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is it an offence if they claim to have a warrant of entry but don't warn you they're coming
First of all, they can't even get a warrant unless they can satisfy a magistrate that they have first asked nicely to be allowed in. Did this happen?
Second, while it's not strictly illegal to turn up unannounced with a warrant, it's a clear breach of the code of practice because there was no possible reason not to give you notice. Did they?
Third, nobody who actually has a warrant would show up at a premises they were planning to enter without a paper copy of it, because, absent the need to effect entry against the will of the occupier for reasons of emergency or frustration of purpose, the easiest way to get the occupier to open the door is to post the paper through the letterbox or slide it under the door when asked for it.
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gbj_tester
Any lawyers here??? If an energy supplier (Eon) tries to force your lock to fit a prepay meter, is it an offence if they claim to have a warrant of entry but don't warn you they're coming and refuse to show the warrant when they attend? They said it was on their phone but they wouldn't put the phone through my letterbox in case I wouldn't give it back.
I wrote to them afterwards to complain and to ask for a copy of the warrant. This was 3 months ago, but all I got was a rather mendacious reply. They ignored the request for the warrant. So I still don't know whether they had one. If they did have one, wouldn't the court have written to me by now?
I rang the police when Eon were outside. They said they had been notified that Eon had a warrant, but they didn't have a copy and couldn't tell me what it said.
I refused to open the door. The break-in artists shoved some bendy plastic through the jamb to force the Yale lock, but I'd locked the mortice lock, thank God. They said they would bring a locksmith to drill the mortice lock, but they didn't. I called Eon while their people were here. They said it was correct not to pass a phone through the letterbox. They said I had no alternative but to allow entry to fit the prepay meter.
I don't know whether the backstory is relevant, but my previous supplier, Npower, had made a pig's ear of the billing. They said I owed them £3k, which would take some doing for one person in a small flat. I reckoned my balance was nil but they didn't answer my letters of complaint. They did this to thousands of people and were fined £36m and had to send people compensation cheques for £190. I mislaid my cheque for a while, so they cancelled it and knocked £190 off my balance. Then they got into financial difficulties and were taken over by Eon. Eon then gave me a starting negative balance of £3000, which I ignored. Perhaps that was unwise. By this time I was past caring.
When I phoned Eon (while they were trying to break in) I told them the Npower story and asked them to investigate the balance and give me an accurate bill. The guy said that when Eon bought Npower they found that there was no billing information before 2019. So I don't see how Eon has any legal basis for saying I have a debt of £3k. Eon's intention with the prepay meter would have been to take 50% of any credit I put in the meter to service the so-called debt. Which is just extortion if you ask me. It would also mean changing to a more expensive tariff.