Car Clamped on Private land - help

[LittleMissSunshine]

Hi All

Ok, my first post on this part, hopefully it makes sense. Any help will be much appreciated.

This is to help out a friend. We all visited one of our friends on Saturday night. She just moved into a small estate where there is private parking, related to the people living on that estate. She had made arrangements with the owners of her block that we could park in front of the building.

So my friend parked here and surprisingly was clamped within 10 min.

Apparently he had parked in a space that was not linked to the apparment block of the friend we were visiting, but to other houses in the same estate. To us it looked like one big square were you could park, not really clear that different slots belong to different owners. As my friend assumed he parked legally (as he got arrangements from the friend we visited) he didnt read all the signs, as he thought that he would not be clamped.

Although the area is full of signs we were not aware that there were different areas within this total parking ground for different appartment blocks. Also the signs were not lit and as it was dark, you wouldnt be able to read them, unless you were standing right in front of them. It is also not clear which slot is run by which company.

The costs were very hefty. On top of my head we had to pay over £200 pounds. This was for clamping, administation fee and tow truck. Apparently the policy of this clamping company is that they clamp and immediately call out a truck for removal.
We tried to argue for only paying for the clamp removal and not the truck, but they said, sorry the truck is called, its here within seconds, so we cannot remove that charge.


So my question is, can we fight this????? And what is the best way to do this?

Cheers
LMS

[MikeBigg]

How did you pay? Credit card or cash?

[Zamzara]

Was the amount you paid the same as the release fee shown on the signs, or did you have to pay more?

They cannot increase the release fee, and an administration charge etc. would be a separate matter from the release fee and they could not refuse to release you because of it.

[LittleMissSunshine]

Mike -> unfortunately we paid cash (well one friend did). I know now we shouldnt have done, but that is knowledge we did not have before

Zam -> we paid as much as it said on the signs i.e. the total of clamp, administration and tow car. The tow car guy was so nice to not charge us the £15 we should also have paid if the car would have been on the truck. As it wasnt we did not pay for this (which we used to buy some drinks for later in the evening )

Cheers for the replies. Hopefully there is something we can do because its a lot of money

[Zamzara]

If it wasn't clear from the signs that you would be clamped, then you did not consent and should sue them for the return of the money. Send a letter before action giving them 14 days to refund it first.

[petej2811]

I'd suggest you sue them. Look at the case of Arthur v Anker, look for it on Google. The principles of clamping in England and Wales are contained therein. £105 was deemed to be a reasonable fee, you paid twice as much.

On the principles of the case I'd suggest you had a prima facie cause of action.

[legaladviser]

Also look at Vine v Waltham Forest, in which it was decided you must have subjective notice of the warning signs, ie actually see them. If you did not you cannot have entered into a contract. I have seen a number of successful cases taken against clampers and it is very difficult for them to get around Vine as it is a Court of Appeal decision. My advice is to also sue the landowner that has appointed the clamper, as the clamper may be a fly by night operation that may disappear or may not pay up if you are successful. Also check whether the clamper is SIA registered (you can check online at the SIA website), if not he has committed a criminal offence.