Our Ref: NELC/10117/1819

Enquiries: Neil Smith

Direct Dial: 01472 325970
E-mail: neil.sm ith@nelincs.gov.uk

~lIrfI~,~.~-·-
~ Date 08.08.2018
Grimsby,
North East Lincolnshire,
DN32 C - I
-~-~-

Private and Confidential

Dear Mr L... it

I am writing in response to your stage 1 complaint dated the 17 July 2018. As my role of
investigating officer it is my responsibility to investigate your complaint and seek to resolve
matters.

I have spoken to relevant personnel and read the supporting documentation as part of the
investigation process. I will now attempt to address each of your concerns in turn.

Complaint 1: The delivering of a Notice of Enforcement by North East Lincolnshire

Councils approved enforcement agents Jacobs and the Enforcement Fee charged.

I can make you aware that I have spoken with Jacobs Enforcement Agent and they have sent
the following report regarding their actions.

Case Summary

• The above account was issued to us to collect on your behalf in May 2018 and in line
with regulations the case progressed through Compliance; incurring a fee of £75.00.
This meant that the statutory Notice of Enforcement was issued to Mr _. :t on the
22nd May 2018, which requested that he contact our office to prevent further recovery
action being taken and also advising of the fee for £235.00 that would be incurred
should this action be necessary.

• It is not a requirement for us to issue further communications once the statutory Notice
of Enforcement has been sent. However to try and avoid the attendance of an
Enforcement Agent and the associated fees of at least £235.00, two further non
statutory letters were sent to him on the 1st and 11th June 2018. In an attempt to
encourage contact however this proved unsuccessful.

• The case progressed to the Enforcement Stage as Mr C··':..•d failed to contact us and
our Enforcement Agent Mr Menzies was correctly allocated on the 26th June 2018
with the instruction to visit his property to collect the full outstanding amount or to
remove goods for sale at auction.

Information, Governance and Complaints Team

Municipal Offices, Town Hall Square, Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire. DN311HU
 • He made his first visit to the property on the 10th July 2018 at 06:20 but was unable to
make contact with anyone so our Agent left a letter requesting that Mr ~.··...,tt contact
him direct in order to make payment As warned in our previous corresporldence the
Enforcement Fee of £235.00 was correctly raised at this point

Outcome

We have noted the concerns raised by Mr ,....,J regarding the location in which he found the
letter left by Mr Menzies on the 10th July 2018.

We can confirm that all our Enforcement Agents wear video badges and record all of their
visits from approaching the premises to returning to their vehicle and this is whether contact is
made or not As such we have been able to watch the footage from Mr Menzies visit on the
10th July 2018.

The video footage clearly shows that when Mr Menzies arrived at the property that he was
unable to gain access through the main door to the building and as such he posted a letter in
a sealed envelope through the slight gap in the doorframe.

We advise that if an Enforcement Agent is unable to gain access to the appropriate letterbox
at a property they are allowed to leave the letter in a safe place visible to the addressee. No
specific details relating to the account would be visible unless the letter was opened by
someone other than Mr=-~ ...<;{TI--howeverthe letters are always left in sealed envelopes so
should only be opened by the addressee.

The Taking Control of Goods Regulations 2013 state:

Method of giving notice and who must give it

8.-(1) Notice of enforcement must be given-

(d)where there is no letterbox, by affixing the notice at or in a place where it is likely

to come to the attention of the debtor; .

The above regulations state that notice can be fixed or placed somewhere where it is likely to
come to the attention of the addressee and as such Mr Menzies has acted correctly in the
delivery of his letter.

We are somewhat puzzled by Mr C···· _,,,sstatement that the letter left by Mr Menzies states
that goods have been taken control of as this is incorrect The letter merely advises that
further fees would be incurred should removal of goods take place.

With reference to Mr G_"':_« s concerns regarding the Enforcement Fee of £235.00 that has
been incurred.

As an Enforcement Agency the fees we raise are set by Parliament and not by ourselves or
you the Local Authority. They are fixed stage fees that have been incurred correctly and are
prescribed under the Taking Control of Goods (Fees) Regulations 2014.

The Enforcement Stage Fee of £235.00 is raised upon the first visit to the relevant property
by an Enforcement Agent A case will move to the Enforcement Stage either because the
person named on the account has failed to contact us within the specified timescale, or
because they have defaulted on any arrangements they have made with us. For larger
balances and multiple cases, please note an additional fee of 7.5% of the debt over £1 ,500 is
charged on top of the £235.00. In this case, the account progressed to the Enforcement
Stage because Mr r j
failed to respond to our attempts to correspond with him.
Outcome:
I do not uphold this part of your complaint as Jacobs Enforcement Agents have acted
in adherence to the regulations with regards to the delivery of the notice and the
charging of fees.

Complaint 2: The Summons received dated 15th September 2015.

Although you have provided a scanned copy of the document you received, it is not possible
for me to independently verify if it arrived in the post that way. Also due to the fact that this
matter is now nearly 3 years of age it would be deemed as out of scope for us to investigate.

I can make you aware that processes and procedures are in place to make sure that post is
handled correctly, however I will issue a reminder to staff to ensure appropriate steps
continue to be taken.

Outcome:
I am unable to make a finding with regards to this part of your complaint as it is not
possible to verify that the document arrived at your address that way.

As part of our efforts to continually improve services we consider learning from complaints to
be an important part of developing our services to the community. Should you feel that your
complaint has not been satisfactorily resolved, you can escalate to stage 2 of our complaints
process where it will be reviewed by a senior officer. Please contact the complaints team
should you wish to take your complaint to the next stage at the address below, by telephone
on (01472) 326426 or email res-customerservices@nelincs.gov.uk.

Yours sincerely

Neil Smith
North East Lincolnshire Council

Information, Governance and Complaints Team

Municipal Offices, Town Hall Square, Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire. DN311HU