legal guide to UK motoring, sections for law enforcement, Driver licensing, learner and new drivers, buying and selling, speeding fines, owning a vehicle, wheel clamping, traffic information
 
Your legal guide to motoring
 
• Car Insurance does not pay out as much as i thought!!
• Speed camera fines rise sevenfold
• £20,000 for stress over parking tickets and sends bailiffs to collect his money
• Tired Driving Affects - MicroSleeps
• Top Steer Comment – Congestion Charges
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Top Steer Comment – Congestion Charges
Many of our country’s angry motorists think Ken Livingstone should follow the internet trend and “Scrooge Himself”. They are reeling from the costly repercussions of not paying the London congestion charge on the day (otherwise known as the tax for working or visiting our capital city).
The daily charge began at £5 to get folk used to the idea, then like all stealth taxes it was raised to £8. Calculating the fines for not paying - is based on the intricate formula: ‘think of a number, double it….etc’. It started out as a fine of £50 for not paying on the day (laughably referred to as a ‘concession’ because the full fine was really £100, but half was waived by paying within a certain period).
Invariably, busy city types forget to pay and now, some months after the ‘offence’ took place, many are receiving notices from a company called ‘Equita – certified bailiffs’ – asking for £158.16. The trouble is, they don’t tell you what the amount refers to, and before you’ve had an answer to your indignant letter…. Equita’s bailiff’s are clamping your vehicle and demanding up to £500 to release it!

Frantic phone calls follow and Equita’s bailiffs insist their notification process has included sending out a ‘charge certificate’ months ago, followed by a ‘debt registration certificate’. Strangely enough, these are frequently never received – surely such wake up calls should be sent out by ‘Recorded Delivery’ or registered post? Or are they just making the most of it while the going’s good?

‘Equita-certified bailiffs’ next letter further down the line, runs something like this…..
‘As you have failed to accept our offer to pay half of your debt this month and the balance next month, your file has been passed to our removals team.’

So in desperation to stop the Equita ‘removals team’ from removing your car for ‘auction’ you pay up!

Following on from the Northern Rock fiasco, the credit crunch will bite harder in 2008 as people reach the end of their borrowing and repayment abilities. Some of the big names on the high streets are clinging on waiting for others to fold first. A bit like the world’s strongest man contest – every account and sinew is stretched to the limit, there’s a lot of gnashing of teeth, trembling and grimacing, before eventually something snaps…

If other bailiff’s are operating with similar methods to Equita, the painful process of debt collection will cause misery for more than just the city motorists. The real rub about all this, is the total lack of responsibility or accountability of these organisations. One would have thought that the huge surplus of funds from motoring fines, would entitle the poor motorist to have these bureaucratic demands sent out by ‘recorded delivery’.


Kevin Smith - South London




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