3. Bailiff, Merseyflow acting on behalf of Halton Borough Council, Mersey Gateway Bridge, failure to pay a toll bridge fee
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Bailiff, Merseyflow acting on behalf of Halton Borough Council, Mersey Gateway Bridge, failure to pay a toll bridge fee
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Hello

In June 2022 I crossed the Mersey Bridge (driving my wife's car) and completely forgot to pay the toll online when I got home. Since then I never gave it another thought.

However, recently we realised that the V5C on my wife's car had not been updated for over a year since we moved house. So we contacted the DVLA to find out which companies had contacted them for my wife's information relating to the registered car. What we found was that Merseyflow had asked for my her details, followed by Marston Recovery in November 2022 with a warrant issued by the traffic court. So we submitted a Subject Access Request with both Merseyflow and Marston Recovery and Marston today sent the data they had on my wife which shows that Between Nov-Dec 2022, they sent letters and made enforcement visits to our previous address and added fees which have taken a £2 toll charge to £381. Since December of last year they seem to have made no further attempts to find my wife, and the only contact she has had with Merseyflow has been the Subject Access Request.

Please see an attached compliance letter. I have more documents if needed and any advice on what what's best to do about this situation would be really appreciated.

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Re: Bailiff, Merseyflow acting on behalf of Halton Borough Council, Mersey Gateway Bridge, failure to pay a toll bridge
« Reply #1 on: »
Here's what I posted on Pepipoo.  It might be best to continue on this new forum, as the future of Pepipoo is very uncertain at the moment.

We see cases like yours fairly frequently, and they rarely turn out well.

Quote
Once things get to the bailiff stage, there is only one avenue open to you to try to get the matter reverted back to the original PCN, (and penalty). This is to submit an Out-of-Time Statutory Declaration to the Traffic Enforcement Centre at Northampton, that you did not receive the original PCN. However, unlike "in-time" SDs, an OOT one has have your explanation as to why you didn't receive the PCN. In addition, the OOT SD must be passed to the enforcing authority who have the right to object to your SD. With your very tardy update of your V5, I would expect them to object.

Submitting an OOT SD costs nothing apart from a solicitor fee for witnessing the document. Even this need not be paid as the SD forms can be witnessed at your local county court without payment. However, enforcing authorities invariably object to OOT SDs on the basis that they have, as required by law, sent all the statutory enforcement documents to the address as recorded by DVLA for the vehicle concerned, (the V5 document) but received no response. The Traffic Enforcement Centre then reject the OOT SD. YOu can request a review of a rejection by a county court judge. This costs around £110 for a papers-based review, and about £260 for an interview with the judge. These sums are not recoverable.

Sorry if this isn't what you wanted to hear. However, there may be something I haven't thought of, so you could also try contacting: -
www.bailiffadviceonline.co.uk
for more advice
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Re: Bailiff, Merseyflow acting on behalf of Halton Borough Council, Mersey Gateway Bridge, failure to pay a toll bridge
« Reply #2 on: »
Thanks for this, it's very helpful. As I mentioned, the bailiffs haven't made any contact at all since December 2022 so is it something that can be left to wait and see if they make any further contact at our new address? Or should we be providing the bailiffs with our new address and trying to tackle the problem head on?
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Re: Bailiff, Merseyflow acting on behalf of Halton Borough Council, Mersey Gateway Bridge, failure to pay a toll bridge
« Reply #3 on: »
I'm not an expert on the ins and outs of bailiff actions and the law controlling them. Our very well regarded contributor on here regarding Statutory Declarations and Witness Statements has been suffering ill health and may not be able to respond. Best if you contact 'bailiffadviceonline'
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Re: Bailiff, Merseyflow acting on behalf of Halton Borough Council, Mersey Gateway Bridge, failure to pay a toll bridge
« Reply #4 on: »
Thanks for this. I can't seem to get hold of bailiffadviceonline. Not answering calls, nor responding to emails. I'd like to complete TE7 and TE9 forms. However, I can see on bailiff advice website that

'In reaching their decision, the council must rely upon the information provided by the motorist in the ‘reason’ section on the PE2 or TE7. A word of warning….it will not be sufficient to merely state that you had moved address and this is the mistake that the vast majority of motorists make. And this is the reason why motorists should seek advice BEFORE completing these applications.'

So does anyone have any idea as to how to give the TE7 or TE9 forms the best chance of success given that it says that just moving address and failing to update the V5C won't be sufficient? Or are there any alternatives to bailiffadviceonline if I can't get hold of them?
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Re: Bailiff, Merseyflow acting on behalf of Halton Borough Council, Mersey Gateway Bridge, failure to pay a toll bridge
« Reply #5 on: »
Persevere because bailffadviceonline are pretty good.  I have to say that the very tardy update to your Statutory Declaration is unlikely to succeed due to the time taken to update it.
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Re: Bailiff, Merseyflow acting on behalf of Halton Borough Council, Mersey Gateway Bridge, failure to pay a toll bridge
« Reply #6 on: »
Just as an update, I contacted Sheila from https://bailiffadviceonline.co.uk/ who was very knowledgeable and spoke to me at length about my case, providing me with very helpful advice for no charge, and even offered to check my TE7 and TE9 forms for me. Ultimately she completed my application for me for a small fee and is optimistic of my chances of getting the debt cancelled. I would definitely recommend her to anyone facing issues with Bailiffs as she's super helpful and very understanding. Now we wait to hear back from the TEC. Fingers crossed, and I'll provide an update in due course.
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