Yes I was aware of the case and cited it in the letter before action. I decided not to argue over the visit charge as even though the bailiff did not come to my house the vehicle was parked just a few meters from my front door and had I paid the fine on time there would have been no visit required. So in order to keep the discussions amicable and resolve the issue on good terms I have accepted liability for the visit. The fact that they paid my loss of earnings without dispute was to me a clear indication that they realised they were at fault and were taking the responsible action to resolve the matter. I was very angry at the situation and after reading a number of threads in this forum I can see that in general bailiffs behave as if they are above the law - but at the same time it was my responsibility to pay the ticket on time so both parties were at fault in this situation. I am satisfied with the outcome and hope my action empowers others to stand up for their rights in future.

Just received communications from Mr Jacobs himself informing me they have agreed to my terms and refunded our card with the overpayment and loss of earnings as requested in my above letter. They did add a Visit Fee of 39.95 but that is not issue. Total refund 187.94. I am very pleased Jacobs took this matter seriously and we were able to eventually resolve it amicably - hopefully this will change their practices in future so others don't go through the same situation I was put through. Thanks to everyone for their advice and help.

Well since I never received any feedback, I sent the letter anyway and it has been read (read receipt received). Let's see how they react. If they fail to send payment by the deadline I will be filing a claim in County Court.

I am sending this letter by email today and will send another copy by recorded delivery: I would appreciate some feedback before sending the letter please.

Can someone with more experience of bailiffs (this is my first dealings with one ever so it is not an area I have much experience of) please clarify exactly the procedures which should have been carried out to attempt to recover this debt. I need to know what paperwork should have been issued - for example should the bailiff have issued me with a warrant of execution and given me an opportunity to pay before any attempt at seizure was made? Should I have been issued with a notice of seizure etc. I need a step by step breakdown of normal procedural practices. Thanks.

The bailiff made no attempt to evaluate if other goods were available to levvy as he never came to our house - had he come to our house the debt would have been paid immediately and there would have been no need to levvy any goods. As I stated I had every intention of paying the ticket, I simply forgot due to being incredibly busy. I may well be a taxi driver but it is certainly not my career, it is a job I took up after graduation to keep money coming in to pay my household bills whilst I pursued other interests. I actually work for Privacy International and anyone who is aware of our work will know that we have been very busy dealing with the Google Wifi Scandal - I was also in the process of preapring speeches for multiple conferences - one of which was a keynote which I gave yesterday in London at the EEMA conference alongside another keynote speaker who happens to be Head of EU and International Data Protection Policy at the Ministry of Justice. I am also project managing a huge EU Commission funded project on European Privacy and Human Rights (known as the EPHR project). I work around 20 hours a day most days - so yes I am very busy and it is understandable that I forgot about this particular debt. The fact that I paid more than the actual debt to have my vehicle unclamped proves I had means to pay the debt at the time had an attempt at doorstep recovery been made. Oh I also have video evidence of him admitting he never made any attempt at doorstep recovery so he can't even argue that he attempted to evaluate whether or not there were more suitable goods to levvy.

Why wouldn't a form 4 work? They failed to issue a notice of seizure (or any other paperwork for that matter), they impounded a vehicle that is clearly marked as a "tool of the trade" and they charged an unlawful fee (based on caselaw provided earlier in the thread) for the removal of the clamp - furthermore, they made no attempt at a doorstep recovery for the actual monies owed - it is clear that the bailiff clamped the vehicle as an opportunity to extort excessive monies out of me way beyond the original debt and finally the impounded vehicle is worth 100x the original debt making it not suitable for seizure. Let us not forget that the bailiff stated if I did not pay within 3 hours the vehicle would be towed. I also have a video recording of the bailiff stating if I did not pay then the vehicle would remain impounded until the following Tuesday as it was a bank holiday weekend. In my mind this was clear extortion or "demanding money by menaces" which from what I have read would be a valid argument to request to have the bailiff's certificate revoked.

This is hilarious I got a letter back from Jacob's today saying they had been in touch with thier Bailiff and he claims the vehicle was a minibus with no markings to suggest it was a taxi and as such they are not going to issue a refund. They have stated I need to send them evidence within 14 days that the vehicle is registered as a taxi if I wish them to reconsider. My minibus has 4 HUGE taxi decals. On each side of the vehicle is a decal for the company I work for and on the front doors are HUGE local authority decals stating quite clearly that it is a Private Hire vehicle along with the Private Hire Licence Number - this decal would have been right next to his head as he put the clamp on. Of course the vehicle also has the local council licence plate on the back. It would literally be impossible to not notice this is a "tool of the trade" - it is out working at the moment otherwise I would post a photo to give you all a laugh. I have no intention of sending them proof of my licence registration as I am conscious of the personal and private data which is present on those documents. I will in fact send them a Letter before Action with a photo of the vehicle - they are not entitled to see my private business documents. Since they have decided to try and screw around on this issue I will also include damages of £150.00 for the period the vehicle was clamped (5 hours at £30 per hour given the vehicle was clamped on a saturday of a bank holiday weekend that is a perfectly reasonable estimate of losses). And I will be filing Form 4 with Portsmouth Courts who grant the bailiff's certificate. Does anyone know where Jacob's are certificated? Since they have stated that this bailiff was one of their staff and not an external company, I think I will file a Form 4 against Jacob's the company as well. I will keep you all updated as to the progress.

Thanks for that info. I am away for the next 2 days so won't be able to check the thread, will catch up when I get back.

Another interesting point is the bailiff stated the ticket was for parking in a restricted zone. I corrected him and said it was for parking on double yellow lines - he stated that parking on double yellow lines is different from parking in a restricted zone and that the definition of a restricted zone would be either: A zone where parking permits are required or, A zone where notice of no parking had been placed for the purpose of carrying out highway maintenance. Neither of these are the case, I was parked on double yellow lines and ironically the double yellow lines have since been removed - so I could park there now without receiving a ticket. Not sure if this is of relevance to the case, but if the warrant was issue for the wrong offense is it a valid warrant? I should add that to date I still have not seen the warrant neither have a received any paper work from the bailiff's other than a receipt for monies paid.

Oh I forgot to mention this part - I also have a full video account (with audio) of my experience with the bailiff (my wife filmed it on her phone) and the bailiff was informed that the video would be used as evidence for a legal complaint. The bailiff refused consent for the video to be made publicly available so under RIPA I don't think I can post it online (although this is a grey area since it was filmed in a public place) but I fully intend to use it as evidence in any case I initiate against the them. I have pictures of the bailiff parked on double yellow lines throughout as well and video/audio of him stating he is legally permitted to park on double yellow lines for the enforcement of a warrant. I took those photo's purely for the irony given my ticket was for parking on double yellow lines.

I never knew about the "tools of the trade" issue until I read the Horses thread in this forum. As such I have just sent the following notice to Jacobs: To Whom it May Concern, On Saturday 29th May 2010 a bailiff acting on your behalf clamped my taxi demanding £400 to release the vehicle and threatening to tow the vehicle within 3 hours if payment was not made. No warrant of execution was served, no attempt to obtain payment on the doorstep was made (despite the vehicle being parked outside my house) and no paper work was left other than a receipt for monies paid. Furthermore, the vehicle was clearly marked as a Private Hire vehicle making it a "tool of the trade". After investigating this matter I have been informed that bailiffs are not permitted to take "tools of the trade" and as a result of this unlawful conduct I was forced to pay under duress as Saturday is the busiest day for trade in my business. I therefore require a full refund of the balance that I paid minus the £122 pounds owed for the original debt and written confirmation that no further action will be taken on this matter and no attempt to recover the balance of the clamping charge due to be paid before 28th June 2010. Failure to repay this balance will result in me taking legal action against Jacobs where I will seek to have your certificate withdrawn by the courts and damages for lost income as a result of the 5 hours the vehicle was clamped and unable to be used for its usual business. I will also be making a complaint to the Chief Executive of the local authority on this matter. Further, I will file a statement with the police on charges of demanding money with menaces and request they investigate the matter further and present the case to the CPS for prosecution. What do you guys think?

Last August I allegedly received a parking ticket, I say allegedly because I never actually received it, someone must have removed it from my windscreen. So anyway, the first thing i knew about this ticket was several months later - since I hadn't actually received a ticket I basically put the letter to one side and forgot about it. Anyway to cut a long story short - I got a letter from Jacobs a few weeks ago saying that I had to pay £122.00 within 7 days or they would send someone round. I had every intention of paying it, but I am incredibly busy and it simply slipped my mind. Saturday morning, I was planning to take my son and wife to visit my mother out of town - I went outside and my vehicle had been clamped. No-one had knocked on my door, no-one had phoned - other than the letter I got a couple of weeks ago I had had no other communications with Jacobs. I phoned the number on the wheel clamp to find out what was going on - he demanded £400 to remove the clamp and said if it was not paid within 3 hours he would have the vehicle towed. Obviously I had to pay the money because I need my vehicle for work so I had no choice. I phoned Jacobs and they said they had not authorised any bailiff to collect the debt but they refused to get involved saying that I had to discuss it with the "bailiff". So I phoned the police to file a statement on the grounds of monies by menace - they basically refused to get involved. Now what confuses me here is as follows: My understanding was that in order for a bailiff to collect, they need to issue you with the warrant of execution before they can sieze goods? Furthermore, I was under the impression that bailiffs are only permitted to sieze goods up to the value of the debt owed - in this case the debt was £122 - my vehicle however is worth £10,000 and is a "tool of the trade" (it is a minibus private hire vehicle). But what concerns me most of all is this bailiff was acting without authority - he had used ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) which found my vehicle in passing (it was parked outside my house). He made no attempt to serve me with a warrant of execution - he made no attempt to recover the actual monies owed, and he provided me with absolutely no paper work other than a receipt for the payment. In my mind, he deliberately failed on the above points in order to extort £280 out of me in order to have the clamp removed from my vehicle. Had he knocked on my door, I would have made payment there and then as I already intended to pay the ticket but had simply forgotten. I don't understand how it can be legal to behave in this way, to me it is nothing less than extortion - I should have been served a warrant and given the opportunity to pay it on the doorstep - had I refused then it would have been "acceptable" to sieze goods, but even then only goods to the value of the debt, not goods worth almost 100x the debt. What can I do? I only paid half the £400 on the day and have 28 days to pay the other half - if I don't pay the other £200 by then he said he will come and clamp the vehicle again and the charge will be another £400. Any help or advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated - I can't see how this is legal so if it isn't I fully intend to take appropriate action.

I could still really use some assistance on this issue if anyone has the time to take a look. Thanks.

Any chance anyone could comment on my post at the beginning of this thread please?