Parking Enforcement

[awelorun]

My car was clamped whilst parked on the estate i was living at.

 

I was caught up in a mix up between my landlord and managing agents.

 

The fine was £60.00 if paid within 2 weeks. Since I work abroad, I made 2 attempts to try and pay this fine within the 2 weeks, first time there was no answer. Second time the man that answered the phone, said there was no one available to take my payment. 3 days after 2 weeks, the fine had ballooned to £700.00, which could only be paid by me in cash, although I was abroad.

 

Whilst arguing this with them, they removed the car from the North London Estate.

 

For the next 6 weeks they denied having the car, to me, to my friends and to the managing agents who engaged them to police the estate.

 

2 weeks ago, they admitted that they do have the car, stored at an un disclosed location in Surrey and I would have to pay £2500.00 to get it back. in cash. They say it wasn't their fault they couldn't find it. They eventually gave the address where my car was taken Surrey, then I am told that this location is not manned and I can only collect my car by making an appoinment. If I don't pay,they will auction the car. 2 appointments were cancelled, first none could meet us on a Saturday, then no one was available the follwoing Friday. The appointment had to be at their convenience. I din't have the money to pay the fine, I just wanted to see my car and get a breakdown of their astronomical costs.

 

At one point, they even said the car had been taken by the managing agents of the estate and scrapped.

 

Please help.

Edited June 26, 2008 by awelorun
some mistakes

[Bernie_the_Bolt]

Do you have a record of the time and date you called and the guy said there was noone to take payment?

In my view that constituted an offer to pay and failure to release promptly thereafter was unlawful.

They compounded their error by "losing" your car.

[lamma]

what mix up ?

was it parked on 'your land' ?

what agreement (contract) have you signed that covers clamping and towing ?

Does your lease say anything about it ?

what is the name of the clamping company ?

what is the name of the management company ?

 

obviously this looks very dodgy indeed.

you got any letters from them or was all this done over the phone ?

[awelorun]

Yes I have a telephone bill record of the date and time I called to make payment.

[Bernie_the_Bolt]

OK, here's what I would do.

 

Be pragmatic. You may need to pay £60 to get your car back.

 

The letter I would write is as follows:

 

Dear sirs,

 

Re VRM: xy 12 abc

 

You ticketed my vehicle on dd/mm/yyyy

 

I endeavoured to make a payment to you, in fact I promised to make a payment. It was not my fault that you did not have the systems or staff to take payment. This all happend in the timeframe you stipulated.

 

As a result of this, again not my fault, you escalated the charges which I disputed with you. You however, in the knowledge that the charges were in dispute, seized my car and then proceeded to lose track of it for a period of some weeks. You denied to all who inquired of you that you had it. You have a responsibility to take reasonable care of my car and this includes keeping track of where it is.

 

You now refuse to disclose to me the location where it is stored and refuse to restore it to me unless I pay you a substantial sum in cash.

 

It is my case that irrespective of the lawfullness of the initial ticketing of my car, given that I originally offered to pay the £60 I will, provided you follow the rest of this letter, stand by this offer.

 

I request that you restore my vehicle, undamaged and at no cost, to me within ten days of the date of this letter. I make this request on the basis that its removal by you was in breach of OFT guidelines and was unlawful.

 

I request that you write off any alleged costs and/or charges made other than the original £60 ticket.

 

In return I agree to drop and complaint and/or civil claim that I may have against you save in respect of any damage to my vehicle whilst in your possession.

 

If you fail to respond at all or fail to accept these terms in full (and a counter offer will constitute such a failure) the offer of settlement contained herein will lapse and I will do the following without further reference to you:

1) Institute legal proceedings to recover my car or a sum of money equivalent to its pre-seizure value.

2) Institute legal proceedings for loss of use of my car including any and all consequential loss that the law recognises.

3) Report you to the OFT.

4) Report you to the police for alleged criminal activity.

 

Yours faithfully

 

Send it special delivery and send a copy (also special delivery) to your landlors and managing agents informing them that they will be added as co-defendants in any action you take.

[awelorun]

Thank you Bernie The Bolt.

 

Your letter is very similar in content to what the OFT advised.I contacted them already and they are very interested in the cse.

 

I also received an email from the Managing Agents, they are reviewing their contract with Parking Control Services as a result of their handling of this matter.