Parking ticket results in Baliff clamping car

[woodster66]

hi all,

 

this is my first post on this forum, I have looked trhough to see if there is a similar thread, but mine is slightly different I think.

 

Anyway this morning there was a knock at the door, a baliff was standing there saying he wanted to talk to my partner, she was out, but our car which I am using for business at the moment, was parked on the road in front of our drive, this guy had clamped it, which I wasnt too happy about as I am a 24 hr emergency locksmith and my tools and stock were in the boot.

 

I told him to remove the clamp as I need to carry out my work, he refused and said that a tow truck will be coming to take the vehicle away unless my partner or I pay £365 over an unpaid parking ticket.

 

Ok so I didnt know about this ticket as my partner had picked it up a few months ago, however I can understand why she may have forgoton about it as she was going through redundemcy and also both her parents had been taken into hospital, her father was in a bad way and is still in hospital after 6 weeks, so any letters she may have had from the local authority may have gone un-noticed.

 

Also where she was parked, she had parked regulary and used the disabled badges, however the local authority had put in "blue bollards" it turns out these new items were charging points for electric cars and no-one can park there even with a disabled badge, aparently there is a sign there stating no parking but that is on the wall not at eye level and not right by the roadside or by these new charging points, it is on the wall of a building.

 

In the meantime I had a customer call me who had a problem with their lock so I needed to go straight away, he would not remove the clamp until I paid the amount they wanted, even though I produced my business card and offered to show him my tools and stock in the boot.

 

The car is registered in her name, he told me if I can produce a log sheet in my name he would remove the clamp but as the vehicle is in my partners name then she will have to pay it and the clamp stays on!

 

Do I have any recourse with this at all?

Edited September 19, 2011 by woodster66
spelling

[Jamberson]

Where are you at? Have you paid already?

[woodster66]

Where are you at? Have you paid already?

 

Hi, I'm in Coventry and yes I had to pay as I had a customer ring me so needed to get to a job, I'm a self employed 24hr emergency locksmith! Had I of had the time I'd have picked the lock, removed the clamp & handed it back to him but I needed to get gone ASAP.

[green_and_mean]

Do I have any recourse with this at all?

 

Not really, you seem to remember getting a PCN and forgot about it so there is nothing you can do.

[Jamberson]

Yep, if the warrant was valid, and it sounds like it was, they are entitled to execute it, whatever the surrounding circumstances. Since you have paid, you can't halt the process now as it's already concluded, and the chances of ever getting a refund are minute.

[Aretnap]

I believe that in principle it's possible to go down the out of time witness statement/statutory declaration route even after the bailiffs have been paid. The problem is that once you've done it, it is still difficult to actually get your money back - the council will be completely disinterested and tell you to speak to the bailiffs, and the bailiffs are shifty b@$tards. Still, one or two people on Pepipoo have managed it.

 

However, your partner can only go down the witness statement/stat dec route if she didn't receive the notice to owner, if she appealed but didn't reply, or if she did actually pay the charge. If she received the NtO and didn't respond to it she can't do that, no matter how rough her situation may have been, and the merits of the PCN itself are irrelevant.