Breakdown company towed away my car illigaly

[darka]

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

[i hate bailiffs]

if on time have taken it away it will be in a secure compound/secure lock up

sounds like you will have to pay the money and argue about it afterwards

[esmerobbo]

I think who ever took it done you a favour, an unlocked car with your belongings in it, left on a petrol station forecourt, don't think there would have been much left if they left it there!

 

You need to get it back as it will be racking up more money every day for storage costs!

[CrappoMan]

I think who ever took it done you a favour, an unlocked car with your belongings in it...

 

If the OP was arrested for a driving offence whilst in the vicinity of his vehicle, the police should have secured the vehicle before leaving the scene, to prevent it from being taken and subsequently used in a further crime. If not secured, any subsequent losses are down to them.

 

Don't forget that it is usually a condition of your insurance that the vehicle is not left unsecured, if you are in handcuffs you can't secure the vehicle yourself. If the police don't secure the vehicle, the insurance could be voided with all the implications that my bring.

 

If the police or forecourt owner didn't authorise the towing, and he didn't authorise the towing himself, then the vehicle was TWOC'd.

 

Can you not report it as stolen ?

[darka]

Thank you guys

According to Green Flag breakdown theyve send me a letter with apology. It states that it will bring my car back. To be honest i want to take them to court (so they could learn THE lesson). My private property with unsecured car, without police instructions?

I am angry how it could happened. Be sure it will happen to someone else too. WE must to fight back to show we not gonna accept pour service. People do mistakes (in terms of pour Green Flag attitude towards costumer and i was harsh to them. But that's sometimes inevitably, because we have opinion that companies, in motoring business, always make good margin. How long does it take for company to act in fair and helpful way? We pay each year more and more.

To add to this ... I had a lift from my boss friend and he has BMW, worth 15 000£. Its all right hand side was damaged by a truck. Insurance company didn't write it off, but decided to repair (bill was 8 000£). He had a courtesy car for nearly 3 mouths. The bill for the rent was 39 000£ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

Add numbers, put it in the formula and you'll get number which will be divided in numbers which means we gonna pay more numbers..

Thank you for your opinions guys

Keep writing, would like to hear more

Thank You

[Conniff]

He had a courtesy car for nearly 3 mouths. The bill for the rent was 39 000£ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

 

Are you saying he had to pay £39,000 for three months courtesy car, that's £13,000 per month. Me thinks you have got your figures mixed up somewhere or someone is playing you along.

[esmerobbo]

If the OP was arrested for a driving offence whilst in the vicinity of his vehicle, the police should have secured the vehicle before leaving the scene, to prevent it from being taken and subsequently used in a further crime.

 

 

Agreed but they didn't did they? If it was mine I would rather it was taken to a secure yard rather then the local chavs playing with it!

[darka]

Yes 400£ a day

[darka]

So now is 6 th of august and i still don't have my car. what should i do?????

[Old Snowy]

Well, actually its now September.

 

What efforts have you made to recover the car?

What steps have you taken (in writing - as anything else is likely to be doubted) to establish where your car is, who has it and when they propose to return it?

Your account suggests that you may actually have done very little and were you to attempt to take this matter to court it is going to fall at the first hurdle because you have taken no reasonable steps to mitigate your loss. You need to understand that court cases are not designed to teach people lessons but to return you, in this case, to the position you were in before the incident at the centre of your complaint. That means to return the car to you and to recompense you for any reasonably incurred expense. However, as I have said you will have to demonstrate that you have taken consistent action to get the car returned.

 

If you want your car returned to you then you will have to do something other than simply complaining about it here.

 

This case has nothing to do with Private Land Parking Enforcement and should be moved to a general civil claims board.

[sailor sam]

As I understand it, under these kind of circumstances, the vehicle becomes the responsibility of the police. They will take the keys away and return them when they are satisfied that no further offences can be committed (i.e. still over the limit) as well as taking the driver into custody. Normally a second police officer will drive the car back to the station where it will be released to the driver when they are sure he/she is under the limit.

 

I cannot believe the police would a) leave the car unlocked and b) not allow the OP recover his personal possessions such as his passport and wallet.