urgent help, bailiffs for unpaid parking offence which I did not recieve any letters.

[zha]

Message:

I need some advice.

was shocked and distressed to recieve a letter out of the blue from the bailiffs for removal / seizure of car and household possession to the value of £540 approx in relation to a parking contravention AF89....6A issued at northampton court.I have never ever recieved any previous correspondence regarding this traffic contravention either from the council, court or bailiffs until today.would have paid if I was sent any pcn with evidence.

There are a few things I need to point out. bailiff have sent a copy of court order/ warrant of execution. The car registration mentioned is not the correct registration of my car, correct digits but wrong order eg instead of A 123BCD, it is A 132BCD. The car colour or time of contravention or reason for contravention is not mentioned. However the name on the notice sent by bailiff is mine and so is the postcode and house number.

I tried calling the council (which probably issued the cctv notice?) and traffic enforcement centre at Northampton county court today but both places were closed as it was a saturday. I did call and speak to the bailiff company. Even though the car registration is wrong and the address mentioned is not fully accurate, I was told by the customer representative at the end of the phone that this all could be a clerical error BUT I would still be liable for costs and seizure. I do not understand if all the above errors might have resulted in me not recieving any prior correspondence regarding the matter, but I cannot be held responsible for another persons errors or clerical errors resulting in wrong car registration numbers or letters sent to incorrect addresses which have contributed to the problem. This also might be the reason why I have recieved no previous tickets or letters at all, interestingly the person at bailiff company said I had been sent previous letters by them but I have not recieved any of these either. Whoever has made the clerical mistakes/errors should be responsible and held liable for all the increased costs.

I also cannot see how the bailiffs company can sieze car/goods/assets based on a notice for another registration or wrong registration.

Do I have grounds for appeal and what can be done? Can they still clamp the car/take away goods even if the wrong car registration is mentioned on the warrant?

What are the total costs and charges involved? Will I need a lawyer/solicitor to stop the bailiffs? dont want car clamped.

thanks a lot

 

Zha

[Jamberson]

Get onto the council ASAP. Give them the PCN number and get them to confirm whether or not the reg number on the vehicle is yours.

 

If it is not, ask them to get the bailiffs to stand down while you speak to DVLA about whether they have your details entered against the wrong reg.

 

Go to the council first though - and a word of advice: be friendly to them! The person you speak to is not responsible for this, but can help you sort it out. For the moment, just establish whether it's your vehicle which was issued a PCN - if not, can they put the bailiff warrant on hold while you sort it out.

 

Post back here with their response.

[zha]

thanks a lot.I will try calling the council today.however if it turns out that it was my car but the registration is wrong on the court warraant/order, what do I do?also I have not recieved any previous lettrs/pcn so do not even know what the offence is about.i have already emailed the council.thanks,zha

[green_and_mean]

Have you moved since registering the car? There are quite a few letters before the stage you are at its highly unlikely they all got lost in the post.

[whyme-agen]

Hi Zha

 

I would get on to the court and enquire about this.

 

Last year I received a letter from Avon and Somerset court, stating that I owed them £1000+

 

No other details, but letter had correct name and address, and date of birth.

 

I live on the other side of the Country to Weston super Mare, and when I contacted the court, was told that all previous letters, distress warrant etc. had been sent to an address in Portugal.

 

Even these people get it wrong

[Jamberson]

thanks a lot.I will try calling the council today.however if it turns out that it was my car but the registration is wrong on the court warraant/order, what do I do?also I have not recieved any previous lettrs/pcn so do not even know what the offence is about.i have already emailed the council.thanks,zha

 

One step at a time, but if the reg number is wrong, it would seem almost impossible for them to come to you. It's possible they were chasing at an old address. Anyway, there are routes open to you. Let us know what the council say.

 

By the way, you want to get this sorted ASAP, before a bailiff turns up and clamps you. For this reason, I'd advise speaking to someone by phone and seeing if you can get the case put on hold while you sort matters out.