car was clamped, do i have any grounds to appeal??

stolt

We went to Bluewater shopping centre yesterday and parked in a disabled bay (my wifes friend is disabled and she came with us). When we left yesterday evening there was a note on the windscreen not to move the car and a clamp on my wheel, it cost me £75.00 for them to remove the clamp.

The disabled card thingy had fallen from the windscreen and landed face up on the passenger seat.

The clamper said they can't discuss the clamp removal without payment and that the only way to get on our way was to pay for it and go through the appeals process.

Firstly i'm annoyed that i could show them the card there and then but they were not interested and secondly what worries me is that it states on the
card that i was given that PCM (UK) ltd will consider the appeal to be final once they have decided, i'm worried that they are going to say sorry it wasn't displayed properly and therefore you have to pay, and i'll have no other avenues to chase.


i'll write a letter of appeal and enclose photo copies of the diasabled card but anyone been in the situation, is this a case of i've handed over the money and got no chance of getting it back.

Wig

You have every chance of getting your money back, firstly by the appeal process, I would think a letter will sort this out and it will be refunded. If it is not refunded, you can start a small claims case against them, they will most likely pay you before you have to lay down your first (non refundable) fee of £35. If they don't just make it clear to them that any out of court settlement offered after XX/MM/YYYY will not be accepted unless it also includes the £35 court fee (which will be paid on that day) so your claim will not be settled for anything less than £110.

Did you have to sign anything? If you did it would have been better to sign with the additional words written "paid under protest - Disability sign had fallen onto passenger seat and was available for parking attendant to see."

I'm sure you will get your money back.

anewman

How about them giving you some compensation for causing distress to a disabled person and causing you unnecessary delay and hardship? I'd be expecting more than the £75 back.

They may ignore the appeal as this is the way some of those cowboys work. But if they do, newspapers all the way and complaints to the manager of the shopping centre etc etc.

Keith

They will probably cancel it, why they should when if it was a parking ticket which fell down they probably wouldn't waive the ticket then, but that's an argument for another day.

A parking fine has been waived after disabled Maude Robertson asked for my help.
Maude was given a ticket after her disabled badge was accidentally knocked to the floor of her car.
Inspectors slapped the ticket on her windscreen . . . even though a glance at her tax disc would have gone a long way to confirming her eligibility for free parking.
Maude, of Leam Lane, Gateshead, said: “I paid the £30 to get the worry off my mind.
“There is no dispute that I have a badge . . . I only got the ticket because it fell to the floor. Why didn’t they take notice of my tax disc which clearly mentions that I am disabled?”

stolt

thanks for both replies, this is a the letter i have drafted up, do think i should ham it up a little. Obviously my wifes friend feels a little guilty, not that she should the silly thing is that before we left the car my wifes friend said to stick it up high in windscreen so the attendeants can see it because she has had people comment even members of public passing have said that its not on to park in a disabled bay and she has had to point out the card in the windscreen. the problem is that I'm driving a people carrier it is is higher than the average car but not to the point that its so high that someone standing cant see it.

the most annoying thing is that i had the card there and then and they stuck to the rules that i had to pay before they would release it and then go via the appeals process.

i will also write to the shopping center owners and point out the cowboys they are using and maybe a local paper.

copy of the letter i was going to send
''
Dear Sir/Madam,
I'm writing in relation to the clamping of vehicle at Bluewater shopping center. I'm most distressed at the way that your clamping representative treated us, my vehicle was displayed with a valid disabled card and yet I have still been clamped, when I protested to your clamping representative they said that my vehicle could not be released without payment and that I would have to write and appeal. How can this be right the card was seen by your clamping individual, and yet I still had to pay to release the car. I parked in a properly marked vehicle bay and yet I still get penalized. I had to drive my wife's registered disabled friend to Bluewater for a days shopping and with my wife and our children.

I have enclosed a copy of the disabled badge used on the very day, I have also enclosed my wife's friends address whereby she resides, she is most upset because we were doing her a good turn which as resulted in very expensive day.

I fully appreciate and agree that people have no regards for disabled drivers and will use those spaces rather than walking a few extra yards but this is clearly not the case in this instance.

I trust you will find enclosed the copies of the valid disabled permit and request that the money is returned as the vehicle was wrongly clamped.
I also believe that it is wrong for your representatives to hide behind the companies rule to have payment first and that they are not allowed to discuss the clamping and refer all problems back to yourself, your representative could have released the car when I pointed to the card in the window but said that once the clamp is on the vehicle they cannot negotiate with anyone regarding removal with payment in instances such as this is clear that an error has been made.

The address of the registered keeper is;
xx
xx
xx
xx


Enclosed. Receipt & photo copy of disabled badge.

Wig

Ok but you don't mention it had fallen onto the seat. The letter gives the impression the badge was correctly displayed at all times. I would tell the truth if I were you.

The reason they don't release you or recind a windscreen ticket on the spot is probably because they get a small commission on each ticket / clamp given out. Which they probably don't lose even if the appeal is upheld.

stolt

Wig wrote: »

Ok but you don't mention it had fallen onto the seat. The letter gives the impression the badge was correctly displayed at all times. I would tell the truth if I were you.

The reason they don't release you or recind a windscreen ticket on the spot is probably because they get a small commission on each ticket / clamp given out. Which they probably don't lose even if the appeal is upheld.

hi, yeah i posted on another forum and someone there mention it would be best to leave that out as they would use that as a get out clause. I obviously don't like lying and it could go against me, but they would have easily seen that from where they put the clamp on, its bright orange compared to the black seats.

lauren_1

I dont think lying would help, they may also fail to understand how the badge landed on the pasenger seat? A parking ticket maybe but a fairly heavier blue badge? Also it would have been your reponsibility to check it was correctly displayed after you had closed the door.

stolt

lauren_1 wrote: »

I dont think lying would help, they may also fail to understand how the badge landed on the pasenger seat? A parking ticket maybe but a fairly heavier blue badge? Also it would have been your reponsibility to check it was correctly displayed after you had closed the door.

my wifes friend has these reusable sticky pads on the front and she always displays hers high on the window, it was definately still on when we walked away as when i pushed the alarm remote it was still high in the window, her badge is orange by the way?

Inactive

Strange, I thought they were all blue.

I may be wrong of course, it is just that I have not seen an Orange one for years.

lauren_1

Well as the orange badges were revoked and replaced with blue ones i can fully understand why you were clamped.

Think of it from a clampers point of veiw (i know they are evil barstewards) but if you came across the car with nothing in the window and a orange badge on the seat that got stopped in 2000 (surely she should have been given a blue one after 8 years) then why would they not clamp you?