Speak to a BAILIFF Expert - £35
You have been clamped and you
need a trump card.
It is the practice of many councils and bailiff companies to indiscriminately clamp vehicles, but in many cases, it is actually illegal.
See this article for the legal explanation.
If it applies to you then you can also anonymously report the fraud to Action Fraud online. These are investigated by the Serious Fraud Office who can investigate organised complex frauds but results are not instant. Police follow a list of criteria for deciding whether to investigate a fraud. You must learn the criteria and set out your complaint so it fits neatly into it. Otherwise police will summarily fob your complaint with an artifice.
If this has happened to you then fit a stoplock to the steering wheel and lock the vehicle up. If it is on private land remove the number plates, tax disc. If you can remove the wheels and fix locking wheel nuts to the vacant axle stubs. This stops temporary wheels being fixed to the vehicle for lifting or towing. Report it to police and get a CAD reference number- even if the police tell you the vehicle is not stolen.
You now have
several routes to remedy the problem.
If this is an unpaid court fine and the
Magistrate's court has not made a Clamping Order
made under
Section 38 of
Schedule 5 of the Courts Act 2003 then you can
legally
remove the wheel clamp and there is
no fee to pay.
All debts except Magistrates' Court fines having
a Clamping Order:- If the bailiff clamped the
vehicle and left the scene you can legally
remove the wheel clamp.
It is the practice of several bailiff companies
to use wheel clamps on vehicles, but it
is usually illegal for anyone to clamp a vehicle in this way. This policy is a play on
debtors being less informed of the legal position
on the use of wheel clamps and mislead debtors into
believing they are liable to pay a fee for the use
of a wheel clamp.
If you are the registered keeper named on the V5
but you are NOT the owner then the clamping is
unlawful.
A V5 clearly says "this document is not proof of
ownership". A bailiff only needs to be satisfied at
first sight, or
prima facie a vehicle is the property of the
debtor, and a V5 that says the keeper is the debtor
then it can be assumed he also owns it UNLESS
evidence to the contrary is proved. To make that
proof, the owner makes a sworn statement proving
ownership.
Use the law to make a sworn statement proving you own the vehicle.
If you still cannot borrow the money then you
may still have some more trump cards. Did the
bailiff allow you a reasonable opportunity to pay
before he clamped your vehicle? If he didn't then
use the following checklist:
If the bailiff has breached any of these regulations then you ask the bailiff to remove the wheel clamp.
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