Help!!! I am taking a private company to small claims court for towing my vehicle off private land.

Crunc2000

Good morning all!

I'm hoping for people advice and guidance in a matter which is slowly escalating between myself and a private parking compay. The matter has now escaled to small claims court and any guidance anbody knowledgedable can give would be much appreciated.

To give a bit of backstory, I agreed to buy a vehicle off a friend to assist them with selling the car on thier behalf. I have not kept two cars before and left the vehicle on my private driveway.  (I've quickly come to realise that unless you need to keep two cars it's not worth the hassle!) 

I hadn't used the car once, and in order to keep the car ticking over whilst preapring it to sell, I decided it would be a good idea to take the car out on a regular outing that I do in my usual vehicle. The car was insured and taxed. Stupidly, and completely unbeknown to me, the MOT had lapsed in the interim. I undertook a short drive to a private car park where I usually park. I hold my hands up here that the car should have had an MOT and this an error on my behalf. A strong lesson learnt for the future to set up auto reminder whenever you first take a car on.

On taking the car our I parked it in a private car park (where I am usually able to park) for the period of circa one week. On returning to collect the car it had completely vanished. My first thought was that the car had been stolen. After much ringing around to check CCTV camers etc. it eventually transpired that my car had been towed a few days earlier. I established that it had been towed off private land by a private towing firm. At no point was any signage affixed to the vehicle, nor any attempt to contact me made. The company has still not written to me to confirm that they are holding my car. The company did not make any enquiries with the DVLA, nor the police and simply removed the car on the spot.

On visitng the company I was presented with a hefty and unreassnable bill by an absolute bully of a receptionist for towing and storage and denied access to the vehicle having made a round trip to collect it as I didn't have a copy V5c (despite having the keys and ID). In truth at this point, despite the demanour of the individual I was dealing with, I probably would have paid the charges. The setup of the firm is such that they are only open from 10-3pm during weekdays. This makes it incredibly difficult to collect your car around normal working hours. I confirmed that I had a photo of the V5c, which they would not accept. I confirmed that I was due to go away for two weeks the next day and that I considered it unreasonabe but despite my best efforts they would not let me collect my vehicle (which was there illegally!!!).

Knowing that towing of vehicles off private land is illegal it was at this point that I vowed to take further action.

My understanding is that under the protection of Freedom Act that towing off private land has been illegal since 2012. I wrote to the company with a letter before action setting out that I considered thier actions unlawful and demanded the imedaite return of the vehicle, giving a reasonable time limit for response.

The firm did not respond to me and as a result I then filed a small claims court, requesting either the return of the vehicle, or the montaey value of the vehicle which I, in effect, consider to have been stolen. 

On introducing the act, the first sentence of the Government's press release reads;  'It will be an offence to clamp, tow, block-in or immobilise a vehicle without lawful authority on private land under the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012.' I do not consider that a private towing company constitues a 'lawful authority'.

The company has since submitted a defence stating that there is signage in the car park requiring the car to have an MOT. I would note that this isn't visible on the route into the car park.

My belief here is that the act specifically deals with the matter of signage, as set out wihtin it's explanatory notes, as follows;

 Section 212 of the explanatory note provides clarity on subsection 212 as follows; A driver of a vehicle, by parking in a commercially run car park, may have impliedly accepted the landowner’s offer to park (or that of the parking company acting as the landowner’s agent). He or she may also, depending on what is advertised at the car park, have impliedly agreed to comply with the terms and conditions advertised, including the parking charges and the associated enforcement mechanism for those charges. However, by virtue of this subsection, the operation of the law of contract as it applies to commercially run private car parks does not confer lawful authority on the landowner or operator of a car park to clamp or tow away a vehicle parked there.

As well as not having access to my vehicle which has been unlawfully removed, I have now incurred further costs and court fees in being forced to undertake proceedings. The storage bill form the private company is now no doubt in the 1000s.

I have had regard to a similar thread on the forum which is now closed. I can't post the link as I'm new on the forum.

Whilst I have now submitted my county court claim, can anybody on the forum help by giving me some pointers here. Am I guaranteed sucess as the company has acted unlawfully? This is a matter of principle and I am willing to take this to the very end.

Apologies for the long thread and my sincere apprecaition for your responses in advance.

Once this has concluded in court perhaps it'll be a case for others to refer to in the future?

Spies

I think you'll win this case without any issues, its black and white that they must make reasonable efforts to contact the owner first, unless those notices went to your friend instead as the change of owner hadn't been processed?

Crunc2000

Thank you Spies. No, the car was registered in my name at that point. I had to proceess this over to tax and insure etc.

Gr1pr

You can add a link here as a newbie,  just make it non live by adding an underscore to the beginning,  or changing http to hxxp or similar 

Which parking company   ?  

Is this location within England and Wales   ?

ChirpyChicken

Which Court is this likely to be allocated to
Post up your claim wording , word for word and their defence word for word
Which firm.

DullGreyGuy

Quote the legislation, not the explanatory notes, so you are likely referring to clause 54 and its various subsections

If you want to reference clause 55 you are better off referring to the Road Traffic Regulation Act  which clause 55 amended to widen the powers to remove vehicles from private land. 

Crunc2000

Hi @ Dull Grey - The act states the following; (2)The express or implied consent (whether or not legally binding) of a person otherwise entitled to remove the vehicle to the immobilisation, movement or restriction concerned is not lawful authority for the purposes of subsection (1).

DullGreyGuy

So if you want to reference that then you'd say Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 Clause 55(2) rather than your prior "section 212 explanatory notes" which I couldn't even find 

LDast

We would also need to know the name of the unregulated private parking company (PPC) that is authorised to manage the car park. In other words, what is the name of the entity on the contractual signage in the car park.

Also, is the towing company who is holding your car the same company or is it a separate entity that was contracted by the PPC to do so?

• Section 54 of PoFA (Chapter 2) explicitly prohibits clamping, towing, or immobilising vehicles parked on private land without lawful authority.

• "Lawful authority" is clearly defined under PoFA (Section 54), typically applying only to the police, local authorities, statutory bodies, or specific legal situations authorised by statute.

• A private parking company or towing company operating purely under a civil contract does not have lawful authority under PoFA to clamp or tow vehicles.

• Civil contracts or signage terms cannot override statute law. Signage may only establish contractual liability for a charge (PCN) but not authorise towing or clamping.

Without knowing the answers to my questions above, the parking company's primary defence (assuming they are the same intitiy that towed and has your vehicle) appears to rely on contractual signage stating that a valid MOT is required to park:

• Even if clearly displayed, such signage is only capable of forming a civil contract for a monetary charge. It cannot legally authorise the removal (towing) of a vehicle without explicit statutory permission or lawful authority.
• Under PoFA Section 54(1) and reinforced by the explanatory notes at Section 212, any implied contract formed by signage explicitly does not grant lawful authority to clamp or tow.
• Your strongest argument here is that no matter what their signage states, the parking company's actions in physically removing (towing) your vehicle were illegal and contrary to statute.

In addition to the illegal removal, there are several procedural errors strengthening your case:

• Failure to contact the registered keeper: A private towing company removing a vehicle from private land without attempting DVLA enquiries or contacting the police to ascertain ownership is highly improper.
• No formal notification: The firm’s ongoing refusal to formally notify you, coupled with lack of clarity about vehicle status, strengthens your position that their actions are unreasonable.
• Refusal to release vehicle upon proof of ownership: Denying access to the vehicle despite you having keys, identification, and a photograph of the V5C is unreasonably obstructive, arguably intended to maximise storage charges unlawfully.

Your claim correctly seeks either the return of the vehicle or its monetary value, which is the correct legal remedy but what about the storage costs?:

• Under common law (conversion and trespass to goods), unlawful interference with your property (the vehicle) entitles you to claim damages equivalent to the property's value or restitution of the property itself.
• Conversion/Trespass to Goods: The act of towing, holding, and refusing to release your car constitutes a classic example of conversion (unlawful dealing with someone's property) and trespass to goods (wrongful interference). This forms a strong secondary basis for your claim beyond PoFA.

You will need:

• Photographic evidence of signage (or lack thereof) at the entrance/exit to support visibility arguments.
• Correspondence with the towing company demonstrating refusal to cooperate.
• Proof of your attempts to retrieve the vehicle (e.g., phone records, emails, any written notes of conversations).

You should seek confirmation from DVLA that no enquiry has been made by the towing company to ascertain your details. This evidence would strongly support your claim of procedural failure.

Claim additional costs clearly, including:

• Court fees
• Travel expenses incurred to visit their offices unsuccessfully
• Loss of use of the vehicle
• Reasonable costs related to pursuing the claim (stationery, postage, etc.)

You have a compelling claim based firmly in statute (PoFA) and supported by clear, relevant case law regarding conversion of goods. While nothing in court is ever guaranteed, the law strongly favours you in this scenario.