Mr A complained that HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) sent bailiffs to the wrong address under the terms of a warrant to recover money he was owed. Mr A complained about how HMCTS dealt with his complaint. He said the court was difficult to contact and it did not update him properly about what the bailiffs were doing to get his money back.
What happened
Mr A had applied to court for bailiffs to carry out a warrant. The bailiffs visited the correct property but no one was there so they could not get Mr A's money back. HMCTS and the bailiffs did not give Mr A proper updates so he did not know what was happening or why the bailiffs had not managed to get his money back. The court told him he had written the wrong address on the application but it did not explain why it reached this conclusion. He asked to see his application but HMCTS had lost it. It repeatedly told Mr A that it would send it to him, but never did. Following his complaint, HMCTS offered Mr A £150 as compensation. Mr A did not think this was enough. He wanted HMCTS to pay him the value of the debt he was owed but which the bailiffs did not recover.
What we found
We partly upheld this complaint. The bailiffs' actions were reasonable: they tried to execute the warrant correctly and in line with the requirements. However, HMCTS should not have lost Mr A's warrant application. Its communication and complaint handling was extremely poor. Its mistakes caused Mr A frustration, confusion, inconvenience and a loss of faith in the system.
Putting it right
HMCTS apologised to Mr A and paid him £250. We did not ask HMCTS to pay Mr A the value of the debt owed to him because he had a charging order in place to recover that amount and the bailiffs' actions were reasonable.
HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS)
UK
Not applicable
Apology
Compensation for non-financial loss