# ++ bristol bailiffs alert ++



## DaveCinzano (Nov 17, 2005)

bristow & suitor are making the rounds today for council tax arrears. i *think* they're driving round in a white transit-style van, with a courier company's livery (but it may just have been a coincidence).

don't let the buggers in!


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## PacificOcean (Nov 17, 2005)

bristle-krs said:
			
		

> bristow & suitor are making the rounds today for council tax arrears. i *think* they're driving round in a white transit-style van, with a courier company's livery (but it may just have been a coincidence).
> 
> don't let the buggers in!



Why did I think you lived in Essex? and what am I doing in the Bristol forum?


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## boskysquelch (Nov 17, 2005)

PacificOcean said:
			
		

> Why did I think you lived in Essex?



his penchant for white sling backs maybe? 








_krs at an Urb meet..._


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## PacificOcean (Nov 17, 2005)

squelch said:
			
		

> his penchant for white sling backs maybe?
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Is that really him?


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## boskysquelch (Nov 17, 2005)

yup!


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## geminisnake (Nov 17, 2005)

PacificOcean said:
			
		

> Is that really him?




His legs are a bit hairier


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## boskysquelch (Nov 17, 2005)

geminisnake said:
			
		

> His legs are a bit hairier



not on a Friday night.


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## DaveCinzano (Nov 18, 2005)




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## harpo scruggs (Nov 18, 2005)




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## DaveCinzano (Nov 18, 2005)

you seem rather over-familiar for a n00b


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## DaveCinzano (Nov 18, 2005)




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## harpo scruggs (Nov 18, 2005)

bristle-krs said:
			
		

> you seem rather over-familiar for a n00b



Just getting to know you...

There's a song there...


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## fizzerbird (Nov 18, 2005)

WTF? I don't get the wafer/biscuit whateveritis ref?   

and OI! 






I forgot you had my dress! Been looking everwhere for it.

It's about time you returned my dress you minx. You've had it ages!
AND don't forget to wash it before you give it me back young 'un or there's no chance of you borrowing my new little black number over the Christmas festies...ya hear!


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## boskysquelch (Nov 18, 2005)

fizzerbird said:
			
		

> you minx.



She's sucha a ho(e)!


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## Isambard (Nov 18, 2005)

bristle-krs said:
			
		

> i *think* they're driving round in a white transit-style van, with a courier company's livery



Do they turn up peoples houses and pretend they've got a delivery or something to get in?


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## Zaskar (Nov 19, 2005)

No van, they have ordinary cars, well mine did.  Stung me for a grand i owed.  Not letting them in is a feeble tactic, each visit costs you 100 and they just keep coming back, eventually with the police.  They can also list things outside your house on your property.

In my expirience once the baliffs come knocking it really is time to get a grip and pay up.  And after all we really should have paid the tax in the first place....


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## fat hamster (Nov 19, 2005)

Go away.


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## JTG (Nov 19, 2005)

Not letting the bailiffs in is a brilliant tactic. They go away and bother someone not as clued up about the law as you are.


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## Zaskar (Nov 19, 2005)

JTG said:
			
		

> Not letting the bailiffs in is a brilliant tactic. They go away and bother someone not as clued up about the law as you are.


Yes, someone perhaps more vulnerable.... Personally I find these things just haunt me and stress me out.  You never know when they might call again, eventually with the full force of the law.  Also the courts can just put you in clink in the end.  

Maybe I am just a wimp but a I wouldnt like that hanging over me.

Oh,

Fat hamster, get a life.  This is a public board not your silly domain where you are the fat queen.  Go start a private board if you cant cope my sweetie.


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## boskysquelch (Nov 19, 2005)

JTG said:
			
		

> Not letting the bailiffs in is a brilliant tactic. They go away and bother someone not as clued up about the law as you are.



But you have to admit his committment to his Other_selves is alot more creative and flattering to the eye...I for one have to admire his ability to walk in those nine inch perspex_platform_boots and he is very fetching in leopard skin lycra.


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## munkeeunit (Nov 19, 2005)

I think the bailiff issue depends very much on the situation. 

If you're facing the bailiffs because you maxed out on your credit card or catalogue for luxury items you really didn't need or couldn't afford, the political case for not letting in the bailiffs weakens quite a little. 

And if you've got debts of about 20,000 plus, don't listen to Carol Vorderman, and get yourself into a lifetime cripplling debt, just declare yourself bankrupt, it's a lot more painless nowadays, and has been made that way because so many people are on the debt knifedge and they can't all be locked up or bailiffed. 

Fuck the bailiffs, fuck the debt vultures, declare bankruptcy!

2 or 3 years down the line most of your debts will be cleared. You really just have to learn to live within your means and without credit cards in the interim. But, of course, living within our means means accepting  we are not that rich a country once the debt / bailiff / bankruptcy cycle is exhausted.


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## JTG (Nov 19, 2005)

munkeeunit said:
			
		

> 2 or 3 years down the line most of your debts will be cleared. You really just have to learn to live within your means and without credit cards in the interim. But, of course, living within our means means accepting  we are not that rich a country once the debt / bailiff / bankruptcy cycle is exhausted.



This is so true. Since I threw away the cards and got down to clearing the debts I've realised just how little I have. Once the cards have been squashed (first one may be down by Christmas  ), I intend to be a saver, not a debtor


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## munkeeunit (Nov 19, 2005)

I should stress that during the bankruptcy you'll have to lead a very restricted life, as the bankruptcy is public knowledge to all who want to know, but once the bankruptcy period is over you can resume a normal life. Many self employed businesspeople may go through a number of bankrupticies nowadays before they finally get a successful business off the ground (or not).

There is still a stigma attached to it, but nothing like what it was, but it's not really a licence to get into unbelievable debt, and then go 'hey, I'm bankrupt'.

But it is an escape route which I think is often better than Vorderman's parasitic false dawn.


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## fat hamster (Nov 19, 2005)

On the other hand, why bother with the expense and hassle of bancruptcy? If you can just ignore the debts completely, after six years under the Statute of Limitations Act they're wiped from your credit record and it's good as impossible for the creditors to get their money back off you.


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## munkeeunit (Nov 19, 2005)

fat hamster said:
			
		

> On the other hand, why bother with the expense and hassle of bancruptcy? If you can just ignore the debts completely, after six years under the Statute of Limitations Act they're wiped from your credit record and it's good as impossible for the creditors to get their money back off you.



hmmmm... sounds interesting, but isn't this a little like the principle that if you manage to squat, hold a festival, use a pathway for 12 (or is it 13) consecutive years it becomes your property (either private or public).

How often do people manage to last 6 years without being bailiffed, court summonsed or locked up? This isn't a rhetorical question, as I would be interested to know if there's any figures.

Of my head there's about 30,000 bankrupticies a year at present, I think, and is set to sky rocket as the next recession/slowdown hits us.


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## fat hamster (Nov 19, 2005)

HM Revenue and Customs said:
			
		

> *IHTM28384 - Law relating to debts: statute-barred debts*
> If a lender allows time to pass without receiving any payment an action for recovery may become barred.
> 
> Under the Limitations Act 1980 the time limits are: in simple contracts, 6 years; in contracts under seal, 12 years.
> ...


.


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## fat hamster (Nov 19, 2005)

munkeeunit said:
			
		

> How often do people manage to last 6 years without being bailiffed, court summonsed or locked up? This isn't a rhetorical question, as I would be interested to know if there's any figures.


I don't have any figures, but I do know that most of my debts (£20,000+ worth of borrowing during the mid-1990s, on credit cards, store cards and from banks) have disappeared.


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## Sunspots (Nov 19, 2005)

Each to their own, but personally, I think I'd rather just go bankrupt than let stress gnaw away at me for six years.  Draw a line, get it over with, and (-hopefully) learn and move on.  

The alternative of constantly worrying, and having to be dodging bailiffs and the courts for years would just be too much prolonged stress for me!

Although I myself am sometimes guilty of burying my head in the sand, I find that things do feel a whole lot more bearable once I get pro-active and make steps to take control of problems.


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## munkeeunit (Nov 19, 2005)

fat hamster said:
			
		

> I don't have any figures, but I do know that most of my debts (£20,000+ worth of borrowing during the mid-1990s, on credit cards, store cards and from banks) have disappeared.



Sounds workable for some then   but as Sunspots says the stress of playing debt chess and dodgems for 6 years would drive many people bonkers. But if you've got the mental stamina for it...

The person I know who declared bankruptcy was already edging on (or probably had already had) a nervous breakdown at that point, and getting the bankruptcy declaration was possibly literally a life saver for them.

The only other drawback is that it costs a couple of hundred or so to get declared  bankrupt, as they charge admin fees


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## Sunspots (Nov 19, 2005)

munkeeunit said:
			
		

> The only other drawback is that it costs a couple of hundred or so to get declared  bankrupt, as they charge admin fees



A couple of hundred quid _is_ a lot of money if you're already at financial breaking point, but as you say though, drawing that line in the sand might just save someone's sanity or even their life.


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## fat hamster (Nov 19, 2005)

Sunspots said:
			
		

> Each to their own, but personally, I think I'd rather just go bankrupt than let stress gnaw away at me for six years.  Draw a line, get it over with, and (-hopefully) learn and move on.
> 
> The alternative of constantly worrying, and having to be dodging bailiffs and the courts for years would just be too much prolonged stress for me!


It wasn't that stressful, TBH! 

I've not had to deal with any courts or bailiffs, because I made it clear to my creditors at the start that I was a single mum living on benefit in rented accommodation, and that I didn't own or earn anything anyone could take off me.  

After that, all I had to do was STFU!  

(I did, for other reasons, change my address and phone number a couple of times about seven years ago, which may have helped.)

What I do have is an enormous box full of letters from debt collection firms, which I'm saving in order to create some kind of artwork.  Maybe one day I'll do my own "council" version of the KLF money-burning thang.


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## Sunspots (Nov 19, 2005)

fat hamster said:
			
		

> It wasn't that stressful, TBH!



I realise everybody will deal with it differently, and when it comes to debt, some people can keep the stress levels in perspective.  Some things just stress me far more than other things, and money is one of 'em!   




			
				fat hamster said:
			
		

> What I do have is an enormous box full of letters from debt collection firms, which I'm saving in order to create some kind of artwork.  Maybe one day I'll do my own "council" version of the KLF money-burning thang.



Yeah, video it and you can tour the country, exhibiting it prankster-style at places like The Arnolfini.  If you can get enough funding, you might even _make_ money!...


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## fat hamster (Nov 19, 2005)

Sunspots said:
			
		

> I realise everybody will deal with it differently, and when it comes to debt, some people can keep the stress levels in perspective.


To be fair, I was terrified when I first realised I couldn't pay my debts.  They were almost all student debts - even 10-12 years ago, the banks just threw cash at you if you were a full-time student, and I'd bought into a load of hype about getting a full-time, high-paying IT job which turned out to be completely unrealistic.  

It was actually my Lloyds bank manager who gave me practical advice about what to do.  His bank had just taken all my benefit without warning to start paying off a loan (I was in tears when I went to him   ).  He told me where and what to write, and to get another, very basic, bank account with a different bank set up quickly before Lloyds foreclosed on me.  

Around that time I also had a really excellent session with an NLP therapist in Bristol, who literally talked and walked me through the whole process of giving up fighting for some illusory credit rating.  The stress pretty much evaporated there and then, and became just a bunch of old feelings, irrelevant and in the past.  

But what really sticks in my mind was the bank manager saying how much better I'd feel once I'd given up trying to service debts I couldn't afford, and how lots of other people had already gone down that route and found it helpful.  And sure enough, Lloyds froze the interest on the loan and my overdraft, and accepted my offer of £1 a month with very little fuss.  So did all my other creditors.  And I did fell _much_ better.   

As it turned out, I defaulted on the £1 a month arrangements a year or two down the line after I moved house twice in a year and lost the plot a bit for other reasons.  No-one chased me after that, probably because it cost them more than £1 a month to service the payments anyway.


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## Isambard (Nov 19, 2005)

munkeeunit said:
			
		

> If you're facing the bailiffs because you maxed out on your credit card or catalogue for luxury items you really didn't need or couldn't afford, the political case for not letting in the bailiffs weakens quite a little.




That's PARTLY true Munkeeunit but you have to recognise as well how much as we are pushed to consume things we don't need.

Not only that but the expectations in society have risen. When I was a wee lad going to America on holiday was beyond the wilsdest dreams of most people but nowadays not uncommon. To "keep up with the Jonses" it is no longer "god enough" to do a week's holiday on the Dorset coast like we used to, so people get their credit cards out and............ 

I can't believe the Council Tax systrem is so going, should be a local income tax imvho.


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## DaveCinzano (Nov 19, 2005)

i don't feel guilty in the slightest. i contribute to society. amelia court fucked me over. they took more than they should have from me, and created a ripple effect which turned over my carefully-constructed budget.

no regrets, no apologies 

and any bailiffs hoping to leach off my misfortune can go fuck themselves


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## Isambard (Nov 19, 2005)

bristle-krs said:
			
		

> and any bailiffs hoping to leach off my misfortune can go fuck themselves




Put your finger on the pulse there KRS, they are the bloody parasites on society.


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## DaveCinzano (Nov 19, 2005)

Isambard said:
			
		

> Put your finger on the pulse there KRS, they are the bloody parasites on society.



i don't think it's as simple as that. the problem is the system which allows - no, _needs_ - legalised burglars to terrorise the poorest of our communities.


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## Isambard (Nov 19, 2005)

Similar to the way that capitalism NEEDS unemployment?


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## Sunspots (Nov 19, 2005)

Isambard said:
			
		

> Similar in the way that capitalism NEEDS unemployment?



Ah, you beat me to it!


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## Isambard (Nov 19, 2005)

I must admit to reading this recently in a brochure from the S*P: All these "financial services" like when utilities are very quick to sell on the debts of unpaid domestic bills don't actually contribute to society but they do, throught the upwardly spiralling costs create a surplus value that the debtor has to pay and get nothing in return. Almost pure profit?


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## WasGeri (Nov 19, 2005)

I think going bankrupt is a very bad thing and should be avoided where possible. Not only do they have access to all the money you have coming in, but is makes it very difficult to obtain credit in the future. Which doesn't just mean getting a credit card/loan/mortgage but can also affect your tenancy as some places will not let to bankrupts. After all, you never know what is going to happen in the future.


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## munkeeunit (Nov 19, 2005)

Isambard said:
			
		

> That's PARTLY true Munkeeunit but you have to recognise as well how much as we are pushed to consume things we don't need.
> 
> Not only that but the expectations in society have risen. When I was a wee lad going to America on holiday was beyond the wilsdest dreams of most people but nowadays not uncommon. To "keep up with the Jonses" it is no longer "god enough" to do a week's holiday on the Dorset coast like we used to, so people get their credit cards out and............
> 
> I can't believe the Council Tax systrem is so going, should be a local income tax imvho.



I should say, that if these credit card companies and corporations are dumb enough to lend us loads of money thinking they'll get it back, they're the ones to lose the money, not us. 

I'm just saying that there are grey areas. Like the grey area between what we perceive as poverty and need, and what it is really like to live on a $1 a day!

but just because all of us inhabit a few grey areas doesn't mean we deserve to be punished like sinners, and have our stuff knicked by heavies.

Always fuck the bailiff, when our number comes up.


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