Thread: Ordered to pay for a fine over a clamp ADVICE PLEASE!!

Hi, just want some advice please.
In july i got a letter from CCS COLLECT LTD teling me that i must pay them £354 pound for a clamp that was placed on my vehicle on 6/06/08.
I called them as i have never had knowledge of a clamp on my vehicle i was parked in my mums private resident bay with a permit so should not get clamped. I informed them of this, they then sent me a letter with a copy of a photo showing a clamp on my vehicle in the bay plus a copy of the ticket that was supposedly put on my vehicle.
I called them again and told them that i agree they have a picture of a clamp on my car but i am still disputing knowledge of it. I sent them a letter with a copy of my permit telling them i dispute there fine as i have no knowledge of a clamp ever being placed and i am happy to attend court and dispute this. They then wrote telling me that i must recall the day that i removed a clamp from my vehicle......they are basically accusing me of criminal damage and theft. I wrote again telling them that i am very unhappy that they are accusing me of criminal offences i did not commit and if they wish to accuse me of this then they should report me to the police with their evidence or summons me to court for payment and i will happily argue the case as i did not remove the clamp. They wrote in response telling me they have passed my letters to their clients Parking control services for advice. They have now written saying that they have been informed by their clients that aCtion is still to continue on the account and i therefore still owe them 354 pound for a supposed clamp.
The vehicle is no longer in my name.
I have offered to go court to dispute and told them if they do not summonsed me i will summonsed them, but reading up i dont see why i should summonsed them as they dont owe me anything so it is them that need to summonsed me.
Anyone have any idea what action they can take.

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They can't do anything short of going to court. Which would be pretty stupid if the vehicle was clamped before you owned it. In fact it would be pretty stupid if you HAD been clamped and removed it yourself. In that instance they could only try and claim back the cost of the clamp and they would have a near impossible job of proving you'd stolen it!

I assume their £354 is a 'clamp release fee' plus some randome figure they've added. Since they haven't released a clamp, I don't know how they'd justify that one. Not to mention the cost is way in excess of a fair and reasonable fee for release.

You've probably been in contact with them too much already. Just ignore them and any threatening letters you receive.

Supposedly the fee is the price of the clamp i have supposedly cut off as they say.
Car was in my name when it was clamped but changed it into my partners name as i can imagine it getting clamped by the company so i pay their 354 pound but if that happens i can show them the V5 and say i have just bought the vehicle so they cant expect me to pay the fine.

I am now going to ignore all further letters from them and not contacting them again unless they prove that I removed the clamp which i did not.

I thought they cant do anything except summoned me to small claims for payment which they will have to prove i removed destroyed etc otherwise they would have no case but just wanted to confirm

The onus is very much on them to prove anything.

Their territory is very much on the victim being forced to pay on the spot to free their car. Sending letters for £354 after the event is a bit desperate.

Chances of court are miniscule. I wouldn't worry about it and ignore the guff that comes through your letterbox.

I won't speculate on what actually happened, but I really hope you or your husband did wrench off that clamp and burn it!

There is an impasse here, they have demanded monies, you have denied any liability. Agreed that there is no point in doing anything other than ignore them from now on. There is no chance of them taking you to court, they would have to have evidence for that, there is none. The picture of the clamp on your car is evidence of just that - evidence of a clamp on your car.

They have not accused you of removing the clamp yourself and are not in a position to contradict your denial of any knowledge.

Conclusion - let them spin, there is nothing they can do apart from write a few more tedious letters.

Correct !

Well obviously I did not remove the clamp so god knows what happened to it . But I know they would have no proof of me removing it so without having the proof by way of them having pictures of me removing it or finding it and proofing I removed it, then i'm right in saying they cant do anything right??

Does anyone know if they can clamp the car still to try and reclaim their money even without the car being in my name??

Oh and also can they try and send it to bailiffs?? cant be dealing with bailiffs knocking on my door and trying to put their foot in the door or stealing out my garden which i believe bailiffs are allowed to do to recover debt, or would they have to prove to bailiffs that i owe them the money before they could take this action??

Great thanks all for the advice that leaves me reassured, i thought all that already but wanted some confirmation from others who are in the know

They can't clamp if it's not on their land. If you were on their land and their sign says you only get clamped in situation x, that's the only way they could clamp. Or inform you in person ie. move your car or it will be clamped.

bailiffs can only remove goods with a court order.

debt collectors are private companies that can only knock on your door and ask for the money. They can't take goods and you don't have to speak to them.

Well i still park in the same bay where i was supposedly clamped but i have a valid permit for the bay, so whilst i am displaying this permit they cant clamp right?? the clampers are only working on behalf of the housing association who own the land they dont own it themselves.

Thats good news about bailiffs so only if they apply to small claims for the monies its only if i ignore court notices that the fine can go to bailiffs.

If they attempt sending to private company i'll ignore again.

If they continue sending letters can i report the company to the police for harrassment i'm sure i could hopefully that will stop the letters??

Re: PPC threats, this has been posted up before, but it is worth repeating:

From Adenuff’s Posting

I have posted on this subject before and have therefore plagarised my previous post

A typical Private Parking Company might have an intimidating standard threat letter that says something like this

"FINAL REMINDER BEFORE LEGAL ACTION" "Failure to pay the full balance outstanding within 7 days of the date of this notice could result in the balance outstanding being registered as a debt against you in the county court. A warrant may then be issued to bailiffs to recover payment. You will also become liable for the additional fees of the County Court and the bailiff together with any legal costs and interest involved. Your ability to obtain credit in the future could be affected"

This whole paragraph is a total misrepresentation designed to indicate that if you don't pay now, everything will be taken out of your hands and all sorts of dire things will happen. Total cods

1. Failure to pay now cannot of itself result in anything being registered against you as a debt in the County Court

2. In order for you to get a CCJ (County Court Judgement) registered against you ALL of the following have to take place
(a) the company concerned have to issue a claim against you. This costs them a fee, typically £30.00 for a normal parking ticket
(b) you either do not enter a defence because you forgot, are daft or some other reason ( in which case the Claimant will request a judgement in default)
OR
much less likely the case actually goes to a hearing and you lose
and that having lost, you do not pay the Judgement debt within 28 days of the judgement being entered against you.

A bailiffs warrant would only be issued if you lost and didn't pay the judgement debt as instructed by the judge.

Your credit rating would only be affected if you had a CCJ which you didn't pay

Your credit rating is assessed by combining information about you available in the public domain (such as unsatisfied CCJs, Bankruptcies and things like whether or not you are on the Electoral Roll) and information about you which is shared by the major lenders and which you have given them permission to share because it forms part of the credit agreement terms which you have to sign when you take out a loan or get a new credit card.

It does not include information provided by filthy [problem]mers or other assorted scumbags

Cheers for that Barnsley Boy. I can now rest easy and know nothingcan be done.
If they take it to small claims that will be great as i know they would have no evidence of me removing it so they can now bang on!!

OP has not scanned in copy of actual letter from CCS, but I doubt it would be actually libelous. They probably used the old "News of the World" trick of turning a statement into a question such that, although the meaning is clear, it is nevertheless not actionable under libel law.

"Surely you remember removing the clamp that day?" is completely different from saying "You removed the clamp that day", an insinuation rather than an accusation.

Hi

To be honest it sounds like they are pulling a [problem]!!!! clamping a car, taking a pic, and then removing the clamp, all the while longer you are non the wiser!!!!
Then they send you the bill and threaten you with the baliifts!!!!!! it has been a known [problem] for a number of years!!! Like everyone else says just ignore the letter and report it to your local Trading Standards office, as they might have details of the company doing it to others, and can help in getting them off your back!!!!
Tori