£180 curry...legal advice required

[jimbob]

Took my dear mother and girlfriend for a curry last night at the Lalbagh in Rodbourne Road/Percy Street(stones throw from The Dolphin) arriving 8.30pm-ish.

Nice food, but expensive when you return to your car to find out it has been clamped.

We were parked at what looked like a business unit (I think Flexspace are the company??) and as Percy Street was rammed, thought that as it was the weekend (there were a few other spaces and also a couple of cars there), we weren't stopping anyone from parking at their place of work.  Not only that, but I genuinely/honestly did not see the clamping sign which was about 15ft in the air and the porch of the building shadowed my car...if you know what I mean??

I phoned the company who are based in Barry and said 'oi, whats occurring'. They asked how I would like to pay and I said credit card...5 minutes later fat bloke turns up with 18 yr old apprentice in the car and after giving them a piece of my mind including a racist, why dont you fuck off back to wales you fat sad caaaaaant, nice work eh reluctantly paid the £125 release fee.

Now I was heading up to Leeds next wkend but as I'm £125 lighter, I aint going now 

Had a quick google on what I can do and there are a few companies that you can pay £15 quid and they send you a letter which guarantees their letter will get a full refund  naturally, I am sceptical...any advice gratefully received.

cheers

[Samdy Gray]

It's a bitch, but if you were parked on private property then they can do what they like.

[Batch]

Watchdog ran a feature or two on dodgy clampers recently. Might be worth scouring their site to see if you can see anything that invalidates the clamping companies claim (lack of /inappropriately place signs, etc).

But I think Samdy will be right, and you'll have to put it down to experience.

[Spencer_White]

Got away lightly matey.

Had a mate parked his work van on the old Wickes' site for the Mansfield game 3 years ago and it was towed to Weston Super Mare. He had to get a lift down there, then paid £500 to get it released!

I cant say it put a dampner on my day to be honest. Mansfield at home 2006, good memories!

[Rustle]

It maybe a stupid question but why did you not park in morris street car park ?

But like spencer said you've got off lightly compared to people who have parked up on the transfer bridges.If it was me i would't trust them internet (we can get you off your fines kinda of thing) You're just end up with an even lighter wallet.

[dell boy]

Jimbob, with the new clamping laws I am pretty sure the signs should not be more than 7 or maybe 8ft off the ground. If you are correct with your statment of signs being 15ft of the ground you have a case you can fight.

[Bushey Boy]

Jimbob, I had a day off in London in December trying to relax, took a call saying new tenants had moved in a week before but teh owner I worked for had a clamping company working.  They clamped and towed my tenants van away.  Long story cut short it cost me £430 to get it back! I blame DRS people skills

[Phil_S]

I heard on the news the other day that some pensioner took a clamping company to court & won on the basis that the signs were not sufficiently visible.
I googled it & came up with this http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article2292991.ece

[THE FLASH]

Once you have paid you are usually fucked!

I carry a pair of small bolt cutters with my spare wheel.

Used them once when i was clamped outside a Woolys in Sheldon near Brum (3 spaces off the road).

I cut off the chain and was removing the chains as the van turned up.....two polish blokes, who didnt get shitty but didnt like it.

They boxed me in and politely asked me to pay the money.

I refused and called the old bill who after twenty minutes sent a copper off the beat...the poles were parked on a double yellow and he asked them to move and refused to get involved in a 'cival' matter.

Never heard anymore about it...but never parked there again.

[Gazza's Fat Mate]

I did some work on this for a client here is the main part of my email to him

OPC’s tickets are issued on the premise that you are in breach in contract for parking where you have.  This is what I used to write to OPC with initially, but then I just ignored them:

   

As you are probably aware Private Parking Companies rely on the law of contract as the basis for claiming and enforcing penalty notices.  This differs from notices issued by police or local authorities that are issued pursuant to the Road Traffic Act 1991.

 

The long established remedy for breach of contract is damages and the measure of the same is to put the injured party in the same position had the breach not occurred.  Clearly, therefore there can be no loss if the car in question was parked in one of our spaces that have already been paid for.

 

It is for you to demonstrate the loss you have incurred due to the breach.  It is trite law (Wilson v Love 1896, Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre v New Garage Motor 1915 et al) that you cannot charge a penalty for breach of contract, i.e. where the sum bears no relation to the potential loss.  Indeed, it is noted that you even refer on the ticket several times to it being a penalty. 

 

Additionally, the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulation 1999 and related Statutory Instrument 1999 No. 2083, in particular at section 5 states that unfair terms are:

 

(1) A contractual term which has not been individually negotiated shall be regarded as unfair if, contrary to the requirement of good faith, it causes a significant imbalance in the parties' rights and obligations arising under the contract, to the detriment of the consumer.

(2) A term shall always be regarded as not having been individually negotiated where it has been drafted in advance and the consumer has therefore not been able to influence the substance of the term.

(3) Notwithstanding that a specific term or certain aspects of it in a contract has been individually negotiated, these Regulations shall apply to the rest of a contract if an overall assessment of it indicates that it is a pre-formulated standard contract.

(4) It shall be for any seller or supplier who claims that a term was individually negotiated to show that it was.

(5) Schedule 2 to these Regulations contains an indicative and non-exhaustive list of the terms which may be regarded as unfair.

 

There is also the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 that states in section 4 that:

 

(1) A person dealing as consumer cannot by reference to any contract term be made to indemnify another person (whether a party to the contract or not) in respect of liability that may be incurred by the other for negligence or breach of contract, except in so far as the contract term satisfies the requirement of reasonableness.

(2) This section applies whether the liability in question –

(a) is directly that of the person to be indemnified or is incurred by him vicariously;

(b) is to the person dealing as consumer or to someone else.
 

Clearly the charging of £50 (increasing to £100) is wholly unreasonably.

Private parking companies rely on motorists ignorance of the law and most people pay up, indeed I paid the first few tickets.   

Notwithstanding, if anyone receives a sealed Claim Form from OPC and or the court then I will happily draft a defence for you (no charge of course).   

[Gazza's Fat Mate]

oh and if you wanna give me £15 please feel free.

[Dazzza]

Out of interest will a bolt cutter do the job to get most clamps off?

I thought they were pretty locked-down now so you couln't just bolt'em off.  Interesting to know...

[THE FLASH]

Out of interest will a bolt cutter do the job to get most clamps off?

I thought they were pretty locked-down now so you couln't just bolt'em off.  Interesting to know...

The shit ones are padlocked and chained....cut the chain.

I would never interfere with a council one though....just the private bandits.

[Batch]

I thought you needed an angle grinder for most of them.

In fact some kind hearted nutter calling himself angle grinder man used to help unsuspecting motorists around London. Perhaps that's what I'll do if I need a new source of income - £15 a go.

[jonny72]

Have a read through this:

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/parking-traffic-offences/137863-clamping-guide.html

If you need any more help or advice then I'd ask in that forum - lots of really helpful people that go out of their way to stop others from getting screwed over by arseholes.