over zealous tow away
Discussion
I parked on a single yellow line outside my company in wigmore st london @ 10 am on sunday morning, went in to pick up some work came out 3 minutes later to find car missing. (i know it was only 3 minutes because it is all captured on my companies cctv) thought it was impossible for car to be towed away so quickly so called police to report theft. eventually find out car has been towed to hyde park corner because i was parked in a residents parking bay (the rear of the car was overhanging the bay but all four wheels were on the single yellow. ) Forced to cough up £200 to get car back!!! These guys must be on commision.. does anyone know how much they get for a tow away and where the trucks are kept overnight so I can stilletto their tyres!!!
They managed to tow your car away in 3 minutes? 
Seriously though - not sure how the law stands on this. For parking on public roads, it is the wheels which count as the location of the parking, not the car. ie you can have a huge boot overhanging in to another space or over double yellows.
Hopefully someone might help some more... If you have a good argument, you'll need to go to court to recover the cash...
Seriously though - not sure how the law stands on this. For parking on public roads, it is the wheels which count as the location of the parking, not the car. ie you can have a huge boot overhanging in to another space or over double yellows.
Hopefully someone might help some more... If you have a good argument, you'll need to go to court to recover the cash...
viggen114 said:
make sure you keep the cctv tape, if you decide to do anything about it the tape will come in handy.
Even better than that it could be gold-dust!
When I was a poor student at uni I got p***ed off with the banks charges but thought there was nothing I could do. Co-incidentally after extending my overdraft limit I got a letter signed personally by the head of student lending confirming my interest free overdraft for the next two years of £60,000,000!
It was obviously an error, but it did not stop me using this as leverage to get my charges back. the bank sent me £20, but the rest of the charges and more came back from the Sunday Mirror who was the highest bidder for the story and my photo. I got £200 which was a lot of money for a poor student!
I would keep the video and use it to threaten the company with bad press if they do not capitulate!
Westminster's enforcement protocol:
www.westminster.gov.uk/transportandstreets/parking/enforcementprotocol.cfm
Extract from the 'exemptions to enforcement' for Resident's bays:
"If vehicle is overhanging bay markings (2 wheels or more are outside of the bay and not touching the bay markings), issue Warning Notice unless vehicle is causing an obstruction to other road users, ie is hazard, is affecting traffic flow or is preventing the use of adjacent space(s). In which case instant PCN and authorise for removal."
Given that you say you didn't even have any wheels in the bay, your appeal sounds virtually bulletproof and worth taking all the way in the extremely unlikely event they don't refund immediately.
[as an aside, private vehicles are permitted 20 minutes loading/unloading in residents bays but item must be "heavy"!]
ben
www.westminster.gov.uk/transportandstreets/parking/enforcementprotocol.cfm
Extract from the 'exemptions to enforcement' for Resident's bays:
"If vehicle is overhanging bay markings (2 wheels or more are outside of the bay and not touching the bay markings), issue Warning Notice unless vehicle is causing an obstruction to other road users, ie is hazard, is affecting traffic flow or is preventing the use of adjacent space(s). In which case instant PCN and authorise for removal."
Given that you say you didn't even have any wheels in the bay, your appeal sounds virtually bulletproof and worth taking all the way in the extremely unlikely event they don't refund immediately.
[as an aside, private vehicles are permitted 20 minutes loading/unloading in residents bays but item must be "heavy"!]
ben
looking at the cctv - a tow truck stopped next to my car within 15 seconds - a parking attendant jumped out of the lorry and put a ticket on my windscreen within 30secs and the vehichle was removed in under 4 minutes. Looks like I have filmed some sort of scam - are they on commision??
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