missed driving offence fine payment , excel have visited twice now - help!!

[maggie]

I had driving offence just before Christmas 2014,,

was fined by magistrates court amount £500.00 ..

 

 

I am on benefits

,spoke to clerk of the court on phone requesting £20.00 per week on payment card ,,

made 3 payments on card ,

benefits were taken unlawfully from bank account ,

had no money to feed daughter or pay bills for 2 weeks ,unable to continue to pay off fine on card.

 

 

I received an enforcement notice from excel civil enforcement dated 18/02/2015 asking me to contact them before the 28.02/2015,

 

 

,,i am on benefits ,I am 30 yrs old

 

 

benefits each week amount to £110.00 per week ,

I am a single parent .

 

 

I rang excel on the 26th of February ,,they told me that the minimum I could pay was £35.00 per week

,despite me informing her I could not afford that much ,

she said I would have to make 12payments of £35.00 and one single payment of £20.00.,

 

 

,despite my protests and telling her numerous times I could not afford that amount out of my weekly benefit amount of £110.00 per week

shewas insistent that they would not accept anything else ,

 

 

I made an arrangement for the amount of £35.00 per week to be direct debited from my bank account .

I made a £20.00 payment ,

,but before any of the direct debits could be taken ,my benefit money was unlawfully taken from my account which left me with £4.82 p to live on

 

 

..in the meantime ,I contacted the police about money being removed from my account ,

,they gave me a crime number

,,I was borrowing money from family land friends for basics ,food ,gas and electric ,dinner money for my 8 year old daughter

 

 

,this morning ,27 th March ,,excel bailiffs knocked on my door at 6.30 a.m

,,intending to remove goods

,informed me that he was recording and filming all conversations and what was happening .

 

 

I asked him If I could call the court office when it opened at 9 oclock to tryand arrange a payment

and explain the situation of all monies being taken from my account unlawfully

 

 

also asked the bailiffif he would be prepared to do the same thing arrange payments

,,he said no ,he was there to take the payment in fll ,which amounted to original £470.00plus the compliance fee £55.00

,plus enforcement fee of £235.00,,.

 

 

..told me that if I didn,t pay him the full amount he would get a warrant immediately to remove the goods

,,told him that they were on hp

,he said he would take the only settee I had

,it would be sold for next to nothing and that he would come back for more

 

 

,,I tried to make a payment arrangement with him numerous times but he declined each time

and stated that only full payment would be accepted he was not prepared to come to any payment arrangement of any kind

and that it would be a waste of time ringing the magistrates courts as that they were the ones that had sent him,as he knows what they would say ,

,and they woud not be prepared to come to any arrangement as they would only tell me exactly what he had told me

i.e. payment in full as he knows how they work

 

 

.I asked my friend over the phone to pay £301 on his debit card

,I had to pay £100.00 out of my rent money ,then contacted my father over phone

who said he would pay the remaining amount £360.00,

 

 

,I asked him if he could go to my fathers to fetchthe 360 ,then wait until 9 a.m.for me to contact the court office to speak to them

and try to make other payment arrangments and after he picked the money up from my father

he could cme back to me to find out what the court had said

,but he said no ,as his vehicle was tracked

 

 

..I had to telephone my friend again ,who was in work ,who offered a part payment of £300.00

and then would he come to an arrangement with my self to pay the remaining balance in instalments I could afford

,but the bailiff said a firm no !!..payment mustbe made in full today.

 

 

.Now I have no money for rent ,for food ,for gas for electric etc;;

..despite me informing the bailiff ,

 

 

I have his name ,of my situation and that my 8 year old daughter was upstairs who would go hungry and cold

 

 

..after payments were made by my friend and father

 

 

,,he then wroteout on a form a controlled goods agreements

 

 

,,Ido not understand why he handed methis controlledgoods form and made me sign it after thedebt had been paid in full

 

 

,I am destitute ..please help

[Conniff]

Who removed the money from your bank account ?

[Bailiff Advice]

Maggie,

 

 

I am sorry if this comes across as harsh but this matter should have been sorted out long ago before getting to bailiffs stage.

 

The starting point is that you have been fined £500 which is a great deal of money for somebody on benefits.

 

When you received the summons did you return the form back to the court?

 

Did you complete the attached Means Form?

 

If you had of completed the Means Form then it is usual for the court to order deductions to be made direct from your benefits at the standard rate of £5 per week. The courts are not able to accept a lower figure than this. This would be far more affordable than the £35 per week !!!

 

You have said twice in your above post that payments had been unlawfully taken from your bank account (by the court and by Excel). On what basis do you believe that the deductions were 'unlawful'?

[Coughdrop]

I'm concerned by the number of cases where bailiffs are simply refusing point blank to accept affordable repayment offers. The £235 is intended to cover time spent with the debtor, assessing their circumstances and their ability to pay. It seems to me this is simply not happening, but there is no redress for the debtor for the pigheaded EA who, as above, just says "No!"

[maggie]

hi all,I am so sorry but I have been trying to help my sons friend sort this.I posted on behalf of my friends son .The firm that took all the benefits money is another story which I will begin another thread for .

 

I completely agree with you bailiff advice on that it should have been sorted at the court stage .I do not know if he filled in any form at the time .He is in his early twenties .He paid so much off the fine then this other firm who were brokers for a loan took 100 pnd from her account and he didn,t even take a loan out but I will post another thread for that one as he reported them to the please and had a crime reference number .The problem began when this firm took the 100 pnd from his account without his permission .They passed his telephone number and details onto other "brokers.tele sales "He was in discussion with his bank on what happened and that it was fruadulently taken but they didn,t want to know as he had stupidly given them his bank card details over the phone .well anyway ,the bank wouldn,t refund him the money ,so he he was unable to pay the fine for 2 weeks and stupidly did not inform the court .

 

He then received a letter form these excel people who he rung and they told him that they would not accept less than £35.00 per week which he told them numerous times he could not afford on his 100 pnd benefit money but they would not listen to him and told him he had to pay it .after the money was taken from his account by the broker firm ,he knew he could not pay the 35 per week ,he struggled to pay the first few weeks by borrowing from friends and family ,but they would lend him no more so he was unable to make the payments to excel he missed 3 weeks payments and Friday morning they were knocking his door just after 6 a.m in the morning his 7 year old child in bed .

 

as stated he wanted the bailiff to wait until he could ring the court that dealt with his fine to try and arrange direct payments with them but this damn bailiff did not want to know ,told him he would have to pay there and then told him that he was being recorded so was the conversation .Told him that he knew how the procedere of the courts were and that they would not re-arrange any payment schedule .he asked if he could pay 100 pound then and the rest in instalments every two weeks to them but the bailiff said no ,he would get a warrant to remove everything if the full payment wasn,t paid that morning .So he rang around friends including myself and my sons and paid the bailiff in full including the atrocious fees the bailiff filled in the controlled goods agreement form .AFTER my sons friend had paid in full .did the bailiff carry out the correct procedure and can we do anything tohelp get some of the fees back ?

Edited March 29, 2015 by ploddertom
added paragraphs

[GrumpyToSayTheLeast]

Well yes, technically the bailiff, once he has started an action, is unable to stop until that action is complete so if he was already doing the cga when payment was made, then he would need to finish it to keep the paper trail.

 

There are other thread th discuss the fees in detail and explains why they are charged and what the limits are.

 

Most EA's are subject to collection time limits and therefore cant accept an offer if it falls outside of the acceptable limits of the time limits.

[maggie]

Thank you Grumpy