“Abusive” bailiff to be investigated
A Henley businessman has alleged that an overly aggressive bailiff threatened and intimidated one of his staff over a £1,261 debt, branding him “shouting, abusive and very argumentative.”William Smith has made a complaint to debt collection firm Equita, the employers of the bailiff in question, over the incident. They have stated that they “have launched an investigation.”
The bailiff visited Mr Smith’s internet cafe in Henley whilst the businessman was in Belgium and tried to claim £1,261 in unpaid council tax.
It transpires that Equita was trying to extract the debt from Design Technology – Mr Smith’s other firm – and had gotten the wrong address.
Mr Smith said: “My employee was in floods of tears and very distressed. She called me in Belgium and was so upset I told her to call the police. She was cowering in the office.
“His sole purpose appeared to be to cause distress without any consideration for the staff member or members of the public present. He refused to hand over the document to the sales girl for inspection. Instead, he repeatedly announced loudly that ‘the van is on its way.’”
Mr Smith has complained to the Office of Fair Trading, citing 17 breaches of the bailiff’s code of conduct.
He went on to say: “I paid [the debt] over the phone with a debit card but after taking the funds he let out a stream of personal verbal abuse directly towards the sales girl. When she asked why he had such a bad attitude his response was that it was the way he had always carried out the process. This cannot be allowed to carry on.”
Last month, the Insolvency Service released an Insolvency Ethical Code, which outlined how bailiffs should handle recovering debt without using intimidating behaviour. It will come into force at the beginning of next year.
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