Moped Clamped & Towed. Huge release fee.

[ItsWar]

I am new to this problem. My friends 16 year old son had his moped clamped at 2am in a private residential area. He returned at 9am to sort it out only to find it had been towed. The clampers want £350 to release the bike (£125 of which is the clamping fee £225 is the towing fee), which they say is 25 miles away in another town. They will charge an extra £50 to take the boy to the compound.

 

The bike was secondhand only two months ago and cost £450. My friends cannot afford the release fee for their son.

 

This is all I know right now, and will check the signs and identify the clampers in the morning.

 

My initial thoughts are that maybe the signs were not prominent/ illuminated.

 

Also, if the bike is not valuable enough, is it a good tactic to just abandon it to the clampers? Will the release fee increase while my friends try to find the release fee?

 

Also, he has no paperwork. It seems these were stuck to the moped, and were still stuck when the moped was towed. So we cant check if these were correctly issued.

Edited February 29, 2012 by ItsWar

[Conniff]

The signs must have the entire contract on to be legitimate. You can't say 'will be clamped', you must also show the release charge etc otherwise you are not agreeing to it being towed away.

 

Go check the signage and take some pics and put them up here for examination and comment.

[sailor sam]

At the end of the day they are holding the bike for ransom. It would be for your friend's son to decide whether or not to tell the clampers to keep the bike or not. If he chooses to do that, there isn't anything more the clampers can do without going to court. In my view, the bike has in fact been taken without the owner's consent but getting the police to act on that is a different story.

[ItsWar]

I have now been to look at the site. Goodlands Lane in Taunton. There are signs all over the place at eye level. Premier Parking. I didnt have my camera but the sins are very detailed. The fee at the moment is £410 plus £35 a day.

 

My friend has phoned the clampers and have bee told the £35 a day will continue and he cannot abandon the bike. The fee will just keep going up.

 

The thing is, up is up, and they cannot raise the money fast enough. So abandoning the bike by default is probably what will happen.

 

The question then is: How will the clampers enforce what they believe becomes a debt? Is is possible they can mitigate the costs by returning the bike and therefore not incurr storage fees. The debt then has a fixed value?

 

The real issue is that at 2am, the boy could not get the £125 and (even immediatly, we do not know) the bike was gone by 9am. This is where the costs then mount to beyond the value of the bike.

 

Unfortunately, the boy is just 18, gosh they grow up so fast.

[sailor sam]

Well I certainly wouldn't pay what they are demanding.

 

As I mentioned before, I really think that thei should be a police matter as they have taken your property and are refusing to return it which is in my mind, theft. The local police station would be my next port of call but I would want to speak to someone who is likely to know whats what like an inspector.

 

If that fails, I would have a word with your local trading standards or a specialist solicitor to see if you have any options available. The only action the clampers can take is to take you to court for their 'charges' which I very much doubt they will because it would be too easy for you to defend.

 

As a last resort, I would tell them to keep the bike as full and final settlement.

 

Please keep us posted.

[ItsWar]

The moped cant be sold because it doesnt belong to the clampers. They wont return it without payment. Its not theft, clampers are allowed to enforce tresspass in this way.

 

The main question is how to stop the fees racking up or does he abandon the bike? If he abandons the bike, is that the same as selling/scrapping it? What are the clampers allowed to do with it? Can the fees just rack on up until they reach a silly level and then do the clampers sue?

[sailor sam]

The moped cant be sold because it doesnt belong to the clampers. They wont return it without payment. Its not theft, clampers are allowed to enforce tresspass in this way.

 

Oh right, well you seem to know all about it then.

 

 

The main question is how to stop the fees racking up or does he abandon the bike? If he abandons the bike, is that the same as selling/scrapping it? What are the clampers allowed to do with it? Can the fees just rack on up until they reach a silly level and then do the clampers sue?

 

Read again the latter part of my post (#5).

[ItsWar]

I suppose they might issue a summons, but what happens to the bike in the meantime and do the daily fees just rack up? Of course, they dont want the bike, they want the money. So offering the bike in return for the fees to be waived, just gives them the extra hassle of selling the bike, for less than the fees. The bike is still lost and the boy is down £450.

 

The clampers need not have towed the bike, then the clamp fee wpuld have been only £125 and that might have been found in a day.

[sailor sam]

I suppose they might issue a summons, but what happens to the bike in the meantime and do the daily fees just rack up? Of course, they dont want the bike, they want the money.

 

Exactly, which is the only good thing about it.

 

 

So offering the bike in return for the fees to be waived, just gives them the extra hassle of selling the bike, for less than the fees. The bike is still lost and the boy is down £450.

 

Which is why I suggest you take face to face advice to see if there are any options for you.

 

The clampers need not have towed the bike, then the clamp fee wpuld have been only £125 and that might have been found in a day.

 

Of course they needn't. But then they would of only got £125 out of you wouldn't they!