Car clamping in the Midlands.

tomstickland

I've spotted a lot of stories in the local press about extortionate fees from clamping companies, in particular Midlands Parking Contracts.
There trick is to charge for a truck callout, even if the truck is round the corner, thus inflating the fees from the £125 advertised release fee.

Please don't write replies like "tough, you shouldn't park there", since a proportion of the people caught out have either missed signs or been parking in a location without problems for many years previously.

This particular company seem very hard to trace. Several court cases that have ruled in favour of the motorist have stumbled when bailifs have not been able to locate the owner.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/content/articles/2008/03/05/west_midlands_clamping_s13_w3_feature.shtml

http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=258119&command=displayContent&sourceNode=232193&contentPK=20156576&moduleName=InternalSearch&formname=sidebarsearch

tomstickland

http://archive.worcesternews.co.uk/2001/5/11/327555.html

http://archive.kidderminstershuttle.co.uk/2001/5/23/325155.html

http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:8ntRWl46V88J:www.fraudweb.co.uk/2001%2520Archive/may01arch.htm+Andrew+Minshull&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=uk

12 May - Driver Offered A Bribe - Greg Harris an employee of a wheel clamping company, Midland Parking, offered Sally Findon a £80 refund of her release charge if she did not make statements against Andrew Minshull, the clamping company’s boss, over alleged threatening behaviour. Harris of Redditch admitted to perverting the course of justice and has been remanded on bail pending reports.

peter_the_piper

Before you get caught take a look at the Pepipoo site for guidance and Always pay with Credit card, not debit, as its possible to do a chargeback. A clamping company lasts for a while, someone gets a court judgement against them, they fold and re-open under another name so you find it very difficult to get the money back. Don't forget that it is legal to get the clamp removed by yourself, if you can, providing you do not damage it and ensure the company get it back. (The padlock/chain is classed as an accessory and is not part of the clamp itself.)

oldagetraveller

There was an item on the Radio 2 news, Monday I think, didn't catch all of it, I was driving. They reported that a man had been cleared by a court after a clamping company had tried to prosecute him. Apparently after his old Ford Fiesta was clamped, he went for a petrol driven cutter and chopped his car in half then asked the clamper which half he wanted!
Made me smile anyway.

trisontana

oldagetraveller wrote: »

There was an item on the Radio 2 news, Monday I think, didn't catch all of it, I was driving. They reported that a man had been cleared by a court after a clamping company had tried to prosecute him. Apparently after his old Ford Fiesta was clamped, he went for a petrol driven cutter and chopped his car in half then asked the clamper which half he wanted!
Made me smile anyway.

The actual story was that the car was untaxed but the owner had a valid SORN certificate. The trouble arose because, although the car was supposed to be parked off-road, it was "overflowing" from the man's drive and part of the car was on the pavement, which is deemed to be the public highway. So he was clamped by a company acting on behalf of the council for not having a valid tax certificate. The case never went to court and he was never cleared of anything.

tomstickland

It's on another thread:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=908553

tomstickland

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Md0UuKFxRSY