Hello. I was clamped 12 days ago for parking on a privately owned carpark in a quiet back road close to Birmingham town center.

There were signs everywhere to be honest but i thought I'd take a chance as there were a few others parked there. The signs stated there would be a £125 charge for releasing from a clamp, and £200 more if towed away.

I parked at 10am , I got back after shopping at 3pm, I had been clamped.

I rang the number, and I felt under pressure to pay as quickly as possible as they said the lorry was on the way to tow me. The real kicker was that the gorilla on the end of the phone said "Now listen i've got something important to tell you, unfortuantley boss, the lorry was called out 40 minutes ago and to cancel it is gonna cost you £100 on top of the £125."

I told him I knew it was rubbish and he was just trying to get more money out of me. He replied, " if it was all about money then we would have just towed your car away!" I told them to cancel the lorry, and legged it for 20 minutes to get the money from the closest cash point.

I tried arguing with the money collector who was waiting in his little van when i got back. Obviously he claimed he had no way of changing the price. He told me the land was owned by the council and National Parking Control were hired out by them.

Now i suppose £125 is OK as you are warned all over the place, but there is no mention of the £100 charge for calling out the 'phantom tow lorry'. Where do i stand on this?

You have been a victim of extortion.

You should contact police and file a complaint under Section 2 of the Fraud Act 2006, or if the offence took place before 15/01/07, under Section 15A(1) of the Theft Act 1968

If you paid with a credit card, then get your money back with a chargeback, and revoke the credit transaction under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

I had similar situation a few weeks ago. I called their bluff and told them to tow the car as it wasn't worth £125. But I bloody well meant it - I had been there ten minutes and genuinely did not see the signs as the car park was by the entrance to a supermarket. Plus I did not have £125 in the world. I offered them the £40 in my bank account.

They took the clamp off and let me go:D

Interestingly they told me they would only accept cash or debit card (re 10110001's post above) which suggests they are well aware of the chargeback situation. I don't have credit cards anymore - that's why I am a member of CAG.

Ok, and this may not go down too well, but we have a self ticketing scheme with NPC - As we have a big problem with people parking on our private driveway at home - sometimes we can't even get to our own house..

Anyway, we put the signs up approx 6 weeks ago, and have isssued a single ticket - we have had ZERO problems since, and once more can use our own private driveway..

To the OP, I agree that the extra charge for the tow truck was out of order - HOWEVER, as you said, you saw the signs and decided to take a chance... You took a risk and lost... If everybody "took the risk" then we would still be having problems...

Ours is a £90 parking charge btw.

Mike

I was clamped by the sly gits and had to fork out £325 cash. I then set on a mission to expose these thieves. I googled 'National Parking Control' and came across what I thought was their website. I phoned the number on the website and it turns out that the b*****ds who clamped me have been using the name of another company also called National Parking Control (who only deal with parking tickets and not clamping). I think this is the company that GSMGuy mentioned in the above post. National Parking Control informed me that they are currently compiling evidence to sue the clamping company who is using their name and confirmed that they recieve continuous phone calls from people like myself who have mistaken the bogus National Parking Control for the real National parking Control. Anyway I faxed over all correspondence I had been given by the clampers using the name of National Parking Control and have informed the ticketing company that i am prepared to give evidence on their behalf should the need arise even so far as going to court. If I cant personally damadge the twats (it's impossible to track them) I'll assist anyone who can and if it is another company within the field then so be it.

Now i suppose £125 is OK as you are warned all over the place, but there is no mention of the £100 charge for calling out the 'phantom tow lorry'. Where do i stand on this?

You are right on this. Even on private land once an offer to pay is made they must release you. They cannot add charges for towing if towing has not taken place. As you've paid them I'd take the advice already given and report them to the Cops.

Sadly though you may have to resort to the court to recover any extras paid.

Have a read of the clamping guide in the stickies section. Although this is council land the company are still bound by the PSI legislation.

Did they give you a receipt?

Under the PSI Act there should date/time place and SIA identity number of the person releasing the car on it. As its a receipt you should also check for other identifying details of the Company such as the registered office.

Was the guy who released you wearing an SIA badge?

You should report any breaches of the act to the SIA.

Also check the situation with the Council. This lot may not be contracted with the council at all.

If they are legit as far as the council are concerned you can kiss your £125 goodbye. However I suspect the Council won't be to impressed with the extras being added on. They may be able to bring pressure to bear on a refund for you as their agent has been malfeasant to say the least.

My car was towed away last night in Birmingham from Sherlock Street, next to Oyster Suite/2nd City Suite. We had been to a wedding reception having had a wonderful night just to be greeted by 2 gorillia's, my car was towed away and they were busy clamping the next one. Anyway to cut a long story short the company who took our car call them selves National Parking Control (who have nothing to do with the legitimate National Parking Control company who only issues parking tickets). We pleaded with them to return our car and they said we had to pay £375.00 in cash which we agreed to but they still did not return our car now getting on to 11.30/12 midnight but told us we had to return the next day to pick it up. We had to catch a Taxi home which cost us £45.00. The police did not want to get involved. We were told to go back the next day to the same place where my car was towed and they would bring the it back. We arrived at Sherlock St and called them several times and they made us wait for 2 1/2 hours and same 2 gorilla's turnd up in a small white Van - Reg VK02 LWP. We had to pay them £375.00 IN CASH (I was given a receipt and asked the guy to print his name but he wouldn't - I checked his SIA and name on it was G Southall) We than followed them just round the corner to Moseley Street/Barford Street in a poxy car park (sign on top of wall was Moseley Street Cafe) not even a proper compound. If we had driven around we could have easily found the car ourselves. Doggy NPC is owned by Gary Southall his already been taken to court and failed to turn up. His so called registered office is at 67/27 Colmore Row, Birmingham B3 2EW Tel: 0787 174 3232. Engineers License No. 0230001606461804. Next time your car gets towed by a doggy company - drive around area you might just find it!!!!BTW the £375.00 charges broken down Fee charged release of Clamp £125.00 (remember my card was towed), Fee charged for removal £200.00, fee charged for storage £50.00 (I was willing to pay the same day to get my car back but they wouldn't so they could charge me £50.00 storage charges b******s. I also found Nationwide Parking Control - address same Colmore Row and Tel: 0870 0118938 (G Southall said this number was their Compliants Dept) so same Company.

A nice bit of detective work from you.

You have grounds for a refund on the storage charge. Case law says that a car must be released in a reasonable amount of time once an offer to pay is made. They need to be available 24X7 on that count.

I've checked the name Gary Southall on the SIA website and he is licensed.

Were Mr Southall and his "gorillas" wearing their SIA badges?

Make sure you report their actions and conduct to the SIA and Trading Standards.

Have a look at the clamping guide as their may be further grounds for a refund. In all likelihood you'l have to persue this through the courts.

against the clamper AND the landowner

Hi everyone,

I have also been a victim of National Parking Controls extortinate fee's. It seems we have to pay the penalty for his signage which is obscured in every way.

I am writing to as many people as possible about Gary Southall and his trading name in the hope I will be able to recover some of this money, including watchdog and rogue traders.

If anyone has had an experience which they would like to share then please contact me at: [email protected] and tell me your story.

The more people which come forward, the better chance we have of getting this seen by the right people and action being taken.

Thanks all

Chris

Are you planning on making a small claim in the County Courts to recover the money? That would seem to be more effective than anything else that you have proposed.

We are speaking with a solicitor now about this, however we also want so ensure we can create as much publicity around this as possible, especially as he had his SIA license revoked on weeks ago, and he is still doing what he is doing (not sure if he has employed someone with SIA clearance or what), but this defeats the object.

Have you had dealings with this firm?

especially as he had his SIA license revoked on weeks ago, and he is still doing what he is doing (not sure if he has employed someone with SIA clearance or what), but this defeats the object.

I believe it is the clamper and not his employer that has to have the SIA license.

TFT

I believe it is the clamper and not his employer that has to have the SIA license.

 

TFT

Both, but different licences

BBC NEWS | England | West Midlands | Four held in car clamping inquiry

hahahahahaha,hehehehehe,hohohoho!

Nice. National Parking Control are infamous. Also the story shows clearly that the more that complain to TS the better.

oooooh not a civil matter now is it mr plod!!

Wahoo! They got the bastards.

You'd think he could find some trousers to fit over that belly and crack.

'conspiracy to blackmail', 2-4 years of prison food should help get rid of that.

I was just looking at their website, there's an extraordinary page called 'Law and Ethics of Parking Enforcement'.