Am soooo angry - unfair clamping and release charge!

Amanda65

My OH has just come home in a dreadful mood - and rightly so!

He is a consultant and visits small manufacturing companies offering advice and help. Today he visited a company on an industrial estate in Uxbrige, found their office, parked outside and walked in to reception, at which point someone pointed out that he had been wheel clamped - all this in under a minute.

He went straight back out and the clamper said he wanted £265.00 cash to unclamp the car, or they would tow it and it would cost £300.00 to get it back. My OH rang the police who said there was nothing that they could do as it was private land. They did advise however that the clampers had to take him to a cashpoint - which they didn't want to do but had to - so he could wihtdraw the money.

We are lucky - his company are paying this fee - but how on earth can a company justify a £265.00 release fee for under a minute's parking. How can this be legal??? With all of the banks etc. being charged for unfair fees, how can this still happen. Am so cross

The company BTW was called Regional Clamping Services and on their website the complaints and appeals section is just a load of gobblygook letters and there is no mention of timescales and fees

SaraSeahorse

wow - that was fast work - gobsmacked

where did he park? was it in a visitor space?

mpython

Amanda - so sorry. Some of these firms are complete bast*rds.

The fee sounds completely extortionate - hopefully someone more knowledgeable than I can advise properly, but I'd be minded to issue a summons in the small claims court on the grounds that the charge is an unfair term/ penalty.

There are a few other ways to challenge the clamping firm, such as were there sufficient signage warning of the clamping & were they legible & large enough.

There's an online petition at the 10 Downing St website wanting to outlaw such cowboy firms.

I'm not actually 100% against clamping or towing, for instance when selfish drivers park in disabled bays or block the highway, but £265 to park on open space when the damage (trespass) is insignificant is outrageous.

hjb123

That sounds far far far too much to fine someone. Was there any signs or anything like that about to say there was no parking and clampers were in operation?

Amanda65

Apparently OH says there were signs but they were at least 10 feet up and quite small so were not obvious when he first pulled up.

I am also not against parking restrictions but just think this is extortion (sp?) on the part of the clamping company and cannot believe that they acted so quickly!

moonrakerz

As a point of interest, this is illegal in Scotland where it actually is classed as extortion !

In England & Wales our Scots dominated Government doesn't seem willing to do anything about it.

fififofum

This sort of thing has been going on for AGES. It happened to my boyf. 5+ years ago outside his own flat!! They demanded they money with menaces too and he had to pay as they were doing it by the day etc. These people are Vermin.

superscaper

Who were the clampers working on behalf, the entire industrial estate or the company being visited?. Does the company he visited own/rent the land including the car parking space? Surely if he was there on official business then he had a right to park there?

nej

If he was visiting a company, didn't he have a right to be there?

hollydays

Clampers are now licensed,by the Security Industry Association.They are supposed to conform to regulations and wear an ID badge.Have a look on the AA website "motoring TRust section" I think the relevant stuff will be there.Edit the AA MOtoring Trust has now been taken over by the Institute of advanced Motorists.see https://www.iam.org.uk/motoringtrust/
And click on Advice and Information on the left hand side.
It says you could challenge poor signage in the county Court,or complain to the SIA or complain via their site.This site is new and a bit slow at the moment.Personally I find Pepipoo gets very involved-confusing at times.

Stark_2

You might want to visit:

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?act=idx

If you search for clamp or clamping you may find some useful info regarding your rights that may help in the future.

regards,

Nick