Clamped by PPC

stoat

A friend recently found her car clamped at one of those free out of town retail parks, which serve a whole list of retail chains (B&Q, homebase etc), the reason quoted was that she left the site, which was true, she was looking for a toilet for about 10 minutes before intending to enter the shops, unfortunately she had to pay £95 to have the clamp removed and didn't end up buying anything due to having no money left.

My belief is this is a private clamping company, the scrap of paper given suggests they have a complaints process, but reading this page (4):-

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1363571

Suggests it's not worth pursing them because they will simply reject whatever we say, since the money has already been paid and the car park doesn't appear to be owned by any one retailer, what else can we do? Should we be complaining to the owner of the retail park, whoever they may be?

Thanks

muckybutt

sue the clamper and land owner, did the driver see the signage stating that they should not leave site ? post pics if you can.
Some good clamping legal eagle boffins on pepipoo suggest you go on there and start a thread.

stoat

Thanks for your reply, I think we were hoping going to court would be a last resort, she didn't see a sign stating not to leave the site but as with most of us probably didn't study any small print, unfortunately it's quite some distance from where we live but at some point this week someone will go there and take some photos of any signs which do exist.

Thanks for the site suggestion, will take a look.

Pssst

Carry some of these in your boot.

They are cheaper than the release fee.

Sir_Roger_deLodger

With you on that one Pssst, that's exactly what I do.

Guys_Dad

Pssst wrote: »

Carry some of these in your boot.

They are cheaper than the release fee.

Serious question - are these generally strong enough to cut through a padlock? I thought that you needed an angle grinder to do the job.

Has anyopne got actual experience of using bolt cutters to cut off a clamp (through the padlock?) and if so, any recommendations on where/what type to buy?

Please, only those who have done it, not theorists.

Thanks.

BFG_2

Depends on the padlock.

Cheap crappy ones...like the proverbial knife through butter

Expensive ones - varies..

AlexisV

The ones with very long handles do. You can put your full weight behind them because you can lean one of the handles on the tarmac.

BFG_2

also depends on protection opffered by the clamp for the padlock [eg up inside a slot or dover]

killer_cam

you can appeal against it at dvla local office,

lol my dad always gets clamps and he just cuts the off and chucks the clamp in the bin i think he owns the dvla £13,000 in fines

usignuolo

If she was clamped it should have been by an operative registered with the SIA and it should have his number on the receipt?,