Car towed twice in a week - where do I stand?

Chronos-X

Chronos-X

Chronos-X

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London ;()!
Hello all,

This week my car has been towed TWICE and I dispute the action on both accounts. Please read below and let me know what you think.


1) Tax was due at the end of November. Using the new MOT system, I purchased tax online. Unfortunately the disc arrived in the post whilst I was on holiday (I have boarding passes etc. to corroborate this). As a result, though my car was taxed I wasn't displaying a valid disc.

Council tows it away. Cost - £165 to retrieve.



2) - and this takes the biscuit - yesterday I was looking for a space to park. In london there's a lot of restriction on parking, even on saturdays.

I found this place as the diagram below shows. It was the dotted line sort of bay on a road, the sort that means "cars go in here". There were no regulations on a sign attributable to this bay, hence I BELIEVE this means that it is basically unrestricted. However - it has a single yellow line running through it. What does this mean? Having looked at other bays the yellow lines stop either side of them... what is this one for?

yellowlineet9.gif


See what I mean? Its a parking bay and a yellow line also. There was no thing saying "loading" or "DOCTOR" or "motorcycles" - just a dashed line box.

Cost - £200 to retrieve.

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Having both of these in one week has seriously dented my bank balance. I'm hoping they can be compassionate on the first count as I have the reciepts to prove I bought the tax a week before it expired. I need a bit more legal knowledge to fight the second count though. Is it misleading?

Any help appreciated guys, I'd accept a fair cop (which is why I'm not telling you about a straightforward parking fine from a couple of weeks ago that was my own lazy fault) but I genuinly feel let down here, especially on the second count.
 
your cars been towed for failure to display a tax disc, whether you have a valid tax disc or not is totally irrelavant. unfortunately thats how it would be in court too,

as for the second

yep looks like you can park there but only for 15 mins :)
 
A single yellow line means no waiting during the times shown on the sign.

The dashed box is also linked to a sign, the sign shows the times you are allowed to wait in the box and how long for.
 
maybe thats just up here then ;)


OP says no signs so standard is 15 mins on a single yellow if marked out
 
I don't think it matters whether yout have bought tax or not - it's whether you are displaying a valid tax disc.


As for the yellow line, there should be a sign nearby with the relevant restrictions.
 
There was no sign. I'm going up later to take pictures.

As for the tax disc - yes I realise I wasn't displaying. I'm hoping the relevant bodies will recognise the shades of grey here and not just the black and white.
 
Chronos-X said:
There was no sign. I'm going up later to take pictures.

As for the tax disc - yes I realise I wasn't displaying. I'm hoping the relevant bodies will recognise the shades of grey here and not just the black and white.
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Sorry fella, but I doubt you'll have much luck. As with most things, common sense goes out of the window, if you knew the car wasn't going to have a valid tax disc displayed, their view will be that it should not have been left on the road. Don't think you'll have much luck getting your money back.
 
Chronos-X said:
There was no sign. I'm going up later to take pictures.

As for the tax disc - yes I realise I wasn't displaying. I'm hoping the relevant bodies will recognise the shades of grey here and not just the black and white.
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You parked your car on the road with no tax disc. Your fault.
 
Chronos-X said:
I can so imagine them saying it.
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It's because it's true. It's no one's fault but yours, and saying otherwise isn't going to get you anywhere.

You KNEW you had no tax disc.
You KNEW you aren't allowed to park on the road without displaying a valid tax disc.
You DID park your car on the road without a tax disc.

And now you're complaining it got towed?
 
Mohinder said:
It's because it's true. It's no one's fault but yours, and saying otherwise isn't going to get you anywhere.

You KNEW you had no tax disc.
You KNEW you aren't allowed to park on the road without displaying a valid tax disc.
You DID park your car on the road without a tax disc.

And now you're complaining it got towed?
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As I said, shades of grey.

Yes, I concede that a valid disc was not displayed. However, I did everything in my power to get it taxed - and bought tax online - before it expired.

Where else was I supposed to put the car, up my bumhole?

Are you some sort of jobsworth?
 
Chronos-X said:
As I said, shades of grey.

Yes, I concede that a valid disc was not displayed. However, I did everything in my power to get it taxed - and bought tax online - before it expired.

Where else was I supposed to put the car, up my bumhole?

Are you some sort of jobsworth?
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Don't get me wrong here, I see why you're annoyed, but when it comes down to it the law is fairly simple, and you did break it. The car shouldn't have been out on the road, and it was, without a tax disc.
 
So if the tax disk never arrived (in a theoretial situation) - would you smile as you handed over your £200? Would you be in 'the wrong'?
 
Chronos-X said:
So if the tax disk never arrived (in a theoretial situation) - would you smile as you handed over your £200? Would you be in 'the wrong'?
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I wouldn't like it but yes you are in the wrong, it's your responsibility to make sure it's displaying a valid disk.

I'd be ringing them up the day before it expired wondering where it is. I'd also be going to the post office, buying one there and then, and then sending the one in the post back for a refund.

I almost did all this, but a quick trip home at lunchtime (56 mile round trip :() and it was on the doormat, but I was prepared to do the above on the advice of the dvla.

SaBBz said:
£365 worse off ;)
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I was so tempted to post "at the side of the road?" :)
 
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Mohinder said:
You parked your car on the road with no tax disc. Your fault.
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isn't the offence failure to display a valid tax disc?
i'm sure it has nothing to do with you having a disc or not, it's the fact that it wasn't on display that's the reason for the fine an as such there's no real defence against this.
 
The_Dark_Side said:
isn't the offence failure to display a valid tax disc?
i'm sure it has nothing to do with you having a disc or not, it's the fact that it wasn't on display that's the reason for the fine an as such there's no real defence against this.
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Of course. I'm just going to see if the council will be lenient and CONSIDER my side of the story rather than saying "the law is quite clear!"
 
Chronos-X said:
Of course. I'm just going to see if the council will be lenient and CONSIDER my side of the story rather than saying "the law is quite clear!"
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good luck, but i think this one has been tried a million times by people in similar situations as yourself.
fingers crossed but it's almost certainly a lose-lose scenario for you mate.
 
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