Daylight robbery!

COUNCILLOR Ged Ball with the bailiff's final demand notice

Bailiffs demand parking row cash

THE wife of Councillor Ged Ball was forced to fork out £420 on the doorstep to stop bailiffs taking goods from their home.

The Medlock Vale councillor’s other half, Cath, was stunned when she opened the door to bailiffs, 12 months after her husband was issued with a parking ticket on the civic centre car park.

But she handed over the payment when they said police were waiting with them to enter her Fitton Hill house unless she paid up.

When Councillor Ball returned home from a meeting, he discovered the fine was only £80, and the bailiffs had loaded the charge with £340 for the cost of collecting it.

The saga began 12 months ago when Councillor Ball parked on the public side of the civic centre car park for a meeting when the councillors’ side was full.

He had paid £200 to park for the year, and thought he was entitled to park his wife’s Fiat Panda on the public side without a pay-and-display ticket because parking officials had the car’s registration number.

He complained to the council, and thought the matter was at an end until he got a bailiff’s letter through the door.

He contacted the firm only to be told the matter was proceeding. The following day they confronted his wife.

“The writ was addressed to me so they should have served it on me, not Cath, but she felt she had no alternative but to pay,” said the angry councillor.

“She was more embarrassed than anything, because she had friends in the house.”

Councillor Ball has again taken the matter up with the council and is waiting for a response.

He said: “The point is if I have done wrong I understand I have to pay the £80, but to stick that amount of money on top for charges is daylight robbery.

“There is a procedure to go through to get to the stage of bailiffs calling, but I had no communication and no letters before the one that arrived the day before they came.”

A spokesman for Oldham Council, however, said numerous notices were sent out to Councillor Ball.

He said the penalty charge notice was issued on April 9, 2009, for failing to display a valid pay and display ticket or parking pass

He listed further communication as a “notice to owner” sent on May 13, a “charge certificate” sent on June 19 and a “notice of debt registration” sent on December 22, after the debt was recorded at Northampton County Court.

The spokesman added: “The case was then referred to a council-appointed bailiff company who would have sent a first letter before visiting the property.

“The penalty charge notice was issued correctly and on the face of it there are no grounds to cancel it.”