Car Clamping Issue

zulfikarMD

Hi all,

My car was clamped at Woodbrook Crescent, Riverwood Road, Castleknock, Dublin 15, sometime between 15/08/2008 and 26/08/2008. I was on holidays out of Ireland from 15/08/2008 to 26/08/2008 and when I returned on 26/08/2008 afternoon I saw my car clamped. I called NCPS to declamp and in the first instance NCPS could not find record of this clamping so declamping was delayed by a day.

While speaking to NCPS person who came to declamp on 27/08/2008 at 8:30am found out that car was parked legally and according to him the case could be that some resident/Property Management Company would have complained about your car being abandoned and thus NCPS clamped it for security purpose. I was charged 365 euro for declamping and ensured that once you appeal for it you will get necessary refund. Also, till date I am seeing people parking on the space where my car was clamped and not seen a single car being clamped.

I have made written appeal to NCPS appeals officer twice and not heard back from them on either occasion.

Could someone advice me what can I do further to get the refund? I have all the proof starting from my boarding passes when I was on holidays, visa stamps, tickets as well as photographs of people parking their car everyday where my car was clamped.

I would be highly obliged for your help.

Thanks.

dats_right

A solicitor's letter.

zulfikarMD

Thanks. Appreciate your reply.

johnfás

We can't give legal advice.

On a broader note, is there any legal basis for private firms clamping a vehicle, without statutory authority?

dats_right

johnfás wrote: »

We can't give legal advice.

On a broader note, is there any legal basis for private firms clamping a vehicle, without statutory authority?

Contract.

johnfás

Only if there is a reasonably visible sign though, otherwise there is no acceptance on your part.

dats_right

johnfás wrote: »

Only if there is a reasonably visible sign though, otherwise there is no acceptance on your part.

That is maybe, but really has no relevance to the question you asked. It was a simple question with a very simple answer, perhaps there are others grounds that I'm not aware, but there really isn't much more to add on the point.

UrbanFox

If this was a "public place" and your car was parked legally I would threaten them with the following ;

(1) Unlawful interference with a mechanically propelled vehicle contrary to S.113 Road traffic Act 1961.

(2) Criminal damage. (Criminal Damage Act ?)

These are criminal matters and would require you to make a complaint to the Gardai. I think that these two items would need to be reported soon to enable summonses to be issued within 6 months of the date of the alleged offence - not that that is likely to happen !!

Criminal damage includes the act of rendering something unuseable.

You need to "get in their face" to get things moving.......

Darragh29

You would have been well within your rights to remove the clamp yourself and drop it into the nearest skip. It is difficult to believe that you paid someone over 300 Euro to remove this clamp.

zulfikarMD

UrbanFox wrote: »

If this was a "public place" and your car was parked legally I would threaten them with the following ;

(1) Unlawful interference with a mechanically propelled vehicle contrary to S.113 Road traffic Act 1961.

(2) Criminal damage. (Criminal Damage Act ?)

These are criminal matters and would require you to make a complaint to the Gardai. I think that these two items would need to be reported soon to enable summonses to be issued within 6 months of the date of the alleged offence - not that that is likely to happen !!

Criminal damage includes the act of rendering something unuseable.

You need to "get in their face" to get things moving.......

UrbanFox, My car was parked legally as there is no "NO PARKING SIGN or BOARD" around there. And Still as I am posting this I see people parking car there on daily basis without any restrictions. Not sure though why only my car was clamped!

zulfikarMD

Darragh29 wrote: »

You would have been well within your rights to remove the clamp yourself and drop it into the nearest skip. It is difficult to believe that you paid someone over 300 Euro to remove this clamp.

Darragh29, I am not from EU and don't want to create unnecessary problems for me by removing clamp myself. And it is unfortunate that I had to pay 365 euro to remove those clamps. But now I need to sort this out by getting refund ASAP basis and I need real genuine advice as to how can I proceed further?

Thanks again for your replies.

dats_right

Darragh29 wrote: »

You would have been well within your rights to remove the clamp yourself and drop it into the nearest skip. .

Completely untrue. Please cite case law or statutoryauthority to back this up.

HonalD

zulfikarMD wrote: »

But now I need to sort this out by getting refund ASAP basis and I need real genuine advice as to how can I proceed further?

Thanks again for your replies.

Is the location where you parked the car in the Local Authority's charge? Some housing estates/appartment complexes are "in charge" and others are not. If they are "in charge" then they are classified as a public place and the Road and Traffic Acts apply. If they are not "in charge" then it is classified as a private place and is subject to the restrictions of the area.

Visit the planning department of the local authority and find out. That is good place to start. Assuming that it is a private space, then you can take the matter to a solicitor for their opinion. Hope this helps

UrbanFox

A "public place" under the Road traffic Acts is defined as follows ;

'public place' means—
( a ) any public road, and
( b ) any street, road or other place to which the public have access with vehicles whether as of right or by permission and whether subject to or free of charge;";...

Refer to RTA 1994, S.49. (1) (a) (iv).

The criminal damage aspect of the offence is covered under the Criminal Damage Act 1991 S.2. These provisions are not subject to the public place consideration as is often the case with road traffic type offences.

IMHO you would be entitled to remove an illegally placed clamp on the grounds that you were relieving your property of a burden improperly placed on it.

You should then hold on to the clamp as it is not your property to dispose of. What you do then is to try and charge the clampers an administrative fee for returning it and storage fees for keeping it safe. :D Throwing it away leaves you open to action for it's recovery or replacement value as if you were a thief !.

Zulfikar I think that money has been taken from you under mistake and that you should seek a full refund on the grounds that it was paid under duress and that the clampers would be enjoying "unjust enrichment" by retaining your money. The duress arises from the fact that if you did not pay they would not have released your car.

In this context unjust enrichment means that the clampers would be enjoying the benefit of your money where they had no proper entitlement to receive it in the first place.

I know nothing of the clamping firm involved and say nothing about them specifically. Generally, I have seen clampers clamping vehicles on private campuses with remarkable speed but sometimes on dubious grounds. They are very quick to take money but probably slow to pay it back.

The usual Irish method of dealing with requests for reimbursement in general is to ignore you repeatedly. You need to get a move on if you want to threaten them with a criminal complaint in the absence of a full refund and a measure of interest for keeping you out of the use of your money.

Make a deision now. Do something about it or forget it.

The longer you leave something like this the more it looks to a judge like indifference if the case goes to the District Court. I think that the Small Claims Court would not have jurisdiction in this type of dispute as it might involve issues beyond contract law.

If you get no satisfaction try a solicitor but get an estimate first as the costs involved might not be worth incurring as measured against the money you have paid out already.

Best of luck.