DH been clamped by a company called GMD

Wkdwill

DH has just parked in a pub carpark in Wakefield, he was gone for litterally 5 minutes and has come back to find his car clamped by a company called GMD and its going to cost £100 to have it released or £300 if we cant pay today as it will be towed.

The thing is we are absolutely brassic we dont have a penny at all and we cant borrow it either.

The bloke was clamping him as he got back to the car, he recorded the conversation with my husband and took photos.

Is there anything we can do, aparently there was a sign but DH didnt see it. Im absolutely fuming with DH now.

peter_the_piper

Can't help with paying options but for later on ensure you get pics from all angles of where you are parked in relation to the sign. Is sign visible when you drive in, get pics on entry and get pic of sign. You will almost certainly have to claim any money back through county court through both landlord and clamper.

Coupon-mad

Plenty of clamping threads on pepipoo.com with lots of knowledgeable advice here:

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showforum=30

Your options are:

- TONIGHT - get someone - a friend - to cut the padlock off tonight - without damaging the actual clamp - when they are not looking. Then drive away and deliver the undamaged clamp - ideally with a new padlock you've bought from a hardware shop - to a Police station saying that someone must have taken the clamp off and you're handing it in as 'lost property'. If the clampers get the Police to investigate 'criminal damage', make sure you can truthfully say you don't know who cut the padlock off but it wasn't you or OH.

- TONIGHT - get a locksmith to unlock the padlock, or try search youtube for the clip that shows how to make a generic padlock opening key from a coke can and try that. If successful then drive away & take the clamp/new padlock to a cop shop as above.

- TONIGHT - get a mechanic to remove the clamp by removing the wheel and whatever it takes (there are also clips on youtube showing what to do). If time is short, ask the mechanic to tow your car and clamp away to do the job tomorrow, but check how much this will cost you first.

- TODAY, asap pay them by credit card and then push the card company tomorrow for a chargeback (ask a relative who is prepared to do this if you have no money). Or pay by VISA debit (no other debit card, only a VISA one) as you'll have the VISA debit chargeback scheme to fall back on. Or pay cash as a last resort and then sue them and the landowner/publican/brewery for the money back (you should win but would mean paying them and then a small claim fee, before claiming it all back).

- pepipoo are talking about a couple of cases where people have let the vehicle get towed and then gone to a Solicitor and taken out an injunction forcing the clampers to return the vehicle immediately without cost. If you have no money maybe this is the only option once it gets towed, if someone will help you pay a solicitor for the injunction work.

You will need to build some evidence to take the final two options. You'll need to show that the signs were inadequate for a judge to believe that your OH didn't see them (I believe you BTW!).

And you'll need to post a copy of your receipt on pepipoo if you end up paying then chargeback/suing. Clampers' receipts often make the clamping unlawful so don't prompt the company to sign it or fill in any details - take what they give you without comment.

BTW don't fume with your poor DH - you'll see on pepipoo how common this is and you should be fuming with the clampers. Be careful not to call them 'scammers' or''illegal' on pepipoo though, you can vent on here but can't use defamatory language over there!

HTH

jkdd77

Coupon-mad wrote: »

Plenty of clamping threads on pepipoo.com with lots of knowledgeable advice here:

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showforum=30

Your options are:

- TONIGHT - get someone - a friend - to cut the padlock off tonight - without damaging the actual clamp - when they are not looking. Then drive away and deliver the undamaged clamp - ideally with a new padlock you've bought from a hardware shop - to a Police station saying that someone must have taken the clamp off and you're handing it in as 'lost property'. If the clampers get the Police to investigate 'criminal damage', make sure you can truthfully say you don't know who cut the padlock off but it wasn't you or OH.

HTH

I strongly favour this option.

Once you've paid, you'll have an uphill struggle getting any money back, even more so since an ever-increasing number of clamping firms are operating unlawfully without the authority of any landowner, and simply ignore all CCJs.

Wkdwill

Coupon-mad wrote: »

Plenty of clamping threads on pepipoo.com with lots of knowledgeable advice here:

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showforum=30

Your options are:

- TONIGHT - get someone - a friend - to cut the padlock off tonight - without damaging the actual clamp - when they are not looking. Then drive away and deliver the undamaged clamp - ideally with a new padlock you've bought from a hardware shop - to a Police station saying that someone must have taken the clamp off and you're handing it in as 'lost property'. If the clampers get the Police to investigate 'criminal damage', make sure you can truthfully say you don't know who cut the padlock off but it wasn't you or OH.

The bloke who clamped him said that he had till 5pm to pay the £100 otherwise it would be towed away as they dont leave them over night as people cut the clamps off.

- TONIGHT - get a locksmith to unlock the padlock, or try search youtube for the clip that shows how to make a generic padlock opening key from a coke can and try that. If successful then drive away & take the clamp/new padlock to a cop shop as above.

- TONIGHT - get a mechanic to remove the clamp by removing the wheel and whatever it takes (there are also clips on youtube showing what to do). If time is short, ask the mechanic to tow your car and clamp away to do the job tomorrow, but check how much this will cost you first.

- TODAY, asap pay them by credit card and then push the card company tomorrow for a chargeback (ask a relative who is prepared to do this if you have no money). Or pay by VISA debit (no other debit card, only a VISA one) as you'll have the VISA debit chargeback scheme to fall back on. Or pay cash as a last resort and then sue them and the landowner/publican/brewery for the money back (you should win but would mean paying them and then a small claim fee, before claiming it all back).

Unfortunately we only have solo cards and family members weren't interested in paying with their cards, MIL ended up giving DH cash to pay with from her savings.

- pepipoo are talking about a couple of cases where people have let the vehicle get towed and then gone to a Solicitor and taken out an injunction forcing the clampers to return the vehicle immediately without cost. If you have no money maybe this is the only option once it gets towed, if someone will help you pay a solicitor for the injunction work.

We couldn't let them take it as DH needs his car to get to work as he starts at 5am and has no other means of tranport to get there.

You will need to build some evidence to take the final two options. You'll need to show that the signs were inadequate for a judge to believe that your OH didn't see them (I believe you BTW!).

I told DH to take the camera with him and take photos of everything, but surprise surprise he didn't, there were 3 A4ish sized signs around the car park which DH says he didn't see, the clamper pointed these out to him while recording the conversation.

And you'll need to post a copy of your receipt on pepipoo if you end up paying then chargeback/suing. Clampers' receipts often make the clamping unlawful so don't prompt the company to sign it or fill in any details - take what they give you without comment.

We have the receipt which the clamper filled in, in full, with his SIA number on etc.

BTW don't fume with your poor DH - you'll see on pepipoo how common this is and you should be fuming with the clampers. Be careful not to call them 'scammers' or''illegal' on pepipoo though, you can vent on here but can't use defamatory language over there!

Im fuming with both, more so with DH as ive always told him about other peoples experiences from here, he was just too thick to look around and check, where he got clamped was a 5 minute walk from our house, most expensive hair cut he has ever had, theres a lot going on with us lately, with money struggles and this was just the final straw, we now have FIL pestering us about the money we had to borrow as he has just quit his job and will need the money very soon. He has said it was his own fault for not checking, which makes me even more angry because he knows how stupid he has been and the fact that its not even bothering him, specially knowing how much trouble we are in financially.

HTH

I dont know what we can do now, ill have a look at the link you gave me, but if its a case of DH's pure stupidity then chances are we dont have a leg to stand on.

C_Mababejive

These are cheaper than the release fee....I think B & Q open late??

http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=9285415&ecamp=trf-005&CAWELAID=266893237

Coupon-mad

Wkdwill wrote: »

I dont know what we can do now, ill have a look at the link you gave me, but if its a case of DH's pure stupidity then chances are we dont have a leg to stand on.

Of course you have a leg to stand on.

If a driver does NOT see clamping signs then there is NO CONTRACT to clamp.

Post a new thread on pepipoo and let them see that receipt, it may well be flawed, they often are.

And send OH back, on foot, to take photos of the signs (so the writing is readable) and then further away pics to show where those signs were hidden. Do a little map for pepipoo.