Council unlawfully scrapped my sister's car

HO87

Expecting to find a solicitor that specialises in parking will be rather like hunting down a five-legged pink polka-dot elephant - not entirely impossible but pretty unlikely.

The issue here - your sister will be alleging - is one of "conversion" a strict liability tort. There should be a raft of solicitors who can deal with that indeed if they can't deal with such a fundamental issue then they shouldn't be in business. The problem is that there isn't any money in it or more particularly there may not be enough money in it.

Does you sister have household insurance that includes legal protection?
If you live in a reasonably sized urban area is there a community law centre near you?
If anyone is going to post on Pepipoo then please ensure it is your sister - Chinese whispers and all that. And be as frank as possible - there is something of a sense that there is an aspect of the tale that is being glossed over slightly - the reason for the car being parked where it was and the arrangement with the parking attendant?

Instead of wasting time waiting for an activation that seemingly will never arrive, set up another account with Pepipoo having first deleted all cookies for that site - and make sure you accurately input your email address.

Adding delay to the situation is likely to diminish any argument that your sister might advance as to urgency and inconvenience.

nigelbb

nigelbb wrote: »

Under what circumstances can a council ever legally scrap a car? If the police shift a vehicle causing an obstruction they take it to a pound & charge a release fee they don't put it in a crusher.

Nobody has answered my question. Under what circumstances could a council ever scrap a car? Possibly if the vehicle were abandoned & the council had made all possible efforts to contact the owner?

On the face of it if (& it's a big IF) the OP's story can be taken at face value a criminal offence has been committed.

Rover_Driver

nigelbb wrote: »

Nobody has answered my question. Under what circumstances could a council ever scrap a car?

If it is abandoned, s. 4, Refuse Disposal (Amenity) Act 1978.

nigelbb

Rover_Driver wrote: »

If it is abandoned, s. 4, Refuse Disposal (Amenity) Act 1978.

I imagined that some legislation would apply to a dumped or abandoned vehicle but the OP stated that

The vehicle is taxed, MOT'd, insured etc and is moved on a regular basis.

A vehicle that has tax MOT & insurance is unlikely to be abandoned & in any case the registered keeper can be easily contacted. It sounds implausible that a roadworthy car with tax, insurance & known keeper can be scrapped under any legislation. Scrapping the car seems particularly punitive & final. If your white van is seized because you were using it to smuggle tobacco it doesn't get crushed it gets sold.

peter_the_piper

I wonder if there was a vrn etc swapzy.

betterthanyours

The story I wrote is 100% true. There was no contravention and the vehicle was in good standing and legally allowed to be on the road, Tax'd, MOT'd and insured. I have requested they notify me under which legislation was the vehicle disposed of, the criteria that it met to be identified it is suitable for disposal and the department's policies and procedures. The manager was quite abrupt when I mentioned all that though. Since he refused to disclose these, there's a corporate investigation into what really happened. No more desperately trying to contain this within his department anymore.

All they did was put a "Council Aware" sticker on the vehicle the day before it was scrapped. The sticker wasn't identifiable as belonging to TowerHamlets nor were any details or instructions posted along with it. my sister assumed it was scam and took it off. On that very day, she took the vehicle for a valet and it was then parked in a different location. They specifically came looking for this vehicle. Abandoned vehicles do not move. Nor would anyone who has abandoned their vehicle come and wash it and then push it to a new location.

We recieved a "market valuation" of the vehicle yesterday of a poxy £870.00. The actual market value of vehicle replacement is averaging at £1,600. This would be a good time to engage a NWNF solicitor. Will said solicitor claim fees back from the council rather than the win sum? Never engaged in anything like this before.

We have refused the offer made by the council, totted up the figures around personal loss, items in vehicle, alarm, distress etc and valued it at roughly 4700. I wonder if that is a good sum to settle at? Does anyone have any experience in negotiations at all?

The willingness to settle is a good indicator that the council is accepting liability.

Quentin

betterthanyours wrote: »

The willingness to settle is a good indicator that the council is accepting liability....

Didn't you tell us they accepted liability in your OP?


That doesn't mean they will bend over and pay out £1000's!


You need to prove their valuation is below the market value (gather evidence from adverts/mags etc, though bear in mind asking prices aren't "market prices" - as vendors increase the market value to allow for negotiating discounts)


And you need to prove all your other losses mentioned. (As previously advised she needs to get proper legal advice on her chances of suing successfully)

k3lvc

betterthanyours wrote: »

We recieved a "market valuation" of the vehicle yesterday of a poxy £870.00. Teue market value of vehicle replacement is averaging at £1,600.

betterthanyours wrote: »

We have refused the offer made by the council, totted up the figures around personal loss, items in vehicle, alarm, distress etc and valued it at roughly 4700. I wonder if that is a good sum to settle at? Does anyone have any experience in negotiations at all?

Surely you're having a laugh - how much are you adding for alarm and distress :rotfl:


She parked in a dubious place, was warned, did it again & got caught - sure the punishment maybe doesn't fit the crime but give it a rest in overegging the claim


I'd suggest you'd be lucky to walk away with £1k but feel free to keep us updated

betterthanyours

Here are the images from the day before.

Admittedly car is a bit dirty but let's consider the woman is pregnant and she did plan to wash it that day:



The next day after car was washed and moved to a different location:


I think it's quite clear it's not abandoned. I wonder how often it is that they see abandoned vehicles that were given a courtesy wash.

betterthanyours

k3lvc wrote: »

Surely you're having a laugh - how much are you adding for alarm and distress :rotfl:


She parked in a dubious place, was warned, did it again & got caught - sure the punishment maybe doesn't fit the crime but give it a rest in overegging the claim


I'd suggest you'd be lucky to walk away with £1k but feel free to keep us updated

She had a pram and car seat in the vehicle which retails at £950 on it's own. She has Asos refunds, perfume bottles and a car stereo which costs £100 at retail.

She didn't park in a dubious place. The location has no road markings, no parking restrictions. I've added pictures. There are many other vehicles parked there also. And no, she wasn't warned. Just take a look at the picture. I could print out a "Council Aware" sticker and stick it on anyone's car. That's not a warning.

I figured I would humour them though. Considering they did humour me with their initial valuation. Maybe we can have better negotiations, now that the funny stuff has been put aside.

Quentin wrote: »

Didn't you tell us they accepted liability in your OP?


That doesn't mean they will bend over and pay out £1000's!


You need to prove their valuation is below the market value (gather evidence from adverts/mags etc, though bear in mind asking prices aren't "market prices" - as vendors increase the market value to allow for negotiating discounts)


And you need to prove all your other losses mentioned. (As previously advised she needs to get proper legal advice on her chances of suing successfully)

The team manager did say it was a mistake. I have that in writing.

They used AutoTrader's car valuation service to quote their price. I've sent them the AutoTrader ads of vehicles that are of a good representation, similar spec, mileage etc