Own the vehicles in a leasing company.
Taxi and private hire vehicles are vulnerable to traffic contraventions, and bailiff companies enforcing unpaid traffic contravention debts target the vehicles on the street using Number Plate Recognition Cameras.[1]
To protect your car rental fleet from drive-by enforcement, the vehicle stock should be owned and managed in the following way.
Create two separate companies at Companies House.[2]
We will call them Company A, and Company B.
Give Company A a different postal address from Company B.
The address for Company B should be a private house, because residential addresses are protected by law from bailiffs because they cannot enter any domestic property using reasonable force to recover a traffic contravention debt.[3]
Company A can be any address. You can even use an off-the-shelf address.[4] Bear in mind you pay a small fee for forwarding mail including vehicle tax reminders.
Buy and own all your rental vehicle stock in Company A, and be sure to keep a record of the flow of money from Company A to the seller or dealership, and get the seller to make a bill of sale or invoice out to Company A. That way, Company A can prove it owns the car rental stock. Company A must also keep the vehicle service history, and MOT documents in its name, and never in the name of Company B.
Company A leases the car to Company B, and the leasing agreement must show that Company B is the registered keeper on the V5 with the DVLA. Company B can maintain the vehicle's road tax. The address of Company B is where all the traffic contravention notices and vehicle tax reminders will go.
Now you have the vehicles owned by Company A and the registered keeper is Company B.
Get a mobile phone SIM card in the name of Company A, and put that mobile number on the V5 new keeper slip when registering the new keeper details with the DVLA. When a traffic debt is passed to bailiffs, and if they have trouble finding the contravention vehicle, they start sending nuisance text messages.[5]
Company B hires out the vehicles to hire & reward drivers using a regulated vehicle hire agreement that is compliant with Schedule 2 to the Road Traffic (Owner Liability) Regulations 2000.[6]
When company Company B hires a vehicle, it must keep a file copy of the signed vehicle hire agreement, the drivers photocard driving licence, evidence of the hirer's address together with a copy of the driver’s hire & reward insurance.
When the vehicle hirer commits a traffic contravention using the hire vehicle and attracts a traffic contravention penalty, the authority will give a Notice to Owner (NTO) to the address of Company B, the registered keeper.[7]
Company B completes and returns the NTO to the authority naming the hirer as the driver, and encloses a copy of the vehicle hire agreement, the copy of the hirer's driving photocard license, evidence of the hirer's address and hire & reward insurance document. The Authority will then pursue the hirer.
If the NTO is not returned and the traffic contravention debt is not paid, the authority will apply for a warrant of control, in the name of Company B, the registered keeper,[8] then instruct bailiffs to visit the registered address for Company B to recover the unpaid debt.[9]
There is no power for bailiffs recovering unpaid traffic contravention debts to enter a domestic property using reasonable force,[3] and the bailiffs leave.
The bailiff company will add the vehicle registration into an unofficial database, which is shared with other bailiff companies, who crawl the streets in vans with Number Plate Recognition Cameras.[1]
When a bailiff in a van finds the vehicle on the street, they will take control of it by clamping the car.[10]
Note: This method of enforcement using Number Plate cameras has not been officially approved, but the authorities tolerate it provided the bailiff company accepts the risks of taking control of goods without complying with enforcement regulations requiring bailiffs to give a Notice of Enforcement,[11] or an inventory,[12][13] when taking control of goods, or taking control of goods that do not belong to the debtor.[14]
After a vehicle hirer reports that bailiffs have clamped the hire vehicle on the street, Company A makes a third party claim.[15][16]
If the bailiff sent nuisance text messages to the registered keepers number belonging to Company A, screenshots of those text messages may be given in evidence proving that Company A is the lawful owner. Never reply to a bailiff's nuisance text message.
Company A may recover damages for the loss of use of the hired vehicle, including wasted vehicle leasing payments, insurance and road tax while the vehicle is under the bailiffs control, and the cost of any repairs or safety inspections to the leased vehicle,[17] together with costs.[18][19][20]
Company B may also recover damages for loss of use of the vehicle, because they are leasing it and being deprived of its use enables them to recover damages, including their wasted leasing payments for the car while it is under the bailiff's control, a injunction,[17] together with costs.[18][19][20]
The private hire driver may also bring an action to recover damages, because the car is exempt goods and he may make a claim,[21] for his loss of earnings and his wasted hire & reward insurance Premiums while the hired car is under the bailiffs control,[17] together with his costs.[18][19][20] The private hire driver making the claim does not have to be the same person that incurred the original traffic contravention debt.
[1] See Bailiffs and drive-by clamping and enforcement.
[2] See: Companies House, Register a public or private company
[3] Paragraph 18(a)(1)(d) of Schedule 12 of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007
[4] See Simple Company Formations, 22 Wenlock Road, London N1 7GU
[5] Schedule 2 of the Road Traffic (Owner Liability) Regulations 2000
[6] See Bailiffs sending nuisance text messages - dealing with bailiff text pests
[7] Section 172 of the Road Traffic Act 1988
[8] Civil Procedure Rule 75.3
[9] Paragraph 14(6) of Schedule 12 of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007
[10] Paragraph 13(1)(b) of Schedule 12 of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007
[11] Contrary to: Paragraph 7.1 of Schedule 12 of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007
[12] Contrary to: Paragraph 34 of Schedule 12 of the Tribunals Courts and Enforcement Act 2007
[13] Regulation 33 of the Taking Control of Goods Regulations 2013
[14] Paragraph 10 of Schedule 12 of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007
[15] Civil Procedure Rule 85.4
[16] See Making a third-party claim to controlled goods
[17] Section 3 of the Torts (Interference with Goods) Act 1977
[18] Civil Procedure Rule 46.5
[19] Civil Procedure Rule 46.5
[20] Practice Direction 46.5 Rule 3.1
[21] Civil Procedure Rule 85.8
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