Clamped In Shopping Centre Car Park - Is This Legal??

sarahg1969

allybally273 wrote: »

Thanks to all for your help.

My car was parked in a legitimate space within the shopping centre in Edinburgh (not sure if Scottish law is different).
NCT have won a contract with DVLA to clamp vehicles who are 'offending'. The lady I spoke to today says from 1st October 2008 they are 'legally' allowed to clamp cars on private roads which include car parks owned by someone else, although not convinced.
Anyone know of this??

Who was the lady you spoke to? Was she from the DVLA? Or was she from the clamping company? If the latter, I'd ask them to put that claim in writing, and make some enquiries with the DVLA. I would be very surprised if that were true. The DVLA just would not act in such a way. They remove offending vehicles and you would be subject to a fine and back tax.

sarahg1969

sarahg1969 wrote: »

Who was the lady you spoke to? Was she from the DVLA? Or was she from the clamping company? If the latter, I'd ask them to put that claim in writing, and make some enquiries with the DVLA. I would be very surprised if that were true. The DVLA just would not act in such a way. They remove offending vehicles and you would be subject to a fine and back tax.

ETA: I see you are in Scotland. I thought that clamping was illegal in Scotland? You've got me wondering now. Pepipoo is the place for help.

It would probably help if we could see the paperwork you received, please.

peter_the_piper

We have yet to hear from the OP what the outcome of the clamping was. Did they release? How much? Is the car still impounded at the shopping centre? Was the car taxed online and just waiting for DVLA? Until these questions are answered we don't have anything to go on.

TankEngine

Clamping for parking offences’ is illegal in Scotland. Clamping for Road License Fund is perfectly legal.

sarahg1969

TankEngine wrote: »

Clamping for parking offences’ is illegal in Scotland. Clamping for Road License Fund is perfectly legal.

Which is what got me wondering.

It would be helpful if the OP would come back with the full story so she can get some assistance.

allybally273

Hi

Thanks again all.

I phoned the NCP office and was advised it would be £260 for someone to come and unclamp my car within 2 hours. They arrived 40 mins later and unclamped me.
If I produced a valid road tax disc to their office (within NCP car park at Edinburgh AIrport) they would refund my £160 and I would only be charged £100.
I did this and they said that clamping on private roads became legal in Oct 2008 and I checked this out on DVLA website. This says it's true it also states NCP won a contract with DVLA to clamp for them, what a great job they have huh!!!!!
THe clamp had DVLA stamped on it so assume it was legit.
It is a lesson learned that's for sure.

peter_the_piper

Just a question, when did you tax the vehicle? If you had taxed it online and were still waiting for the actual disc then you have paid an extra £100.00 for no reason at all.
So does this mean NCP can come down my private drive and clamp my out of tax vehicle (sorned of course)? Or does this only mean the roads where they have a contract?

Edited, answered my own question

1. New powers gained under the Finance Act 2008 will see The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) and Driver and Vehicle Agency (DVA) in Northern Ireland step up the enforcement effort against Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) evasion. Existing powers to tackle untaxed vehicles have been expanded and enforcement can now take place off the public road.
2. The purpose of the expanded powers, commencing 1 October, is to prevent evaders of vehicle excise duty (VED) from using off road locations as safe havens where the wheel clamping or removal sanction could not previously be used. Evidence gathered in 2005 estimated 150,000 untaxed vehicles in local authority car parks. These were vehicles likely to have been in use on the public road.
3. Expanded powers will not extend to private driveways or areas associated with private dwellings. In addition, untaxed vehicles stored on the premises of motor traders or testing stations will be exempt from enforcement.
4. Enforcement practitioners must carry out all reasonable checks necessary to decide if an offence is being committed. These checks include whether the vehicle is taxed, tax exempt or has a Statutory Off Road Notification in force. It will still be legal to keep a vehicle off-road as long as a SORN is in force.
5. In order to carry out enforcement in areas off the public road, enforcement practitioners must be licensed under the Private Security Industry Act 2001. DVLA’s national wheel clamping contractor (NCP Services) is in the process of obtaining necessary licences from the Security Industry Authority (SIA). No off road enforcement will commence in England and Wales until licences are in place. There is currently no requirement to licence in Northern Ireland or Scotland.
6. DVLA operates a fleet of clamping vans equipped with Automated Number Plate Recognition equipment operating across the UK. In 2007/08 they clamped over 100,000 untaxed vehicles. In addition the Agency has a number of enforcement partners using devolved powers to wheel clamp and impound unlicensed vehicles. In 2007/08 local authorities and police forces clamped over 30,000 unlicensed vehicles using these powers.

So what checks did NCP do to confirm the vehicle had not been taxed?
Did the clamper show his SIA license?
Reading the above I got the impression this only applied to authority run carparks.
Why did NCP allow the vehicle to driven away without it (allegedly) being taxed, encouraging them to return later for a refund is not the same as 6)

allybally273

It was not taxed so got it yesterday, seemingly because it was within 24 hours of paying the fine they can't clamp again? They can't come into your driveway if you own it, but they can clamp it if you have an 'allocated' parking space near your home. It only counts if your driveway is adjacent to your property or something like that.
Overall they are money grabbers and it is the first time I have been overdue for tax, and seemingly they have stopped sending you the V11 reminder before your tax runs out, again another reason to get more money out of us, which is meant to go towards fixing roads, I don't think so.

MJMARSHALL

Overall they are money grabbers and it is the first time I have been overdue for tax, and seemingly they have stopped sending you the V11 reminder before your tax runs out, again another reason to get more money out of us, which is meant to go towards fixing roads, I don't think so.

The DVLA have not stopped sending out reminders with reference to the renewal of road fund tax. If they had you would not be given a reference number to quote when applying on line.

Just thought I should mention this.

pogofish

sarahg1969 wrote: »

ETA: I see you are in Scotland. I thought that clamping was illegal in Scotland? You've got me wondering now. Pepipoo is the place for help.

They have certainly been clamping in support of DVLA operations round here for a while now - Only seriously untaxed vehicles on public roads as far as I could see. About a dozen in one go on a road I use for going to & from work.

The local paper's archive only goes back 6 months but here are some other links:

http://openscotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/1998/06/acbec4a9-c8bf-40cd-9e84-6e3683904260

http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/scotland/DVLA-in-crackdown-on-car.3311198.jp

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/scotland/Cameras-and-clampers-to-target.2625533.jp