And it’s easy to ignore till they’re knocking on the door of your homes
This has been on the cards for a little while but it now looks like the crazy bastards are actually going to do it:
The government has been accused of trampling on individual liberties by proposing wide-ranging new powers for bailiffs to break into homes and to use “reasonable force” against householders who try to protect their valuables.
So with soaring debt, rising unemployment, gas and electricity bills still sky high we’re going allow bailiffs to kick doors in. Apparently ‘the new powers would be overseen by a robust industry watchdog’ but will that be before or after some burly skinhead in a bomber jacket has had you in a headlock?
‘Bailiffs for private firms would for the first time be given permission to restrain or pin down householders.’ Are they all going to be given rigorous training in methods of restraint? The chokehold, maybe? Perhaps the ‘nose distraction‘. Let’s hope so although, as the police and the prison service can tell you, all the training in the world doesn’t always mean a mutually satisfactory outcome.
You could call this another front in New Labour’s war on the poor but the thing is, they way things are going right now, the number of people who could end up on the receiving end of this is growing by the day. It’ll probably take a nice, respectable white middle-class stockbroker, who’s down on his luck and has photogenic children, to be killed or seriously injured before people realise that this isn’t just about keeping the underclass nervous.
It’s teaching all of us to never, ever, be poor. To never, ever, have a run of bad luck. Keep your head down and keep kissing the boss’ arse. Bite your tongue over your pay and conditions. Come in a bit earlier and stay a bit later. Don’t forget you’re the smallest of cog in this economy – a little fear should keep you lubricated and in good working order a little while yet.
So, who’ll be the first to be killed, do you think? A bailiff kitchen-knifed in self-defence or a householder strangled on his or her lounge carpet? I would say place your bets but we’re really going to have to be careful with the pennies from now on.
Posted on December 22nd, 2008 at 8:40 am
I’ve done some shit jobs in me time as an outof-work actor and due to my 2 metre tall frame I did a little bit of baliff work as a youth.
It’s a bloody terrible shambles and utterly horrible.
‘Robust industry watchdog’ you say? Well, I’m comforted.
“It’ll probably take a nice, respectable white middle-class stockbroker, who’s down on his luck and has photogenic children”
…or someone who doesn’t actually owe anyone anything at all, but the useless bastards have got the wrong address. Seriously – given the amount of debt-collection-agency crap I’ve had over the years despite never actually having any unpaid debt, I’m deeply unamused by the prospect that the cunts can break into my house and beat me up in order to steal my stuff to pay off debts that I don’t owe…
I’m in the middle of an ongoing dispute with a debt-collection agency who are convinced that I owe about a thousand quid to a bank I never had an account with. It’s been going on for almost a year now and the letters have become increasingly threatening. Ultimately it’s going to blow my credit rating out of the water as there’s no sodding way I’m coughing up a grand I don’t owe, and won’t be flying to the UK to attend a court hearing (it’s a UK bank I’m supposed to be in debt to). But despite sending at least a dozen letters to them, I have received nothing but those ever more threatening form letters.
I just ignore the letters now. I very much doubt UK bailiffs will have a legal right to break into an Irish address, so I’m at least safe from the threat of being beaten up for a debt I don’t owe (and as for my credit rating… well, I suspect I won’t be in the market for credit in the medium term anyway). But if I was still living in the UK I suspect I’d be tempted to pay off the debt given that it will soon carry the threat of physical violence.
What utter bastards we elect, eh? And still we never seem to learn.
Have to agree with John B. The last flat I lived in was forever getting random letters and calls about debts accumulated with various companies (utilities and banks mostly) by a previous tenant.
They tried to break in once, I know because they left a letter tucked into the doorframe and the high security door lock was mysteriously all jammed up and had to be replaced.
Of course, under this legislation they could have kicked the door down and just taken my stuff. It’s actually pretty frightening, because if they took my laptop I’d be pretty screwed workwise and what’s the chances of getting it back in working order?
Also, it’s worth noting that the existing laws on debt collection are ludicrously biased against you when the corporation has made a mistake. One gym company erroneously had me down as owing them a bit of money. We corresponded and I asked for proof of the transaction. They didn’t have any so they sent it to a debt collector, whose tame solicitor started sending me letters. I wrote back asking for proof once again. They wrote back with a county court date at their end of the country. Just for me to attend would cost me more than the bill in question. There’s a huge amount of legalised extortion goes on.
They obviously want to ensure people pay up the interest on their social fund loans.
A couple of years back in Derbyshire a woman killed herself after being harangued by bailiffs chasing a debt that wasn’t even hers.
She actually paid some of it off before taking her own life, because they wouldn’t leave her alone. These are the people we’re allowing to manhandle us – madness. But my bet is that it’s a bailiff that gets done in first. An Englishman’s home…
[...] Chicken Yoghurt has a post on something that escaped me as I’ve been out of the country – bailiffs are now going to be allowed to break into people’s houses and assault them… this is the most evil thing this government has yet done, and it’s done a lot of [...]
[...] (see also Chicken Turkey Yoghurt.) [...]
Well, I certainly hope nobody throws any shoes at them, is all I can say.
[...] regulated and no reforms are currently before parliament. So Mr Fib is visiting perhaps. Justin @ Chicken/Turkey Yoghurt has it right – You could call this another front in New Labour’s war on the poor but the thing [...]
[...] absurd decisions as a joke to see what they can get away with. This and their recent decision to allow bailiffs to smash people’s doors down and beat up the occupants are obvious examples of the [...]
Metatone said:
Of course, under this legislation they could have kicked the door down and just taken my stuff. It’s actually pretty frightening, because if they took my laptop I’d be pretty screwed workwise and what’s the chances of getting it back in working order?
What happens if a “bailiffed” laptop contains sensitive information, say the personal/banking details of thousands of clients? The kind of information Dear Home Sec doesn’t want getting lost and the story appearing in the Daily Hell?
Does the bailiff now “own” the information on the laptop or just the laptop? Could they sell that on to recoup funds?
How would HMG explain these data protection failures when it is the direct consequence of their own legislation?
[...] Liberal Conspiracy on Derek Draper’s Blue State Digital meeting. Read the comments.9. Chicken Turkey Yoghurt exposes new plans to give bailiffs more powers.10. James Cleverly, a member of the MPA, on Bob [...]
This is old, old “news”.
Like, over 18 months old.
Question is, what purpose does the reincarnation of this “news” serve?
My guess is that it is a mere smoke and mirrors type exercise… a confection (albeit a nasty tasting one), a distraction… so while the bloggeratti demonstrate their angst regarding this, what are the fuckers really sneaking under the radar…?
This is just such an appalling proposal from New Labour. I was on the receiving end of bailiffs some years ago, and they were bad enough in the old days when they had to stick a foot in the door to get in and couldn’t attack you.
This is valuing debt owed to large companies above people’s basic human rights. Words fail me.
[...] was entirely predictable, indeed predicted. The Conservatives used to be called the “Nasty Party”, but I think that label fits New [...]
[...] Remember back in December when we heard about the government ‘proposing wide-ranging new powers for bailiffs to break into homes and to use “reasonable force” against householders who try to protect their valuables’ and we wondered how long it would be before someone ended up dead? [...]
[...] it?s easy to ignore till they?re knocking on the door of your homes http://www.chickyog.net/2008/12/22/a…of-your-homes/ This has been on the cards for a little while but it now looks like the crazy bastards are [...]
[...] the strong-arm of the political law makers of the country. With new laws that allow these firms to break in to our homes without a warrant or our agreement it’s surely only an issue of semantics as to whether or not you agree that the UK does fall [...]
[...] those government plans ‘proposing wide-ranging new powers for bailiffs to break into homes and to use “reasonable [...]
[...] Tom Harris MP is annoyed that bloggers haven’t noticed the fact that New Labour has backed away from its proposal to let bailiffs break into people’s homes and hit them. [...]
Just when you think New Labour can sink no further …