Car got towed and they broke my mirror! Help!

[RyanB96]

Hi, 

 

Thursday evening, my girlfriend parked her car on a single yellow line outside out house where she sometimes park if the side-road, for which she has a permit, is full.

The operational hours are 8:30-6:30.

She gets home at 7pm, leaves at 8am so its normally fine if she parks there.

 

However, it just so happened that yesterday, Friday, she had to work from home due to a last minute delivery notice and forgot she parked her car there.

She was due to go out at 4pm, went to get her car and they had towed it away at 3:52pm. (How unlucky..) 

 

It cost her £255 to get her car back. 

 

She drove straight from the compound in which they kept her car, to my house and has been here since, parked safely on the drive.

This morning we went to wash her car, and noticed that her wing mirror has been broken. 

 

Please see attached pictures. 

 

As you can see from the angle the mirror has detached from the car, the mirror has been bent upwards from when they lifted her handbraked-parked car onto their trailer. The mirror shield has cracked off (inner clips busted).

 

I've taken pictures of the front and back of the mirror shield in which there are no dents, scrapes or bashes - proving it has not been hit by another car etc.

The other evidence, is the yellow paint/colouring that has rubbed off their straps or whatever they have used to lift the car. 

 

on top of the £255 shes already had to pay, she now has to pay to get her mirror fixed, which from a quick google can stand to be anything up to £368. 

 

 taking all this into account, do I have any ground to get the £255 + compensation back for the damage caused?

Or are we lucked out on this one? 

 

Many thanks for taking the time to read, 

Ryan 

Car Damage.pdf

[dx100uk]

done

[AndyOrch]

Pity you didn't spot it before driving away from the compound...you need to report it to them.Of course its hard to prove now 24 hours later

 

£240 for a replacement Ford Fiesta wing mirror

 

Andy

[Caz16]

From you said, she has no evidence 'they' broke the mirror, is there any proof 'they' caused the yellow marks?

 

If 'they' admitted it fine, if 'they' did not you would need proof it was 'them' if you wanted take some kind of action

Edited June 23, 2019 by Caz16

[ericsbrother]

balance of probability so do you have any very recent " before" pictures to go with your "after".

as there will be no detritus from the damage you cant even show a location  for the incident.

Suggest that you write a letter and ask for an explanation and  how much it will cost to make good and see what they say.

The contractor removing is working on the orders of the council so it is them who you write to, not contractor

Towing on a SYL is unusual so ask for copy of the Traffic Order as well

 

Edited June 24, 2019 by ericsbrother

[Jamberson]

If you live in a decriminalised parking zone, it was probably the council who ordered it be towed. I agree with Ericsbrother that it's unusual for them to tow from a double yellow, although I don't see much point in asking for the traffic order.

 

I would start by approaching the council with your case. Say from the outset that the damage was caused by the towing guys and include images, and see what they come back with. They may well have photographic images of their own, which they could show you, to defend their position. Or, they might concede the point.

 

You don't know for sure who broke the mirror, but you can at least get them to look into it.