Car towed in London, need help!

davidroche

Hi people of MSE.

I'm new to this site, but I really don't know where else to get advice!

My car was towed on a residential street in London (Newham), without any parking restrictions (no lines or signs up). I returned back to my car to find it had been towed, for reasons of having 'one or more wheels on a pavement'. I may well have had a wheel on the pavement, I am awaiting photos of the incident by post.
My problem (and what I was hoping was to be the basis of my appeal) is the similarity of the road and pavement on this street. As a new user to the site I am not allowed to upload photos unfortunately, but I’ll do my best to describe it.

The road and pavement in question are all brick paved - and the only dividing characteristic between the road and pavement being a strip of lightly coloured bricks dividing the two. The pavement is not raised, and is flush with the road, so it makes it very difficult to identify the boundary. Furthermore I parked late at night, so i didn't see the difference at all. The carriageway was also wet, so this really made viewing the difference impossible at night.

Do I have a case for appeal based on the fact that anyone reasonably could have made a mistake given the situation (dark, poor lighting, wet so difficult to see different shades of brickwork)?
I looked through the parking procedures for Newham, though I can't see any information regarding the pavement markings being unclear.
Any advice regarding making an appeal would be very much appreciated!
I would also like to claim for damages done to my car during the towing (bent hubcap, chipped hubcap and various scratches) - what's the best way to approach this?[FONT=&quot][/FONT]

Umkomaas

As we tend to major on private parking tickets here, PePiPoo will be your best bet for statutory issues. Here's your link:

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?act=SF&s=&f=30

Have a read through some of the other threads there before you post your own to get the hang of what information they need from you in your opening post - but as a minimum you will need photos/scans of all correspondence you've received from the council/tow people (both sides, if appropriate).

PePiPoo has an excellent success record in dealing with these cases.

HTH

Coupon-mad

Everyone should appeal ANY Council tow. You have nothing to lose at all as you will have already paid and it would be MADNESS not to appeal! Especially with pepipoo's help as almost every person whose car was towed (Newham being typical) gets a full refund in the end.