Council removed our road worthy/legal car from our car park.

nickismee

Hey ya.. This has been posted on another forum, but not getting much help, i thought you lovely people might be able to help me on this on.

Tonight, the police/local authority's decided to remove our car under a clean up scheme. No letter through the door explaining why, the first we noticed was when my husband was going to work at 5.45.

He returned home and rang the police who informed him the council had called out a recovery company to remove the car, and they had every right to do this.. im sorry, but if someone takes a car isn't that called theft??

The car was still in MOT and taxed until the end of this month. It was in the car park around the corner from our house.

The only thing i can think of as why they took the car was it had been broken in to a couple of weeks ago and the drivers door window was smashed in. We covered this up best we could until we could afford to get it replaced.

The police have told us to ring the recovery company, who want £250 release fee and £20 storage fee per day. Like i mentioned before, we can;t afford to replace the window as yet, let alone the fee's!!

Luckily we have 2 cars, so my husband can still get to work.

I am thinking about going to the council tomorrow to find out why they took the car.

If anyone could point me in the right direction please??

butler_helen

Were you parked legally in the carpark?

Our local 'carpark' is for the customers of the local stores and has a sign up saying they will remove any cars parked there longer than 2hours- perhaps this was why?

I'm sure someone with more knowledge will help you soon.

nickismee

Its a residential car park, So yes, we were parked legally. Should have mentioned that, sorry.

butler_helen

hmmmm and you have a space there for your car? Is there a sign up to say they will remove the car and did they put a sticker on the car to notify you of their intention?

this reminds me of when my bike was 'cleaned up' from Oxford city centre- I swear I never saw signs and it disappeared over night!

nickismee

No, if there is a space then we park there. its not the type where you have a permit. I will put a photo up of the car park tomorrow when its light.

There are NO signs in the car park. and NO ticket was placed on the car before being towed.

dacouch

Was it insured

Crabman

Hi nickismee, I've moved your thread over to the new Parking Issues Board

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere (please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

nickismee

Thank you crabman..

The car is insured, taxed and MOT'd..

We have read through the neighbourhood clean up act, and it looks like they have taken the car illegally. Someone from the council is supposed to be ringing us back later today.. we will see!!

Neil_B

Clearly wrong.

Funny enough this happened to me some years ago before I was clued up. The road had been used by local car workshops to store numerous cars awaiting repair or actual a bit of cut and shut.
A helpful neighbour included me in a list of these! !!!!!!?
Oh did they try and wriggle out of it with quite hilarious arguments. That it appeared not to be in use because the cab (it was a van) was "untidy". Eh?, since when is that a crime? Funny how they managed not to notice numerous recent P&D tickets all over the windscreen!

Ok - to your case (sorry you just stirred horrific memories).
You need to establish what the legal basis for removal was. I am gonna guess the Refuse and Amenities Act. Even fo that I think they have to put a warning sticker on for a certain amount of time.

You should have some paperwork at least from the Council? can we see it please.
I also suggest you find out if this action was the result of a complaint. I was incensed in my own case that the Council removed on the word of a local busybody and held them liable for acting on unsubstantiated rumour.

play this right and you might be able to squeeze some compensation out of the Council.
-

nickismee

hey ya..

thank you for your response..

we have no paperwork from the council. My husband has been on the phone non stop today speaking with the recovery company who have told him it was classed as an abandoned car, the council (who are refusing to speak with him at this time, gotta wait for a phone call back), law specialists, and now the CAB.

it was removed under the neighbourhood clean up act. I have read this act over and over which i dowloaded from the defra website.. i will quote a couple of lines..


defintion of abandoned

(c) Stationary for a significant

amount of time

it has been in the car park since xmas as that is when it got broken in to. We have moved it a couple of times to make sure its still running.

(d) could include vehicles
with flat tyres, wheels removed
or broken windows.

as i stated before, the window has been broken due to some oiks trying to nick the car.

35 Under a change introduced by the
Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment
Act, a 15-day notice is not required
where a vehicle is abandoned on a ‘road’
(within the meaning of section 142 the
Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984

3).
Section 142 defines a road as (in England
and Wales) ‘any length of highway or
of any other road to which the public
has access, and includes bridges over
which a road passes.’

This is a wide definition, and includes
not only public rights of way, but also
ways to which the public has access
by permission of the landowner, rather
than by right. It therefore includes access
roads through estates that are owned by
organisations such as housing associations

or by the residents who live there

It covers both the carriageway and the
footpath, but a car park would not
normally come within the definition
of a road as its function is to enable

people to leave their vehicle.

This makes me beleive they have taken the car illegally.

Right now i just want to go to the council and start rolling some heads, but i know that would do us any favours!! This is really annoying me as we have to wait for the council to get in touch with us, in the mean time we are accruing £20 a day storage fee's..

Rowan1946

Hopefully you will get compensation, at least £30 per day from them, idiots!