Better Regulation of Enforcement Officers Required

Thursday 6 Sep, 2007

Bad practices and outright fraud of enforcement officers has been in the media recently. However in a letter to The Department of Constitutional Affairs, Daniels Silverman call for better regulation to "stamp out the cowboys".

Whilst it is important to ensure that those who owe money are dealt with firmly and swiftly, recent media reports of criminal practices by certain bailiffs have caused shock amongst the legitimate debt collection industry.

Dominic Cooper, solicitor at Daniels Silverman, said:-

"As a solicitor dealing with client's cases as Daniels Silverman involved in the collection of significant amounts of debt every week, I regularly see cases where obstinate debtor try to evade their responsibilities and keep money that properly should go to their creditors."

"However, that can be no excuse for the sort of law-breaking and criminal behaviour we have seen in the media lately. Such breaches of the law have no place in modern society, and we have today called for proper regulation of the sector in a letter to Baroness Ashton of Upholland, minister at the Department of Constituional Affairs."

Daniels Silverman do not employ the private bailiffs firms of the type that have been criticised recently, and only use officially employed County Court bailiffs, or properly registered High Court Enforcement Officers. Dominic continued:-

"There really is no need for the illegal tactics that have been seen recently, as for the properly trained debt collection professional, there is a wide range of tools available to legally obtain money from those who can pay but won't pay."

"Not only that, there is a real feeling amongst our Local Authority clients, who could use such private bailiff's firms for their Parking Fine and Council Tax collection, that the severe damage to their reputation that may occur with being associated with such firms, could damage the public confidence in their local authority."

The letter, a copy of which is available on request, calls for proper regulation of private bailiffs, and easy to use means of redress for aggrieved debtors and creditors.