Woman defies bailiffs for nine hours after cutting clamp off car

A woman whose car was clamped by bailiffs over a disputed traffic fine used an angle grinder to free her vehicle and staged a nine-hour sit-in to stop them taking it away.

Kirsty Tierney-Jones, 31, was shocked when the men turned up at her home demanding £680 for a driving offence she claims she did not commit.

After failing to convince them of her innocence she used the industrial tool to shear away the metal clamp and clambered into the front seat until the bailiffs left.

Barking and Dagenham council claims that the car was caught on camera driving through a red traffic light three years ago.

But Mrs Tierney-Jones, from Hornchurch, Essex, appealed against the fine, claiming she was at Queen's Hospital in Romford at the time. She wrote a letter to the council, with a doctor's note, two years ago, and, since the council had not been in touch, "assumed the matter was closed".

So she was shocked when bailiffs arrived at her house last Thursday to recover the debt. Mrs Tierney-Jones said: "At 7.45am these bailiffs turned up and said I have to pay £680 or they'll take my car. They said that I'd received warning letters which I hadn't.

"I told them this, but they continued to demand the money and put a clamp on the car. I couldn't believe it. I called police and so did they."
She added: "Some officers turned up and said I could be arrested for criminal damage, though in the end they left and told the bailiffs to leave too.

"I stayed in the car until I was sure they weren't coming back. I wasn't going to let them punish me for something I didn't do."

Bailiffs have told Mrs Tierney-Jones, who believes her number plate was cloned, that they will return. The debt is now £1,093.

A spokesman for Barking and Dagenham council said: "Photographic evidence proves that it was her car in Chequers Lane.

"A debt registration letter was sent in April and in June a warrant was issued by the bailiffs and sent to her address."