Had an interesting encounter with two of these freeman of the land people yesterday.
Was asked to help out a friend who is a bailiff because the previous agency had had problems. Went to the address and the car we are taking is outside. He clamps it, owner comes out furious giving it the big man as if he’s going to stand and bang, but bottled actually taking it to there, I offer to call the police if he wants to carry on, second man comes out with “you can’t do that” etc etc. tell him to have a Google. Baliff carries on setting up the car to be taken as they are refusing to pay.
Turns out he’s trying to get out of all sorts of debts by claiming he doesn’t use his government name and all that rubbish.
Then he says he’s phoning an army of people to come and stop us. That then changes to more freeman of the land nonsense when one of the people he phones/Facebook calls for help starts saying the car is his and that they are calling the police because it’s theft. The second guy goes inside to apparently call the police.
Apparently, the car isn’t the debtors car, and that whilst it’s at his address, he uses it, and he’s the registered keeper, this dude on the phone is the “legal owner” of the car, so it’s theft.
Being between my friend and the debtor to stop him interfering I’ve ended up talking to his guy on loudspeaker that the debtors holding the phone. He’s asking me where I got my legal training from and explaining how it’s theft. I pointed out it’s not theft as it’s reasonable to assume that it’s the debtors car as it’s on his driveway, he’s the registered keeper and he drives it everyday to work (debtor said this is why we couldn’t take it to start off with).
Facebook call man is now on video call and starts reading the “theft act” out which is something about dishonestly appropriating, I then point out based on our reasonable logic of it being the debtors car, it’s not dishonest, and that by simply having someone else claim they are the owner of the car, is not magically going to work and mean my mate can’t take the car.
That’s when I got more stuff about courts and debts not being real in the UK, magnacarta etc etc, just talking in circles endlessly. I’ve gone from fully enjoying the chat to now being bored of the circles we are going in and random legal things this guys ranting about via video chat that seems more philosophical than anything to do with the taking of the car. I point out how the debates pointless with the debtor and video call man.
They’ve got a few options. They can call the police for theft and try and get them to stop us, they can try and stop us themselves which I’m not going to let them, get their “army of people” (who haven’t turned up) to physically stop us, as per their original threats, or they can discuss with the Bailiff paying the debt. I’m happy with either, but as fun as the debates been, what’s happening is happening. Second guy comes back out of his house saying the police are corrupt because they have said it’s a civil issue not a police issue as it’s not theft. Absolutely perfect timing considering the debate with video call man I’d just had.
Second guy starts trying to get a bit aggressive but is all bark and no bite, and it’s quite funny because he’s now saying that I’m a pussy because if he attacks me I’ve said I’ll call the police after stopping him stopping my friend, despite literally just having called the police himself. Both guys and video call guy keep trying to debate what Bailiff can do, as reality of what he’s doing is happening. It’s like they were trying to convince themselves they were right and in doing so we would magically stop us with their logic.
Surprise surprise… we took the car. Call to the client by my friend to let them know, clients ecstatic because 2 other agencies have failed before my friend said he would have a go for a higher fee.
I’m now apparently going to jail, having everything I own taken, and also a dead man. But the people who said this said they wouldn’t be having the car taken, and they did, so… I don’t think what they say holds much weight.