Burlington Bailiffs' - told by Judge to stop enforcement - ignore the judge - Form 4, trespass or what?

[rasg]

This is a long story and I would like some advice for a friend.

 

He had a limited company until just over a year ago and took on a job that was a pita from start to finish.

The original amount was for around £3500 but the friend was pulled around all over the place with partnership problems

as well as problems with the client.

 

 

As a result after giving the client all that had been promised he baled out of the company and walked away.

He was close to a breakdown.

 

The client chose to sue him (for around £7000) and used the company address that was standing empty

where the papers were served.

 

Of course my pal didn’t ever receive them and

 

 

as a result, judgements were made against him in December 2012 and

then on the 27th July 2012.

(The second was probably when they chose to change the address on the judgement to his home address.

I am no legal expert at all, by the way so I don't really know.).

 

The only way he even found out about the judgement was when the bailiffs turned up at his door step back in August 2012.

He wasn't in and his wife was absolutely petrified and wrote a cheque for £1500 to the bailiff.

 

I first found out when the friend called and asked me to loan him the money to pay the debt in full.

My comment was, why on earth are you paying this when you say the client was happy and nothing was owed?

 

 

I also pointed out that he had a Limited company which should mean that he was not personally liable.

I refused to loan him the money on that basis and suggested that he trot off to Brentford County Court

and apply to have the judgement set aside.

This he did.

 

Fast forward to the hearing in the first week in September and the judge threw the case out when he saw the facts.

 

While my buddy was at the court

the bailiffs returned, but this time mob handed (5 of them).

 

 

The main man forced himself past my pal's daughter who had a 2 year old in her arms.

Despite being a Special she was terrified.

I have no idea why the bailiffs turned their attention to the back garden but they removed

garden heaters,

a compressor and then

cleaned out my pal's workshed of material and

some very specialised equipment to do with his work.

 

 

As a side note. The inventory of items was woeful.

Probably 5 or 6 items written down when over a hundred were taken.

 

While this was going on the daughter called her dad who was actually in the courtroom with the judge at the time, and

the judge spoke to the bailiff directly on the daughter's mobile and ordered him to stop what he was doing,

return everything to where he had found it and leave as she had set the judgement aside and that there was no case to answer.

 

They didn't.

For another 30 minutes the mob stripped his workshed of everything of value and disappeared with it in a van or two.

 

The bailiffs were forced to return the £1500 by the court which took a few weeks

but they refused to return the items they had taken.

He was told he would have to pick it all up.

 

There are no recordings of what went on.

The bailiff company was Burlington Credit and the bailiff is registered on the bailiff register as working for them.

 

My friend would really like to take this further

but on reading up a bit on a Form 4 complaint,

it seems, if unsuccessful, he could end up with costs awarded against him for making the complaint.

 

Any ideas, comments please?

[ploddertom]

Am I correct in thinking they were enforcing a High Court of Fi Fa, therefore acting upon instructions ofa High Court Enforcement Officer, if so which one?

[rasg]

Do you mean, which High Court Enforcement Officer? ie. What is his name?

[wonkeydonkey]

HCEO's are appointed by the Lord Chancellor and writs are assigned to a named HCEO,

s/he in turn is allowed to put the writ out to an 'agent' for enforcement

BUT the named HCEO remains wholly responsible for the way the 'agent' carries out the enforcement.

 

Sadly there is a small number of HCEO's who have gained the title but not the ethics

and rent themselves out to less scrupulous solicitors etc.

tell us the named HCEO we can look at it from another angle and advise accordingly.

[rasg]

Thanks for the info.

 

 

His name was Jonathan Francis Collins.

 

 

According to the register he works for Burlington Credit and his license was granted at Aldershot and Farnham County Court.

 

 

Aka as Jon Collins.

[wonkeydonkey]

It would seem Jonathon Collins is registered as a certificated bailiff but is NOT an appointed HCEO.

 

Can you possibly post anything (paperwork) that was left/given at the time of enforcement?

(please remove any personal details belonging to your buddy)

 

If this guy was acting purely as a bailiff then he is in big trouble!!!

[rasg]

Thanks for this.

I will get the rest of the paperwork tomorrow and do a bit of scanning.

 

Do you mind explaining how you come to this conclusion?

 

The only paperwork I currently have is

 

 

the General Form of Judgement or Order from Brentford County Court

 

ordering the two judgements be set aside,

that the proceedings be dismissed,

and any payments made to the bailiffs by the Defendant be repaid.

 

That is verbatim from the piece of paper.

[ploddertom]

 

Do you mind explaining how you come to this conclusion?

 

 

It is knowing the procedure for how enforcement goes ahead.

 

 

If you have a CCJ then there are only 2 methods available for enforcement by "Bailiffs":

 

i - a Warrant of Execution is applied for and the County Court Bailiff attends to enforce it - obviously not in your case

ii - if the debt is for more than £600 then it may be transferred to the High Court for enforcement purposes

- please note no notification is given over this

- and a High Court Enforcement Officer attends.

 

Your friend should have been left various paperwork one of which should be a Form 55.

 

 

The chances are the HCEO will be one of those who puts themselves out for "rent" for anyone to use

- possibly Millbank Group who have then "employed" those that he has tangled with.

[tomtubby]

Almost certainly this complaint needs to be brought to the urgent attention of the High Court Enforcement Officers Association (HCEOA) .

 

What is the current position regarding all of the items that were removed from the property?

[wonkeydonkey]

Almost certainly this complaint needs to be brought to the urgent attention of the High Court Enforcement Officers Association (HCEOA) .

 

What is the current position regarding all of the items that were removed from the property?

 

I agree with that TT which is why I am trying to gather as much as possible

to establish the way this appalling situation has arisen in the first place.

 

Set aside means exactly what is written on the tin and

the OP should have seen not only the refund given mention

but, ALL the goods returned without question..

..post haste.

[rasg]

Almost all of the items are in a compound in SW London.

 

 

Apparently it is some kind of central depositry that many bailiff companies use.

 

 

My pal has picked up some of the smaller items.

 

 

He's not pro active at all in fighting for his rights and he's not a kid any more.

 

 

Waiting for a heart bypass and that kind of stuff.

 

 

Popping over to pick up the paperwork a little later.

[tomtubby]

Does the compound start with the letter G and is it in Tooting (SW London)?

[Surfer01]

BTW

if it was a limited company and the debt was for the limited company,

why are they taking personal belongings and

why has he been named in the summons?

[tomtubby]

As I have said it is important to be aware of the full facts.

 

At the moment I am simply lost for words as to the reason why a bailiff would refuse to act on the orders of a Judge.

[brassnecked]

Something stinks here

this is ,even more serious than the Sherfarce Bridlington chippy mess up

as the judge actually spoke to the enforcer,

and the bailiff should have ceased

and desisted from the enforcement on instruction from the judge,

and returned everything to it's rightful place.

 

 

This is evidence that the enforcement industry is out of control.

 

 

Shame the judge didn't take the refusal to stop as contempt and lock the bailiffs up.

 

Perhaps HCEOs could give an opinion on this one.

[rasg]

S5 etc

 

 

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]47576[/ATTACH]

Edited November 10, 2013 by citizenB
Documents depersonalised and converted to pdf format

[wonkeydonkey]

Nicholas Todd is the actual named HCEO and therefore fully accountable for his 'agents' failings to follow a Judges instruction.

 

However my observations tell me you really do need to see a copy of the original Court Stamped Writ of Fi Fa

as the paperwork given to you is quite frankly, far from acceptable and very questionable.

 

You will now need to make a formal complaint to the HCEOA,

[wonkeydonkey]

Shot themselves in the foot with this statement don't you think????

 

Can you enforce a debt that is in dispute and awaiting appeal?

 

If there is an appeal or other application by the defendant pending when you first instruct enforcement,

the court will generally refuse to allow the enforcement of the judgment to continue

and you should not knowingly attempt to enforce the judgment whilst an appeal or other application is pending.

 

 

If the defendant appeals after the writ is sealed, you should tell us immediately.

 

 

In such cases, as long as there is no ‘stay of execution’ pending further judgment or order,

you would technically be able to instruct us to continue with enforcement action.

 

 

However, you should give proper consideration (with the help of a legal advisor is necessary) to the merits of the appeal.

 

 

The court may take account of your decision to continue with enforcement

if you should not have done so and, if a judgment is set-aside,

you may become liable for our fees.

 

Read more: http://www.burlingtongroup.co.uk/services/high-court-enforcement/index.php#ixzz2kBVt52pE

[tomtubby]

Well spotted WD...

[brassnecked]

Ouch! hoisted by their own petard

[rasg]

A bit confused here.

 

 

I posted 4 documents here and the post seems to have gone missing yet you all seem to be commenting on it.

 

You will now need to make a formal complaint to the HCEOA.

 

Is this the opinion on here and how do we go about that please?

[rasg]

As requested I have attached the Fi Fa document.

 

http://s21.postimg.org/w1klk8jpj/Fi_Fa.jpg

[citizenB]

Documents have now been edited, and converted to pdf format.

[rasg]

Thanks for that.

 

 

Just realised that the image hosting service that I am using is converting my PDFs to JPEGs.

 

 

Sorry. Fi Fa image is now in post 22.

 

 

The JPEG seems fine for viewing though if anybody has any comments.

[rasg]

Can anybody confirm that they can see the FiFa document if they click on it in post 22 please?