30/01/2009 67 ighten road

BURNLEY

LANCS

BB12 0HP

Dear sir or madam,

i would like to relate to you a situation that happened to me in the hope that it does not happen to anyone else.

In March of 2006 i was diagnosed with a condition called plural plaques,a form of asbestosis i was given a sick note for five years because it affects the breathing and i found that i could no longer do the work i used to do.

I owed my local council some money for council tax,i went down to there office and explained to an officer that i was unemployed and could we come to some agreement as to how i could repay these arreas.

The officer told me to leave it with them and they would get back to me with a repayment schedule,the next i heard from them them was to appear in our local magistrates court for none payment.I appeared a few weeks later and spoke to an officer from the council and came to an agreement that they would take £3 per week out of my benifits.The council started taking the money out of my benifits on the16/10/2006.

In Febuary of 2007 i went outside my home to discover that someone had run into the back of my car and drove off without leaving their name and address or reporting it to the police.A neighbour who lives across the road luckily has a cctv camera on his home and it looks down the drive to where my car was parked accross the road.On checking through the tape we found that my car had been hit by a parks and gardens pickup owned by the council.The council denied that it was one of their vehicles even when i produced a copy of the tape and a witness statement.After numerous letters and phone calls, that ony got me passed around from department to department i informed the council that i would have no choice but to take them to the small claims court to reclaim the damage costs to my car.

I reported this incident to the police but was informed it was a civil matter and that i would have to employ a solicitor to take the driver to court.When i gave the police evidence of the incident i was told that the statue of limitions had run out ,even though i had reported it within 2 weeks of the accident.I thought that for any type of crime there was no time limit.I got the impression that if it was a crime that the local council had commited then the police turned a blind eye to it.

In August of 2007 i recieved a letter of the council stating that they wanted all my arrears paid within 21 days or they would take me to court and apply for a bankruptcy order,i went down to my local council office and explained to them that i was already paying off the arrears at £3 per week through my benifits and i could prove this with a statement from the D.W.P.,two weeks later on the 11/9/2007, i recieved a letter from the D.W.P.saying that the local council had requested that they stopped taking the money out of my benifits, so they could take me to court saying that i was not paying anything to them.I then went to my local post office and purchased a postal order for 1 months payment being £12,i took this to my local council office and asked them to take it off my arrears,two weeks later they returned my postal order saying they refused to take any money off me.

In the December of 2008 i was taken into hospital suffering the the condition that i am suffering from,whilst i was in hospital the hearing for my bancruptcy hearing was heard and i was declared bancrupt in my absence.A week later i had to attend a meeting with an offical reciever in Blackpool which is some 35 miles from where i live,it was then stated that the only asset that i had was my home where i live.

The offical reciever told me that they would put my case in the hands of a trustee who would handle all my affairs,the trustee they appointed was in Bristol which is some 350 miles from where i live even though they have offices a lot closer to my home.When the trustee got in touch with me i agreed to put my property up for sale to sort out my bancruptcy they then sent round their agents without informing me that they were coming and they valued my home at £95,000.I then complained to the trustee that this price was a great deal under market value,i then got my own estate agent to value my home and they valued it at £135,000.I then put my home up for sale with my own estate agent and informed the trustee that i had done this.

In March 2008 the trustee,s costs were £5,561,in November 2008 this had risen to £6,050 plus vat with a provision of £3,500 for work he might have to do?.I was then imformed that if my home was not sold by the 29/1/2009 that the trustee would take me to court for a repossession order and inform his agent to sell my property at the lower price of £95,000 the difference between the agents price and the market value would more than pay off any debts that i owe.

I was allways told to believe that if you tried to pay off your debts and had come to an agreement with someone, that you would pay as much as you can afford, that they could not take you to court and make this type of thing happen.

The local council are people whom we elect to office hoping that they will be upright and honest and not bend the laws to suit themselves,i for one have lost all faith in our local goverment and the laws that govern our country.

yours sincerely

Mr A F Drury