I hope the next court appearance goes better - I find it incredible that it's gone through two courts already.

It's great that the caution was rescinded though.

Did you use a credit card to make the purchase? In which case, you can make a claim against the credit card company.

You could also consider making a complaint to trading standards.

Common sense tells me selling branded items without a licence from the company to do so is in breach of trading standards etc, and I suspect ignorance of whether they are counterfeit or not would not be an acceptable defence.

Name both of them in any action. Let them decide who is responsible between themselves.

There's a clamping guide at the top of the forum.

I understand that might be the case for distraint against goods for services (e.g. holding on to a car in the garage if payment is not made). In this case, however, the passport belongs to the Government, not the individual.

Contact Equifax and Experian (and the other credit reference agency which I cannot remember the name for) and inform them that there is no financial link between you and these people.

You might as well inform them that they do not live at that address, although I don't know if they would take any notice.

Pass on any known addresses to any debt collectors / bailiffs that come round. Return any mail with / or without the new address included.

Otherwise ignore the letters - As long as your credit record is unaffected, I'm pretty sure that it's not much more than an annoyance.

Have you asked them for your car back?

Send them a letter, informing them that they do not have your consent to have taken the vehicle, and demand they return it.

Inform the police that the vehicle was taken without your consent. Do not relent until they give you a crime reference number - not that they will ever investigate it, as they will no doubt insist that it is a civil matter - a crime reference may be useful in any county court claim against the PMC. Inform the police that PMC are extorting you for £4,000. Don't give up on that front.

My guess is that you need to be looking to obtain a court order for the return of the vehicle (I have no idea how you go about doing this, however), and you could then claim for any direct loss / damages caused.

Was there any signage? Who removed it - were they SIA members? Have a read of the sticky on clamping, and see which parts apply.

Isn't it an indictable, as opposed to arrestable?

I would be interested to see what a county court judge would make of his claims about the direct costs of this breach.

Interest on the money not received? Time spent chasing? Cost of him cancelling a weekend away?

Why not add in the cost of the lifetime of therapy that his children have to go through, because daddy could no longer buy them a pony?

Emotional trauma? That's a pricey one.

If only there were some precedent to fall back on in cases like this . . .

Whilst not extortion, the claims are certainly fanciful.

We were informed that £5000 was only paid for the land and it does not cover parking on that space. I know it sounds abit weird but that's what they told the residents.

What does the paperwork state?

No, the toll system in France pays for the better road system, in the way the road tax here pays for it.

Toll-free motorways in France are horrific (particularly around Paris), and akin to driving on cheese graters.

The DSRs require you to refund the original delivery charge, not the return delivery charge, provided you make this clear in your Ts & Cs.

The links in Kraken1's post are clear on this - if you do not specify that the customer is liable for the return charge, the seller becomes liable.

Many online retailers will sell items with free delivery, with the cost of delivery included in the value of the item itself.

It's up to you, as a business, to decide whether the marginal increase in cost is worth the marginal reduction in units shifted. That's what business is, after all.

What do the RTA / TMA say about it though?

I've not hired one recently, but have had hire companies try it on pretty much every single time I have used them.

Apply to have the judgement set aside first, then worry about the defence (although there are plenty of examples to be found using the forum search function).

If you don't remember seeing the court papers, it's possible that they were never sent - it's not the first time that this has happened with OPC (see here for example).

That'll teach me to read more than the first sentence then.

Was there no summons issued? I was under the impression that if you did not pay an NEFPN, you would receive a summons to appear before a magistrate.

The hotels operating license could be at stake as it is illegal to allow someone to smoke in a building and if they are not seen to take action, it could land them in trouble.

It is in a enclosed public place or place of work.

They have no right to fine you.

Their Ts & Cs may be worded such that you agree to pay a surcharge if you smoke in the room - Do you have theses available?

Contact your credit card company and make a chargeback. Failing that, write them a letter before action, and be prepared to take them to court.

Putting a sign the window of the car giving its 'home address' is lunacy.

The employer also pays the employees NI, pension,sick pay, holiday pay etc. When I worked on costings we used twice the actual pay rate as the rough cost of employing someone - so round it up to a rough £8. The person is also managed, and trained in the job, so you need to allow for some payroll costs for the manager, and training in the job - no idea how many tickets you can get processed per training session, depends on staff turnover etc, but it is reasonable to charge for it.

 

You also have to allow for a contribution to the costs of running the business, there is some of the building that is needed to house the person doing the job, they need a desk, computer, heating, canteen, payroll, human resources team - and all these costs can reasonably be apportioned as well.

 

After all that lot, I would guess that £25 for a fair guess at a reasonable rate.

Is there a test for what constitutes "reasonable" - a number of posters have alluded to thinking that the £25 is a reasonable amount to charge for forwarding a letter and filling a form.

A question for the OP - is the pavement a shared use zone?