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Two weeks ago my car was clamped by NCP (working for the council) directly outside my home. The land in question where the car was parked is privately owned and related to the house where I rent.
The car has been off the road now for 6 months with a sorn, and I had left it on the land because its privately owned and ticks all the requirments for not using the car.
When first clamped I contacted NCP and explained that the land was private and included within the deeds of my rented accommodation. To this they asked for a copy of the deeds, which I later sent but yet the car was still Lifted and taken away. NCP argued that the land in question had been "adopted" by the council and so I in turn contacted the council.
After many phonecalls, time spent chasing people, arguments etc etc. The council have agreed that the car is indeed on Private land and NCP have returned the car to its orignal place.
My question is that this whole incident has left me out of pocket ... with the time spent away from work, phone calls and general stress of it all. Is there any way that I can recuperate my losses or do I just have to accept it?
You can quite legitimately sue for your losses, PLUS the the fact you were unlawfully denied the use of your car (yes, I know it was SORN'ed, but whos to say you didn't want to fix it?)... add interest too!!
If you have a rough idea of your losses, I would add a bit more (but don't go overboard) for the loss of use, stress etc, and then add 8% on top as interest, and then write an LBA (letter before action) to NCP, which will give them a chance to settle with you. Otherwise, they end up in court if they ignore it. In the letter, just state the total amount, don't break it down, although you could summarise what the total includes.
If you hang on, I'll hunt down a suitable LBA, unless anybody jumps in and comes up with one.
Thinking about it, don't send an lba, just send them a letter with your claim in it, and a threat to sue. If they ignore it, then you can send an LBA giving them their final chance.
I work for a London based company, and had to come back up to Scotland last thursday to try and sort it out.
The time scale.
Clamped on 28/05 ... spoke to NCP, explained and then contacted Landlord for a copy of the Deeds.
Down to London on 02/06
04/06 ... informed Car is going to be distroyed on the 06/06
05/06 ... travel up a day early
06/06 ... spend 3 hours contacting various people from the Council, 17:33 ... council cave and give the car a reprive from the crusher, and they inform NCP to not touch it while they confirm the land deeds on Monday.
09/06 ... Email from council in the morning stating that everything is confirmed and that NCP have been notified to return vehicle. Which they do at some point during the day.
The thing that annoys me is the whole hassle factor etc. But I can't make a monetary charge for having to change my plans? Fair enough I can work out all the time spent on this event and costs (phone calls etc) relating to that. Any other sort of expenses that anyone can think of that could be relavent?
You had to return back home a day early to sort all this out, thats one thing for a start. Yes, a lot will be inconvenience, but what were the costs involved leaving earlier than planned? Travel? Accomodation? Taxis while you were deprived use? General hassle (probably worth 10% on top of the total)? phone calls? Eating into your time (charge whatever hourly rate you get from your work, as an hourly rate for the time you spent sorting this out? Just try to think of everything you can. If you want an opinion as to whether the amount you want to claim is ok or not, just post it up as a total, and then say what it includes, but no need to break it down for each item.
Bearing in mind the extortionate rates clampers charge as a release fee, don't be put off by what your total comes to.
Time spent I estimate 3 hours ... should court procedings be required all those papers and further letters will be more. 3* £22 = £66
Cost in coming up earlier, nothing, took an earlier train. Only problem with doing it was looking unprofessional in my work place ... I'm a temp but my boss understood.
As for loss of use, couldn't use it but was planning to try and get it on the road and taking it to a garage to sort out. had nothing booked though.
Round it up to a nice £250 then, or maybe a bit more if you are inclined to do so.. maybe even £500, although that might seem a bit much. It's perfectly justifiable, and a LOT less than the £5000 allowed in small claims. The judge will see you are not being greedy, so it should be a formality really. It might still cause a bit of hassle though I'm afraid, because when you sue, one of the things you will need to do is to give the defendants, a copy of what you will use as your evidence against them. Mind you, they have to provide you with their evidence too, and it seems they don't have very much. Just keep all receipts and anything you have (diary of phone calls etc).
Just 3 hours ... could have been alot more if the council hadn't finally given in at the last hour!!
So say moving my fee from 103 to whatever. Obviously I must give a Breakdown of my costs.
How do you acknoweldge "Hassle" / Tresspass / lack of use of the vehicle / I just don't know how a. To label it in an invoice. and b. Think of the charge for that "service"?
Thanks for that Pat. Yes 8% per year. In fact, you don't even have to bother with the 8%... you're not being greedy at all.
As for the inconvenience, it shouldn't have happened at all, so any reasonable figure should be acceptable, which is why I said to round it up. You could of course, ask the judge to decide on a figure, in which case, when it comes to issuing proceedings, should it get that far, you would put the actual figure, and then add "and any reasonable figure that the judge sees fit to award".. or something along those lines... but it hasn't happend yet, so there's time to think about it.
Just try with the total amount first. You don't have to break it down, but if they want it broken down, then you can send them another letter, of course, giving them x number of days to answer, before you take further action. Just threatening the action will either make them pay up or ignore you, and if they ignore you, then off you go and claim through the court.
I've had a thought about it and usually when I'm in London I work till 8:00pm, last Thursday I had to leave at 5:00 to catch the train, so lost out on another 3 hrs there.
So so far we're up to a legit measurable cost of £169.00
Personally I'd like to raise it up to £300 (The cost they were charging me to get the car back!!) so we'll send a letter anyway and see what happens.
£300 isn't over the top either. Go for it, and good luck. And when it comes to issuing court proceedings, come back and people will advise you on that.
Victory over Lloyds PPI claim £2606 click! Barclaycard lazygoing - £580 + £398 contractual int at 17.7 % click! (Received partial payment £110 21/11/06) The GF's battle against RBS click! stayed awaiting the end of the world
Scottish UNJUSTIFIED Clamping ;-(
and general stress of it all. Is there any way that I can recuperate my losses or do I just have to accept it?
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Originally Posted by gni03349
