Ridiculous Administration Charge?

beta_13

Hi, if anyone has any advice for me on the below it would be greatly appreciated. Sorry but it's a bit of a long yarn...

I recently hired a van from a company called Thrifty. As part of their standard terms I agreed that should I be subject to a parking fine, congestion charge, or any infringement of the road traffic act i would be liable to pay the fine and an administration fee of £35 (+VAT). Confident that I wouldn't be suvbject to any of these I didn't think anything of it.

I used the van to despose of bed at the local refuse site and also took our council collected recycling with me as we had missed the collection. 2 Men approached me asking if it was commercial waste, which it wasn't and I had to sign something to that effect and leave my name and address.

The council wrote to the van hire company, asking for my name and address so they could get in touch with me about illegally dumping commercial waste. (It transpires they believe I'm a landlord.) Thrifty forwarded me a copy of this letter, a copy of the agreement I signed and a debit note showing they had charged me £40 (Incl VAT) for the privelege. I called Thrifty and they told me "if the council have made a mistake, we will of course refund your money".

I've since called the council and they've agreed that the case is closed and they have no charges to bring against me. They've not said a mistake was made but have acknowledged a misunderstanding must have taken place.

I called Thrifty back and they refused to refund my money to me, believing it was charged correctly for administration. I've raised a complaint with them but again they've refused to pay. My points are 2 fold:

1) The charge is completely disproportionate to any administration performed even if they've had to write to me and the council (I've requested a break down and invoice)

2) The contract I signed says:
"I acknowledge all liability for all fines or charges arising from such infringements (Parking, congestion charge, violation of road traffic act), plus an administrative fee of £35.00 (+VAT) for each such fine or charge"
"All fines, court costs and intended prosecutions for parking, traffic or other offences etc -
All fines and intended prosecutions incurred will attract reasonable administration charges which arise when we deal with these matters"
As no offence was committed, no prosecution sought and no charges made, do I have a case to contest their charge as it doesn't apply?


If you managed to make it to the end, advice would be greatly received.


Thanks in advance

ginnersinner

Well according to the T&Cs you're liable for an administrative fee for every parking fine, congestion charge or infringement of the Road Traffic Act (unless they are just 'examples' - we need to know what 'such infringements' are as referred to in the T&Cs you pasted in - is there a preceding paragraph containing a full list?)

Now setting aside the argument over whether you are guilty of the allegation or not, the dumping of illegal waste is not a parking fine, or a congestion charge, and it is certainly not controlled by any of the Road Traffic Acts, so they would be breaching their contract by trying to charge you an admin fee for this.

IMO you would have a case for contesting, not because there was no prosecution, but because the alleged infringement can't be charged for under their T&Cs.

beta_13

Thanks Ginnersinner,

The full text of the T&Cs regarding charges says:
" 8 Charges
We work out our charges using our current price list, as published over the page.
You will pay the following charges.
a The rental and any other charges we work out according to this agreement.
b Any charge for loss or damage resulting from you not keeping to condition 3.
c A refuelling service charge if you have used, and not replaced, the quantity of fuel that we supplied at the start of the original rental. The charge will be based on the rated printed on this rental agreement or at the place you rented the vehicle from (or both).
d All fines, court costs and intended prosecutions for parking, traffic or other offences (including any costs which arise if the vehicle is clamped). You must pay the appropriate authority any fines and costs if and when the authority demands this payment. All fines and intended prosecutions incurred will attract reasonable administration charges which arise when we deal with these matters.
e The reasonable cost of repairing any extra damage which was not noted on our vehicle check form at the start of the agreement, whether you were at fault or not (depending on 4). And the reasonable cost of replacing the vehicle if it is stolen, depending on any insurance you have (as set out in 9), if and when we demand this payment.
We will only charge you for loss of income if we can get back the losses under the Insurance Programme. We will charge you at the published daily rate and we will always do everything we can to make sure the vehicle is repaired or we get payment as soon as possible.
f A loss of income charge, when we demand it, if we cannot rent out the vehicle because it needs to be repaired, it is a write off (can't be repaired) or it has been stolen and we are waiting to receive full payment of the vehicle's value.
g Any charges arising from Customs and Excise or Vehicle Inspectorate seizing the vehicle, together with a loss-of-income charge while we cannot rent out the vehicle, if and when we demand this payment.
h Any published rates for delivering and collecting the vehicle.
i Interest which we will add every day to any amount you do not pay us on time, at the rate of 4% a year above the base lending rate of Barclays Bank from time to time.
j Value added tax and all other taxes on any of the charges listed above, as appropriate.
You are responsible for all charges, even if you have asked someone else to be responsible for them.
You can get details of our Insurance Programme from the office you rented the car from. "

These were taken from Thrifty's website and are the same as those I signed (sorry can't post links as i'm a noob but I found them by googling thrifty rental agreement)

cheers

ginnersinner

I think they might have you under the 'other offences' mentioned in para d. However, if they said they'd refund if a mistake was made, they ought to honour that.