I should ignore...but now worried about clamping

Fougasse

Hello all - I've been on a steep learning curve since receiving a PCN from Meteor Parking, at a London Midland railway car-park, for parking 'in an unauthorised area'.

To summarise briefly(ish): I paid the correct amount for a day's parking and as I was in a hurry to catch the train, parked in a space near the entrance where I'd seen other cars parked every day that week. It's a slightly odd space in a corner but I wasn't touching the adjacent hatched lines nor obstructing anyone (all the cars around me had departed by the time I got back to my vehicle, so clearly no difficulties exiting). There was plenty of space elsewhere in the park.

Being an almost ludicrously law-abiding type, I actually sent the money demanded after having my appeal rejected (OK, I realise now that I shouldn't have done...but I hadn't found this site yet). I thought that was the end of the matter, only to receive the standard first Roxburghe letter this week, demanding £144. It appears that the cheque I sent to Meteor failed to arrive (all details and postage were correct). It hasn't been cashed. Thanks to my appeal, they do know that I was driving. Another thing I did wrong.

At that point I started to google and discovered the extent of this scam. Now, I hear the message loud and clear and am prepared to ignore, ignore, ignore, BUT......I'm worried about getting clamped in the same car-park. I have to use it regularly and so do other family members. The T&Cs at the entrance are in tiny print and posted way too high to read comfortably without a step-ladder, but I did manage to see that they threaten clamping in case of non-payment.

I know that this shouldn't happen but I've seen a few reports of people who have come back to their cars to find themselves clamped nevertheless. Can anyone reassure?

TIA.

Coupon-mad

Clamped? Why? Do the signs warn about clamping and state a clamp release fee?

Meteor do not have form for clamping AFAIK and their signs normally just ramble on about parking charge notices. Check the signs and put your mind at rest.

And a company cannot legally clamp a car for an unpaid invoice, any more than anyone can seize your goods without a Court order. Clampers can only act where they have an SIA licience and the right signs up and the release fee stated on those signs, and they can only clamp a car at the time of an alleged 'contravention'. Not as a punishment/blackmail on another day!

Check the signs tomorrow, I am sure you won't see a clamp realease fee or anything like that on there. Just rubbish about fake PCNs.

torontoboy45

if london midland park northampton is anything to go by, clamping is not an option.

nothing I can glean off meteor's website mentions clamping.

take the above advice: check the signage. no clamping signs: no clamping.

Fougasse

Thanks for the replies. Interesting - I went back today to check and the T&Cs (which, as I mentioned, are printed in minuscule type and so high up that anyone under 6'2" and without 20/20 vision will struggle to read them) state:

Section 14. 'Where you park your vehicle in breach of these T&Cs the company...may...14.1. Apply a Parking Charge Notice (blah, blah, blah).....14.2 Apply a wheel clamp to your vehicle...where your vehicle is clamped notices will be displayed in the Car Park...specifying a fee to be paid by you for the removal etc etc.

In fact, there's no specific release fee amount given on the T&Cs, but it DOES definitely threaten clamping. Oh, and it also makes passing threats about invoking 'railway byelaws', though in extremely vague terms.

Don't want to give out any more detail than necessary here, but the station is on the Northampton line. I had to smile wryly at one of the supposed breaches which is 'being parked other than in a single designated parking bay'. At this particular station there's a major problem with huge SUVs and high-performance cars hogging two spaces on a regular basis, thereby preventing other people from parking - I've never seen any of them ticketed. Whereas my alleged crime was to park somewhere that didn't obstruct anyone and having paid the full fee - it was just, according to them, in an 'unauthorised' area.

Incidentally I then returned home to find the standard second Roxburghe letter waiting for me, threatening Graham White as the next step and warning me about paying attention to 'anecdotal evidence on websites'.....

trisontana

Because that "anecdotal evidence" is true, whereas the rubbish spouted by Roxburgh is a pack of lies.

esmerobbo

Graham White the next step as a threat! :rotfl: :rotfl:

bondy_lad

and then ,,michael sobell as the guy,,for nov 5th? ignore these clowns,, check the address of roxburghe and gw, not just same address its the next desk along.

oldone_2

Cancel your original cheque a.s.a.p. I suspect that some PPC's actually do receive a cheque when they claim they haven't, giving them a chance to try and charge you a lot more.

If you don't roll over and cough up, then they still have your original cheque - unless you cancel it.

Coupon-mad

Fougasse wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. Interesting - I went back today to check and the T&Cs (which, as I mentioned, are printed in minuscule type and so high up that anyone under 6'2" and without 20/20 vision will struggle to read them) state:

Section 14. 'Where you park your vehicle in breach of these T&Cs the company...may...14.1. Apply a Parking Charge Notice (blah, blah, blah).....14.2 Apply a wheel clamp to your vehicle...where your vehicle is clamped notices will be displayed in the Car Park...specifying a fee to be paid by you for the removal etc etc.

In fact, there's no specific release fee amount given on the T&Cs, but it DOES definitely threaten clamping. Oh, and it also makes passing threats about invoking 'railway byelaws', though in extremely vague terms.

Don't want to give out any more detail than necessary here, but the station is on the Northampton line. I had to smile wryly at one of the supposed breaches which is 'being parked other than in a single designated parking bay'. At this particular station there's a major problem with huge SUVs and high-performance cars hogging two spaces on a regular basis, thereby preventing other people from parking - I've never seen any of them ticketed. Whereas my alleged crime was to park somewhere that didn't obstruct anyone and having paid the full fee - it was just, according to them, in an 'unauthorised' area.

Incidentally I then returned home to find the standard second Roxburghe letter waiting for me, threatening Graham White as the next step and warning me about paying attention to 'anecdotal evidence on websites'.....

Meteor do not clamp cars - it's an idle threat.

If they suddenly tried to, they could not charge a release fee without it being stated on the signs so the clamp would have to be removed for free.

And if you just Google a full sentence from that letter about 'anecdotal evidence' you will find how many times it has been mentioned by other people on here and on pepipoo forums. Every single person has been told to ignore Roxburghe and when they pretend to be 'Graham White solicitors' (in fact still Roxburghe using different headed notepaper).

This is a scam so stop wasting your time over it. Nothing happens. BUT do tell your bank that the cheque was lost in the post (true) as they may well put a stop on it for free under those circumstances. Otherwise you'd have to pay to stop it.

Fougasse

Thanks to all for advice and comments. Yes, I've cancelled the cheque now. Breathlessly awaiting communication from the great Mr White....;)