I had a council PCN for a bus lane contravention, which I appealed, and the council rejected. I did the paper form to the traffic tribunal as I had difficulties with the website, which apparently was never received, and they were making it very difficult to move forward in any meaningful way.
Life got in the way with mental health struggles, family deaths, and other stuff, and it got forgotten about, then out of the blue, 2 years later (original PCN was 2024) I get a letter from CDER Group bailiffs with a notice of enforcement.
The total for the 'compliance stage' was about £280.
I genuinely did not receive the letter (THE ENFORCEMENT NOTICE LETTER from CDER Group - I did receive the original PCN) until after the compliance stage date. It had already moved in to the enforcement stage which almost doubled the fee. I called and they were of course rather unhelpful, so I sent an email to both the main office and wellbeing email address about two weeks now ago explaining the situation and have yet to hear back. I have called multiple times both before and after the baliff text discussed next and of course they're being the vultures I would expect them to be.
I recently missed a call at 21:00 (rather late? and no answer when calling back), then get a text message that a "county court warrant has now been issued" and "removal of goods from 6am today", and that my vehicle (which is a lease) is now on their enforcement ANPR system for immobilisation/removal for sale at public auction etc etc. I tried calling back when I saw the missed call/text about 10 minutes later but no answer. Pretty poor that they threaten this at a time where it is impossible to call their office before the 6am threatened time.
This message is definitely genuine, as it references CDER Group, and when I call CDER Group on the phone number from the letter/website (which matches each other), they can confirm the text is genuine, so no concerns there.
While I don't believe I should even have to pay the original PCN, I know that it's probably just too long ago to do anything down that avenue anyway, but I do not believe I should have to pay the enforcement fee, when I did not get the letter. They also had my phone number and email address and made no contact that way, nor was their letter sent recorded/tracked.
I will make an official complaint to them about how they have spoken to me and handled my case, but the more immediate matter are the bailiff threats.
Do I have any options here?
Do I just need to pay the £500 and suck it up?
Can I take this to court or counter it that I did not receive the original compliance fee letter in time to be able to pay it?
Something else?
The anxiety is about to burst a vein.
Thank you for any help.
