Thread: Elite Parking..clamped and ticket (Very long post sorry)

Hi, i found this forum while looking for the parking code of conduct, so far i ahve read some promising posts that have lifted some of the black cloud over my head.

Yesterday i parked in a old car park behind an old unused building in my local area. I have been parking here for months for short stay only, such as going into the bank.

There is a company who own (or contacted) half of the car park called Elite Parking. I have always made sure i have NOT parked in the area covered by Elite because in that half of the car park they ahve excessive amounts of notices saying you will be clamped and given a ticket.

Well i had to visit the coucil offoce which took a little longer than expected so i was gone for a maximum of 1 hour, when i got back i was approached by a young indian man who got ot of an unmarked little van. He told me i had been given a ticket and been clamped for being parked there. I asked if he was the one to do it he said yes, but he said he had no choice but to do it because his area manager was with him at the time. He said i would have to pay a £150 release fee and £90 parking fine.

I pointed out to him that u was not parked anywhere near their area of parking and there were no signs where i was parked. on the half of the car park when i was parked there were no signs at all. He told me to take some pictures and that he agreed that there should have been more signs stating which area of the car park is owned by them. He asked me if i knew a mechanic who i could ask to remove the clamp without damaging it then i would be able to go, he then went on to tell me not to pay the parking ticket also. He made numerous calls to the office but i did not hear what he was saying.

Eventually i asked if i could use his phone to speak to the office because i was not going to pay for the clamp to be removed because i was not illegally parked. I spoke to a lady who was very very rude and extremely offensive toward me from the time i spoke to her. I informed her that there were no signs where i was parked but the other half of the car park was excessively signed. She then went on to tell me the whole car park is owned by Elite, so i asked why all of the car park was not signed. she did not answer. She told me she was sending the wot truck and that it would cost me an extra £200 for that and when it is taken i would have to pay £500 plus extra to have it released. I only drive a 94 Corsa so the release is worth more than the car. She continued to give threats about the car being crushed in a very aggressive manner then she hung up on me. I was left shaken and close to tears after the phone call.

The indian man told me to sit in my car so when the truck comes it can't take the car because i will be in it. So i did. He seemed to be in my side, but i wasn't stupid enough to believe he was trying to help, i thnk he was just trying to act the coward against his company so he doesn't have to argue with me about it. He also told me that only half of the car park is owned by Elite, then he went on to tell me that he and his area manager watched me go into the car park then watched me leave then jumped out the van and proceeded to clamp me, he said he would ahve told me not to park there but his boss was in a bad mood so he didnt want to "rub him up the wrong way" by telling me. This made me angry becuase this proves that the company set out to clamp me so they could earn more money.

Eventually my boyfriend had to call into the office and pay £150 to release the clamp then £100 cancellation for the tow truck and £4.50 credit card fees, totalling to £254.50.

I was not parked in the area of car park that they cover, there is a clear cut off point in the car park where there are no more signs beyond a certain point so this is where i parked.

I took some photos of the whole car park including their van, my car and other vehicles, showing where the signs were and where i was parked etc.

Also what makes it worse is that there were numerous cars come and park in the same area in the 1hr 15mins that it took for this to be sorted out and NONE of them were checked for permits, none were clamped and none were given tickets. I feel like i was singled out and targeted.

I have drafted a letter of complaint to the company requesting a full refund and an appology from the lady on the phone but i have never been good at writing so i have pasted it below. I would be grateful if someone could look at it for me and let me know of any errors and let me know if there is too much or too little in there.

Sorry for the long post, i thought it best to let you know the full story before anybody comments.

The letter....

Dear Mr. Smith
I am writing to you to complain about a parking fine and the clamping of my vehicle on 14 November 2008 at a car park in Wednesfield Wolverhampton. At 11am I parked my car behind an old job centre and was parked there for 1 hour. When I returned I was approached by a young Indian gentleman who was waiting in a small unmarked white van. He told me I had been clamped and got a parking ticket for parking there. He said I should not have parked there and would have to pay the £150 unclamping fee and £90 parking ticket.

I would like to dispute this claim because I was NOT parked in the marked areas that were covered by Elite Parking. Only half of that car park is covered by Elite Parking and I was NOT parked in that area, I parked further across the car park in the free area.

The Indian gentleman, who for some reason would not give me his name, told me to take various pictures of the car park showing where the signs were and where my car was parked. I told him that there were no parking signs where I was parked which is why I parked there and that only half of the car park is signed but the other half where I was parked is not signed which is why I parked there. He also agreed that there should have been more signs stating that the area I was parked in was also covered by Elite Parking IF it was indeed covered by Elite Parking.

I spoke to an extremely rude and aggressive lady on the phone, I asked why I had been clamped when there were no signs in the area I had been parked and she offered no help whatsoever but proceeded to be very rude and aggressive. The Indian gentleman did warn me about her rudeness and asked me to just stay calm with her, which I did. The lady told me that the whole car park is covered by Elite Parking and that the whole of the car park is signed stating this. I informed her that only half of the car park had signs and all the signs were very clear on that side of the car park but there was nothing on the side of the car park I and other people were parked. The side of the car park that is signed has a lot of signs but there is not one single sign on the side of the car park where I was parked. Also the signs situated in the half of the car park covered by Elite Parking did not state that the entire car park was covered by Elite Parking.


The lady continued to be very rude and aggressive toward me and told me if I did not pay she would send the tow truck, then she hung up on me. I used the Indian gentleman’s mobile phone to make this call because I did not have any credit on my own phone. The Indian gentleman hung around for a while offering me solutions, telling me things I could do to get out of it, and was then called by who I can assume to be the lady I had previously spoken to. I asked him if she had sent the tow truck and he said she had.

The Indian gentleman also told me that he and the area manager was sitting in their van and saw me drive into the car park, they watched me park there, waited for me to leave the car park before going ahead and clamping me. He said he would have told me not to park there but the area manager was in a bad mood so he did not say anything to me. Both of these men sat in their vehicle and waited for me to disappear then proceeded to clamp me. They could have told me that the area I was parked was covered by Elite (if it is covered by Elite) and advised me not to park there but they chose to wait for me to leave the car park then clamped me. They did this simply to make the company more money when they could have saved a lot of time and trouble just by informing me.

I took some photos of the car park, where the signs were and where my car was and I took photos of the whole car park for future reference. If you wish to see these photos please forward an email address to me and I shall send them to you.

I demand a full refund of the £254.50 my partner paid to Elite Parking for the removal of the clamp (£150), the cancelation fee for the tow truck (£100) an the £4.50 credit card fee, and an apology from the lady who I spoke to on the phone for her aggressive and rudeness which left me shaken for some time after the phone call. I also suggest that the car park signs and markings be updated so there is no other confusion in the future. I would also like to add that there were a number of vehicles come and park in the same area as I was parked whilst the tow truck and the gentleman who does the clamping were there that were not clamped or given tickets yet they clearly did NOT have permits, so I would like to know why only I was targeted and not the other car park users.

I look forward to hearing from you and I look forward to this matter being correctly resolved.

Yours sincerely

I am willing to take legal advice over this, i have been shafted way too many times by companies such as this. I will not be paying the parking ticket of £90 even though they request that i send the money in with my complain then refunds will be given if granted. I know that once these theives get their money they will forget i ever existed and not deal with my complaint, i feel terrible that my partner had to hand over £250 of money neither of us have to release my car so i really need to get it back for him. This company have not clearly marked where their boundries are and have not clearly signed that the whole car park is owned by them, IF it is all owned by them. If it is all owned by them i still feel o have been robbed because there were no clear signs in the area where i was parked and i have parked there countless times without getting a parking ticket or being clamped. I feel i have been robbed.

Again, sorry for the long post, i needed to vent.

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Forget about appealing to them for money back, as the [problem] relies on catching people out like this and adding fraudulent tacked on charges.

If the clamper would not give his name this is a breach of the SIA licensing laws making it a police matter. It may also be a police matter for fraud, criminal damage, or blackmail due to unclear signs.

Clamping may be inherently illegal as an aggressive practice under new unfair trading laws. This is untested, but it clearly fits the definition, so all clamping should now be reported to trading standards unless there is a test case confirming it does not apply.

You can attempt to get your money back from the credit card company. Crime numbers etc may be useful, and I think there are template letters around.

Ultimately you may have to take court action: the clamping company, landowner (if they employ the clamper), and credit card company are jointly liable.

Thank you for your reply Zamzara. I will be contacting my local police station about this matter as soon as possible.

I have since remember that the man who clamped the car was not the man who filled the reciept after the payment was made. The tow truck driver did it so i ahve no idea if the man who clamped was even registered, he was not in uniform and did not have any ID on display. The SIA number on the receipt was written by the tow truck driver.

I shall inform my partner about this asap and ask him to also contact his local police. I feel i was pressured into making the payment and when my partner called to make the card payment they would not give him any information on the matter, they only wanted the money.

How do i check if the SIA number is legal?

Register of Approved Contractors - Security Industry Authority

I have checked the list and they are not on there yet i have a licence number on my receipt.

If tey are not registered with SIA what are my chances in court? does this give me a better chance of recovering my money in or outside of court?

Gosh i really wish this sort of stuff was made public knowledge it would save so much stress and worry

I found this article when searching for the Elite Parking Control Services LTD website, ive not found their website yet nd ive not found any evidence of having a license either.

Clampers sued for £30,000 by driver - Birmingham Mail

elite parking are a bunch of jokes ha ha Ive ignored a ticket that i had of them months ago and nothing happened, they dont take people to court and dont chase up there tickets basically they just hope you will pay there is no legal right to pay they do not have the power to make you pay so i am not going to also are they registered are they licensed .a friend of mine who only parked for not even a minute was clamped and had to pay £90.00 release fee he was only there a minute do you not get so much time before legally clamp your vehicle.
I have details of there office in wallsall town centre at the back of the main shopping area dont park there as they sit in office window poaching ie staff tell clampers your there which i think is not good practice fed up of just having to write in want to see them face to face as they hide behind a po box address.