A single working Nottingham mum on Universal Credit claims she was intimidated by a bailiff worker who demanded almost £400 from her without notice over a parking dispute. Jemma Martin, 31, from Beechdale, travelled to the seaside town for an August bank holiday day out with her then-partner and her children, who were 4-years-old and 18-months-old at the time, reports Lincolnshire Live.
Miss Martin and her family arrived at North Parade car park, but were not able to open their car doors properly in the space in order to get her children and a pushchair in and out of the car. Because there were no parent and child parking spaces, to solve this issue, Miss Martin parked slightly over the white line to create room.
She was consequently given a parking ticket, which she has been disputing with East Lindsey District Council since then. However, on the morning of April 4, 2022, Miss Martin was faced with a visit from the bailiffs.
"I have had the bailiff at my door asking for £394," she said. "But I wasn't financially in a position to pay that."
When Miss Martin told the debt collector she could not pay, he allegedly threatened to take her car, but could not because it was financed. He then made another threat, according to Miss Martin.
"He threatened that he could come into my home and take my things," she said, adding that when she said she would not let him in, he told her he would force his way into the house. "I had a bloke in front of me telling he could break into my home and take my things.
"I was very intimidated, he was quite a big bloke," she said. On a form that the debt collector left, it stated Miss Martin had paid voluntarily, but she said she paid because she felt "threatened."
She said: "I am five foot two inches, what could I do?" She labelled what happened as "disgraceful".
Miss Martin works two hours a day as a midday supervisor at a local school, and the rest of her pay is topped up with Universal Credit payments. Her ex-partner who was with her at the time of the parking fine is no longer with her, so she is worried about how she will pay the fine.
"£400 is a massive chunk of my monthly allowance, it's about half," she said. "I have got my mum I can rely on, but that's to borrow, not to have.
"I'll have to pay it back, so it will be a while until I'm on top of things." Miss Martin says she was told by East Lindsey District Council the bailiff officer may not have acted appropriately.
Lincolnshire Live has contacted East Lindsey District Council and Bristow and Sutor for comment.
