Bailiff Damaged Your Car After Removing It

Once controlled goods are removed, the enforcement agent owes express statutory duties concerning their care, condition and storage.

The governing duties

Paragraph 35(1) of Schedule 12 to the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 requires the enforcement agent to take reasonable care of controlled goods removed from the premises or highway where they were found.

Regulation 34(1) of The Taking Control of Goods Regulations 2013 additionally requires removed controlled goods, other than securities:

• to be kept, while under the enforcement agent's control, in a similar condition to that in which they were found immediately before control was taken;
• to be removed to storage unless they are removed for sale; and
• to be stored securely in conditions that prevent damage or deterioration.

Regulation 34(2) of The Taking Control of Goods Regulations 2013 prohibits removal to a place where a prohibition or restriction imposed by or under an enactment would be contravened.

Preserve the evidence

Record the condition before collection and again before leaving the compound. Take dated photographs and video of every side, wheel, panel, window, interior, mileage, dashboard warnings, keys and contents. Ask promptly for the enforcement agent's inventory, condition report, removal and storage records, body-worn video, compound CCTV, photographs, vehicle-movement records and details of any contractor involved.

Give written notice of the alleged damage without delay. Identify each defect, explain why it was not pre-existing, invite inspection, and preserve replaced parts where reasonably possible. Obtain itemised repair evidence and proof of any consequential loss. Market-value loss, loss of use and causation are fact-sensitive and must be proved.

Remedy

Where the evidence establishes a breach of Schedule 12 to the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, paragraph 66 of Schedule 12 to the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 may permit proceedings for return of goods or damages, subject to its statutory conditions and limitations. Rule 84.13 of The Civil Procedure Rules 1998 provides that the debtor may proceed by application supported by evidence of the alleged breach or defective instrument.

Liability is not established merely by showing that damage exists after removal. The condition at the outset, chain of custody, compliance with paragraph 35 of Schedule 12 to the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 and regulation 34 of The Taking Control of Goods Regulations 2013, causation and quantum all require evidence.

Template: Notice of Damage to Controlled Goods.

Template: Pre-Action Letter of claim to recover the cost of the repairs.