A couple have been left horrified after bailiffs repossessed their £22,000 car as punishment – for failing to pay a £35 bus gate fine while they were abroad.
Ravi Oak, 55, and Anu Apte, 53, unknowingly drove through a bus gate in their Mercedes C350E in Chelmsford, Essex, and then went to India for six months because of a family bereavement.
Essex County Council sent a £35 penalty charge notice to the couple’s address in Colchester, Essex, after the incident in November 2022 but it was left unopened due to the couple being abroad.
The charge later doubled to £70 and, because Anu and Ravi were still not at their address to receive the penalty notice, repeated letters to their house were left unopened.
Around five months later, the couple’s friend – who has been checking on their house – discovered the car was missing from their garage – and went into the house to find the unopened letters.
The letters said that the vehicle, which is worth around £22,000, had been repossessed because the bus gate fine hadn’t been paid.
The couple are now considering taking Essex County Court because they do not believe that the notice was properly served.
Ravi said: “We feel cheated and we feel let down, because people have not followed the law.
“We did not receive the notice, so it was not properly served – this is an abuse of power.
“We need other people to know about what has happened and that it is morally wrong.”
In May 2023, Ravi searched the Mercedes’ registration plate online and found the car had been sold at auction for £10,500, half of its estimated value.
After two and a half years of legal wranglings, the couple have now said they are preparing to take a case to the civil court so they can win damages.
Anu said: “It’s a lot of emotional stress, that’s one thing.
“Obviously, money is another thing.
“And then the impact it had at the workplace as well – we become the target of criticism.
“People who didn’t know I was out of the country just think, ‘Why didn’t they pay it? Why couldn’t you just pay the fine?’
“The issue was not that – I wasn’t here and was unaware of it.
“We would have paid the fine if we were in the UK and had known about it.”
An Essex County Council spokesperson said: “If an owner breaches a bus gate they are contacted a number of times.
“This is typically over a four-month period and via letters and in person visits.
“They are given the opportunity to either pay the fine or make representations or appeal.
“For this particular matter, the owner was contacted five times.
“If an owner continues to ignore this repeated correspondence, it is passed to a third-party enforcement agent.
“The agent then follows their own legal process to recover the fines incurred.
“The vehicle could then be at risk of being removed.
“This is very rare and almost all vehicle owners pay before it gets to this point.
“We follow legal process when contacting owners regarding fines.
“We make considerable effort so they aware of the fine and the options they have.”