An ITV documentary screened last night has once again thrown the spotlight on an industry shrouded by misconceptions.
An undercover reporter filming for ITV1’s Exposure: Bailiffs followed a senior bailiff named John Boast who was collecting outstanding monies owed to Hounslow Council. Boast, who at the time worked for Rossendales Collection Agency, was supposed to be training the undercover reporter but was frequently seen flouting industry guidelines. Scenes showed Boast, who Rossendales chief executive Julie Green-Jones described as a “rogue bailiff”, threatening debtors, charging for ‘phantom visits’, and working during anti-social hours.
This is not the first time that ‘rogue bailiffs’ have brought the industry in to disrepute after being exposed by undercover reporters. Five years ago BBC One’s Whistleblower exposed the darker side of bailiffs. A nine month long undercover investigation followed two of the country’s biggest bailiffs companies – Drakes and CCS Enforcement Services. The documentary showed bailiffs lying about their powers, clamping cars without authority and breaking into people’s houses.
The industry was rocked by accusations of widespread abuse of the guidelines that were supposed to protect the general public. Many industry leaders called for greater government legislation to prevent a re-occurrence of the events screened five years ago, however this clearly hasn’t prevented individuals slipping through the net. Once again the industry will be under scrutiny once for all the wrong reasons.
This is not the first time that ‘rogue bailiffs’ have brought the industry in to disrepute …The industry was rocked by accusations of widespread abuse of the guidelines that…
What would your writer have said had Pip Clothier produced the programme wholly on the death of Accrington veteran Robert “Andy” Miller? A man died – duty of care- after his children had been threatened by a bailiff dressed almost as a policeman and a MoJ inquiry was so porous that it was never allowed to be challenged? It is being challenged and like the Hillsborough fiasco will not go away until the Industry answers question the politicians are terrified to ask.
I trust John Boast is now assisting police with enquiries regarding assault, theft, false accounting, public order offences section 4 and 5, demanding money with menaces, twoc, etc. Sling him in jail then find the others who act like him as well and put them in the same prison. They will know who was responsible for drawing attention to their illegal activities and true justice will be dished out.
It’s outrageous that Mr Boast should give such information to a trainee and a warning to anyone in the trade to be on their guard for undercover reporters.
Why the trainee wasn’t searched for cameras and recorders beforehand we cannot guess?
A customary quiet bailiff good kicking would be the norm if he were sniffed out.
Everyone in the country is aware of what the debtors do to dodge their arrears and everyone in the country knows what the bailiffs do to get paid.
It’s merely a question of who can appear to be complying with the law the best.
Ultimately it’s the councils and the courts that act naive and sanctimonious yet really are more corrupt than either the bailiffs or the debtors.
I don’t what kind of idiot they take the public for, but it isn’t fooling anyone.
Mr Albert Dryden, spoken like a true rogue bailiff if I’m not mistaken.
I take it you condone or encourage the John Boast bullying, racism, and everything else about him which makes him a nasty piece of work then?
For those of you that missed ITV’s “Exposure – Bailiffs”, you can watch it on the ITV Player at http://www.itv.com/itvplayer/video/?Filter=285406.
Hello,
The matter of bailiffs’ behaviour and lack of regulation in this country is to put it mildly, staggeringly disappointing. This problem has existed for at least 30 years if not more and the prevalent attitude of Rossendales and its directors is evident in the totally bias representation of the current blog at the “thecampaignforchange” website.
The moderation of that site is to ensure no negative contributions, so “we are right, you are wrong and you will be told” is the obvious motto. It is like all dictators, what’s good for them is not necessarily good for you and me. I am sickened by the sycophantic rubbish being written in that article and its supporters. The truth is that It is well known locally that Rossendales is an excellent company to work for; especially for salaried, office personnel so undying support from that area is no surprise. So credit then (pardon the pun), where it is due.
However the truth about what goes on out in the field is worlds apart from that severely hyped ethic.
A question; if John Boast is just one “rogue bailiff”, how does a very well known firm justify employing a man who has worked exclusively for them for over 20 years despite knowing he has a criminal record for armed robbery?
On to the comments made by Julie Green-Jones regarding who Rossendales is “after” in terms of its typical debtor profile.
A question; if Rossendales is truly “not after the people that can’t pay” can someone explain how the comment made in the programme “but at the moment the country is literally flooded with those that can’t pay” sits with Rossendales’ agenda? Oh it doesn’t, does it.. If people “can’t pay” then why burden them with additional extortionate costs and hardship? Does that make any sense, to anyone?
Finally, if anyone wants to know what kind of people are really involved in the debt collection industry at the “certificated bailiff” level, please read the following which was all in regards to an unreasonable parking ticket (aren’t they all).
Dean.
I have been on the receiving end of a Chimp working for the same Company, his playground style aggression and threats came to the same as Mr Boast! He has well and truly been outed when I filmed him and his monkey trying to threaten me while my three year old twins were next to me in the doorway – whatever you try to dress this up with, the industry needs completely revamping with policies and procedures to stop ‘threats,agressive behaviour and especially the ‘holier than thou’ rubbish these shaven headed yobs spout…just in case you were wondering, they were here as a result of an error by the local Council who have apologised – the Chimp hasnt….but he will
I feel that to many people jump to the conclusion that all bailiffs are bad, if we are tarring all bailiffs with the same brush as Mr Boast, we are no better than the racist bigot himself.
Yes there are some idiots doing the job who let the power go to their heads and manipulate the system to make excessive amounts of fees, and these are the people that legislation should be brought in to guard against but lets face it, these guys (and girls) are doing a very difficult job.
Recovering outstanding monies is a thankless task, bailiffs are abused and threatened with violence on a daily basis and they should be paid well to work in such an environment. Debtors are not blameless either, they can manipulate the system as well as the next man to avoid paying what they owe for years at a time, and as a result we all have to pay more.
Each individual case must be judged on its own merit and unfortunately that relies on the judgement of the bailiff working the case at the time.
One thing must be remembered though, without the use of bailiffs, without any recompense for not paying whats due, there would be complete anarchy, so whilst we lambast the unscrupulous bailiffs who take advantage of their authority, we must applaud the sterling work of the majority who keep our country ticking over.
My apologies, I made a mess of the links I wanted to include..
http://myreader.co.uk/msg/130325839.aspx
http://myreader.co.uk/msg/130333125.aspx
Take particular note of the posted named “DC” and the links he provided to his website and published books.
john boast is from great harwood nr blackburn and is a well known bully boy…….years ago he was outed form doing a scam collecting charity for romania ! but it never got there this baliff show just what rossendales is all about…cunning , and dam right nasty threatening poor people ,mr boast should remember that in his home town of great harwood there is a huge population of nice asian familys ….and i bet he doesnt shout from the roof tops about his dislike of f***ing pakis does he ??? not laughing now are you mr boast
No he does not come from Great Harwood wish people would get their facts straight,
To Objective Observer,
Not at all. Indeed, commercial enterprise would grind to a half without some protection against bad debtors and many bailiffs provide a valuable service, in the area of leased/rented property for example.
But the issue is that anyone with even the slightest knowledge or “experience” of bailiffs will know that the “majority” are just like John Boast, and worse. In addition, I would question why a company as large as Rossendales need to declare a desire for “change” to be brought about through parliament.. Why wait? Why not ‘lead from the front’ and simply get its own house in order (you can certainly afford it)? Perhaps the answer lies in the idea of bolstering a manufactured reputation.
Did someone mention a Hypocritic Oaf ?
Typical – someone complaining about John Boast giving out too much information to a trainee…..
Sour grapes that the Racist, Obnoixous peice of work has been caught red handed.
Indeed Baliffs have a job to do, and not a particularly easy one- though there is a way to go about it, instead of strutting round like some “god”.
The last baliff I had any dealings with was hassling an elderly next door neighbour who had just moved into a propery occupied by some idiots who had run up £1000s of debt.
The baliiffs / debt recovery agents didn’t bother to check this out in the first place- the baliffs just turned up in their all “We’re god” attitude.
Their van had blocked my drive- I asked politely if they could move it so I could get out- I was greeted with abuse, and threatened with the police for “causing a disturbance” and “obstructing a baliff”….
I called the police and notifed them my drive was obstructed- the police turned up 4 hours later (after the monkeys had gone)- and was told to complain to the Baliff company…. the legendary “Rossendales”… who did sweet FA about it.
In short- They have a job (not an easy one to do)- most baliffs to me are failed Nightclub Doormen, with about as much IQ as pondlife.
Until this industry is cleaned up and correctly regulated- I’m afraid all the decent law abiding ones (and I am certain there are many of them working) will be tarred with the same brush.
I have never been so wound up by a programme, a cheap one at that, and the things that i have discovered in the three days since. I am sure like most people I was outraged by the behaviour of the bailiff, having never had a liability I had never come across a bailiff before. What an idiot but after some reflection I think the only people he let down was his family and friends. He lost his job, no problem with that – he brought it on himself, my problem though is all the negative things I have heard, read or seen about the industry since.
I could not believe the Rossendales statement on their website that they collect £92 million a year – so I contacted Hounslow – they would not speak to me about Rossendales specifically but they say they have 3 bailiff companies working for them and the collections last year were £5 million. I was staggered – that can’t have come just from people on benefit or income support etc – no they told me it didn’t, those on benefit etc get exemptions. So who are all these sorry folk that bailiffs prey on??
My business contributes just over £125,000.00 to our local authority, what do I get for that? Not a lot but it is what we have to pay and do pay. If I knew others on my estate or in my industry weren’t paying then I would have to ask, why should I pay.
Clearly we want rid of the John Boasts of the world but people that think all bailiffs should be used for target practice are no better than the Boasts of this world.
The industry needs sorting and whilst I am not exalting Rossendales I have been on their Campaign for change blog and voted for legislative change – the govt should do something and not sweep the problem under the carpet like it seems they did 5 years ago.
Rant over.
Mr Boast was a plain speaking northerner and a bit of a bigot. I get the feeling that he carried out his work without much of a problem generally but dealing with doley scumbags who suck the country dry and borrow money they can’t afford to pay back must turn you a bit sour! Showing the right clips can make anyone look bad. So he wasn’t PC – so what! The country is getting bled dry by foreigners and white trash who think they deserve a free ride!
Lainey Haywood’s comments are right; and if you all read Enoch Powells ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech, you would wake up and smell the coffee !
Enoch’s speech was delivered to the world in April 1968, but when you read it, you would be forgiven for mistaking that it could have been written yesterday.
Undercover documentaries always paint the picture they want to, and after very selective editing always make the bad-guy resemble the scum of the earth. John Boast is a working man who was only doing his job to eradicate the ‘won’t pays’ from the ‘can’t pays’ and if his tactics were to suggest payment as opposed to insist on payment, then he would not have been doing his job.
Sorry to hear you lost your livelyhood John – but I know you will come good from it.