Christmas and New Year 2021-22 Opening Hours

Due to government guidelines and staff being asked to work from home we have taken the decision to close our offices until the new year. Our administration staff will be working from home.

Our phone lines will be closed from Thursday, 16^th December at 1.00pm and will re-open at 9.00am on Monday, 3^rd January 2022.

You can contact us by e-mail at enquiries@lw-e.co.uk, be sure to let us know who you are and your address, e-mail address and contact telephone no. If you have a case with us, please add your case reference no. to the subject field.

You can also leave us a voicemail message by calling 0800 086 9089 and pressing option 2. Please speak clearly, leaving your details as in the previous paragraph. 

Inbound communications are monitored continuously apart from Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Years Day and the weekends over the festive period so somebody will respond to your enquiry.

Changes to the way we take payments on-line

London Warrant Enforcement Ltd (LWE) provides a safe and Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliant platform to process card payments.

LWE are certified as PCI DSS Merchant Compliance. The PCI DSS provides guidance to help maintain payment security. We only collect the data necessary to run our payment portal. We will not retain that data any longer than we need it, and only share it if it is required by law.

Strong Customer Authentication

The payment card industry has recently brought in stronger authentication to protect you when making on-line payments. You may have been aware of 3D Secure 1; this was deemed to be non-user friendly for many reasons-

• Some users were unable to view the 3DS authentication page on their device
• Actually, see it as a security threat
• Compatibility issues when the authentication process is conducted on mobile browsers
• Users felt the extra step was unnecessary, and often got irritated by it to the point where they would quit the process
• Authorization page loading speeds cause issues and frustration
• Users are not always able to identify the authenticity of the popup window, which would often cause suspicion and result in transaction abandonment.

The PCI has now introduced 3D Secure 2, what does this mean for users-

3DS2 requires 2 factor authentication, and will ask users for 2 out of 3 pieces of information to complete their transaction:

• Something the user is, for example their fingerprint
• Something the user has, for example their phone
• Something the user knows, for example a password

Usually this means the user will have to enter a short code sent by SMS by their bank.

3DS2 will not apply to:

•  Any transactions where either the merchant or payer is outside the EEA
• ·Merchant initiated payments, for example subscriptions
• Telephone payments

Some payments may be exempted from 3DS2:

• Low value transactions, for example for those under £30
• Low risk transactions when the Payment Service Provider (PSP) has low fraud levels across all its platform
• Corporate payments (unless the corporate card is in the name of an individual)

Sometimes you may have trouble in paying, such as you do not have your banking application set on your device or you have changed your mobile no. so that your card provider cannot send you a text. If this is the case, please give us a call and we can try and take the payment from you over the telephone.

Please note our offices continue to be closed and this is likely to be the case through December and January.

If you need to discuss a specific case then please contact the agent who has been assigned your case. If you are unsure who this is or wish for somebody to call you then please contact our free to call phone no. on 0800 086 9089 and leave a message, somebody will call you back within an hour. If you would prefer to e-mail us then you can do this by using enquiries@lw-e.co.uk.  Please make sure you let us know who you are by entering your 5 digit reference no. in the subject field. Make sure you sign off the e-mail with your full name and home address. Unidentified e-mails will not be answered.

We have been advised by The Right Honourable Robert Buckland QC MP, Lord Chancellor & Secretary of State for Justice through the Ministry of Justice to advice us of the new Local Covid Alert Level system where we have been asked to refrain from entering residential premises that are classified as Local Alert Level 2 (high) or 3 (very high), for the purposes of enforcement by taking control of goods.

The restriction does not prevent our agents from attending residential premises, provided that we do not enter the property and we adhere to the governments guidance for enforcement agents (see previous post).

Ahead of the retun to field activities on Monday, 24th August The Government has today published guidelines for Enforcement Agents to work safely during the COVID-19 pandemic. This document has been prepared by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) in consultation with Public Health England (PHE). This document is kept under review and may be updated to reflect changes in public health advice. The latest advice should be followed at all times.

This guidance does not supersede any legal obligations arising from the Taking Control of Goods legislation and should be considered alongside the existing guidance set out in the National Standards for Taking Control of Goods. This guidance has been developed to address use of the Taking Control of Goods legislation, however those using it should also consider the general Government guidance on COVID-Secure working and should take steps to follow this where it applies to their activities.

Full details can be found at-

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-safely-during-covid-19-enforcement-agents-bailiffs/working-safely-during-covid-19-enforcement-agents-bailiffs