Why won't the police charge car park firms illegally towing away or clamping?

usignuolo

One thing continues to puzzle me, I have read of two cases recently, one where someone parked in a pub car park with due written authorisation from the pub and returned later that night to find their car had been towed away, illegally, by the firm employed to manage the site (since sacked).

Despite the pub duty manager confirming they were legally parked, the car owner was charged over £700 to get their car back. In the second case a private car parking firm who were nothing to do with the site, were ticketing people who parked on a couple of bays near a shopping parade.

Both cases were clearly "illegal" since the firms concerned had no authority to remove the car (in the first instance) or issue penalty notices (yes I know they are really invoices) in the second.

The first case pretty much amounts to theft and the second to fraud? But the police claimed it was nothing to do with them as the offences occurred on private land.

Can someone explain why the police take this view?

Coblcris

There is no tick box or performance statistic that applies thus it is ignored.

Guys_Dad

Cris is not quite right. They will arrest them if they are caught speeding when towing your vehicle for being "illegally parked".

dzug1

They take the view (rightly or wrongly) that it's a civil matter and therefore nothing to do with them.

Pssst

I believe that a theft did indeed occur. If your mobile phone was left out on your table in the back garden whilst you momentarily went in the house for something and some miscreant snook in and lifted it,you saw him running away,a theft would have occurred.

The owner of the car should insist on reporting the crime.

Why was the "fine" issued? Is the land owner suggesting that a trespass has occurred?

Coblcris

Guys_Dad wrote: »

Cris is not quite right. They will arrest them if they are caught speeding when towing your vehicle for being "illegally parked".

Ah yes. But then there is tick box and revenue associated with that.
If you know any members your constabulary well enough for an open discussion you may like to ask them what would happen if they did not issue any FPNs for a month or two.

usignuolo

In the first case the parking firm was aware it was likely to lose its parking deal with the landowner, and simply went around towing away legally parked cars in the last week or so of its contract. In the second case the firm erected an illegal notice on land they did not control and then ticketed cars parking there. The first firm claimed its operatives were SIA registered but this turned out not to be true so it was surely some form of theft?

In the second case everyone assumed someone else had put up the notice but the firm must have had some form of legitimate existence as a parking management firm, to get the names and addresses out of the DVLA. So how did they do that?

The DVLA claim to have tightened up the rules to ensure they only issue names and addresses to legitimate parking management firms but is this really true?. If you or I wanted to set up as a Parking Management company, it only needs two of us to register a company (very cheap), to be a parking management firm (for all I know you can buy one off the shelf), set up a PO Box address and pay a fee to the BPA (which as we know does not check its members credentials). And off you go.

Micky

Removal of property with the intention of obtaining money for return? Is that blackmail?

The whole thing is a nonsense and it's a measure of how civilised the English are that we take it up the proverbial from various forms of scum with barely a murmer of protest.

There, I feel better now.