Councils gone parking mad
Daily Mirror
Fiona's Column
LAST Saturday morning a bailiff came knocking at the door - at 8.30, so we'd be at our most vulnerable. I'd been sort of expecting him, so we didn't answer.
He left a note - all red letters and threatening language. It read: "Your vehicle has been immobilised and will be removed for auction."
I looked out of the window and saw a yellow clamp on my car.
"To stop the above," the note continued, "I must receive full payment of £582.40 no later than 09.30."
So I phoned a lawyer, who spoke to the bailiff on his mobile, before advising me to pay up.
At this point I have j to tell you that I have done nothing wrong. I have not broken the law and all of this stems from a parking ticket which was slapped on my car, despite the fact that I'd paid and displayed.
So actually the wrong has been done against me. I am the victim of an over-zealous parking attendant who wanted to bump up his ticket quota. Or maybe he just doesn't like GMTV.
Anyway, at the time, because I'd received another irrelevant ticket the month before, I was so angry I wrote to Wandsworth council, enclosing proof that I'd paid to park.
Three weeks later they replied with a patronising letter stating the bleedin' obvious that "a parking ticket is a legal document" and that there's a "formal appeals procedure, which the council is obliged to follow in all cases". Why the hell should I have to go through the hassle of their ridiculous appeals procedure when they've seen the evidence proving that I hadn't even committed an offence in the first place?
So, maybe foolishly, but as a point of principle and because I don't have the time to deal with cretins, I ignored all further correspondence.
In my view it was harassment. So a £40 fine for something I didn't do has turned into a bill of nearly £600.
I paid up only because they took their threats one step too far. They were going to take my £12,000 car, all for the sake of a parking ticket.
Talk about the punishment not fitting the crime - and I hadn't even committed a crime! They haven't heard the last from me. I intend to sue Wandsworth council, because they do the same thing every day to people more vulnerable than me.
They're soon going to wish they'd never started this.
Fiona's Column
LAST Saturday morning a bailiff came knocking at the door - at 8.30, so we'd be at our most vulnerable. I'd been sort of expecting him, so we didn't answer.
He left a note - all red letters and threatening language. It read: "Your vehicle has been immobilised and will be removed for auction."
I looked out of the window and saw a yellow clamp on my car.
"To stop the above," the note continued, "I must receive full payment of £582.40 no later than 09.30."
So I phoned a lawyer, who spoke to the bailiff on his mobile, before advising me to pay up.
At this point I have j to tell you that I have done nothing wrong. I have not broken the law and all of this stems from a parking ticket which was slapped on my car, despite the fact that I'd paid and displayed.
So actually the wrong has been done against me. I am the victim of an over-zealous parking attendant who wanted to bump up his ticket quota. Or maybe he just doesn't like GMTV.
Anyway, at the time, because I'd received another irrelevant ticket the month before, I was so angry I wrote to Wandsworth council, enclosing proof that I'd paid to park.
Three weeks later they replied with a patronising letter stating the bleedin' obvious that "a parking ticket is a legal document" and that there's a "formal appeals procedure, which the council is obliged to follow in all cases". Why the hell should I have to go through the hassle of their ridiculous appeals procedure when they've seen the evidence proving that I hadn't even committed an offence in the first place?
So, maybe foolishly, but as a point of principle and because I don't have the time to deal with cretins, I ignored all further correspondence.
In my view it was harassment. So a £40 fine for something I didn't do has turned into a bill of nearly £600.
I paid up only because they took their threats one step too far. They were going to take my £12,000 car, all for the sake of a parking ticket.
Talk about the punishment not fitting the crime - and I hadn't even committed a crime! They haven't heard the last from me. I intend to sue Wandsworth council, because they do the same thing every day to people more vulnerable than me.
They're soon going to wish they'd never started this.
posted by Neil Herron at 12:32 PM
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