| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 1271.1 | | FORTY2::QUICK | Can you see him yet, Brad? | Thu Oct 25 1990 14:47 | 13 |
| I thought they weren't allowed to move cars until the police had
clearly marked a car as illegally parked and removeable/clampable.
If I were you I'd check with the police that the car was illegally
parked - if they don't have a record of it then it should never
have been removed. Wasn't there a parking ticket on it?
I had my Range Rover removed from outside BP once, lifted it up
and stuck it onto the back of a lorry as though it was a Reliant
Robin, �57 recovery fee in those days, plus you still had to pay
the �12 parking fine. Mind you it used to get ignored most of the
time, so it was quite a cheap was to park in the city on the whole...
Jonathan.
|
| 1271.2 | | SHAPES::FIDDLERM | | Thu Oct 25 1990 14:57 | 9 |
| There was an article in one of the sunday papers about wheel clamping
organisations. Seems that many of them operate in a legal 'grey' area,
and quite often step out of the grey area into illegality. The
Government were/are considering some sort of legislation to control
them. (seems that almost anyone can set themselves up in this
business). No mention was made of police marking a car as illegally
parked.
Mikef
|
| 1271.3 | Article was about *private* roads. | JANUS::BARKER | Jeremy Barker - T&N/CBN Diag. Eng. - Reading, UK | Thu Oct 25 1990 15:51 | 7 |
| Re: .2
The article was about clamping of vehicles on private property. Not on a
public road. Only the police can authorize clamping or towing on a public
road.
jb
|
| 1271.4 | Sounds illegal to me | BRUMMY::BELL | Martin Bell, EIS Birmingham, UK | Thu Oct 25 1990 15:53 | 13 |
| Surely if they removed the car without you permission and without
Police involvement it constitutes THEFT, or at the very least TRESPASS
on your vehicle.
There is currently a lot of discussion going on about the legality of
these "clamper companies", and West Midlands Police are siding with the
motorist for now, and not prosecuting drivers who "remove" illegal
clamps from their vehicles. I know that this doesn't help with a
tow-away, but you should have some legal right to demand the "fine"
back - why not charge then rental on the car at �50 per hour and
formally bill them for it! That may rattle a few cages.
mb
|
| 1271.6 | re .4 | IOSG::MARSHALL | Waterloo Sunset | Thu Oct 25 1990 16:06 | 9 |
| The crime they have committed is "TAKING WITHOUT CONSENT", not theft.
On a similar topic, if the police do authorize a car to be towed away, and the
people towing it away damage it, who is liable? the towing people, the police,
or the owner?
As the owner is illegally parked, his insurance probably isn't valid either..?
Scott
|
| 1271.7 | | FORTY2::QUICK | Can you see him yet, Brad? | Thu Oct 25 1990 16:15 | 14 |
| Mr car was damaged by the straps used to lift it, only a bit of rubbed paint,
but damaged non the less. I spoke to a policeman at the depot when I picked
it up, he went round the car and noted on an official form exactly what the
damage was, gave me a copy, and said that should I be too lazy too polish
the marks out myself then I should get a quote, and once approved, the
metropolitan police would pay for it. I took the hint and bought some t-cut.
They (the police) are liable though.
Getting back to the base note, if there wasn't a parking ticket on the car
then it was illegally removed, and you can (and should) take action against
the people who removed it. Just the threat of a court case will probably
prompt them to refund the money I should think.
Jonathan.
|
| 1271.8 | Thank you- General Public | TASTY::JEFFERY | Tears of disbelief spilling out of my eyes | Tue Nov 06 1990 09:39 | 12 |
| A friend and I went into London, and the police towed her car away. When
we recovered it, it seems that a tow lorry had scraped the wing quite badly.
(perhaps when towing another car). The only evidence she had was that the
scrape was at a certain height, which was the height of the truck.
We went to complain as soon as we picked up the car, and things weren't looking
too good, until we found a slip of paper from someone saying that the towing
company did it, and giving their phone number.
After about 6 months she got some money back!
Mark.
|
| 1271.9 | Been there, done that, too often...:-) | DCC::MARTIN | The Corporate Rat - 865 1126 | Mon Dec 03 1990 19:39 | 13 |
|
A car can only be removed from a public road after a Police officer
has "marked the vehicle for removal", after that there is about five
minutes grace before it is "authorized for removal" and the truck takes
it away...
If you have a dispute there will be the "authorized for removal"
tag on the windscreen which will have an officers signature, and you
can take it up with the relevant Met office as advised on the rear of
the tag... If there is no tag ask the Met and they will tell you
if it was removed legally or not, and can investigate for you.
Rat wonders whose car it is anyway... mine or the Mets ?
|