Clamped this afternoon

manstead

This afternoon I went to my former employers to clear my desk. The office is part of a site consisting of a number of offices and communal parking. As I knew I was only going to be 2 minutes I parked in a disabled bay right outside my former employer's building. There are two disabled bays and in all the time I have worked there I have never known any disabled persons to actually use the spaces!
Anyway, I was literally 2 minutes and just as I was about to return my vehicle the HR manager noticed that my car was being clamped.
We went outside and explained to the clampers that I had literally stopped there for a couple of minutes whilst I retrieved some belongings.
To cut a long story short they were insistent that I paid up or they would not release my vehicle. The HR manager called the owners of the site and they sent a representative to talk to the clampers but to no avail. Reluctantly I paid the "release charge", or rather I phoned my father as I had accidentally left my wallet at home, who phoned the company and paid the release charge on my behalf.
Yes, there are signs in abundance warning that clampers operate in this area and if I had intended to park for any longer than a couple of minutes I would not have parked there. Sutpidly I thought that nothing could happen in two minutes.

The sentence regarding my right to appeal on the notice placed on my car seems very contradictory. It reads as follows:
"YOUR RIGHT to appeal had not been wavered, but the opinion of the operative is considered to be final." (there bad spelling, not mine!) After paying the release fee the receipt I was given stated that I can write to National Clamps to appeal, all appeals must include and SAE and "DO NOT expect a reply to correspondence, we are not obligated".
So what happened to my right to appeal?
It looks to me that I have no rights at all.

lesalanos

their not there

Kite2010

If your dad paid by card, get him to phone the bank/card issuer up and try a chargeback.

If that doesn't work, jointly sue the clampers & the landowners.

manstead

lesalanos wrote: »

their not there

LOL. Well spotted.

Coupon-mad

There is no appeal to a private clamper anyway.

You can try getting your Dad to insist on a Chargeback on his card (see the article about chargebacks on this site). It's usually refused and has to be seriously pushed for with higher managers at the Bank, but I have seen threads where it worked. Usually when the person threatened to complain to the Financial Ombudsman, as that costs a Bank more.

If not, you would have to sue the clamper and whoever contracted them there (site owner). If you want to do this then post a thread on pepipoo here...

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showforum=60

...and if you have the determination you will get your money back. Just look how many private clamping threads there are on there; read a few and see whether you want to fight this or put it behind you.

If the site owners wanted the clamp removed but their agent (National Clamps) refused then when you sue them jointly the site owner isn't going to have some trouble defending this, it would seem. Most private clamps can be overtruned in small claims but you absolutely must NOT just sue the clampers alone - you will never see your money unless you include the organ grinder as well as the monkey.

Out of interest, how much did they charge for release? £80 used to be their rate and it was comparatively low.

TrickyWicky

Learn the art of lock picking.. I doubt you'll have any problems after that.