the Distress Warrnat/Bailiff Action?
It was just a thought, also do I not gain any credit with the courts in my 'previous attempt' to pay the Court/fine, by sending them a cheque for 30.00, later returned to me (I still have the letter from the Court verifying this!).
Anyway, sorry to cast even more doubts and questions your way, but I am curious about these points.
Anyway, thanks again for all your help so far, at least I am confident in knowing I am going the right way about this - rather than time-wasting in writing letters of complaint to the various agencies.
Thanks again.

[Guest]

Re: Bailiff attends home, with Distress Warrant.

At any time you can apply to the court for a Means Enquiry Hearing. You should do this anyway, as the court does have the power to cancel fines, sometimes because of successful appeals but also because circumstances change, as appears to have happened in your case.

[frances1p]

Re: Bailiff attends home, with Distress Warrant.

Well, although it has been some time now, since our last communication - resulting in my sending 'data access request' to Marstons Group, enclosing 10 pounds cheque. I have today (27 December) received that 'data'.

I must admit, I had expected 'a far more in-depth account of Marstons involvement in my case, or something denoting their having made several attempts to recover monies/for fine - prior to attending my home with a distress warrant, with the intention of removing goods from my home.

Whilst the data, is in the form of a '5 page letter' - 4 pages of which, covers my rights to information, documents and relates and makes many references to my Statutory rights to personql data etc, quoting various paragraphs of reported or relevant judgements (eg: Durant v Financial Services Authority [2003] ] there are 2 other sheets of paper, which basically list my personal details, contact info, date of birth etc in one column, another column lists the purpose of this info, then a final column : listing the relevant recipients of such info/data (eg: Professional Advisors, HMCS, Drakes Group etc) - most of which is marked - N/A or UNKNKOWN and serves only to take up more space/paper, giving an impression of there being more information held/disclosed.

The actual content, relating to me however (ie: relevant info):- takes up less than half a page of A4 paper.

[copied from letter
That information /details, are as follows:-

The information provided below does not form part of the Subject Access Request, however we are happy to provide this information.

Breakdown of charges Net

Fine £60.00
Admin Fee £50.00
Attendance to Remove Fee £175.00
Debit Card Charge 1.00
_____________________________________
Total £286.00
_______

Letter Sent
07/072008:-

_________________________________

Date Attendance Made
10/09/2008

Bailiff Certificated at: Bailiff Name:
No requirement Bailiff be certificated to enforce Paul Llewellyn
Distress Warrants.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well thats about it ! Hoping you might be able to advise me further, now I have the information that they hold.

Hope you had a good Christmas and I await your response in due course.
Happy new year!resents3:

[Amy]

Re: Bailiff attends home, with Distress Warrant.

They have not complied with your SAR for a start. They have not given you anything you asked for, all they have done is simply state what they are charging you, which you knew anyway and this is not good enough. Not even close to good enough.

You should send Marston Group another letter reminding them of their legal obligations and reiterate the points that you expect them to comply with. Also add a paragraph that you will make a formal complaint to ACEA (Association of Civil Enforcement Agencies) of which they are a member if they continue in this manner.

If you need any help with the letter, let me know.

[frances1p]

Re: Bailiff attends home, with Distress Warrant.

Hi Amy,
Thanks very much for your reply. I am, to be honest - at a loss now as to where I can go with things now.

You mentioned, that in your opinion, they have not complied to what is required of them - in relation to my 'written request' for info and of course the £10 fee?
I had assumed their 'input' in respect of my particular case - was simply as stated, ie: they had my personal details and instructed to enforce a 'distress warrant' issued by the Court, in respect of my non-payment of £60 fine, for no tv licence matter?
Your response, suggests otherwise - perhaps you would be so kind as to advise what I might expect them to provide me with exactly?
I am happy to write to them again, as per your suggestion - requesting them to adhere to the full requirements of my request. But obviously at this point in time, I am not sure exactly what that is.
Your offer to assist with compiling such a letter, would be greatly appreciated and hope it would not be asking too much of you.

Whilst it seems to be a 'long winded and extremely slow process' in seeking justice, in the manner I was dealt with by this bunchof unscrupulous 'bailiffs' I would like to see this through to the end (ie: receive some form of acknowledgement, an apology? and maybe full recompence' in being treated so unreasonably and basically being bullied into paying an extortionate amount of money, for fear of my home and contents being 'ransacked' and my son (disabled) suffering as a result (eg: not being able to use my car, his computer equipment removed, TV etc - this would have been devastating for him!).

Then to discover, after the event, the bailiff was in a position to have my case re-negotiated, my given more time to pay etc, his being fully aware of my being disabled and relying totally on 'benefits' to survive. I felt violated in my lack of knowledge in relation to such matters).

Anyway any help/advice you may be able to offer, would be much appreciated - should you require any additional details please do not hesitate to ask.
I lookl forward to hearing from you again soon.:tinysmile_cry_t:
Thanks again
Nadia

[Amy]

Re: Bailiff attends home, with Distress Warrant.

Frances,

It is not just a matter of my opinion, it is a fact - they have not given you what you asked for as per the list provided to them in your SAR at post #3. They need to provide you with a breakdown as to how they have reached the sums that they have.

For instance they cannot simply claim that it has cost them £175 for Attendance to Remove without telling you what this fee comprises of. Usually this fee will consist of a porter and a van, but they cannot claim to have hired a van (say for £100) if you can reasonably expect to hire a van locally for £30 or so.

Also, had they actually hired a van they would not only have attended your property, they would have visited as many properties as possible. So that cost should be split again.

Quite apart from the fees charged, their behaviour was completely unacceptable.

[tomtubby]

I am sorry that I had not seen this question sooner.

Marston are one of three companies contracted to HMCS to enforce these unpaid Magistrates Court Fines. Regarding the fees, these are the fees agreed with HMCS and Marston must write a first letter to your first to give you an opportunity to pay. Did you receive such a letter? Details o the date that this was sent to you should have been on the screen shot.

The bailiff can accept payment over a period of 180 days and in addition if he is made aware that you are on benefits then he can return this debt back to the court.

HMCS have assigned various Contract Managers around the country to accept complaints about bailiffs. If you let me know which part of the country you live in I will provide the e-mail detail for you. By part of the country, I mean London, South East, North West, Midlands etc.


www.bailiffadviceonline.co.uk

[frances1p]

Re: Bailiff attends home, with Distress Warrant.

thanks for that. I actually live in the region of Kent - the part I reside in is Bromley - postcode BR3.

I would be most grateful for details of who I might direct my complaint to and of course any additional hints/tips you might be able to offer.

Many thanks in advance
Nadia

[frances1p]

Re: Bailiff attends home, with Distress Warrant.

PLEASE HELP !!!
I am not sure if I am posting my request for help, in an appropriate place - as long gap since last posting on this matter?? Anyway, in the hope of my pleas being acknowledged, allow me to begin ............................................ re: my writing to Marstons group, enclosing £10 for all relevant info they held about me. You will notice that I previously sent post, explaining that I had received response and it seemed this had been insufficient and did not amount to them fulfilling their legal obligation in providing all relevant details to me.

I wrote to them once again, pointing out that they had not fufilled their duty etc etc I gave them 10 days to respond. I heard nothing after the 10 days and thought just to give them the benefit of the doubt (as they would be likely to claim not having received my letter if approached at a later day by a Court officer etc) So I resent the letter, amending the deadline to a further 10 days later and posted it Recorded Delivery.
The 10 days has long passed now and I have received nothing from them?
I want to take matters further. but dont know what course of action I can now take against them??
Your advice would be greatly appreciated - bottom line: I am looking to lodge complaint against them, with consideration being given to my receiving a full refund, given their methods of recovering monies and the additional extortionate costs added. They were very threatening and intimidating - given my falling in the vulnerable category. (single parent, disabled and on benefits). They would not negotiate at all.

PLEASE HELP - THIS IS REALLY DRAGGING ON NOW AND I AM KEEN TO GET A COMPLAINT FILED AGAINST THEM AT LEAST!!!!
MANY THANKS IN ADVANCE
NADIA