Hello, Help required!! Does the OP have an update on this situation as similar thing just happened to me (without the disabled spot) My situation is my car had been having another engine fitted, while it was in the local garage the MoT and Road Tax ran out so I declared it SORN (but kept it insured). fast forward 3 months and car is delivered back to me on breakdown truck due to no tax etc. but covering my driveway (dropped kerb, official driveway BUT council owned property) Car was dropped off 07/03 Wednesday night, I booked it in for MoT immediately but earliest booked appointment was for following Monday (12/03). On Friday morning I was clamped by DVLA for no tax, release fee £260. ... then on Monday morning drove car for MoT when I returned home I had received a letter off DVLA stating that my car had been seen on the road on 2 occasions and had 2 fines totalling £847. now they have been kind and given me an extension of a further 2 weeks to pay the out of court settlement. So my questions are? is this worth attending court to explain in more detail? or could that all end in tears. Is a fine of over £1000 correct when I thought I had done everything legally. surely if I was actually driving around with no tax then fair enough but I had even paid for a recovery truck to bring it back from having the engine work done. just to be law abiding. I cant afford the fine at all, and I just feel like this is extremely unfair, as i'm typing this 2 little noisy motorbikes have just been speeding down my road with no helmets on.... I assume they will get huge fine as well?!?! any help, advice or even criticism will be welcome because I honestly cant see what I did wrong.

Been a while since I posted so here goes. A month back, my car got clamped for an unpaid PCN. The car was parked on a single yellow line overnight (legally) and restrictions only apply from 08:30 am. At 08:30 when I went to go to work, I saw the car clamped and made the relevant calls and dealt with it. I wasn't notified that the clamp had been removed (it was removed at 10am I have found out). When I returned to the car later to see the clamp removed there was a shiny new PCN on it for parking on a single yellow line during restricted hours. The PCN was given at 10:13. The bailiff notice was still stuck on the car. I obviously thought no biggie. I'll appeal the ticket which I did and received a reply from Barnet saying that as it was 4 hours from when the car was clamped and the ticket, the ticket is valid! Now I need to wait for the notice to owner to appeal this further, but I will lose the discounted rate and if I lose that then what? I actually think this is disgraceful behaviour, but I may be wrong. Thoughts?

I've just finished building myself a carbon frame Colnago road bike. The whole thing is a bit of an indulgence really – the bike is extremely light and very beautiful and well beyond my level of endurance/ability. For a few years I've been riding a titanium bike which has been great because you can use it in all weathers and it handles neglect quite well. Anyway, I fell in love with Colnago and over the past year or so I've been slowly collecting bits and pieces from eBay and here and there. I eventually put it together and it's really fantastic and I'm waiting for some good dry weather to take it out. One problem I had was the worry about clamping the frame in a workstand. No problem with the titanium bike but I didn't want to risk damaging a delicate-feeling, lightweight carbon frame Colnago. While I was looking through the Internet about this, I chanced upon a sort of work stand adapter which you put into the jaws of the work stand and then mount bike on that. It's made by Hirobel https://www.hirobel.com/ It's not cheap. In fact it's pretty pricey – but on the other hand, it's going to last forever so if you're using it for 10 or 20 years and if it means that you avoid damage to a delicate carbon frame – or whatever comes up in the future, it eventually becomes with. The problem was, how to get hold of one of these Hirobel adapters. They seem to be only available in the States. Then I found a tiny outfit in Scotland called 2WheelCare which is run by a guy called Daniel. He has been using a Hirobel adapter with his customers bikes for quite a long time and he has had so many customers who asked him about them that occasionally he brings them in and sells them. He sold one to me. I'm really posting because it was such a pleasure to find this company which was so approachable and so accessible and also so reliable. So far as I can make out, 2WheelCare has a dedicated customer following in Scotland including being the repair centre of choice for a number of local clubs. Selling cycling equipment is really just a sideline of theirs – but they do it extremely well. http://www.2wheelcare.co.uk/ 2 Wheel Care Cupar Road Pitscottie Fife KY15 5TB 01334 828436 [email protected] @2wheelcare

Hi Looking for information here. We purchased a little Citroen the other day Collected it after it had been taxed at 9.10am. My wife then used it for work transport and parked it on a side road. When arriving back to her car at 2pm there was a clamp and sticker on it saying no tax. i rang the number given on the leaflet and was told car was not taxed. Yet we had purchased in the morning. The lady said the car was clamped at 10.05 in the morning. Surely DVLA would know that tax would be on it? So i paid the fine to release the clamp. £100. How do i go about getting this back as they are in the wrong. My next question is , i was going to cut the clamp off, what would be the legalities regards this??

Ok, some more questions for clarification on this. From what I understand, a bailiff cannot clamp your car on private land. Would this include a bed & breakfast car park that you were staying at? Because sometimes I have to work away and just wondered the legality of the situation. The only reason I ask is because I know they use ANPR, so theoretically if they're looking for my car they could get lucky, although this is unlikely I just want to be sure. Secondly, they can't take your car if it's worth under £1350 and is used for work? So, how do they value the car? And how do you prove that it's essential for work? What happens if they clamp it anyway? The car I use is a cat d write off. I was paid out £3250 a few years back, and bought the car back off the insurance for £325. So does that mean it's worth £325? Or will it be the book price for a cat d, or just any price they decided?

One of the most dangerous pieces of advice being given on the web, is to remove clamps on cars which have been taken under control. intentionally interfering with goods which have been taken into control is a criminal offence under Paragraph 68(2) of Schedule 12 of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007. Punishable summarily by a prison sentence of up to 51 weeks, and/or a Level 4 fine (currently £2,500 on a guilty judgement. This is in addition to other actions that the EA make take under common or civil law. There is much talk of debtors interpretation of the law in this area. This is irrelevant. The EA will interpret the law and make the decision regarding taking control of goods. He should take all actions needed to ensure he is acting within the law, but he is empowered by the law to do as he sees fit. If the debtor feels the EA has acted illegally in taking a third party or exempt goods there is legal recourse in CPR 85. This is a free procedure.

Last week yet another debtor appeared in court for cutting off a wheel clamp. In this case, a bailiff from JBW Group applied a wheel clamp to the debtors car in relation to a debt for council tax. The debtor 'claimed' that he thought that the clamp had been left on his car by a friend as a joke and accordingly, he used an angle grinder to remove the clamp. Clearly the court did not believe his story and after admitting causing criminal damage the court ordered him to pay £435 which was made up of a fine of £250, costs of £85, compensation of £75 and victims surcharge of £25. http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/Man-used-angle-grinder-cut-wheel-clamp-car/story-26547903-detail/story.html

I'm later today(24th july 2014) to attend voluntarily that is for interview over allegation! All i can think to do is what i've always done & keep shtum,not a word! No mention of clamp removal leading to any criminal damage only that as it was held i'd in effect stolen it(my car hat is)! Can only imagine this will be one of some but to come in there hoards no doubt! Anybody de-clamped their own car since the new regs "Taking control of goods etc" came in april in regards to magistrates unpaid fines whereby stage 2 of £235 is added by bailiff on top obviously £75 compliance .Car was clamped notice on my window & letter through leterbox, spoke to guy declaring cannot pay all today but expecting as i was that very next day receiving more than enough can we sort something, abruptly no was the answer without consideration which at that stage, well anyway no money, no car so later that day car was to be towed final £100 on top for that. Simply hadn't been paid (again) for installs of energy efficiency measures (ECO energy companies obligation) which is a whole different [problem] for a thread of titanic proportions elsewhere, admittedly should have agreed some payment arrangement prior to enforcement stage, hold my hand up there til it aches but even on lists to do's time flew as it slipped time again my mind!

I am hoping some of you can help me, my daughter has had 3 bailiffs letters re a parking offence, she doesn't deny that she owes some money and she has good cause re not dealing with it, she is being treated for depression and is currently in fear of her life due to violent former boyfriend, she has made statements to police and is going to be a witness in the court case, despite threats from him. I wrote a letter ( on her behalf) to equita and explained her situation and informed them that the situation came under the vulnerable debtors, clause and asked them to send the debt back to the council, I have sent the letter twice, had an email acknowledgment , however all they did was write back, gave a breakdown of charges and ignored the vulnerable debtors bit and told her she could expect a call from them anytime within the next 7 days and they would clamp her car, she is frightened enough about knocks on the door ( with violent ex) Can anyone advise what to do next? Thanks

Hi, I have just found my car to be clamped, by Task Enforcement Ltd. I rang the mobile number given straight away, and the man came over within 45 minutes, I paid the £650 fine, and he took the clamp off. I had NO idea why my car had been clamped, but I was told that in May last year I was stationary in a box junction (not parked), in London. For this I received a PCN but all letters went to my previous address. I changed my logbook to my new address about 2 months ago. I received NO letters or visits from anyone at my new address. I was told that bailiffs went to my old address- they would have found out that I no longer live there, yet they kept going back/ sending letters there (according to the man who clamped my car.) Seeing as I updated my address, should they not have tried me at that address before clamping my car? I have since got home, and wanting evidence that I was illegally in a box junction (and following advice from the clamper) I have entered my PCN and vehicle reg into the TFL website, but it is saying that the number plate and PCN do not match. Would appreciate any legal advice on whether- a) I can claim back any of the fine I have paid, b) Does this whole thing sound legit or a [problem]? c) Can I find evidence through TFL for the original offence, which I can't even remember? Thanks in advance, Amy

Hi everyone. I am a part time motor trader, and bought a van to sell to a friend. Said friend then decided he didn't want it, and I had to keep the van near my house. Now, I KNOW I am at fault, I parked the van on the road without it being taxed. Long story short, a neighbour reported us. At 5pm on the 17th December, I drove past and saw the van had been clamped, with a DVLA flyer on. The leaflet explained there was a £100 release fee, and I also had to produce a valid tax disk. The following morning at 9am, I taxed the vehicle, and paid a £100 release fee to have the clamp removed. Fast forward to earlier this week, I received a letter from the DVLA, stating that said van was seen and reported at 15.59 on 17/12/2013, as being kept on a road whilst unlicensed. "This remains an offence even if the vehicle is subsequently licensed. This is separate to the fees paid to the Agency's wheel-clamping contractors who clamped/impounded the vehicle." I now need to fill in a form giving information as to who was keeping the vehicle at the said time. "Failure to provide this information is an offence and a court may impose a maximum fine of £1000, if you do not supply the information requested." There is no indication on the letter as to how much the fine will be. There was no reference when the van was clamped, that the £100 release fee wasn't the end of the story. Apparently, the clamp wasn't the full punishment. I called 2 DVLA numbers, to be told that no one can explain anything about the situation to me, nor help me with my query whatsoever. "You have 2 options, pay the fine, or appeal." When I asked how much the fine would be, no one knew, and I just had the previous sentence repeated to me. Can someone explain my rights to me please? Or someone who has gone through this themselves. I was punished by the clamp. I paid £100 to have it released. How on Earth am I know being asked for more money? Thank you.

What kind of proceedings do I need to issue to get a court order against a bailiff ordering him to remove an unlawfully applied car clamp?Please be specific , i.e. what is the exact wording of the order am I seeking,what kind of court do I apply to, what forms to I use to apply for the order,what do I put on the forms. Do I issue the proceedings against the individual bailiff or the firm he works for? I want to issue proceedings against the bailiff or his company NOT the local authority Background is the car is owed by a limited company (and this can be proved). The car has been clamped under a council tax liability order against an individual. Bailiff has been made aware that car is owned by third party but has refused to remove clamp. Only documentation left through letter box when car was clamped was “Removal Notice (car details) clamped to be removed. Magistrates Liability order dated xxx arrears of council tax due to xxx total outstanding xxx, I have today attended your premises with the intention of levying and removing your goods and chattels to the auction value of xxx. I will be re-attending and goods may be removed even in your absence. If you wish to avoid this distressing course of action Telephone Immediately” Options I’ve already considered but can’t see that they would work are 1) Issuing an interpleader summons. Can’t do that as car has not been actually seized, only clamped. No valid levy has been made (or if it had it has been abandoned) so can’t use interpleader route 2) Issuing proceedings under Torts (Interference with Goods) Act 1977. S3 looks the most promising. However the relief available is only for delivery of the goods and/or damages. The goods haven’t been removed, just clamped 3) Issuing form 4 complaint against bailiff, Not a good idea as potential to be very expensive if costs are awarded. Also only deals with Bailiff fitness to hold certificate, does nothing on getting clamp removed 4) Issuing proceedings under Protection from Harassment Act 1997 S3. Difficult as owner of vehicle is a company, not a person, and act appears to be very much aimed at protecting real persons from harassment 5) Issuing proceedings under The Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992, Section 46. Looks promising but is only available against levy or attempt to levy. No valid levy appears to have been made, merely the car has been clamped. Also this route only appears available to the person that the levy was aimed against, not a third party company Note that the advice sought for now is just to get a court to order the clamp removed. The financial lost incurred, hire of other cars,time, and trouble, is a question for another day once the clamp has been removed Any advice gratefully gratefully received and will post success (or non-success) story

Hey All, On the 2nd May I awoke to discover a clamp fitted to my car at about Half 7 in the morning and a letter pushed through my door from Equita Bailiffs. The reason for the clamp was a parking ticket which I did not dispute, but was awaiting contact in order to make an arrangement to pay it as i'd been unable to reach an agreement with the council prior to it going to court. Equita claim to have sent a letter and had someone visit on the 8th April but i'm strongly disputing this and nothing was pushed through. Allegedly they have a description of my property but this hasnt been forthcoming. As a result on the day I had to pay the bailiff the following amount to release the car (which incidently wasnt registered in the name on their records): Original Debt: £112.00 Initial Letter: £11.20 First Visit Fee: £35.00 Second Visit Fee: £45.00 Attendance Charge: £167.00 Card Payment Fee: £1.25 VAT: £51.89 Total: £423.34 I have written to Equita on the 29th May and have told them I believe this is excessive, which they have obviously disagreed with. In addition I also pointed out that there had been no contact, and that I am prepared to commence legal action 28 days from that date, which apparently they're prepared to defend. I'm just wondering if anyone knows if their actions violate either Distress for Rent Rules 1988 or the Fraud Act 2006. The Police believe it's entirely a civil matter apparently and the CAB have been no use either. Any known options available to me would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Hi all, It might be a little bit cheeky and not sure if it is possible but thought it was worth a try. i have recently moved in with my partner and we've been sorting the finances and I've found out that she paid over £1000 to a bailiff over the past year. One was for clamping a vehicle and cost just under £600 just for one visit (for PCN). The reason I'm asking about claiming back is because she had a terrible year in her personal life, very bad anxiety and mental health problems. She was the single mother of 3, one who is disabled and all this pretty much tipped her over the edge. I sorted out the last bailiff problem with the council and they took back the debt and everything is a lot better now. But the bailiff was horrible and threatened me so I'd much prefer any money my partner spent to be in her pocket than the bailiff. Is there any way of claiming back? Was it legal to clamp the car for a parking ticket when she has a disabled child? He was overcoming cancer and the car was needed for trips to the hospital but the bailiff said that didn't matter and she had to pay the £600 anyway. So that's all, any advice would be appreciated Thanks

My newly bought car got clamped outside my house in the morning while still asleep for previous owner fine, i call the bailliff on the number left on screen and show him my v5c/2 and reciept of sale for the vehicle plus photocopy of completed part sent to dvla whith all my details showing in it but he refuse to unclamp my vehicle saying i should contact there o845 office number and left, he refuse to give me the warrant or any documentations at all saying data protection, i email my v5 and receipt of sale to there office and council that sent them with a complain and still have my vehicle unclamp for few days now, i need to insured the car asap now in my name as previous owner insurance is still running on car but not when i cant drive it. They said i should provide my insurance certificate as proof now why. Please help

There is a clamp on the car on my drive. The note on the windscreen says it is for non- payment of council tax. I have a liability order for some of last years tax. I have made a part payment to the council towards this liability order along with an offer of an affordable monthly payment. Don't want to include amounts on this site, suffice to say it will take a couple of years to repay the amount owing. Is there any way to legally get the bailiff to remove the clamp before two years? I had picked up some information with regards to filing a complaint at the court which issued the liability order to the effect that the debtor must have lawful use of goods levied and the clamp prevents this. Can anyone comment?

Hello All, Any quick advice would be hugely appreciated as this is currently on going. Last oct i got a ticket for parking on a yellow line after 7pm (thought all councils were the same). The ticket was paid for but because it was late by one day they tried charging another £60 which i refused. Today i was in a car park opperated by euro car parks and it was clamped. they reckon i owe £500. What are my options please??? thanks in advance

Some months ago i parked in a loading bay and received a fixed penalty charge..due to circumstances i couldnt pay...subsequently i have taken the car to a garage for work to be done on it and the bill turned out to be horrendous....he was fine with me but said that as long as i sign a document saying he is now the owner of the car/or effectively he puts what i beleive is called a lien on the car that i could still use the car,keep it registered in my name because of insurance purposes,then he would be happy for me to take the car away until i can pay the bill in full...im due to pick it up in a few days...i need the car to be able to work,and i now suspect the fees have gone up with court fees etc,im not sure as i have moved.......does anyone know what i should give him in writing for it to be rock solid that no one can clamp /tow away the car,as in effect i am only the registered keeper at this point in time.......thanks..peter

Hi, First of all thanks for reading my woes with the DVLA. I will try and condense the information down as much as I can but it is a little long winded, so here goes. The vehicle I am writing about was correctly declared SORN since June 2011 and for the most part sat untouched on a private driveway. On December 12th 2011, I started a new job and although we struggled with one car for this month it was decided we should get the secondary car back on the road. I work shift hours and my wife works part time core hours so a secondary car was absolutely necessary. The vehicle in question was towed to what I believed to be private garages where a local mechanic was due to carry out a replacement of the handbrake cable. Unfortunately the mechanic was unable to locate the required parts so I had to organise to have the vehicle moved to a more qualified technician so that I could obtain the MOT and thus the road tax. On the 8th January after finishing a night shift I was notified by a family member that a clamp had been applied to the vehicle with an extortionate release fee of £260.00 Which I duly paid. This in itself was not an easy feat after the Christmas period and made family life very hard for the remainder of the month. I am unsure why only my car was clamped as in the very same car park on the same day there were two other vehicles with expired tax disks? I decided to take the hit and put the clamping incident behind me and the car was MOT’d and taxed in the same month as was originally planned which is why I was surprised to have received a further letter from DVLA requesting an out of court settlement of £252.00 having already been fined for the offence? I really wanted to avoid any court action, so I wrote a letter of appeal to request that they reconsider this charge. If the car was on a public highway, this was a genuine error which I have already paid a hefty fine and I for which I wholeheartedly apologised for.Up until this point in my life, I have never so much as had a parking ticket and feel that I have been very heavily penalised for what really amounts to a parking offence. It should also be noted that it was the mechanic who moved the car to the position that it was clamped. So now it seems they are taking me to court for a maximum fine of £2500 plus £95 costs. What I need to know is.. Why have the DVLA totally ignored my letter of appeal and waded in to the courts? Where do I stand should I wish to plead not guilty? Do I need to get legal assistance? Should the case go against me, realistically how much could I stand to lose for my 'crime'. I have also written to my MP about this who agrees that the fine is unjust and is at the moment pursuing the matter for me. So that's it in a rather large nutshell, any guidance or information (positive or negative) will be greatly appreciated. Thank you! Dave Gledhill.

Hey all, help needed URGENTLY! Yesterday, I found my car had been clamped outside. I phoned the number and the guy on the phone said he clamped it as we have a 2year old parking fine unpaid via the council! I visited the council letting them know that we were never aware of being issued a fine - if there is one I would pay it (fine was £80). The said that as fine so old I have to deal direct with clamper who wants £650! IfI dont pay by 11am, they tow my car and charge £200 for doing so -plus £45 a dy costs. I knew nothing of the £80 fine, and simply cannot afford this! What can I do? appreciate any help!

We have received a Requistion Notice from the DVLA under sections 29 and 30 of the Vehicle Excise and Registrations Act. I failed to pay the registration on our car by 28 May 2010. We had moved house and it got lost in the paperwork. On 7 July the car was clamped and an infringement notice attached to the car. I paid it immediately and the car was unclamped later that day. I thought that that was the end of the matter. Today (28 January 2011) we received the notice. I am very confused as I thought that it had been sorted...Can anyone offer any advice here as to whether we are in the wrong still or whether there has been a mistake as we have already paid a substantial fine. Although it pales into nothing when faced with a possible £1000 plus fine.

Last year my friend and I parked in a what we thought was a parking bay only to find the car had been clamped and towed away because it was private land. The only problem is it happended last year and I did send an appeal letter but it was obviously a waste of time. After reading some of the posts about the same firm I find myself becoming increasingly annoyed at being charged so much. Does anyone know if there is a time limit on taking action? It happened last november but back then wasn't sure if we had any grounds to take it any further.

Hi guys, I am a student and live in a block of apartments which is a private residential area. Just outside the apartments is a construction site where they are building a bunch of shops. The construction site is blocked off by a barrier and next to this barrier is a road for cars. I had loads of shopping from Tesco so I assumed I could leave the car downstairs for a few minutes to bring the shopping upstairs and then come back down to move the car. The road does have signs saying that any car parked will be clamped. So anyways I took the shopping upstairs and when I came back down, the car had been clamped. The people who clamped the car were still there and demanded a £150 release fee which is the amount shown on the signs. I argued with the guy for about 10mins but was getting nowhere so I called my mum downstairs and eventually he released the car for £80. What I found a bit suspicious was that he didn't give a receipt or anything, just took the cash unclamped the car and left. The car they were driving around in was also a 2010 Vaxuhall Corsa hatchback which I found strange because they normally drive them little vans. Do they sound like legal clampers? Any help would be appreciated. Oh and there are CCTV cameras which is how the guy knew my car was there.