My Cars Been Clamped on My Own Property

[JTBUSH]

I have an old fiesta I am in the process of doing up. It is on a SORN and is parked at the side of my house on private land. I have the deeds to prove it is my land. The car isnt currently running and hasnt moved for over a year.

It was marked out nicely when we bought the house with yellow paint, but the council have recently been round and tarmaced over the yellow line. Just about over the edge of the line.

We had a letter a few weeks ago stating the car had been seen on our street with no tax. It informed us we had to pay £89 to settle the issue. I phoned, explained it was my land, I even have planning permission to build on it and they said, ok, send in your deeds and we will resolve it.

Sent all the info off to the recorded delivery 2 weeks ago and heard nothing from them. Come out Saturday morning, and there is a clamp on it. The release fee is £160 + a fine of £120.

All lines it says to ring to get the clamp off were closed, and the one that was working, I had been on hold to for a total of 3 hours. So, had to wait until monday morning. The DVLA in Swansea said it was a local DVLA office issue so can do nothing.

Phoned up NCP monday morning who had actually put the clamp on the car. They were adament that the car was on council maintained land. I faxed off my land registry plan, plus the local search which explains the side road and land is owned by myself. I asked them to ring me back asap to let me know what was going on.

In the mean time, i rang the local DVLA. The guy there confirmed they had received my documents proving it was my land over a week ago, and had dropped the case. Hadnt rung me or written to me to tell me. I informed them the car had now been clamped. He sounded suprised, and told ME to ring NCP and tell them the car shouldnt be clamped. I rang NCP to be told the clamp was already off, and they then put the phone down.

So far, I have received a snotty letter from the DVLA which I had to request. This letter states that in this instance, the case has been dropped, but any other cases against myself or the car are not affected.

So, the DVLA assume I am a criminal by saying this!
Neither DVLA or NCP apologise for their actions!
NCP have entered onto private property and illegally clamped my vehicle for 48 hours!
NCP have been libellous by putting a clamp and a big yellow sticker on my car, advertising to everyone that I am a criminal who doesnt pay road tax, when infact, I am not!
I have spent upwards of 8 hours fighting the case, do I claim this back?
My partner has lost sleep over this as it has upset her as its actually her car!

I had thought of going to the press with this story, to demonstrate what an incompetant useless set of twits the DVLA are.

Is it worth taking this any further, or do you think its best just to let it all go now, as the clamp is off, and I dont want to mark myself out for any special attention from those idiots in the future!

[Zod]

remove the clamp.

[Laird]

take it to the press, sue em for stress,

[BMWBen]

I would just sue NCP.

[JTBUSH]

Clamp is now off, and I am seriously considering the press.

[Hooli]

press is a good plan, show the scum for what they are.
id have removed the clamp with mr angle grinder as soon as i saw it. its been 'dumped' on your property isnt that fly tipping?

[tvrgit]

Is this land a road over which there is a public right of access? There is no difference (in terms of road tax) between a public road maintained by the council, and a public road maintained by one or more private individuals. The fact that there were yellow lines there might suggest that it comes into one of those categories.

If it is a public road (whether private or council maintained) then the title deeds mean nothing - many people (me included) have title deeds that go to the middle of a public road, but that gives you no more right over "your" bit of road than anybody else.

Obviously I don't know the circumstances or your particular situation, I am only trying to help avoid more of the same trouble if it IS a public road.

[Vesuvius 996]

Daily Mail.

They LOVE this shit.

[pdV6]

tvrgit said:

Is this land a road over which there is a public right of access? There is no difference (in terms of road tax) between a public road maintained by the council, and a public road maintained by one or more private individuals. The fact that there were yellow lines there might suggest that it comes into one of those categories.

If it is a public road (whether private or council maintained) then the title deeds mean nothing - many people (me included) have title deeds that go to the middle of a public road, but that gives you no more right over "your" bit of road than anybody else.

Obviously I don't know the circumstances or your particular situation, I am only trying to help avoid more of the same trouble if it IS a public road.

I doubt any of that applies if he has planning permission to build on the land.

Some sort of fence might be in order, though.

[7db]

Should have locked the clamp with your own lock, then seen which side of the criminal damage bread the NCP was buttered.

[JTBUSH]

The land is mine, I have checked with Land Registry, and there is no right of way over the land which would be apparently shown on the plan as brown or blue shading. I have planning permission to build on the land, plus permission to build a 1m high wall round the boundary. My mum is a conveyancing solicitor so I understand all the nuances of access rights etc. Hence why I am so p*ssed off with the matter.

[tvrgit]

JTBUSH said:

The land is mine, I have checked with Land Registry, and there is no right of way over the land which would be apparently shown on the plan as brown or blue shading. I have planning permission to build on the land, plus permission to build a 1m high wall round the boundary. My mum is a conveyancing solicitor so I understand all the nuances of access rights etc. Hence why I am so p*ssed off with the matter.

OK Sorry missed the planning permission bit. I was just wondering in case they had any basis for their actions. Doesn't sound like it.

[Nick_F]

Put a sign in the car to the effect that it is parked on private land.

Send the DVLA and NCP a letter setting out your position and requesting that they certify in writing that they will not trouble you again.

[JTBUSH]

There was a sign on the car stating it was on a sorn and parked on private property. Sign made no difference to clampers!

I already have a snotty letter from DVLA stating "this" case is closed, but any others arent. There arent any others like, but it p*sses me off that is down to me to prove myself innocent rather than the other way up as in most other instances in the English Justice System.

[cluelessboy]

Just to get you started, here's some useful email addresses

[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail] (I think)

[pdV6]

JTBUSH said:

I already have a snotty letter from DVLA stating "this" case is closed, but any others arent. There arent any others like, but it p*sses me off that is down to me to prove myself innocent rather than the other way up as in most other instances in the English Justice System.

Don't worry about that; it's just standard wording in case you have any other fines pending.

[Boosted LS1]

I wonde if you could raise an invoice and then pursue that? They would have to take notice and attend to you because if they ignore it you could go to the small claims court?

[JTBUSH]

Boosted LS1 said:

I wonde if you could raise an invoice and then pursue that? They would have to take notice and attend to you because if they ignore it you could go to the small claims court?

I was wondering where I would stand with this. Most of my weekend when I wasnt getting p*ssed in the evenings, was spent trying to sort this out.

[zcacogp]

Boosted LS1 said:

I wonde if you could raise an invoice and then pursue that? They would have to take notice and attend to you because if they ignore it you could go to the small claims court?

I'd be doing just this.

They probably won't show up at the SCC, in which case you have won the case by default.


Oli.

[Deva Link]

You could make some money out of this - buy an old (but presentable) wreck and leave it on your land. Let them clamp it, take it away and crush it, then seek compensation from them.