Hi, I have been away for a few days when I came back yesterday, I noticed my car was gone. I obviously freaked out and called Police who advised me to call TRACE, I did it and there was no entry on their database about my car. There was no letter, or phone call, email, SMS or anything to let me know that my car was taken by Marston. Not a single notice. For all I knew, my car was stolen. I then called Police back, and they were able to find out that Marstons took my car. I called them immediately and was told that it was due to a PCN issued last year by Kensington and Chelsea council. I have no recollection of ever receiving a PCN there, but I have been to the Chelsea Hospital to support a friend who was 9 months pregnant and feeling contractions. The address and date matches, so it must have been that, there was no PCN on my windscreen, though. I then told them that I have never received any letter from Marstons regarding this, neither before they took the car, nor after. Their reply was that they didn't need to do that because the Council have done it already, and they were given the warrant to control the vehicle, so they went ahead and did that. They said that the Council has sent me 4 letters asking for payment. After speaking to Marstons, I decided to comb my old letters to see if I find any communication from the Council and I found only 1 letter. Sent in October last year, exactly 3 days after my younger brother died, so it must have gone unnoticed by me during that emotional storm. I have sent an email to the Council saying the same thing I wrote above. Got a reply saying they have forwarded it to the Parking team and they will reply in due course, whenever that is. Marston is now preparing the car to be auctioned unless I pay over £600 to recover it. Are they correct when they say they did not need to send me any notice? It doesn't look right to me. I want to pay the PCN, however, I cannot afford to pay what they are asking. I guess the council can intervene but I am not counting on it. There must be a way out of this? Best regards.

The parking around here is all private property, and we all have permission to park here for free. There has been lots of works going on recently due to the bad quality of the buildings, so they've used cherry pickers to inspect the works, especially due to lack of fire protection. Today they needed to get into a bay that a van was parked in, in order to put a cherry picker there. They've used a loader and loaded the van onto a flat bed to move it away. And literally right now, I can see them getting ready to load another one. There is no prior notice to them needing access to these bays. They sometimes put barriers up the night before. Surely tampering with someone's vehicle like this is illegal? Apparently they've been moving lots of peoples vehicles without asking, or warnings. They've parked up for now.

Ive never posted before and my spelling is really bad so I apologise in advance! I went to drive my car this afternoon and it was gone!! I panicked and called the police, they told me it had been towed due to no tax. I couldnt call the company because its shut. I checked online and said untaxed! I went in my direct debits and its still active, went to both dates (read somewhere they will take it 4 days after if failed) and a week either side of both and there is available money???! THEY HAVEN'T TRIED TO TAKE IT? Can anyone give me a reason why this would happen? I'm guessing the clamping place are going to be a problem and I'm going to have to pay the release anyway but can I claim it back? Also havent received any letter or email. .it was only supposed to be taken out last week on the 2nd?! Such a ball ache before christmas and majorly panicked as I thought it had been stolen! Didnt think they could do that, thought theyd clamp jesus! Many thanks for any help x

Growing numbers of motorists are having their cars clamped and towed away because of confusion over tax disc changes. New figures published a year after the tax disc was scrapped suggest that drivers are still struggling to adjust to the new electronic system. The disc was an obvious reminder. It has now gone and we think people might be forgetting The number of vehicles being clamped or impounded has leapt from about 5,500 a month under the old system to more than 8,000 a month. This hit a peak of 10,554 in July. The increase has been put down to confusion over new rules regarding transfer of ownership which came in at the same time that tax discs were scrapped after 93 years. More ... So their plan on how to get more money out of the motorist seems to be working

Hi, I am new to this website so please could you help me out here. I stupidly took a loan out against my car. I was paying every month until I had to move quickly due to domestic violence. in the madness of it all I forgot about the logbook loan, until Last Thursday morning at 04.00am I got woke up by a neighbour banging on my door saying someone was pulling my car up onto the back of a flatbed wagon. As I am disabled I got to the front door as quick as I could . The guy who was putting my car onto the back of the truck asked me if I had £1500 I said no, he then replied and said I am taking the car you will have to speak to the company who you took the loan out with .i tried to explain I was disabled and a blue badge holder but he just said tough not my problem. He said " you moved and didn't tell us, I have been here 3 times already" I only go out in the day time and that is only for about an hour. He had never been round as I asked the neighbours as he had told me he spoke to one of my neighbours last Tuesday night but I wasn't in. I am not out when it is dark. they have told me I have to find £870 in 7 days or I lose my car. I have tried to explain my situation to auto money local office and they just will not let me get a word in edge ways. Is it right that they can come at that time in a morning and just drag my car off the driveway. I have not been able to go out since he took my car away, as I can not get into town on the bus as I am in a wheelchair and I need someone to push me. I am now housebound. Any help would be gratefully received.

Hello all, I recently got my car towed and paid £265 to get it back ( £200 tow fine and £65 for the PCN -Newham council ) I want to make an appeal but I am not sure what to say in the letter to improve my chances . Been reading forums for a couple of hours now and I`m confused. There are no yellow lines where I parked and no parking restriction signs and I have honestly did not notice the lowered kerb. Here is an image for the place in question taken off google street view: uploadpie.com/jkSoL On what grounds could I possibly appeal? I have not seen any images taken by the enforcement officer when the PCN was issued or when the car got towed. Hope anyone can help. Thank you!

Hello My niece and her boyfriend had broke down in her car, so they push it off the road onto the kerb. She tried for 20 minutes to start the vehicle but it could not be started. I came back with them early next day with my vehicle transporter trailer, but the car had been towed and impounded by the council. I thought this was a matter for the police, to remove vehicles which are illegally or dangerously parked? Her's was parked safe by the way even though on the kerb. She put this to the council but they want her to pay fine then she gets her car. Also the council requested she prove it had broken down that night, but were unwilling to meet at car yard to be showed. How can this be proved if the council are not willing to come and see for theirself. Any advice welcome. Thanks

I'd be grateful if anyone could offer any advice on how to appeal. I was shocked to find my car had been towed. There was a signed posted which read 'No Loading' (as attached). It did not say 'No Parking'. But perhaps more confusing was that it gave a specific address of 'The whole Bay outside the side of number 54 Chetwynd Road'. I parked my car on Twisden Road - Chetwynd Road is the road around the corner. They are using 'The side of Number 54 Chetwynd Road' to indicate that this is the house at the end of the block on Chetwynd Road and would therefore have its side partition wall on Twisden Road. However, this is seriously confusing and when I'd seen the sign, it appeared to mean that you could not load at the side of 54 Chetwynd Road. I parked there as did two other unfortunate people who were also towed away. It was a completely wasted day as it took 7 hours to reclaim my car from the pound. I missed out on work and had to pay the council £265.00 just to get my car back which I can't really afford at the moment. Anyone who has been through this knows that you are treated as a criminal by Camden Council when trying to use your car even when you have made a genuine mistake. In this case I feel as if they are completely in the wrong and would be great to hear any advice from anyone who has taking them on. Many thanks! AP

I am writing on behalf of my girlfriend who got her car towed last saturday morning 7th June 2014. They told us it was parked in a suspended bay, but after reading several posts on this forum, it seems we may have valid reasons to appeal. We would be very grateful for anyone more knowledgeable about the law on this to advise us on our appeal before we submit it. She thought her car had been stolen and it caused a great deal of distress. Plus it was a huge inconvenience to us as we were due to go away for the weekend in the car. The car was parked on St. John's Hill in Wandsworth, London. They told us that the car had been towed because it was parked in a suspended bay. Later in the day I went back with her to where she was parked and took some pictures. I also include a scan of the PCN that was given to us when we went to collect the car. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0Vqw_YSKNY5RkJGMFBQQjE0Z0J1cGRjejhwd2R6dmpKTEV3/edit?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0Vqw_YSKNY5T3pXSVBjeVpYX0VuUFhaTHNrWGRjU0h1dEtj/edit?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0Vqw_YSKNY5UzdXQklpREptWXhkV0p5NldTclVCZFV2cDR3/edit?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0Vqw_YSKNY5Z3lrckNlQzZfSzZJai1fTVN1aDdmVUc4VFBB/edit?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0Vqw_YSKNY5X3NLemNOYjM4RTQ/edit?usp=sharing You can see that the suspended bay sign was several car lengths away from bay where my girlfriend was parked i.e. the empty bay in the pictures. This is pretty much how it looked when my girlfriend arrived to park. i.e. all the other bays that are closer to the sign had cars parked in them. My GF parked and left her car, walking in the opposite direction to the sign. There was no other sign on the other side of the suspended bay. She never noticed the sign in the photo, further down the road, so she had no idea the bay she parked in was suspended. I am wondering if we can appeal on grounds of any or all of the following: 1) It was not at all clear that the bay was suspended. The only sign was several car lengths away. No other sign on the other side of the bay. 2) Is the sign valid? I have read in other posts that sometimes the sign itself does not follow 'the rules'. 3) The sign says that the bay outside no. 97 is suspended. The pavement is quite wide and it is not clear which bay this refers to. Especially because the only sign was so far away from no. 97. 4) When we went to pick up the car at the pound in Mitcham, we were told that we had to pay £265 or they would not release the car back to us, even though I told them we wanted to appeal. I have since read in other posts that the this is not the law. Apparently, they cannot force us to pay to release the car if we choose to appeal. Is this true? 5) My GF was away from her car for approximately 1.5 hours. when she got back it was gone and no indication where or why. Can they tow it without any warning? 6) We notice the address of the suspended bay is different on the PCN to the sign. The sign says "no. 97". The PCN says "no.s 97/99". Do we have grounds to appeal? Should we use any or all of the above in our appeal? Is there anything else we should put in our appeal? We would be very grateful for advice on this. Thanks in advance.

tt, over on pepipoo - guy reporting that his car has been removed by bailiff for someone else's debt. son has blue badge which was displayed at the time. http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=91091&st=0&gopid=970659entry970659 i know you're always busy, but wonder if you could look in on the thread. df

Last saturday my car was towed away by sussex policeduring operation venice at crawley town football club. My car was parked on a concrete strip accomodating around 9 cars beyond a bus stop to the side of a dual carriage way. Either side of this concrete is grass verges. There were 9 cars on the concrete and around 40 on the grass verges . There is a no stopping sign on the verge or footway . No mention of towing . I understand the verge to mean the grass areas and the footway to mean the pavement which is another 4 meters away from the road and verges. There was an announcement that all cars parked on the GRASS verges would be towed away if not moved in the football ground. When i returned my car was removed the remaining cars on the concrete were there and all had yellow police park away notices with an officers name but no date or time None of these cars had been issued PCN The cars on the grass verges were still there and did not have the police yellow notices. I was told i would have to wait until the Tuesday and pay storgae on top to recover my car as the tow away firm were closed for taking payments. I went directly to the yard and refused to leave until i recovered my car . Eventually they relented i paid cash for the tow away fee of £150 and paid no PCN there was also no yellow police aware sign. In short my car was simply removed. I want to appeal i believe there should have been a penalty charge notice and some visual evidence from the authorities for the offence in order to follow procedures. I have spoken with the seargant who is unable to provide this. There will be no written paper work sent to me by the police. My question is how do i put my appeal in writing , i can see if it were the council what i should do but it is unclear given it is the police. Many Thanks

Hi there I have heard good things about this website, and very very helpful people, kudos to especially the likes of 'thedogs[naughty word]' who can hopefully shed some light on this situation So i parked on a single yellow line, not realising, i normally park here always with no problems. THIS time i was late and a little negligent as i was already late for class Anyway. Honestly speaking i parked around 10am. Went out for lunch at 12pm and found a pcn on the car, now i made a huge mistake of leaving the car there as i thought i already have a ticket. The car behind me also received a pcn I went back into university and came back out again. Around 3pm. The car was gone I called police, trace etc and lead me to a private impound in white city. Who did not answer the phone. Very annoying. Anyway I finally collected the car etc (A) Paid £200 for recovery charge (B)£55 for the pcn Total £255. I am sure with all previous pcns, paying the pcn upfront eliminates any right to appeal, i explained this to the evil man behind the counter and he said it all needs to be paid now and challeneged after Am i right in saying, first of all the charged according to parking act 2007 are £105 for removal and £12 a day storages charges maximum These guys advised £200 plus £40 a day storage charge Can this be one ground of objection? Furthermore i found some scratches on the toof of my car I agree my mistake. I take it on the chin and happy to pay the £55 pcn after dispute that signs were not clear or whatever But are there any other grounds of appeal? Signs not clear? Did they remove my car unlawfully? I am a young student living away from parents and money is tight Thank u in advance for anyone who gets back to me If it helps. Its greenford road this all happene

Hi Had my car towed at 11:25am on sunday. PCN served at 9.20am from single yellow. Just moved there and didnt know that single yellow is restricted in the area of Camden on Sunday. Got parking permit in the area but it was full the night I arrived and pretty much stayed the same during the day. I didnt notice the pcn on the car... Anyway the question is.. Do they need to display signs that the car will be towed in the area ? or just the sign of controlled zone is enough to tow the car? There is no signs on the street about towing or clamping.. just one about controlled area at the end of the road. Do I have any ground to appeal?

Basically my car is going through a court case because I was unlucky enough to buy a car that broke down after a couple days of driving :/ (another long story). The tax ran out and I declared SORN on the car and left it in a road where the bottom of the road is a place for the residents to park. (Where I thought was private) I am a resident so I am free to park there and I even spoke to my local council and the highways agency and they told me as long as you declared SORN it should be fine. Then I find out a couple weeks later that DVLA have clamped the car and told me that only the right side of the road there is private, the rest of the road is public. I told the lady on the phone (from the car pound) that the council said it was perfectly fine for me to leave the car there with SORN declared, so she told me that she will speak to the council and see what they say and that she will give me a call back and tell me the result, whether I have to pay or not. After this conversation I called up everyday as she never called me back and she told me she was still waiting for the council as the car is on a query it won't be towed away. Yesterday I decided not to phone as she told me she will call me back when she has found out the result. This morning I found out the car had been towed away and rang the pound immediately where I found out that there IT systems went down and she lost all the notes so she couldn't call me back and as a result I had the car towed away. Also I was told the place where I left the car is a public road and can't be left there. I went back to the council and they told me they couldn't do anything as it was up to DVLA to judge whether the car was on private or public road. So to sum it up I had been given the wrong information by the council and had the car wrongfully towed away as I had been told it won't be towed until I get a call back. If I knew that the council told her it was a private road I would of just reluctantly paid the fee to get rid of the clamp and get the car moved to the private side. Where do I stand, can I appeal? I reckon I might be able to appeal against there IT systems going down as that is not my problem but can I appeal against the council and high ways agency for wrong information? Also can I appeal the whole fine? Sorry for the long post, any replies will be great Also I need to tow my car back, does anyone know of any good towing services in London? I'm thinking to use this, total car recovery service but I didn't know whether to trust it or not.

Hi, I am looking for help and/or advice please! I was towed away in Camden, Sunday, April 7, 2013 at 16.35 a.m. I parked my car on a single yellow line in Prince of Wales Road at 15:50, in front of the car, which was already there. I checked for signs and couldn’t see any restrictions. Prince of Wales Road on this side did not have any signs. Only one I could see, was at the corner between Prince of Wales Road going right to Haverstock Hill, towards Belsize Park. This sign restricted parking on single yellow line on Saturday, between 9:30 am -1:30 pm. There was lot’s of parked cars on both sides of the Haverstock Hill road, and there was already one on Prince of Wales Road, so I accepted that the parking restriction for both roads was the same. PCN was issued at 16:02 and car was towed at 16:35. I returned back at 16:50, just to realise that car is not there. I called the Police, and then Camden Parking, just to find that my car was at Regis Road Car Pound. It cost me £265 to get car released. I am not local, and obviously I was not aware of notorious CA-F (NW) parking zone restrictions. I entered into zone from Camden. The entry sign was just after the Camden Lock bridge, at the entrance to Chalk Farm Road. From there, there was no any other sign, as I drove through Chalk Farm Road, Haverstock Hill Road and turned right to Prince of Wales Road, where I parked my car. Distance from the entrance to the parking was about 1.5 miles. My points: 1. Prince of Wales Road borders two different zones CA-F (NW) (banned for all days) and CA-L (Outer) zone (banned for Mo-Sat) 2. Restriction signs are not transparent, they are rather confusing. 3. Distance from the entry point into Zone to the place I parked, is far away for drivers to be able to read and remember the restrictions, escpeccially when you need to concentrate to Camden traffic and lights in front of you. 4. Why does a Council have to waste so much time and effort taking a car away when it is not causing an obstruction to the road that is four lines wide. They towed car half an hour after they issued the PCN? Can just PCN be enough as a punishment? Few days later I went to checked all Controll Zone signs. It looks that all of them are as they should be. Only, I could mention minor obstacles on the entry sign, as someone put some stickers on it, but noting else. I have 28 days to contest, starting on April 7, 2013. Please advise on best route of action. Please find attached detailed images. I would really appreciate anyone to take the time to view and advise. Many thanks, George

Hello. I parked my car on a single yellow line in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham at 6:45pm on Tuesday last week. The single yellow had has no signage/plate. I went to the cinema and when I came back my car was gone. It had been towed by LBHF. I was parked in the CPZ “S” which apparently has restrictions in force from Monday to Saturday 9.00am to 8.00pm. The signage indicating a controlled parking zone was not readable as the times on both signs when I entered the alleged CPZ had been blacked out photos are here... http://www.e1.ee/CPZ-Entrance-Left-side.jpg http://www.e1.ee/CPZ-Entrance-right-side.jpg My contravention was ‘Parked in a restricted street during prescribed hours’ I have used their online form for challenging PCNs and wrote the following: I am writing to challenge the Penalty Charge Notice HZ********. On 2/10/2012 my vehicle was issued with a Penalty Charge Notice for the reason ‘Parked in a restricted street during prescribed hours’. The signage indicating a controlled parking zone was not readable and therefore the alleged contravention did not occur. Thankfully I have photographic evidence of the controlled parking zone signage that clearly shows the signs are not fit for purpose. I have uploaded the said photographs to this online form for your reference. I would advise the council to immediately cancel this PCN as it is un-enforceable. I should like to request a full refund for the PCN of £65.00 and a full refund for the removal fee of £200. Thank you for your time. Yours faithfully, I recovered my car and paid the £265 that night. My question is have I used the correct method of challenging the PCN by using the online form and will that be enough to challenge the towing fee also? Also do you think I would win if it went to an adjudicator with the evidence before you? Thank you so much for your time. Edward.

Was visiting my daughter in Earlsfield (wandsworth) from manchester. I parked on main high street and very stupidly mis-read the parking pay and display machine. totally my fault - i read it as payable between 10am and 4pm but did not realise that it was no parking/no loading or unloading outside of these hours. so i payed the parking fee and put the sticker on my windscreen. when i returned at 4.40 my car had been removed. initially thought it had been stolen cos still didnt realise my mistake re parking times. however someone in a shop had seen it being removed "about 10 - 15 mins earlier". my question is - obviously i DID park in a no parking/loading area at that time - but are they allowed to issue a pcn at 4.18pm and tow the car away almost immediately? it must have been removed at about 4.25-4.30. The pcn was given to me when i picked up the car from the pound but i have no information about the actual removal of the car. also the pcn was given to me in perfet condition - doesn't seem to have ever been stuck to the car? is it worth me appealing for the £200 removal fee? I have paid the £55 pcn fee as well - had to pay the full amount to get the car back, although i do not dispute the pcn fee! any help would be appreciated.

Ive got an issue Ive stop in Shell garage to call Breakdown company because i had flat tire. Police arrived (someone called from public) and i was arrested for drink driving. Green flag subcontractor ON TIME arrived but i wasnt there. According to them police instructed them to take my car away. So i made a complaint to Essex police. They had investigated and Inspector called me to tell me that police didnt instruct anyone to do it (car had MOT,TAX and insured). After many calls i was told to pay the fee for towing away my car. I was shocked how it could happened. My car was unlocked and it was my personal belongings like wallet, phone and passport. So they took my unlocked car (MBenz worth 7000 £) with all my belonging and i havent seen it since 4 of August and now is 25 of August. I am thinking to go to small court claims. I just cant believe that big companies dont care about there costumer. Any advise Thank you