The campaigning organisation Big Brother Watch reveals the scale of the use of bailiffs after putting in freedom of information requests to councils across Britain.
The 10 highest users are Edinburgh (287,315); Glasgow (281,718); Birmingham (223,810); Liverpool (167,039); Manchester (149,635); Newham (131,542); Leeds (124,379); Barnet (114,011); Fife (91,423) and Redbridge (82,718).
Some 320 councils replied to FoI requests which also revealed the scale of use of bailiffs by some smaller authorities such as North Ayrshire, which revealed that over three years the equivalent of half its population had notices served by debt collection agencies to recover money.
Daniel Hamilton, director of Big Brother Watch, said: “The fact that local councils have passed more than six million cases to bailiffs for matters as trivial as the late payment of council taxes and parking fines is truly shocking. In many cases, bailiffs are a law unto themselves; barging into people’s homes, intimidating vulnerable members of the public and imposing rip-off charges. The coalition Government must act now to end the culture of bully-boy debt collection which has taken hold in town halls across the country.”
