Police Section 5 DA04 - Accused of spitting at clamping officer

DailyClicker

Hey,

I was given a fixed penalty fine of £80 for apparantly spitting on and preventing a clamping officer from leaving.

There has been on-going disputes with this clamping company and the way they operate over the last 6 months. They have threatened, assaulted me and neighbours on numerous occasions, but the Police would never take any action.

They have threatened to make false accusations against me if I helped another member of the public whilst they were being clamped.

Last night, my neighbours friend dropped her home from the airport, and carried her bags to the door at around 7pm. By the time he returned to his car a few minutes later he was clamped. I was extremely calm and let him know his options, and if he was going to pay, to do it on a credit card and then appeal it with his bank as well.

He called the Police, as he offered the clamping officer £125 to release the clamp, but she wanted £375 inc a tow truck call out. Three hours later and still no tow truck, but apparantly it's on it's way.

She made an accusation that I spat and prevented her from leaving by blocking her in with my car on a private road. At no point did I spit at her, or prevent her from leaving, but did block the road to ensure if a tow truck arrived they did not move the vehicle as there were two young children inside.

The Police took the side of the clamper, without asking any of the 7/8 witnesses. I tried explaining to the officer my side of the story but he wasn't willing to listen.

I'm only 18 years old, and looking to go to Australia for 6 months in January and need a Visa, and just wanted some advise on what I can do now

Look forward to your replies

Coupon-mad

Wow that is shocking - and don't give the private clamping 'monkeyess' the compliment of the title of 'Officer' because they are not!

I would post about this on pepipoo criminal offences forum board:

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showforum=5

I think that's the right board for the query even though your post is about private clamping which normally gets posted about on the parking board. Don't post in both places - maybe register and pm a regular with a high post count, showing them a link to this thread and asking which pepipoo forum to put it on?

Good luck, this seems ridiculous, maybe needing a swift personal visit to the local cop shop with a witness, to speak to the Duty Officer and see if the ticket can be revoked as the 'incident' never happened and a private clamper is not an authority on any matter (indeed their activity is about to be banned).

CountryGoose

You don't have to pay the fixed penalty - you can take the matter to court with your witnesses and see who the magistrates believe.

taffy056

CountryGoose wrote: »

You don't have to pay the fixed penalty - you can take the matter to court with your witnesses and see who the magistrates believe.

Think the OP should try the police with those witnesses first, as coupon mentioned above, but I would definitly try pepipoo before appealing in court, have you seen the thread about a fireman breaking down and getting a ticket ?

maninthestreet

If this is a Fixed Penaly Notice, there will be a section on the form you were given to dispute the fine, and have your case heard at a magistrate court.

DaveF327

DailyClicker wrote: »

The Police took the side of the clamper,

This is happening with increasing frequency according to threads on here.

Would a serving police officer care to comment on this?

Crabman

DaveF327 wrote: »

This is happening with increasing frequency according to threads on here.

Would a serving police officer care to comment on this?

Depends on the calibre of the police officer. I met a couple of retired traffic cops at an IAM meeting and both felt the same about clampers (and PPCs) as we do here

peter_the_piper

Am I being paranoid here but could this be an attempt by the clamper to get a "conviction" against the victim to help win any chargeback or small claim case?

Spartacus_Mills

DaveF327 wrote: »

This is happening with increasing frequency according to threads on here.

Would a serving police officer care to comment on this?

They're probably all having a drink down the local with their clamping buddies.

Stigy

DailyClicker wrote: »

I'm only 18 years old, and looking to go to Australia for 6 months in January and need a Visa, and just wanted some advise on what I can do now

Look forward to your replies

If you pay the (Fixed Penalty Notice) FPN within 21-days, then no further action will be taken, and you'll not have any trouble getting your Visa (not in respect of the FPN anyway!). The FPN is a way of keeping minor offences out of court and as such, you'll not receive any form of criminal record if paid.

If you either fail to pay it and don't bother appealing, or you do appeal and are found guilty at a Magistrate's Court, you'll receive a conviction for the initial Public Order offence and possibly a hefty fine. If you appeal and are found not guilty, you'll not have to pay the £80 FPN and you won't get a criminal record or fine, obviuously then it'll be NFA.

In order for an FPN to be an appropriate means with which to resolve an offence, the offender should admit the offence to the Officer at the time. In other words the appeal is only available because it's a legal right one has in all enforcement situations such as this one (even if found guilty at a Magistrate's Court you can appeal and go to Crown Court!). If you weren't prepared to admit any wrongdoing, then you shouldn't have been issued an FPN and should have been arrested really! Sometimes this falls on deaf ears with some Officers/Officials and as such all manner of people receive FPNs that shouldn't do! If you did admit your wrongdoing, then there'll probably be not much point appealing to be honest, as the Police Officer's notes will reflect this, as might you replay when cautioned.



You're lucky you weren't charged with obstructing the public highway...Or did I read that it was a private road?

DaveF327

Crabman wrote: »

Depends on the calibre of the police officer.

That's exactly the problem. The law is supposed to be upheld uniformly; one officer is supposed to use the same procedure and judgement as any other. Different officers should not have two contradicting understandings of the law or different procedures in establishing facts before issuing FPNs.

Again, would a senior officer care to comment on the reason for these gross variances between officers?