council scrapped car+admits wrongful disposal-advice pls

arcon5

agar_99 wrote: »

hi
thx for the comprehensive suggestions
When I discussed the advice previously given by the dept. with one of the seniors , they advised ombudsman is an option always open and that no-one in their dept would have advised me otherwise.

I have made a complaint via the website but have done so b4 asking for advice on this site. So did not put in those specific terms

1) "You should not be out of pocket at the end of this, and you need to be very clear in your own mind on that front."
Am a bit confused on this as the council insurance dept keeps on insisting current value is all rhey can offer and keep comparing this to an accident
If that' the case- will definitely lose out
2) re equipment- any in my profession carry these as a must- will wait for scrapyard to get back
Couldnt work without a car or these- the problem in just hiring car is me still needing to go back to England for appts and would not be able to drive long journeys
Not upto buying/haggling over car purchases

3) Thx for the news story. Many similarities but not the same case.
4) Have told the manager- that although "negotiating" with him- will keep my option of either councillor/ombudsman open

If they pay you to value of the car - how will you lose out?
The value being what the car is worth based on its mileague, age and condition on the open market.

Thus, the point of paying you market value is you can go out and buy a similar condition vehicle for the price.

Strider590

Get on to the DVLA, the next thing will be them sending you a hefty fine for not informing them it was scrapped.

Quentin

agar_99 wrote: »

.... "You should not be out of pocket at the end of this, and you need to be very clear in your own mind on that front."
Am a bit confused on this as the council insurance dept keeps on insisting current value is all rhey can offer and keep comparing this to an accident
If that' the case- will definitely lose out

As previously posted, no one (insurer/FOS/court) will award you any more than the market value (as at the time of the incident), so give up on getting back the price you paid for it!

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

agar_99 wrote: »

hi
thx for the comprehensive suggestions
When I discussed the advice previously given by the dept. with one of the seniors , they advised ombudsman is an option always open and that no-one in their dept would have advised me otherwise.

I have made a complaint via the website but have done so b4 asking for advice on this site. So did not put in those specific terms

1) "You should not be out of pocket at the end of this, and you need to be very clear in your own mind on that front."
Am a bit confused on this as the council insurance dept keeps on insisting current value is all rhey can offer and keep comparing this to an accident
If that' the case- will definitely lose out
2) re equipment- any in my profession carry these as a must- will wait for scrapyard to get back
Couldnt work without a car or these- the problem in just hiring car is me still needing to go back to England for appts and would not be able to drive long journeys
Not upto buying/haggling over car purchases

3) Thx for the news story. Many similarities but not the same case.
4) Have told the manager- that although "negotiating" with him- will keep my option of either councillor/ombudsman open

As I said before, in terms of the value of the car, you are due the value at the time it was removed, and this should be a reasonable market value, not top whack nor trade, but a fair price.

Then, because of their mistake, they should recompense you for additional costs of replacing the car. By breaking it down, you can present your case more clearly.

I did a small claim against Thomsons for a crappy holiday, I didn't ask for all my money back, I said I want X hundred for this, Y hundred for that and Z hundred for something else, and in each case justified it. They grizzled but conceded. You need to do the same, then they might argue out of one or two extras but will have to concede the reasonableness of the other bits.

To go to the Ombudsman you must first complete the council's complaints procedure or be able to show that the council's intransigence has made this a pointless process.

agar_99

thx for the advise of breaking down items for compensation

Will try this

TrickyWicky

bazster wrote: »

Failure to display a tax disc is nothing to do with the council, that would be a police matter, and frankly I can't see the police being terribly interested in a non-displayed disc since they can check in seconds whether the tax has actually been paid.

This is utter gibberish and should be ignored.

Councils are responsible for dealing with untaxed vehicles in many areas and ARE permitted to do so by law. Trust me, I've worked for multiple councils that did so. Councils CAN clamp, remove, keep in a pound and scrap untaxed vehicles. Not all councils do this, some leave it to the DVLA with the assistance of the local police however many councils do take on this extra responsibility.

Oh and yes, they deal with abandoned untaxed vehicles on private property too however there has to be a complaint from the landowner AND a formal request to remove the vehicle. They cannot just randomly inspect and tow vehicles from private land without consent.

In 2012 my local authority tried to pull this on me. They claimed they'd had a report of my car being abandoned on someone elses land, it was untaxed, not insured, I was liable to imprisonment plus a fine and they'd be towing it away if I didn't explain myself. They even went as far as to say that the car would be destroyed seven days after seizure but did not give a date that it would be seized (which they must). Unfortunately for them they had no idea I had worked for a neighbouring authority doing the same job . How can I put this? They picked on the wrong man. After I'd painstakingly pointed out every error in their procedure over an 11 page .pdf file and threatened every method of retaliation possible - from the DPA, entrapment, failure to check with the landowner, breach of DVLA rules and many more, they saw sense and decided to issue me with a half hearted apology - clearly knowing I had them over a barrel.

Don't quit this, the council in your case OP have done wrong. So has the person that made the complaint as you could argue that they had a duty of care towards you - you could have been dead in your flat for all they knew!