Don't Take My Car: Bailiffs Undercover Panorama

Tonight on Panorama, we go under cover to expose the bailiffs

bringing misery to motorists. Do you want the bad news or the bad news? I

couldn't believe the parking had gone up that much. Investigate how

?65 fines can Spiral out of control. ?777. What starts out as a very

small issue quickly ramps up into something that can destroy people's

lives. Then you have removal costs an then you have storage costs. It's

over ?1,000. And can end with your car being take ton pay off the debt.

-- taken to pay off the debt. He's going to seize my BMW over a bus

lane ticket? As new rules come into force, we ask - will it really stop

bailiffs who act like this? I'm taking the microwave and the fish

tanks. I will take the paint off your walls as well. I'll leave wow

nothing. -- you with nothing.

Parking is big business, Town Halls in England raking in nearly ?1

billion a year, a third of it from parking fines. Meet Britain's

parking bailiffs, they're hired by councils to make sure that motorists

who notch up parking tickets don't get away Scot free. The firms they

work for are worth big money and the bailiffs can turn a tidy penny too.

This job, if you do it right, the week leading up to Christmas I took

two grand. Bailiffs say it's a difficult job, they've got to be

ready for abuse and worse. (BLEEP), (BLEEP). They say they can be

trusted to do it fair and square, keeping to the rules that govern how

much they can charge for collecting debts. We've been handed a hefty

file of documents, a detailed break down of bailiff fees, which raises

concerns about the fees being charged by some of Britain's leading

bailiff companies. It pie lights several -- highlights several firms.

The file details the company's debt enforcement in ten councils across

London and the South-East. We wanted to see for ourselves what was going

on. We sent in an undercover journalist. He got a job as a

trainee with JBW, an award-winning firm in Darlington. I'm here from

the bailiff's office... This is the boss. He's become something of a

celebrity. Here he is on daytime telly. He's also a cheerleader for

the industry. Our strap line is a trusted approach, we say if you

employ our services, we will do the right thing. The bailiff showing off

JBW's trusted approach is this man. I'm a certificated bailiff from the

courts. John, a JBW contractor, is supposed to stick to national

guidelines. He's going to teach our undercover the tricks of the trade.

Over a month, they make almost 200 visits.

How to clamp a car. And how to make debtors pay up.

Meet Keith, he's found out the hard way some bailiffs operate. Keith has

three outstanding parking tickets worth ?55 each. He mistakenly

thought the council had torn them up, following an appeal last autumn.

In February this year, John and our undercover paid Keith a visit.

Bailiffs start early, so they can catch people at home. By 7am, he has

clamped Keith's mini cab. JBW bailiffs are given a hand-held

device which records every visit and tells them how much to charge

debtors like Keith. Keith works late shifts. He's barely

had time to put his trousers on before the bailiff comes in.

I was in shock, I really was. I couldn't believe the parking tickets

had gone up that much. I was expecting maybe twice, something

like 180, ?200 per ticket. Keith is being treated for skin

cancer and he says he's had lengthy spells off work to recover from a

series of eye operations. This is 7am, I didn't know what they

were allowed to do. All I knew was if they took the car away, I'd be

unemployed. How did Keith's bill go up from three ?55 tickets to more

than ?1800? JBW says this was the third time a bailiff had visited

Keith. On each of the three visits JBW has tripled most of the fees it

charges. This is called multiple charging. It's allowed, but is it

fair? Where multiple fees have been charged for a council tax debt, the

local Government ombudsman said that placed a wholly unreasonable burden

on people already in debt. John the bailiff is paid on

commission, a 40% cut, from some of the fees he collects for JBW. If a

debtor doesn't pay up, he doesn't get paid.

Keith has made it clear that as a result of ill health, he's

struggling pay. Under Government guidelines, which do allow John some

discretion, he should tell the council that Keith is a potentially

vulnerable debtor. But he doesn't. If Keith is to get the clamp off his

cab, he needs some money, so he asks his neighbour, Steve, to help.

His neighbour pays off one of the tickets for ?610.

Keith still owes ?1200. John calles head office to ask about a monthly

payment plan. But John says, at this stage, they don't seem willing to

help. The bailiff time lay greez to un--

final lay greez to unlamb -- finally agrees to unclamp the mini cab.

They're not actually allowed to remove a person's tools of trade. In

this case the mini cab. John knows this all along.

Three weeks later, JBW put Keith on a monthly repayment plan. Citizens

advice questioned 350 parking ticket debtors about the bailiff industry.

One in three said bailiffs had threatened force, a quarter were

told that items would be taken that didn't belong to the debtor. We

found that people were scared and intimidated routinely by bailiffs,

that what starts out as a very small issue, quiply ramps -- quickly ramps

up into something that can destroy people's lives. John, meanwhile is

looking for a motorist who owes more tan ?1,000 for two parking fines.

The woman tell it's John that the debtor is out of the country.

She doesn't speak English, so a neighbour offers to translate.

Our undercover points out a letter from the DVLA addressed to the

debtor, but it's not there when John goes to look at it.

By law, only the debtor can be made to pay, but ignoring the rules, John

demands more than ?500 and threatens to remove goods.

When she insists she has no money, John gets angry.

Then John appears to think she's just being rude to him.

John the bailiff finishing off with some choice words about the family

he's just intimidated. Back in the van, the bailiff tells

the undercover that his behaviour should serve as a lesson in how to

do the job. Part of the reason I done all, that you need to see how

we enforce as well. John's hand-held device was supposed to record the

whole visit, but in the this time. I made sure that weren't recording.

People are very often very, very frightened by bailiffs. That is

partly to do with their physical presence, but much more often, it's

to do with deliberately aggressive and threatening behaviour.

But it's not just the behaviour of individual bailiffs causing concern,

it's what some bailiffs charge for. There are laws governing the fees,

but they can be difficult for the debtor to understand.

The campaign group has uncovered evidence of how big some of the

bills can be. They're exploiting a little-known law to compel local

authorities to hand over sample invoices, detailing the fees charged

by bailiff companies, working for the councils.

This is the upshot of their work, bills from the bailiff companies to

motorists, who haven't paid their parking fines. Some of these bills

can run up to hundreds, sometimes thousands of pounds. Here's one for

?2,244. 20. The bailiff companies say their charges are lawful and

reasonable. Some motorists use one word to describe bailiff charges:

Disproportionate. Andrew has helped the group uncover evidence of

charges they believe to be wrong. We were really scrutinising the

contracts and we went onto the bailiff contracts and about how they

was just carrying out their business and doing their work and we found

things that were wrong. Double charges or incorrect charges. Some

of the concerns were about fees charged on the bailiff's first

visit. This should be an opportunity for debtors to settle the fine. Meet

Steve from Essex, he owns a fleet of black cabs. When one of his drivers

failed to settle a ticket, a man from the bailiff firm turned up at

his door demanding payment. The visit was recorded on Steve's CCTV.

I answered the door and when he said to me, "?667" I could have fallen

over. The original fine was for ?60. Steve wanted to know how the bill

could be so high. He said he was not there to explain, he was just there

to collect the money. Steve asked for a take-down of the fees

Equita's head office. Included in the bill was a charge for sending

the van to take away his goods. So where was the van? What were you

expecting to see, Steve? You would expect to see a truck

capable of taking away a two tonne taxi or goods up to the value of

their charges. Here he comes. This is our bailiff. I'm not Jeremy

Clarkson, but that is know to truck, that is a car. He would be lucky to

get a telly in there. So why did you pay the bill? I paid it under

duress. The threat of them coming in and removing goods, in the end, I

paid it just to put an end to the matter. Equita says all its fees and

charges are applied according to the law, agreed client guidelines and

industry best practice. But it is when bailiffs take your card that

things can go from bad to worse. Motorists can be charged for

removing and selling their cars to pay off the debt, and these charges

can rapidly escalate, costing the motorists thousands of pounds. John

the bailiff and our undercover are still working the streets of

London. There was a reason the man behind

the door is not being friendly to a bailiff. The ticket has already been

paid, but Lawrence houses in a dispute with his counsel over other

tickets. Lawrence is a full-time volunteer at

a Swan Sanctuary. Come on, fella. Bottle top, usual kind of thing we

get over here. Every day, he crosses London in his veterinary ambulance.

I can get calls from anyone, the police, Railtrack, Thames Water.

Fortunately, with my van being an ambulance, I can use the bus lanes

to get where I have got to go in the rush-hour. Ambulances on official

business are allowed to use the capital's is lanes by law, and

Lawrence' vehicle is taxed and registered as an ambulance. Yet one

London borough repeatedly finds him. Barking and Dagenham Council issued

the first ticket in 2009, and more followed. I went back to the council

and said, you have been sending me this bustling tickets and you are

wasting money doing this. Just knock some heads together and sort the

problem out. What happened? Nothing. The bus lane tickets just kept

coming. At least 30 tickets were issued over the next few years. And

while some were cancelled or waived, three were passed to JBW. By June

last year, the company was demanding more than ?2000, so it sent one of

its bailiffs to his house. And he said he was going to seize my BMW,

over a us lanes to get for my veterinary ambulance. -- a bus lane

ticket. So we had a dispute over it. Get your phone off my property. The

incident was filmed on Lawrence' mobile phone. With the bailiff

refusing to move, Lawrence hoped the police would intervene to resolve

the dispute. The police, who I thought were there to help me,

actually came into my home and put me in handcuffs. Official police

guidance makes it clear that officers should not help bailiffs

remove people's buds, but Lawrence says the two officers refused to

release him until he agreed to let the bailiff move his tow truck onto

the driveway and take his car. I am a law-abiding citizen, and you have

allowed this to happen. The bailiff to Lawrence' BMW, worth around

?15,000, to pay the three disputed tickets. The car was sold for just

over ?12,000. JBW took a hefty ?3490. Lawrence felt that more than

1600 of the fees from charges have not been properly explained. The

debt is just impossible to work out. JBW says it did provide a breakdown

of the fees, and Lawrence did not ask for them to be broken down

further. It says it's bailiff complied with all relevant

obligations in his dealings with Mr Howes. The Metropolitan police said

the incident was being investigated as part of a civil complaint made by

the family, and it was unable to comment. Mr Howes is not the only

person to face steep bills after failing to pay a ticket. The invoice

is obtained by the NoToMob shine a light on the fees motorists are

charged by the bailiff companies once their cars have been removed.

Take this invoice from JBW. The storage in encouraging, ?420 plus

VAT. For getting keys cut, ?180 plus VAT. The whole bill tops out at

almost ?2000. The bailiff companies say their charges are fair and

reasonable. The motorists say, oh, no, they are not. The law sets out

that the charges for removing and selling cars should be reasonable,

but it has left the court is to define what this means in practice.

If it is the council 's that are hiring the bailiffs to collect

unpaid parking fines, shouldn't they ensure that motorists are treated

fairly? The NoToMob, which has been investigating bailiff fees, says the

councils are not doing enough to check up on the bailiffs. They get

away with it because nobody is monitoring what they do. At one

council acted on the campaign group's findings, and suspended JBW.

They were acting outside the rules and regulations. They were charging

for things they did not actually do, and they were charging for

things they were not entitled to do as well. The council said it made

JBW return ?13,000 to motorists who had been overcharged. The company

was reinstated after a month. So as we speak, JBW is still collecting

debts for Hackney Council? Yes, that is correct. But be in no doubt. If

we hear instances of this happening again, we will suspend the contract

and investigate and if needs be, we will terminate the contract. JBW

disputes Hackney's version of events. But what happens when

councils failed to hold a lift companies to account? Hoody

motorists turn to if they believe bailiffs are in the wrong -- who do

they turn to? I think most people in the position of being up against

bailiffs are in a vulnerable position. For starters, they don't

necessarily understand the law, and they are in a terrible position to

push back cos it is hard for ordinary people to sue the bailiffs

or take other action. Mr Howes had already lost one car, but the

tickets for driving his ambulance in bus lanes kept coming. In February,

he started getting visits from another company. It a lift was

demanding more than ?1500 for three tickets. He said he was there to

seize the ambulance. He said he was going to take the daily may

ambulance, but also my wife's car. I then said to him, you are not going

to seize my car. It is in my name and has nothing to do with the

ambulance or my husband. It is solely my car. We all need our

cars. Beverley uses hers for work. She helps the tins of domestic file

in. The next thing I know, he has put my ambulance in the tow truck.

Then I looked out, and he is pushing my wife's car into the street.

Lawrence' ambulance is essential to his voluntary work. Is a tool of

trade, it should not have been taken. Nor is the bailiff allowed by

law to take Everly's car. She is not the debtor -- Everly's. But a

Kominsky says he was legally entitled to remove her car, as he

believed it belonged to her husband. Just went away. Haven't heard

anything since, so we don't know where our vehicles are. The Howes

reported the bailiff to the police and they appeal to the bailiff

company, but in vain. When I meet with the Howes, they still don't

know the whereabouts of Everly's car, or this one ambulance, so they

call the bailiff, Mr Kominsky. I would like to know what you have

done with our cars. Who sold it? The towing company sold

my van? Mr Kominsky, in regards to my Vauxhall, what do I need to do to

get my car back, and where is it? The Howes have now had two cars and

an ambulance seized from them come with a total value of more than

?30,000 over disputed tickets. Barking and Dagenham council says

both bailiff companies acted properly, and that it was right to

enforce payment against Mr Howes, as he had not always provided a defence

or adequate grounds for exemption. For our undercover, after 12 days as

a trainee bailiff, it was the end of the road. He was sacked. JBW said he

was unsuitable for the role. Yesterday, the government brought in

new rules limiting the powers of bailiffs. There is also a new,

simplified fee structure. But the first visit will be more costly.

Debtors will now pay, with the fine, as much as ?500. There are some

small improvements, but the gaping hole in this is a lack of

regulation. So we want to see a much longer, independent, tough

regulator. So will there be an independent regulator? My

responsibility is to say to local authorities that if you are

employing bailiffs, you should employ them in an ethical and

reasonable way. You should look in terms of fines to be reasonable

towards the motorist. That is wonderful, but unless you have

regulator, all of this is pie in the sky. That is something the Justice

Secretary will address. The Ministry of Justice has told us there are

currently no plans for a regulator. Following our investigation, John

was suspended by JBW. The company says that as a self-employed

contractor, he was acting outside its policies and procedures. It says

it has apologised to the people whose cases were raised by Panorama.

The bailiff told us he takes is no response ability for the isolated

comments made -- he takes responsibility. We have been told

Mrs M2' car will be returned. But as to the veterinary ambulance,

Lawrence has given up all hope of getting it back. And on Thursday,

don't cut my benefits. I could be uprooted all over again

to come back to London. It doesn't make sense. A Panorama special on

the front line of Britain's benefit reforms.