Contesting Wheel Clamping Charges

Chris_R_5

Yesterday I parked at retail car park where there is no charge made for parking. When I retuned to my car it had been clamped 10 minutes earlier. The wheel clamper was still on site and I had to pay £130 to have my car released.

Previoulsy I had parked there with no problems but the clamper pointed out new signs that stated parking is resticted to 3 hours and giving details of clamping and charges. The ticket was issued by a franchisee of Parking Control Management ( south) Limited and stated it was for "Exceeding resticted time limit" Can anyone advise me on whether the clamping company would have cctv evidence of my arrival time ? The site location described on the ticket does not match the name of the retail park and the vehicle used by the clamper did not appear to display the company name. Are these grounds on which I could contest this exhorbitant charge.?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Has anyone used the Beat The Wheelclampers package with any success?
It costs £15 for a template letter and I would use it it I thought I would get success in claiming a refund.

Quentin

If you consider the fee was too high, then you need to contest this via the court (it is against the law to charge more than a "reasonable" amount to remove the clamp).

Get legal advice (or see the CAB) on what your chances of winning a case based on the charge being exhorbitant.

Coblcris

Get pictures of the signage and see Vine v Waltham Forest.

sweven

There is a school of thought which says the charges are unlawful whatever level they are. See the forums at https://www.pepipoo.com for more assistance. People have successfully claimed these charges back through the small claims court.

bellington16

I was clamped in a petrol station (see clamped in a petrol staion thread) and was charged £200 to remove it and my appeal has been rejected - Anyone know if i can take this further ??!??!

peter_the_piper

bellington16 wrote: »

I was clamped in a petrol station (see clamped in a petrol staion thread) and was charged £200 to remove it and my appeal has been rejected - Anyone know if i can take this further ??!??!

Find out who the land owner is and send a "letter before action" informing them that you will be claiming from them and the clampers through small claims court. Take photo's of any signage, copy of clamping invoice and any receipts you had from the service station. Gather any other evidence and when they ignore you or refuse issue a claim keep a copy of the letter/s and use all this in evidence. Before you do all this post this on the other site mentioned above, they have a few who are experienced with clobbering the clampers and the landowners.