Car towed from private property

[kaboosh]

Last night I went to pick my friend up to go to a party, I parked outside his apartments on a private road, which had no yellow lines but had signs regarding parking. Having read the sign it stated that any vehical parked for more than one hour (or shorter at the companies discretion) would be towed. This was in birmingham city centre (king edwards drive, it's just at the back off broad street). I was only popping in for 20mins and knowbody was around so left the car as such. It wasn't causing obstruction in any sense.

The car was towed (having payed to release it today) 12 mins after I parked it. In that time they also applied a clamp (apparently) so I had to pay both the tow fee and clamp fee (�115 because it was a clamped, �230 for towage and �50 because it was kept over night).

I'm at the moment reading the road traffic act and traffic management act to try and find some info to justify their 'discretion' (ie, not waiting the hour or not simply applying the clamp). As stated, the car was not obstructing anything and having spoken to a local, cars have been clamped and left their before (with as before questionned, why was this course of action not taken?).

Does anyone have any info on what my options are or could anyone direct me to acts/regulations I can use?

Any help anyone can provide will me much appreciated.

[therubster]

hi,
does the raod say "ADOPTED ROAD OR PRIVATE ROAD"

DO THE PUBLIC HAVE ACCESS TO THE ROAD i:e footpaths etc.


we had a few problems in our street with some clampers in the bimingham area.

my landlord owns all of the houses and flats in the street where i live. there are designated offroad parking bays and we are all issued with parking permits and a spare permit so that we can give it to our visitors. there are several well placed signs in the street clearly stating that any vehicle parked without a permit would be clamped, if no release fee paid within one hour then car would be towed etc.

the clamping company he employed { which he has now sacked } were clamping cars that were parked on the road aswell. they said they were entitled to as the landlord had adopted the road from the local council and it was classed as a private road and as they were big mean looking guys people just paid up, however, one guy kicked up a fuss as and called the police.

it turns out that even though the road was classed as private the cars were legally parked. the police said that as public had access to the road and footpaths it was classed as a public highway and as there were no yellow lines etc the cars were legally parked. the clampers had to unclamp and return the car without charge or they would have been charged with thert of a motor vehicle.

the landlord stated that he knew this law and had so did the clampers and they knew that they could only clamp on the off road areas which he owned. they were just clamping anyone without a permit and using bully boy tactics to make money, he then cancelled the contract with them and we now have a good reputable company.

you should contact the police and local council to see if they still own the road. if they do then you should have a case to take to the clamping company but it may be hard as they can be tough

[whiskygalore]

Clamping firms are regulated by the SIA. From a quick look on their website, they don't appear to act as an ombudsman in cases such as this, but they have provided the following advice on what action to take if you want to make a complaint about a case.
http://www.the-sia.org.uk/home/enforcement/rep orting/vehicle_immobilising/

[Lew]

Go HERE

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showforum= 30

They'll be able to help you