Need some quick advice guys, Equita removal notice letter (Thought it was a scam)

TonyTurbo78 · 9 Aug 2018 at 18:37

Need a bit of advice guys.

Wife just passed on a letter that was posted to inlaws (lived there for 8 months last year whilst saving for a house with my wife). We moved from there last October.

The letter is a Removal Notice letter telling me an Enforcement officer will call next week to take control of any goods to that value.

I initially thought this was a scam as I had no idea what this was about, came upstairs and looked at Equita scams. There was nothing on the later showing how much I owed, what for etc so thought it must be. Then after reading it a few times, finally twigged there was a PCN ref up the top of the page. Went online popped the number in and low and behold, in February 2017 I encroached on a bus lane. Yes, Feb 2017, this is the first letter that I've ever seen, or been passed on to me, I see the inlaws every week. There was no option to view the amount owed or any way to pay the fine there so just gave Equita a ring. I'm absolutely fuming, the offence was £89, but because its now gone further there is another £75 to pay Equita and also the total amount of £408 :mad:

This is genuinely the first time any letter has been sent to me, apparently a collection officer went to the inlaws address in February 2018 but there was no answer. Now like I was adamantly explaining to the poor girl on the other end of the line, if anyone would have gone there a letter or a summons would surely have been left. I was living there at the time, obviously we would have been at work, but there was absolutely 100% no way any letter was left. It's my inlaws, who are incredibly organised, I'd never seen any letter. Now that was 5 months ago and still no letter to this day, surely there would be something every 30 days right?

I've just told Equity they can whistle dixie if they think I'm paying all the extra, and said I would only pay the amount of the fine etc.

Obviously I'll need to either go to the council office tomorrow or ring them to try and sort this mess out. Any idea what I can do if anything?

TonyTurbo78 · 9 Aug 2018 at 18:49

touch said:
To be fair, encroaching in a bus lane for 9 months is a bit excessive.

lol, meant was living at the inlaws until that date. Very good though. Will edit that cough cough

TonyTurbo78 · 9 Aug 2018 at 18:50

Werewolf said:
If it's the first you've heard of it you need to let them know and do a statutory declaration ASAP, from memory the statutory declaratiion should reset the process if accepted.

Let who know, the council? Equity were only interested in chasing up the amount.

TonyTurbo78 · 9 Aug 2018 at 18:53

andicole0 said:
To stop any further escalation of charges you'll need to pay. If you feel you have been unfairly treated then in parallel object to the charge. Ignoring it will just allow the claimant to escalate with consequent significant recovery charges.
Andi.

I've told Equita I'll pay the amount of the fine being £89 tomorrow after I get to the council, after all that is my wrong doing. But for all the other money, hell no, this is the very first time I've any wind of this.

TonyTurbo78 · 9 Aug 2018 at 19:13

Tony Edwards said:
You might have a problem here. Bailiffs like to show they are listening while gathering infomation. If you have told them where you live now they could turn up there to gain access to remove property.

I also believe they can do a reg check to see where the vehicle is regestered so if you still own that vehicle and it has your new address on they could possibly find out.

That £89 is just a down payment for them. Good luck.

They can't gain access without permission or a court agreement. They just can't kick the door in or force entry.

TonyTurbo78 · 9 Aug 2018 at 20:23

I'm not going to ignore anyone, I want to dispute the extra costs and the complete lack of any subsequent letters or supposed visit back in February by a collection officer, after the offence. Like I've said, I've no issue paying said fine as I've now done this evening, my dispute is the length of time I've not heard a peep until this point where they are telling me bailiffs will be sent to collect the monies owed.

TonyTurbo78 · 11 Aug 2018 at 22:55

Tony Edwards said:
Update please?

Went on a mad one yesterday, went to civic offices straight to the councillor in charge of traffic/transport in Southampton. No one would see me, caused a polite stink in the lobby of civic offices, said i’ll take it to local papers/tv and remain being a nuisance until I get seen. Eventually got 20 minutes with councillor and by the end of the day I had emails of documentation showing times and dates of all letters sent and where to. From March 2017 to March 2018, every letter or attempt to find me was sent to a previous address which I moved from in the Summer of 2016. Been in touch with DVLA to find out history of addresses they had of log book for my van/drivers license so I can work out why all mail went to the previous address. Im sure Equita must have gone to DVLA to track me even all the way through the rest of 2017 and 2018 till now. Not sure if DVLA would provide info to a 3rd party, just can’t understand why they weren’t able to send any letter to my current address which I’ve been at since October 2017. Or even why all of a sudden a letter was sent to my in laws in which all of 2017 when I was there, they didn’t send a single letter to. Just con artists, daylight robbery just waiting and waiting for debt to build up so they can make as much money from me as possible certainly comes to mind.

Got back in touch with Equita this morning explaining I’ll be disputing and complaining etc, ended up speaking to the bailiff that has been chasing up the debt. Was kinda interesting conversation as on the phone Thursday evening I lost my rag and stupidly said I’d break the neck and do time for any scum debt collector that comes to my property to try and remove goods to pay the debt. After some pretty heated words, I managed to wriggle some room, they are putting the debt on hold for 30 days while I get the records back from DVLA. Had a word with my cousin who is a lawyer, not her field of expertise but she has contacts. I’ve also filed a late witness appeal and sent to Northampton Court for traffic offences to appeal as I simply never knew any of this was actually happening.

So at the moment, things are moving but no outcome yet for a while.