Thread: Clamped and towed on private land - Help?

If anyone could give me some help, I would be most thankfull!
I was visiting my partner in north london, who lives on small a private road. The agency who run the road have appointed a company call ECS parking to patrol it etc. ( The road is about 20 min from white hart lane). I called the company to get a code, so I could park there over the weekend. I wrote the code on some paper, and put it in my window. It was fine on saturday and sunday, but on monday, I found I had been clamped in the morning and then towed away an hour or so after. After getting my car back later that day, I found the paper on the floor of my car - it must have fallen off the window. Ok, my mistake - but the thing is, I was charged £400 to get my car back. (£130 for the clamp £230 for the towing and £30 for a day storage.)
I just think that that is terribly harsh. Ok, I made a mistake - But Four Hundred pounds for a slight mistake? The point of the clamping and removing to stop people parking there when they are not entitaled to. I basicly am entited, as I'm dating someone who lives there and had a code to stay there. I more or less got my car off them, and drove it straight back to where they had removed it from (With code displayed now!) and got charged for it.
I can understand that I would need to pay for the time and wasted tow truck and people involed. But I can't believe that would cost £400.
Who can I appeal to? There's a PO Box on the back of the ticket for appeals, which I'm going to try, but it doesn't say who they are. I've also left messages with the agency who hired this parking firm. The houses and flats in the area are supposed to be affordable and cheap places for people just starting out - I hardly think having such a high fine for such a mistake is reasonable! God knows what would happen if I totally broke the rules. I suspect they'd clamp my feet, or tow away my legs.
Any help?

DThey don't care about fairness or it being a 'little mistake'. They're [problem]sters, like most clamping firms.

In theory, you asked for permission to park and you were given it.

Go ahead and appeal, but chances of getting your money back are slim to none.

You will have to embark on a small claims track to try and get your money. You need to research the process and appreciate that even if you did win, how are you going to get the money? Do they have good for the bailff to seize for example?

You can also jointly sue the landowner - they're usually easier to get money out of.

DThey don't care about fairness or it being a 'little mistake'. They're [problem]sters, like most clamping firms.

In theory, you asked for permission to park and you were given it.

Go ahead and appeal, but chances of getting your money back are slim to none.

You will have to embark on a small claims track to try and get your money. You need to research the process and appreciate that even if you did win, how are you going to get the money? Do they have good for the bailff to seize for example?

You can also jointly sue the landowner - they're usually easier to get money out of.

Have a read of the clamping guide for some background.

Clamping / towing is a remedy for trespass. If your vehicle is parked somewhere without authorisation from the landowner, they are able to clamp / tow your vehicle, and charge you the costs of doing so.

In order for the clamping / towing to be lawful, it is necessary that certain conditions are met:

1. There must be notices informing the driver that clamping is in operation, and they must be prominently displayed (c.f. Anker).
2. The notices must be clearly understandable (c.f. Vine).
3. Any charges should be resonable (c.f. Vine again, where this is mentioned).
4. The clamper / tow operator must be registered with the SIA, and display their license.
5. The vehicle must be release upon offer of payment, and a receipt issued containing various pieces of information.

In your situation, it would appear that you did have permission to park on the land -You state that you were in receipt of an authorisation code. Do you have any evidence that they gave you this code?

That suggests to me that the clampers were incorrect in assuming you were trespassing.

Write to the landowner, explain that they had given you permission to park on their land, and ask them to refund you the full amount. If they refer you to the clamper, insist that they confirm that they authorised you to park.

I think they'd be hard pushed to prove that the code was not on display! It probably fell off when they towed it.

But as others have said, the case law is based on the presumption that the car was trespassing on the land. Seems pretty reasonable to me that failure to display doesn't mean you were trespassing.

Did the ticket display the name, signature and SIA number of the clamper. Plus the address where your vehicle was.

Originally Posted by Liamhastings

I wrote to them, but as I expected, they didn't think anything was out of order. I'm hoping to be able to speak to the people in charge of this street, and get this company remove from checking this road. a fair few people came up to me to say how terrible they thought it was, and that they've had friends or family clamped here. it's a nightmare. I wouldn't mind, but it's a cul-de-sack. It's not even that busy.

Liam, "writing" to them asking them nicely for your money back doesn't work. What you should do is send a lba to both the clamping company and the landowners of the road. This should "Demand", not request, that the money is refunded or you will submit a county court claim against them both jointly.

Give them 7 days notice and when they don't reply/refund, then you must carry out your threat to submit a claim. It will be on record that you requested a code to park, and that you therefore had landowners authority to park your car there. Having left the car OK for 2 days, it is absurd to suggest the code was not on view (otherwise you would have been towed on Saturday or Sunday) so it is reasonable to conclude the code has fallen off the dash during the towing.

I have never had to make such a claim, but hopefully a CAGger will add here some advise as to how you now go about this.