1st Class Bailiffs Articles

We often get calls from members of the public asking how to enforce their CCJ’s.

We often get calls from members of the public asking how to enforce their CCJ’s.

The usual scenario is the creditor issues a claim in the county court and gains a judgement. The copy of the judgement is then sent to the defendant who subsequently does not pay!

The creditor is then faced with the difficult decision on what to do next. This could be from a rouge tradesman, a tribunal award or for any type of debt. Sometimes the defendant will be unable to pay and your next move just means you are throwing good money after bad.

What are your options

1/ An attachment of earnings if you know where the defendant lives and where they work (if they move jobs the whole enforcement thing must start again).

2/ A Charging Order on property. The defendant obviously needs to have some equity in the property and it is unlikely you can force a sale so you could be waiting a long time for your money

3/ A Third Party Debt Order This is where you can serve an order on a individual or company that holds money for the defendant ie a bank holding the defendants account. This is however only good for the day that it is served so if the defendant does not have money in today but gets some tomorrow you will miss out.

4/ Send in the County Court Bailiff for aprox £100 you can send in the county court bailiff to seize goods to the value of the debt and costs. County Court bailiffs are civil servants and get paid the same regardless of success so most creditors do not find them as effectual as other types of bailiff.

5/ If the debt is for £600 or more transfer to High Court for the High Court Enforcement Officers to Execute. High Court Enforcement officers will transfer the debt to the High Court for you and execute the Writ they obtain. The High Court Officers are allowed to add fees to the debt which the defendant will have to pay. If there are insufficient goods or the debtor has gone away, or the officer can not gain entry you will be charged an abortive fee of £60 plus vat.

6/ Attend Court for Questioning You can obtain an order to have personally served on the defendant or a director of the defendants company. This will require them to attend court at a given time and date where you or an officer of the court can ask them questions under oath about there finances and assets. This sometimes proves useful but in reality depends upon the defendant telling the truth. If the defendant fails to turn up there the threat of prison although this power is rarely used.

7/ Get a status report completed You can get one of our officers/Investigators to conduct a status report on your defendant to give you enough information to make a decision on the best form of enforcement this costs around £55 plus vat

We can assist with High Court Enforcement, status reports and the service of any Orders
Just telephone us on 0844 484 1450

National Enforcement Services, the first franchised bailiff operation in the UK, has extended its operation to Derby where Andy Gillott will take forward the company’s second franchise venture.

Father of one Andy has joined forces with his mentor and owner of Darlington-based NES Andy Coates to provide services across the Derby and Nottingham areas such as, surveillance, debt collection, process serving, trespasser evictions, commercial rent arrears collection, repossessions, and tracing.

Andy, a former car production worker, met Andy Coates when he left the manufacturing industry in 2003 to pursue a career as a private investigator. He shadowed the NES boss, who recognised Andy’s potential as not only an investigator but as a bailiff, and began training for the recognised bailiff industry qualification.

After six years of being a sub-contracted enforcer, Andy jumped at the chance at not only being his own boss, but at helping his mentor and friend expand his business.

He is already seeing the benefits of joining NES; he has access to their web-based computer system, their client workload, the use of the most up-to-date technology, and can now offer additional services to his clientele.

Currently employing one full-time staff member, Andy has seen business boom and hopes to fulfil his ambition of creating five jobs in the coming years.

Andy, 41, said: “I never thought I would have my own franchise, I’m not academically gifted but I have the drive and determination to succeed.

“I really enjoy working for myself, it’s definitely a world away from the hard factory slog; I can choose my times of work and have no-one to answer to as long as I do my job to the best standard possible and within the law.

“It takes certain qualities for someone to be a bailiff, you need to be firm but fair and know when people are telling lies because they can tell you every story under the sun.

“When Andy approached me about the franchise opportunity, I said yes straight away, I trust him and when he says he is going to do something, he does it. I am so pleased with the way the business has developed so far, it was the best decision I ever made joining the NES team.”

Andy Coates, National Enforcement Services managing director, said: “Franchising is definitely the way forward for us and I am pleased that Andy is recognising the benefits of coming on board with NES, so close to signing our first franchisee in the North-East only three months ago.

“I have known Andy for a number of years and it is a great feeling to know that someone I mentored is now helping us to expand and provide our services across the Derby area.”

 

 National Enforcement Services, one of the UK’s leading bailiff and private investigation services, is witnessing a rise in the number of people avoiding paying parking fines.

 

The firm has noticed an increase in the use of its Enforcement and Investigation services to track down owners of vehicles and their whereabouts as council’s aim to recoup the unpaid debts.

 

National Enforcement Services is also reporting that there is a growing number of people whose status in society gives them the view they are above the law and can avoid paying fines. The agency has been involved in recovering unpaid parking fines from numerous celebrities – although confidentiality clauses protect them from being ‘named and shamed’.

 

Andy Coates, CEO of National Enforcement Services, said: “There are those who feel they are above the law because of their position within society. We have found some of those can be significant culprits in not paying their parking fines, with celebrities and well-known figures cropping up in our enforcement assignments more often than would be expected as a proportion of the population.

           

National Enforcement’s Enforcement and Investigation service has seen a 65% rise in the number of gone aways in the last quarter. National Enforcement Officers are now chasing everything from overdue parking tickets to missing family members.

Andy added, “Local authorities are calling on tracing and debt collection services more and more to locate the individuals who have failed to pay their fines. Unpaid debt amounts to millions for local authorities each year. For example, one council was recently owed £30 million in unpaid fines.”