I know this has already been on, but did anybody see this show? 
If you didn't, it should be on catch up on demand or repeated on ITV2 later this week. It may even be on catch up on ITV player on the internet.
http://www.thebureauinvestigat...of-bailiffs-exposed/
Not very many things shock me these days, but HOLY SHIT. If all (or most) bailiffs are like this, then some kind of law needs to be brought in to stop them. The behaviour is dreadful and I am sure it can't be legal!
This one guy - I think his name was John Boast - practically terrorised people, and threatened them, and he was hideously racist too... He was chasing some asian folk in Hounslow for some debt, and said to the spy from the tv programme (who was working for him undercover,) 'these f**king p**is won't pay if you don't force them, the dirty bastards don't even clean their toilets, dirty f**king pigs.' And when one asian guy was trying to get in through a window because he had lost his door key, he mocked and said 'get in you f**king c**t,' and said (under his breath) to the other guy, 'knock the f**king smelly little c**t through the window, make the f**king pig squeal.'
I was shocked to discover that these bailiffs work on commission and that are appointed by councils in some cases. They are appointed by the courts too in some cases aren't they? And yet, they work on commission? So they will do ANYthing they can to get that money. They will be intimidating and violent and aggressive, and this one guy even said that he punches people in the throat if they piss him off! Jeeeeeeeez.....
I know that it's not fair when people don't pay council tax and their bills and whatever, because other people have to pay to make up for the lost revenue... but surely you should be looking into the reasons why people aren't paying, and if they can get some financial help... many people arent just bastards who are refusing to pay... Almost everyone these days struggles to pay for the most basic stuff: like electric and gas and food... And many people took on financial commitments several years ago, that they can no longer pay because of job loss, less income, and MUCH higher bills....
Some of the bailiffs and other debt collectors make arrangements with people to pay debts off at say ÂĢ50 a month, and then after a couple of months, they claim that the payment was one day late (even if it wasn't,) and they cancel the plan and come after the people for the money. I know people this has happened to actually.. they have made a payment plan with a debt collector and the debt collector has reneged on it, by making up ANY excuse to cancel the plan!)
It doesn't help when some companies (like big banks and big financial institutions) sell on debts to - shall we say - 'dodgy' and unscrupulous debt collectors, who will do ANYthing to get the money from people, even if they cannot afford to pay.
Also, despite the law that rules how bailiffs should behave, saying that you should be careful with the vulnerable - ie; the elderly, pregnant women, physically and mentally disabled people, and lone women; he thought nothing of bullying a man who had been flagged up as chronically depressed... mocking and laughing at how 'the c**t will probably be in a fit of depression for a month now.'
What a shocking programme and what a DISGUSTING creature this man was. The worrying thing is that he is not alone... It also worries me that he wasnt some 'dodgy loan shark, but an actual official bailiff!
Did anyone else see this?
And I still can't understand why the council use these people. they are beyond dodgy. Even if you go to the CAB, they will make any excuse to renege on the agreement, by saying you missed a payment or something.
