UK: Home Raids to Recover Parking Debt

The United Kingdom continues its march toward police-state socialism.

The UK parliament is considering legislation that would authorize bailiffs to break into the homes of motorists accused of not paying parking tickets. Under legislation currently making its way through the House of Commons, bailiffs would seize items out of the home in order to pay off the amount owed in tickets, plus hefty fees. Any homeowner that attempting (sic) to stop the bailiff would face up to a year in prison.

Consequently, an unpaid parking ticket would function as a warrant to break down your door and take your property. I envision the typical scenario would play out as follows:

1) Police goons knock on the door and if it's not opened smartly or nobody is home, they break in.

2) Police goons immediately perform a search for wallets, pocketbooks, coin purses and cookie jars for cash sufficient to pay whatever is owed plus hefty fees.

3) If sufficient cash is not found, police will then look around the home to find and confiscate articles of property which, based upon an on-the-spot valuation by a police officer, would produce enough money to cover the debt plus hefty fees.

4) Police goons depart with money and/or valuables confiscated during the debt collection operation, likely leaving behind a ransacked home with a broken front door.

By the way, the police are prohibited from taking your household pets or seeing-eye dog, if you are blind. Also, it's not clear what happens if the police goons find evidence of a separate violation.

And while they consider forcefully breaking into homes, Brits continue to berate the U.S. for monitoring international phone calls involving terror suspects as an unacceptable invasion of privacy. Crikey!

(H/T John Ray)

Companion post at The Jawa Report.