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Sheffield drivers fined £80000 for car removal

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How does it cost £105 to tow one car ???

 

Because it does?

 

Why does a balliff add on a three figure sum merely for going to a house/business for no more than half an hour to try and collect a debt? Or a plumber charge silly money as a call out fee?

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How does it cost £105 to tow one car ???

Try getting quotations from contractors and you will find out.

 

The council went out for quotes to several local contrctors and the contractor they are using was the only one who wanted the work.

 

Remember they have to send out a very large truck with operatives (within a specificed timescale, so they need to have enough trucks available), pick up the vehicle, take it to depot and store it until the driver picks it up. They need a sufficiently large depot (in Sheffield) to securely store a lot of vehicles and facilities for the driver to pick it up and pay the fees 24/7. It all costs money.

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It can't be easy for them to predict exactly when they will start work on any given road. What if they have run into problems on the previous road, causing delays? Should they just stop work there and start on the next road?

 

I agree. The notice I received suggested that there may be changes to timings and that people should check the notices on the affected streets. No problem with that. The issue arises due to the fact that the road on which I was parked was not referred to in the schedule, from which I (fairly reasonably I would suggest) took it that the road was not affected by the works.

 

I'm guessing that there was an error of omission in the schedule. Not the end of the world but it's then down to SCC to reimburse my costs since I had parked perfectly legally.

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I agree. The notice I received suggested that there may be changes to timings and that people should check the notices on the affected streets. No problem with that. The issue arises due to the fact that the road on which I was parked was not referred to in the schedule, from which I (fairly reasonably I would suggest) took it that the road was not affected by the works.

 

I'm guessing that there was an error of omission in the schedule. Not the end of the world but it's then down to SCC to reimburse my costs since I had parked perfectly legally.

 

Suppose it would be up to you to argue that they did not give enough notice, is there something written anywhere which states how muich notice they have to give? Some people have mentioned one month but is this actually enshrined in a document somewhere?

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Hi Hambeast,

 

Yes is the answer to both. questions

 

There were no signs on the street where I parked at the time of me parking. However, when I went to retrieve the car, the signs were present. However, as I didn't return to my car at all during the intervening two and a half weeks—for the simple reason that I had no need to—I didn't see the signs. If I had, I would have moved the car. I'm a simple soul and tend to do what's asked of me.

 

S

 

ETA: Just to reiterate that the schedule I received did not show that the street on which I parked was part of the programme. I can only base my actions on the information I have.

 

The Council have put in place traffic regualtion orders to cover all of the streets that Amey will work on. They last 18 months.

 

To enable enforcement, Amey come along and put notices up, I believe it's 3-5 days before they start work which tell drivers not to park there.

 

It's up to you to check that your vehicle is parked legaly.

 

If you disagre with the penalty there's a three stage regulated appeals process which ultimately ends up at the independant traffic penalty tribunal. If your appeal is upheld, you get back the cost of the PCN and the tow away fee. You only get costs if awarded by the tribunal and this is very rare and normally quite modest. Normally they only award costs if they think the council has vexatiously pursued the penalty when they should have dropped it at an earlier stage.

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Fair enough. I wouldnt leave my car on a street that wasnt my own street for that length of time without using it.

 

Dunno if telling SCC in an appeal that you didnt go back to it at all for 2.5 weeks would be a help or a hinderance, mind. They could easily argue over 2 weeks notice is more than enough time (and the signs could have gone up the same day you left your car there).

 

I see your point but ........They can argue what they like. They neglected to include that road in the schedule of works and so I was under no obligation to keep checking on the car. I was confident that nobody would steal it—and I was sort of right :P

 

I'll win this, you'll see! I'll start with fair tactics and take it from there .......

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Soltaire I would be amazed if you dont get your fees back.

 

Amey are pretty incompetent. I know they changed the date that they worked on our road so much that they ended up doing it 4 months later than originally sign posted. They re did half our pavements before they put the lamp posts in and 3 years later they have not finished the pavements!

 

Where I work they had signs up for 3 weeks banning parking for on the whole road when all they did was 2 new drop curbs at the end of the road which took 2 days!

 

I think 2 weeks is reasonable notice so I certainly wouldn't have left my car for more than 2 weeks on any street, but I doubt they gave 2 weeks notice, and you can point out that all there online material is incorrect with regards to precise timings.

 

I do believe in the original contract all the roads should have been finished by now, and they are only half way through. Going slow is surely saving them some money. I wish the quality was fit for purpose.

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I see your point but ........They can argue what they like. They neglected to include that road in the schedule of works and so I was under no obligation to keep checking on the car. I was confident that nobody would steal it—and I was sort of right :P

 

I'll win this, you'll see! I'll start with fair tactics and take it from there .......

 

Well if you can prove that then you are onto a winner. Maybe Planner1 could take a look at the schedules and double check if this is the case, he seems to know his onions.

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The Council have put in place traffic regualtion orders to cover all of the streets that Amey will work on. They last 18 months.

 

To enable enforcement, Amey come along and put notices up, I believe it's 3-5 days before they start work which tell drivers not to park there.

 

It's up to you to check that your vehicle is parked legaly.

 

If you disagre with the penalty there's a three stage regulated appeals process which ultimately ends up at the independant traffic penalty tribunal. If your appeal is upheld, you get back the cost of the PCN and the tow away fee. You only get costs if awarded by the tribunal and this is very rare and normally quite modest. Normally they only award costs if they think the council has vexatiously pursued the penalty when they should have dropped it at an earlier stage.

 

I'll explain it yet again. According to the notice I received, Amey were NOT intending to work on the road in question. Consequently I had no need to check for signs.

 

My vehicle was parked legally. The Council towed it: illegally.

 

This will go the distance and I will get reimbursed. I am not looking for any costs, merely the refund of my outlay.

 

S

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"Normally they only award costs if they think the council has vexatiously pursued the penalty when they should have dropped it at an earlier stage."

 

Im quite sure towing away a car off a road not planned for works would easily count as "vexatiously pushing the penalty".

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I'll explain it yet again. According to the notice I received, Amey were NOT intending to work on the road in question. Consequently I had no need to check for signs.

 

My vehicle was parked legally. The Council towed it: illegally.

 

This will go the distance and I will get reimbursed. I am not looking for any costs, merely the refund of my outlay.

 

S

 

The council don't need to give you notice personally or give you a schedule of where they were working. That is a "nice to do" but isn't a legal requirement.

 

If the traffic regulation order is in place and the notices were put up, the tow was perfectly legal.

 

It may be that either the council (who decide on first two stages of appeals process) or the traffic penalty tribunal might have some sympathy for your case and cosnider tit a mitigation that the street you parked on was not in their owrk schedule which was issued to residents. They may not.You'll have to appeal and find out. They have a backlog of appeals stretching to over 3 months, so it will be a while before you know.

 

---------- Post added 12-07-2016 at 13:22 ----------

 

"Normally they only award costs if they think the council has vexatiously pursued the penalty when they should have dropped it at an earlier stage."

 

Im quite sure towing away a car off a road not planned for works would easily count as "vexatiously pushing the penalty".

 

No, it's only if they had the opportunity to drop the penalty at an earler stage of the appeal process that the tribunal would award any costs. Costs awarded are normally only very modest (like for example the cost of your train fare to come to the tribunal meeting if you elect for personal hearing).

 

If the council cancel the penalty at one of the first two stages, you will not normally get costs.

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Well if you can prove that then you are onto a winner. Maybe Planner1 could take a look at the schedules and double check if this is the case, he seems to know his onions.

 

Well, I have the document in front of me as we speak , so yeah I can prove that. I'm enclosing a copy with my complaint :)

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