Abandoned cars in the snow Clamped!

Ju2

Yesterday throughout the afternoon we had heavy snow fall in Reading causing absolute chaos for motorists.
There were reports of what would be 5 minute journeys taking more than an hour. Buses services were cancelled due to accidents, the whole town was gridlocked and traffic came to a stand still while shoppers and workers tried to make it home.
Despite this chaos there was a real sense of community spirit with people helping one another whenever and wherever possible. However many had no choice other to abandon their vehicles and leave them overnight so they could attempt to make it home on foot.
This is what my friend did. And when he returned this morning to collect his car, it was among many others in the same situation and all of which had been clamped!!
How could this have happened?
The culprit is Redroute! And their fee for removal was £200!
This company clearly set out to prey on innocent motorists who had no other choice than to park their cars securely off the road in order to get home safely. But in believing they were making the right decision by considering their safety, they found themselves £200 worse off.
Why did this company feel the need to take advantage of the treacherous weather conditions in order to make a quick and easy buck without a flicker of conscience that we are only a few days from Christmas?
And to then sit happily in wait this morning for the owners to return to collect their cars so they could take their £200 payments. I expect they are very gleeful at the prospect of totting up their takings for the day!
It is outrageous that humans can behave this way in an already shambolic situation!
I'd love to hear from any others who had the same happen and their plans to appeal to the clamping companies.

Markie11

Absolute disgrace. Start a facebook campaign to destroy this company's reputation.

Ju2 wrote: »

Yesterday throughout the afternoon we had heavy snow fall in Reading causing absolute chaos for motorists.
There were reports of what would be 5 minute journeys taking more than an hour. Buses services were cancelled due to accidents, the whole town was gridlocked and traffic came to a stand still while shoppers and workers tried to make it home.
Despite this chaos there was a real sense of community spirit with people helping one another whenever and wherever possible. However many had no choice other to abandon their vehicles and leave them overnight so they could attempt to make it home on foot.
This is what my friend did. And when he returned this morning to collect his car, it was among many others in the same situation and all of which had been clamped!!
How could this have happened?
The culprit is Redroute! And their fee for removal was £200!
This company clearly set out to prey on innocent motorists who had no other choice than to park their cars securely off the road in order to get home safely. But in believing they were making the right decision by considering their safety, they found themselves £200 worse off.
Why did this company feel the need to take advantage of the treacherous weather conditions in order to make a quick and easy buck without a flicker of conscience that we are only a few days from Christmas?
And to then sit happily in wait this morning for the owners to return to collect their cars so they could take their £200 payments. I expect they are very gleeful at the prospect of totting up their takings for the day!
It is outrageous that humans can behave this way in an already shambolic situation!
I'd love to hear from any others who had the same happen and their plans to appeal to the clamping companies.

Anihilator

Were where the cars abandoned ?

Ju2

Good Idea Markie11!

Anihilator - The cars were at the Holybrook near the Oracle

peter_the_piper

Small claims court against both Redroute and the landowner.

Edit:-
I see they are all heart:-
""in cases where the fee cannot be met at the vehicle should a person require our help we will offer to assist by calling a taxi if that person states that they are physically unable to journey without transport. If necessary our Patrol Offices will loan the fare"" I expect they would even collect the money from the cashpoint for a fee.

They even state that contravening the blue badge regs on their sites will be processed through the magistrates courts.

Edit again:-
I wonder if Oracle know about this, (if its the Oracle site) they only charge £20.00 for 24 hours parking.

Red_Cat

That is pretty despicable, especially if it is obvious that the cars have been abandoned due to poor weather.

Viper_7

That's a good one.

I'm sure one really doesn't have to pay and they are trying it on, but I don't the legalities of this.

would also be interesting if this can be passed on to the council/road authority same as damage caused by pot holes etc.
NO EXCUSE for not keeping main roads treated.
how much warning do they really need?

Councils have been all over the news stating they are ready this year etc.
AA said they didn't have enough salt and the councils said they were wrong and scaremongering...and look what happens....

Getting caught out by a sudden snow fall - sure, but this was not sudden it's just been building up for days and days.

Sir_Roger_deLodger

Ju2 wrote: »

It is outrageous that humans can behave this way

Clampers are not human!

Tiddlywinks

But why did he abandon his car? I spent 6 hrs getting out of Reading yesterday - left at just gone 15:30 - didn't get home until 21:40.

It was a bloomin' nightmare but I chose to sit it out - unless there was a real breakdown or an emergency I think he should have done the same. If everyone had abandoned their vehicles then the gridlock would still be there now wouldn't it?

Holybrook is a small and tight set of roads and any vehicles poorly parked would cause misery to many, many others.

Waspeze

Tiddlywinks wrote: »

Holybrook is a small and tight set of roads and any vehicles poorly parked would cause misery to many, many others.

So clamping them and making them immobile is obviously the solution? :rolleyes:


Don't be under any illusion, the clampers are there just to make money NOT to make the roads safer!

peter_the_piper

Are they private roads then?