News / Housing
Knight in armour challenges Bristol City Council
On Tuesday evening, ACORN members led by a knight in a full suit of battle armour assembled in front of City Hall to challenge council leader Tony Dyer for failing to stop alleged abuses by council-employed bailiffs.
The knight delivered a speech and a challenge written on a scroll, to the council headquarters.
The demonstration was attended by more than 50 people, many of them wearing tunics and medieval-styled items.
is needed now More than ever
They read poems and recited speeches and while the topic was serious, the tone switched to glee as they plastered the City Hall doors with posters of Dyer.
Some of those people having recent experiences with bailiffs.
In a year period ending in April 2024, Bristol City Council sent bailiffs to 27,146 households to collect council tax debts.
Additionally that the council sent a further 37,541 Clean Air Zone PCN’s to bailiffs.
They say during a cost of living crisis, the council’s use of bailiffs is driving low income Bristolians further into spirals of debt.
ACORN members have reported harassment and bullying by these council-employed bailiffs.
More than 50 ACORN protesters were there – photo: Darren Shepherd
ACORN member Chantelle who got into debt after losing her job as a carer, said: “After I got this intimidating letter from the Bristow & Sutor bailiffs I wasn’t eating properly, wasn’t sleeping.”
She adds that she tried to contact them but that they didn’t leave their number and their office refused to give it to her.
This disrupted her and her kids life, she says: “I was constantly thinking about it, worried they’d take away my car. I need my car to get my kids to school. I couldn’t sleep.
“I was mostly worried for my kids.
“We’ve experienced domestic violence in the past so it really wouldn’t have helped if the kids had seen the bailiff come to the door. The bailiff was a big bloke, at least 6 foot, he had an intimidating look about him.”
ACORN member Hannah says the council passed on her debt to Marstons. She explained her circumstances to both and the welfare team at Marstons allegedly said that action would be halted.
But she says, she still received a visit two weeks laters with a clamp for her car.
“Just as I was about to leave for hospital appointment,” she adds, a hospital appointment for Leukemia.
Despite explaining the situation, she claims that the bailiffs refused to take it off until she paid more than £400 there and then.
She says: “He was very rude and I felt very intimidated.”
Bristol City Council say that their bailiffs should identify people who may have difficulty paying, including vulnerable people, and refer these cases back to the council for more compassionate treatment.
But ACORN members have recorded the council’s bailiffs breaking these rules and refusing to recognise inability to pay and vulnerabilities.
In November ACORN wrote to council leaders Tony Dyer and Heather Mack demanding that the council stop using notorious bailiff company Able Enforcements, and:
- Stop the use of bailiffs to collect council tax debt
- Stop the use of bailiffs to collect any forms of council debt from people on council tax support, people on benefits, and working people on low incomes
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ACORN asserts that despite the council’s discontinuation of use of Able Enforcements, no commitments or timelines have been given to the debt collection demands five months later.
ACORN have described this long delay as ‘unacceptable.’
Councillor Heather Mack, deputy leader of Bristol City Council, said: “I have met with ACORN to learn about their campaign and we’re now working to establish how the council’s debt recovery processes operate and the effectiveness of communication between the council and those who owe monies.
“The outcomes of this fact-finding will inform further discussions with ACORN and other interested groups on the topic of how the council recovers debt.
“I thank ACORN for their work on this subject, and can see that this issue impacts many across the council and although we have an ethical debt recovery policy there’s still work to be done to protect those most vulnerable in our city.”
We have reached out to bailiff companies Marstons and Bristow & Sutor for a comment.
Main photo: Dan Shepherd
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