Echo

Jeez. I missed a congestion charge, missed the cut off point to pay it and was assuming I'd get a letter telling me to pay. I'd paid several CC's on line and was unable to pay this one as it had gone too long. Grr.

Anyway, go to car this morning and it's been clamped. Rang the number - £490 to release!!!!! No leters, no warning, up here in Chipping Norton.

Thing is, I'd paid 2 CC's last week and I'm by and large a good payer with CC's and any parking fines etc.

Question to any brainy people. It was on my drive, no notice (visited at 6am - snuck on) and no letter or call. Do I have to pay this highway man or can I get the hacksaw out???

I don't have a problem with paying fines but this is taking the p!££.



Mike

dharbige

Let me get this straight - your car was parked on your property, and somebody entered your property without permission and clamped your car?

If that is correct, you should call your local Citizens' Advice Bureau as this sounds seriously illegal. (I am NOT a lawyer!) You could also call TfL (0845 900 1234) and ask them what is going on.

Beef

Hmm - this sounds ultra dodgy to me - watch out for signs of this being a scam.

How long ago was the CC you missed?

DCI Gene Hunt

They can, and do clamp even on private property

Clamping & Removal

Vehicles with three or more outstanding Congestion Charging penalty charges may be clamped or removed. Staff working on behalf of TfL are authorised to clamp and remove vehicles both within the Congestion Charging Zone and across the whole of Greater London.

The current clamp fee is £65 and the removal fee is £150. Storage in the Congestion Charging car pound costs £25 a day. If a vehicle is clamped or removed, then all of the outstanding penalty charges and the appropriate clamp/removal and storage fees must be paid before the release of the vehicle can be authorised.

If the release fee is not paid after 56 days the vehicle may be disposed of at auction or by scrapping. However, in these circumstances the registered keeper will remain liable for any charges still outstanding, including an £80.25 disposal fee.

If you believe your vehicle has been clamped or removed incorrectly then please explain the circumstances to the staff at the car pound who will provide any assistance they can.

stevem2k

Not sure Oxfordshire comes under "Greater London"

StickyMicky

who is admin beef ??

dharbige

And despite Red Ken's ambitions, I don't think TfL can give the right to their klu klux klampers to enter private property. It's tresspass, surely.

Echo

I have just 2 outstanding fines, one from last week (grumble-forgot again).

I rang the balifs, they say they sent 3 letters - honestly, they didn't. They said to write a letter of complaint as on their system it says 3 letters sent. Hmm, no registered or anything. I'd own up if I was in the wrong. I think this is very fishy.

Rang TFL, they can't do anything buy said that it was a bit unusual and gave me an enquiry number.

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

Is it even your car that has been spotted in the CC zone. There are lots of people out there that will copy your registration plate and then run around claiming to be you. All the charges they incur then land on your doorstep

If people came onto my land without any notice I would not be happy. If those letters were not sent recorded delivery, then they could well be fibbing.

vindaloo

As previously stated by others, reads dodgy as hell. I think I'd borrow someone's angle grinder and not post about it on here.
Have a little chat with a solicitors about trespass etc. If a company did this then they are liable (maybe) for their employees' actions.

Have a patient chat with TfL. Get it sorted out with the minimum of fuss.

I take it you'll continue to be a customer of the CC zone.... So it's easier to be smiley at them in public.

J.

KiwiGTI

NOthing you can really do apart from pay up at the moment, then pursue the bailiffs for excess fees.

London Motorists Action Group - Content

wayno

iTrader: (3)

drakes have a habit of not sending out the letter they're required to asking for 165 or something, waiting a month then demanding large amounts

KiwiGTI

No bailiffs send out a letter, or ever visits unless to get the money, but they still list these "phantom" letters and visits on their bills.

Biggest bunch of criminals around. Equitas are another bunch of thieves.

cookstar

iTrader: (6)

my brothers car was clamped on his drive also for some stupid reason, Drakes again, and also phantom letters requesting payment. This happened the morning we was going on holiday so he just paid it. They are w**kers this firm.

r32

If you angle grind the clamp off, then make sure you take plenty of photographs before hand. I have a feeling though that they are within their rights. New Labia have granted right of access to baliffs.

Stephb1986

yeahhh get the angle grinder out and saw the ******* off sure enough its tresspassing they should of knocked on your door and asked you to pay the fine before clamping you on your own property! my brother sawed one off years ago when he got clamped for his parking ticket running out 2 minutes before he never heard anything!

Echo

I went and paid them at their office with a letter for them to sign to say that I was paying under duress and guess what, they wouldn't. The woman kept saying that they had sent 3 letters out according to their system. I asked why they didn't send any out as registered/recorded etc... They wouldn't want to do that would they, they'd have to actually send letters then.

After a lengthy discussion it became apparent that if I decided to not pay while following up the complaint about this they'd be over in the morning to remove the car.

I'm going to write to complain but they probably won't get the letter.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Thanks for the ideas and suggestions!

Mike

cookstar

iTrader: (6)

Nothing more you can do mate, just bite the bullet

Jerome

Sounds like you need to register your car at another address than your home address (not sure if this is legal).

Either that or do one of those pay in advance schemes. There are so many ways to pay now, I'm suprised they even need to employ these legalised thieves.

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

What I don't get is how these people have the right to enter your property without a court order.

If you have been taken to court and not paid, then a court appointed bailiff can come onto your land to do this stuff. If you have not even been taken to court how can they have that right? Have they even proved that the fine is legitimate?

cookstar

iTrader: (6)

Also if you chained your wheel for argument sake to a tree, how would they remove the car

They cant damage any of your property, including chains

106rallye

Its a bit of a long shot but if they are really pulling a big scam and saying they are sending out 100's of letters a day to people when they are sending none - surely they will have a franking machine that records how many and the cost etc. If their systems show that they sent out 100 letters of notice on x of feb and the franking machine showed say 20 letters franked then while not proving anything it will at least hint at fraudulent activity.

Situations like this where a company gets you over a barrel for an ammount of money they have just pulled out of a hat annoys me so much. How well is the industry regulated? - I can have a good guess at this

I can't believe they can legally send demands via snail mail unrecorded! Banks and insurance companies do the same - I guarantee with these companies you would not get away with it if you didn't send documents to them recorded post.

Andy

Echo

Oh, just to add. I did try to pay this ruddy fine but the CC London site said that I'd missed the date to pay on line so assumed I'd get a letter that I'd send a cheque off with.... I pay a fortune (along with lots of other people) on congestion charges, they have the car registered together with my credit card so why can't they just automatically debit whenever you go in to the zone?

101 - I thought that too but how do you go about that without your own legal dept?

Ho hum. Anyone who's a bit late paying their CC, let this be a warning

boomer

Great idea - as a start

Then, as it is your car on your property, examine whether you can remove the clamp without causing damage. If so, do so, then get the car outa there.

If not, can you get a garage to do a "lift" directly onto a transporter. Then move the car to a secure (secret) location and send a letter to the *****, oops sorry, clampers charging them £500 per day for "storage" of their clamp.

Deffo make a formal complaint to the Police - GET IT ON RECORD!!! ... demanding money with menaces, illegal process (no warnings or letters) and probably breach of human rights.

Could be worse though - see Lambeth council crush fully legal classic Bristol - so take action NOW!!!

mb

swampster

iTrader: (1)

If it's a set of Bailiffs, you can't get them done for trespass if they can make "peaceable" entry to your property (which does include your house and other property. This means, they can enter your property if they don't have to physically break in, i.e through an unlocked door or window.

This changes however if they are court appointed acting in pursuit of a debt to the state, for example council tax arrears. They can in those circumstances actually break in.

However, even this is changing as somebody has already pointed out.. with bailiffs being given the right to access by any means in a claim for just about any debt.

Also if it is a bailiff, and they have clamped the vehicle.. do not get out the old angle grinder, you'll end up on the crap end of the sh1tty stick if you do!

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

I think we are still missing the point that they have not proved that you owe any money. Whats to stop me ringing up these people and saying that someone owes me cash? Then get them to go around and clamp their car. You just cannot do that.

If I fail to pay a parking fine around here, you get taken to court. The debt collectors start doing their stuff, not before.

KiwiGTI

They will be acting on a warrant issued by the Northampton Court I believe.

It's a very clear cut process. Miss paying the charge - it goes to £50, then £100 after 14 days. Then a charge certificate gets issued - £150, then it gets registered at the TEC which is in Northampton. After that it's with the bailiffs. Totally automated process.

boomer

...but surely at some point, preferably very early on, the accused should be notified of an alleged offense??? Surely????? I mean, aren't you supposed to know what you are "guilty" of (aside from those in Guantanano bay - and now it seems, the UK)?

mb

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

Ahhh, thanks for clearing that up. It does start to make sense now. I guess the expected course of action is

1) Notification from TFL that you have a fine
2) Notification from the court
3) Notification from bailiffs.
4) Getting clamped

I guess the reality is different, ie nothing heard from the bailiffs, but you would heard from the court surely. They would have to let you know so that you have a chance to offer a defence??!

Echo

1 - Yes. I left it too late to pay them on line by 2 days Guilty.
2 - None
3 - None
4 - err, yes


Edited to add that the bloke who came to unclamp told wifey that we were lucky, less generous people would have removed it and put it in the auction right away!