STEP BY STEP GUIDE IF YOU HAVE RECEIVED A BAILIFF'S NOTICE FOR A PCN.

A Bailiff cannot enforce an unpaid Parking Charge Notice unless his company is in receipt of a valid Warrant of Execution. The Traffic Enforcement Centre will give authority the the council for them to issue a warrant and if the bailiff company wishes, they can send you a letter to advise that payment is required. This is not a requirement  but, if a letter is sent they can charge a letter fee of £11.20 plus vat (£13.16). If you do receive a letter then our advice would be to pay the sum requested as quickly as possible.

If you do not pay, you will normally then receive a hand delivered notice to your home.

These notices vary from company to company but most of them state that they have visited “With a Removals Team” or that they “Attended today to Remove” etc. All such letters will instruct you to contact the individual bailiff on a mobile telephone number.

If you have received such a letter DO NOT IGNORE IT. Most bailiffs will return the following day or certainly within 48 hours and in the majority of cases that we see, they will immediately clamp your vehicle before knocking at your door.

It may be that you have no knowledge of ever receiving a Parking Charge Notice. This could be for a variety of reasons, for instance; that you have moved address or that you have had problems with your postal service etc. All bailiff companies  operate  a Data  Cleansing  facility. This means that they will have search facilities to establish a new address for you. Be very careful  of this.

In addition, you may have written to the local authority to complain about the ticket and as you did not receive a response, you may have assumed that the ticket had been cancelled. Alternatively, you may have appealed to the Parking Adjudicator but did not receive a response either.   

If any of the above applies, then you have grounds to file an Out of Time late Statutory Declaration with the Traffic Enforcement Centre. This will prevent and freeze any bailiff action until such time as your application has been determined. If a bailiff has already clamped your vehicle , then most companies will agree to release the clamp if advised of an Out of Time application.

It is vitally important that this application is made as quickly as possible to ensure that a bailiff visit or the removal of your car is avoided. However, if you have grounds to file an Out of Time Statutory Declaration but that your vehicle has already been removed to the pound, then by completing the Out of Time Statutory Declaration this application will not only ensure that your vehicle is not sold but  will ensure that all storage charges are frozen.

Many Out of Time Applications are not completed correctly and as a consequence, they are rejected by the local authority. If so, you will have the option of filing an N244 to seek a review.

It is important to remember  that in completing an Out of Time  Application you need to provide a reason as to why you are submitting a Statutory Declaration late (ie: Out of Time). Alternatively, you can contact our office, for assistance in completing the form. We have a great deal of experience with these forms and in any N244 applications to seek a review. It is vitally important that these forms are correctly completed as otherwise the application will be rejected and your car will then be at risk of removal or sale.

Although most bailiff companies will agree to   release a clamp when notified of an Out of Time late Statutory Declaration.......most companies will not agree to release a vehicle back to you if it has already been taken to the vehicle pound. For this reason, if you have grounds to file an Out of Time late Statutory Declaration, you must not delay in making this application.

You will find more information about this process in our parking section.  A further worrying point is that many people are incorrectly advised to complete a  PE2 & PE3  forms for an Out of Time Statutory Declaration  when the correct forms are the TE7 & TE9. The difference between the forms is that the rarely used PE2 & PE3 require  that your signature must be witnessed by a solicitor or local County Court clerk.

If you had not received any statutory notices regarding a parking ticket it is important to contact the Traffic Enforcement Centre on 08457 045 007 to obtain confirmation  from them of the precise address on the warrant of execution and date that the warrant was authorised.They will also email the forms  to you.

If you have already paid a bailiff when any of the above circumstances apply, you can still file an Out of Time Statutory Declaration as this is the correct procedure to have the warrant of execution revoked and thereby, allowing  your bailiff fees to be repaid. The local authority are liable to you for this .

We have been very concerned indeed to discover many cases whereby a bailiff company instead of the local authority, have been submitting a Statement of Truth to the Traffic Enforcement Centre to reject an Out of Time Statutory Declaration. The effect of this is that the applicant would need to file an N244 to seek a review of the rejection of their Out of Time Application. The fee for such an application has recently increased to £80 and currently, a hearing date is around 5 months.

Most cases where this is happening concern parking tickets issued by London Borough of Southwark and London Borough of Wandsworth. It you have had an Out of Time Application rejected from either of these two local authorities, it is vitally important to read the supporting Statement of Truth to establish whether it has originated from a bailiff company. It cannot be right that a bailiff company with a financial interest in ensuring that the application is rejected can possibly be allowed to carry out this role and if this has happened in your case, you may want to contact our office for details of the formal complaints that have been submitted to the Ministry of Justice regarding this  awful  practice. Again, we have had a lot of experience concerning this subject.

Finally, the Traffic Enforcement Centre have once again reminded all local authorities that if their bailiffs discover a new address for you, they must apply to the Traffic Enforcement Centre for permisssion  to  reissue the warrant at a new address. Sadly, many bailiffs are found to be ignoring this and instead, "claiming " that they had located the vehicle "by accident" when driving their ANPR equipped vehicles!! If this happens to you, then contact the Traffic Enforcement Centre for confirmation of the address on the warrant. You may wish to contact us in such cases as once again, we have copies of the relevant advice that has been given to local authorities concerning this practice and sadly, we have a lot of experience on this subject. Once again, an Out of Time Statutory Declaration can be submitted.