Motorway breakdown - new 'rules' or polis scam?
Discussion
Was driving south on the M6, near Manchester when clutch packs up. Get to hard shoulder and call the breakdown service. Plod pulls up behind me, and informs that new rules are in force whereby I am only given 30 mins to remove vehicle from hard shoulder, or plod will do it for me and charge me £105?? My breakdown service (mitsubishi assistance) has never broken the hour for me before, and unsurprisingly doesn't manage this time. Over a telephone row with the traffic div. of Greater Manchester Police, I'm informed that since I've called my breakdown service, it will be a race, and whoever gets there first will get to take the car. wtf?? Plods breakdown service rocks up first (plod still waiting by car to make sure I allow them to uplift - does he have notheing better to do???), loads up the car, and I have to phone mitsubishi assistance, get them to follow me to plod's depot, and swap the car between breakdown trucks. Of course the handover wasn't happening until I'd paid charges of £105....
I phoned GMP Authority, AA and RAC helpdesks, Lothian and Borders Police Traffic Div, and Derbyshire Police traffic div, plus my father, who lives in Manchester. None of them had ever heard of this. Wrote a nasty letter to GMP demanding my money back.
My question to you guys: anyone heard of this? On what basis in Law do they have the right to do this? I can understand it if I'm blocking traffic or the car appears to have been abandoned, but 30 mins??? Did the police in anyway publicise this? It would have been nice to have some prior warning rather than being dumped on like that. Are the breakdown services going to promise to uplift within 30 mins or pay the fine should they fail?
Angry from Edinburgh
I phoned GMP Authority, AA and RAC helpdesks, Lothian and Borders Police Traffic Div, and Derbyshire Police traffic div, plus my father, who lives in Manchester. None of them had ever heard of this. Wrote a nasty letter to GMP demanding my money back.
My question to you guys: anyone heard of this? On what basis in Law do they have the right to do this? I can understand it if I'm blocking traffic or the car appears to have been abandoned, but 30 mins??? Did the police in anyway publicise this? It would have been nice to have some prior warning rather than being dumped on like that. Are the breakdown services going to promise to uplift within 30 mins or pay the fine should they fail?
Angry from Edinburgh
That is shocking. More money making scams by local police force.
I've never heard of such a thing, and would have wanted the written word shown to me at the roadside before I would have even unlocked the doors to let them pull it onto their recovery truck.
Surely we have a right to have who we like to recover our vehicle? If we don't, then forcing a £105 fine onto people is just a joke!
First we pay 75% tax on fuel, then VAT on that, then road tax, the congestion charging, company car tax etc etc, and they then have us stumping up for removing our cars from the motorway for us?
I'd have just locked my doors and wound the window down an inch and said, "me no speak english"... "is it cos i is black"...
Dave
I've never heard of such a thing, and would have wanted the written word shown to me at the roadside before I would have even unlocked the doors to let them pull it onto their recovery truck.
Surely we have a right to have who we like to recover our vehicle? If we don't, then forcing a £105 fine onto people is just a joke!
First we pay 75% tax on fuel, then VAT on that, then road tax, the congestion charging, company car tax etc etc, and they then have us stumping up for removing our cars from the motorway for us?
I'd have just locked my doors and wound the window down an inch and said, "me no speak english"... "is it cos i is black"...
Dave
Hi there
Im fairly certain that they cannot do this with out a public notice.
There are places in which this can happen, ie the Tyne Bridge, they have an automatic tow service, for good reasons, it will blokck traffic, i think most tunnels impose this service too.
But all have public notices making people aware of it.
Sorry to hear that you ahve paid out the cash, didnt seem like you had much choice at the time, your in for a fight to get it back thats for sure.
Anyone that this happens to in the future, must stress at the time of the call to the RAC of the likes of, is that your car is in a VERY dangerous place and you need the help ASAP. Its not first call, first served basis. Your rescue time is on a priority working
John
Im fairly certain that they cannot do this with out a public notice.
There are places in which this can happen, ie the Tyne Bridge, they have an automatic tow service, for good reasons, it will blokck traffic, i think most tunnels impose this service too.
But all have public notices making people aware of it.
Sorry to hear that you ahve paid out the cash, didnt seem like you had much choice at the time, your in for a fight to get it back thats for sure.
Anyone that this happens to in the future, must stress at the time of the call to the RAC of the likes of, is that your car is in a VERY dangerous place and you need the help ASAP. Its not first call, first served basis. Your rescue time is on a priority working
John
cccscotland said:
Was driving south on the M6, near Manchester when clutch packs up. Get to hard shoulder and call the breakdown service. Plod pulls up behind me, and informs that new rules are in force whereby I am only given 30 mins to remove vehicle from hard shoulder, or plod will do it for me and charge me £105?? My breakdown service (mitsubishi assistance) has never broken the hour for me before, and unsurprisingly doesn't manage this time. Over a telephone row with the traffic div. of Greater Manchester Police, I'm informed that since I've called my breakdown service, it will be a race, and whoever gets there first will get to take the car. wtf?? Plods breakdown service rocks up first (plod still waiting by car to make sure I allow them to uplift - does he have notheing better to do???), loads up the car, and I have to phone mitsubishi assistance, get them to follow me to plod's depot, and swap the car between breakdown trucks. Of course the handover wasn't happening until I'd paid charges of £105....
I phoned GMP Authority, AA and RAC helpdesks, Lothian and Borders Police Traffic Div, and Derbyshire Police traffic div, plus my father, who lives in Manchester. None of them had ever heard of this. Wrote a nasty letter to GMP demanding my money back.
My question to you guys: anyone heard of this? On what basis in Law do they have the right to do this? I can understand it if I'm blocking traffic or the car appears to have been abandoned, but 30 mins??? Did the police in anyway publicise this? It would have been nice to have some prior warning rather than being dumped on like that. Are the breakdown services going to promise to uplift within 30 mins or pay the fine should they fail?
Angry from Edinburgh
Hi Matt,
OK this is what you do.
You write a detailed letter accurately describing the incident.
Telephone the Chief Constable's Office and ask for his e-mail address; send the letter in Word format to him as an attachment, and then post a paper copy by recorded delivery.
In the letter you make a formal complaint against the police officers at the locus, a demand for your money back in 48 hours prior to you raising a civil action against them, and a demand for a full investigation of the practices of his traffic officers and the obvious collusion that exists between them and the breakdown company.
You should also include a threat that you will report the matter to the DPPs office for that area and report it as criminal fraud. You would of course normally do this through the police, but as they are heavily under suspicion I would go straight to the DPP.
If you know of anyone else in the same area who has had the same experience, ask them to follow suit.
It also might be worth contacting the local rag so that they can publicise this.
I am getting to the stage with the authorities now, that means any of them, that nothing would surprise me.
I despair for what's happening to our country; the quality of life is just disappearing.
What the Hell is wrong with people who behave like this, what is it they hope to achieve?
Mind you Matt, it's your own fault for driving in England anyway!!
IOLAIRE said:
Hi Matt,
OK this is what you do.
You write a detailed letter accurately describing the incident.
Telephone the Chief Constable's Office and ask for his e-mail address; send the letter in Word format to him as an attachment, and then post a paper copy by recorded delivery.
In the letter you make a formal complaint against the police officers at the locus, a demand for your money back in 48 hours prior to you raising a civil action against them, and a demand for a full investigation of the practices of his traffic officers and the obvious collusion that exists between them and the breakdown company.
You should also include a threat that you will report the matter to the DPPs office for that area and report it as criminal fraud. You would of course normally do this through the police, but as they are heavily under suspicion I would go straight to the DPP.
If you know of anyone else in the same area who has had the same experience, ask them to follow suit.
It also might be worth contacting the local rag so that they can publicise this.
I am getting to the stage with the authorities now, that means any of them, that nothing would surprise me.
I despair for what's happening to our country; the quality of life is just disappearing.
What the Hell is wrong with people who behave like this, what is it they hope to achieve?
Mind you Matt, it's your own fault for driving in England anyway!!
Never thought of it like that, i must be asleep...
Half for you Mr rescue man, half for me says the honest police man.............
Jon
?????
I could understand it if you were sitting there without rescue cover and waiting for a "mate" to give you a tow. Couldn't condone it, just understand it. As for them saying "its a race". Why FFS. Your lot are already on the way, so why deliberately cause a public expense that then needs to be recouped via your wallet (other than a rip off)?
Waiting with baited breath for the inside line from Towman and/or any local BiB in the know.
{edited to add:} Actually, the PH resident BiB seem to be strangely quiet on this one. I could think of at least one who would normally be trying to justify it by now...
>> Edited by pdV6 on Thursday 11th November 19:47
If its as straightforward as described then it is shocking.
We operate a 2 hour rule in good conditions, not dangerous etc etc.
Certainly if the driver has arranged recovery then its very sad to see Police operating like this.
This is however, the shape of things to come when the Higways Agency are patrolling the Motorway network as this will surely be their bread and butter.
We operate a 2 hour rule in good conditions, not dangerous etc etc.
Certainly if the driver has arranged recovery then its very sad to see Police operating like this.
This is however, the shape of things to come when the Higways Agency are patrolling the Motorway network as this will surely be their bread and butter.
Utter bollocks. You don't have to pay. You have no contract with the garage concerned. The police asked that garage to remove your car, therefore it is the police who should pay.
If they don't want to give you your car back, its not your problem, and I would insist that the police officer arrest the recovery truck driver for theft, or demanding money with menaces.
If they don't want to give you your car back, its not your problem, and I would insist that the police officer arrest the recovery truck driver for theft, or demanding money with menaces.
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