Fighting Back

[papafulton]

Like the story in the news today about the caravanner who was clamped by an over by an over enhusastic!! attendant for parking in the lorry park of a service area due to all other areas being full. He simply unpacked his caravan clamp and clamped the attendants vehicle. Only released it when the police arrived. Don't know if he still had to pay the release fee. "Power to the people" don't let them s--t all over you.

William

 

[Roy2]

yes he did have to pay..

 

[yvonne6]

Classic!!!!! good to see some people still have some grit!!

 

[Rioja]

Especially annoying when you see lorries parked in the caravan bit. Charnock Richards comes to mind.

 

[Rita1]

Well Done for fighting back that man

we never used Motorway Services when we used to got M6/M74 to glasgow on reg basis with caravan

We found places off the motorway where could relax and make a cuppa as service areas do not like you turning gas on

Check out "5min.com"

 

[giovanni_5060838]

don't understand why he had to pay when the police

arrived? surely it would have been a civil matter.

 

[colin-yorkshire]

hi all

speaking of wheel clampers had my car clamped in the early 90s on a private car park that I had permission to use near the house I rented they left a notice on the windscreen demanding

 

[George2]

What would they have done if he'd refused to pay, they could hardly tow him away.

 

[Surfer]

Below is some really useful advice regarding clamping etc. This comes from the Consumer Action Group website at http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/parking-traffic-wardens/65341-private-parking-companies-charges.html. Full article below and "Power to the People".

PRIVATE PARKING COMPANIES

A guide to an effective defence.

Firstly the important thing to remember is that Private Parking Companies are not backed by any aspect of criminal law. Tickets from Traffic Wardens working for the police or local authorities or tickets issued by police officers are. There are provisions for them in the Road Traffic Act 1991 and these provisions allow sanctions that the issuing authority can take.

THIS IS NOT THE CASE FOR PRIVATE PARKING COMPANIES.

I'm sure any number of readers will be familiar with such facilities, from your local pay and display to any number of 'multi deck' car parks and even, more recently, the car parks for many stores.

PRIVATE PARKING COMPANIES RELY ON THE LAW OF CONTRACT

And while contract law can be a minefield of offer, acceptance, terms, implied terms and clauses, it can be surprisingly easy to understand in terms of every day matters such as this.

Essentially when a driver of a vehicle drives into a car park and parks his car he is implied to accept the offer for parking on the terms of the offeror (the parking company or land owner). A contract is formed and therefore the contract can be broken (or breached).

The Private Parking Company (PPC) must make the terms clear to the user of the car park. Therefore they are obliged to place ample and appropriate signage about the car park to make those persons using the facilities aware of the terms. The signs must be clear and unambiguous and it cannot be obscured, faded, covered up or in any way difficult or impossible to read and understand. Often times those terms will include a provision that if you over stay you will be penalised to the tune of

 

[RiaandJames_374303418]

A family member parked in a busy "free" retail car park as she'd done for some years. She had to park to one side of a marked bay due to other over sized works vehicles taking up more than one bay.

Returning to her car she found a "fine" from a well known car parking company who had taken over running the "free" car park.

One of her wheels was slightly outside the marked line due to the other large vehicles and she was being fined for parking outside the white box. Her husbands calls and letters to the company were ignored at first and they were just threatened with court action. He stood his ground and pointed out that warning signs were hidden 3 metres above the ground behind a tree on the upposite side of the road as you entered the car park and that other signs were placed high up at the far side of the large parking area and that they woul look forwards to presenting their evidance in court. The parking large company who we understand were also in trouble for the same sort of action at Basingstoke backed down!

Be warned though, that other retail car parks will also fine you for being parked over a white line of a parking bay! They do not manage a free car park for nothing so have to find a way to fund their presence.

Ria