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Bailiffs are threatening to enforce payment of their fees after you paid your fine - even if police are present. When you have paid a court fine, the no longer has effect because the sum recoverable and enforceable is NIL. You can even ask the court for a certificate of satisfaction. If goods have been taken into control (e.g. clamped or towed), the law - Paragraph 58 of Schedule 12 of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 says when the debtor pays the sum then no further enforcement steps can be taken and paragraph 31 of the Taking Control of Goods: National Standards 2014 says when enforcement action has ceased, the bailiff cannot enforce the recovery of fees. When you have paid the creditor before the enforcement agent started any enforcement stage you must notify the bailiff in writing under paragraph 59(2) of the Act. It revokes any further fees liabities thereforward. Here is a template. The law says you must tell the bailiff the debt is settled.
In any event, the law does not provide for bailiffs fees on court fine enforcement.
It is becoming more commonplace for bailiff companies to threaten you with enforcement action - even with police attendance after you have already paid your file in full at court and you have the receipt or a certificate of satisfaction. The Court Service confirm they do not enforce payment of fees for a private company. Therefore any fee dispute is a civil matter.
This article explains why the defaulter has no liability to pay the enforcement fees of a commercial company for enforcing a warrant of control regardless whether or not the fine itself has been paid. The fees are a contractual matter between HM Court Service and its commercial partners. It has no impact on the defaulters liability. You have several emergency remedies you can consider for dealing with a bailiff that is threatening you with enforcement of payment of his fees without having levied on your goods. This behaviour is unlawful, but companies are crossing the line even knowing it results in litigation action being taken against the Ministry of Justice or the bailiff company or both. If a police officer is found to have assisted the bailiff to get you to open your door to let them in then nothing that follows is valid. This also attracts a civil action against the police force. Make a formal complaint about charging fees on a settled court fine, and get your MP involved.
If a bailiff turns up looking for fees then UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES must you open the door, you are best not answering the door at all even if the hammering becomes intensified. You can just tell them to quietly leave the premises, they will probably refuse but under no circumstances must you open that door! NOT EVEN if the police are called and threaten you with "cuffs" and "locksmiths". Print and hand this document through the letterbox. Formal Notice to bailiff and police leave the premises. A debtor can lawfully use reasonable force in removing a bailiff without a levy that has refused to leave, the bailiff resisting is the person guilty of a breach of the peace, Green v Bartram [1830] 4 C&P 308 and if police are present, the bailiff is the person that police should arrest, Foulkes v Chief Constable of Merseyside Police [1998] 3 All ER 705 Get a camcorder handy with batteries fully charged because if the police do say these things behind your locked door then you can sue the police force by following the case of Skidmore v Booth [1834] 6 C&P 777 and if a threat of "putting you in cuffs" is made by a police officer then you also sue the police force following the judgment of: Foulkes v Chief Constable of Merseyside Police [1998] 3 All ER 705. DO NOT tell the bailiff of the police they are being covertly filmed. If the police officer decides to lie about the events at a subsequent investigation then you can produce your camcorder footage. If the bailiff gets shouty then the police officer must arrest a bailiff for breach of the peace if he places the debtor in fear of violence or harm if that offence is made in the presence of that officer, R v Howell (Errol) [1982] 1 QB 427 and a police officer must apprehend and arrest the party that is threatening violence, Redmond-Bate v Department of Public Prosecutions, The Times July 28 1999, Lord Justice Sedley If a police officer has assisted a bailiff to get you to open your door then nothing follows is valid. You can start a legal action against the police force, first you must ask the police force to pay you your damages in a Letter before Action. Make a claim for damages from the police force.
If no payment is made then you have a right to start legal proceedings by filing a Form N1 at court, but you might be better to use a solicitor and show him the above template as it contains all the legal reasoning behind your claim as solicitors do not often know about bailiff case law, but are well tuned for case law about police liabilities. A search on Google for a search of solicitor specialising in police litigation will reveal a few firms. Speak to several of them before deciding who to instruct. Try to work towards and out of court settlement on the basis to save excessive legal costs, otherwise, be prepared for a long battle even if you win your claim. It is the practice of police lawyers to make appeal after appeal after appeal in an effort to eventually win back the claim by exhausting the funds of the claimant. If you win an out of court settlement with a police force, it does not need to go on court record and cannot be followed by future claims made against the police. If you win your day in court before the judge, always ask that any leave for appeal by the defendant is disallowed. This stops recursive and repeated appeals by the defendant police force.
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