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#Post#: 22895--------------------------------------------------
Re: Police have had my car towed away without my consent. Do I
have to pay for this?
DIR By: ivanleo
Date: May 17, 2024, 3:04 pm
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--- Quote from: KGR54 link ---
>
> For now, the costs are down to me.
>
--- End Quote ---
Based on what?
If the police think they can recover charges under a statutory
power, I'd expect them to serve some sort of statutory notice. A
private company cannot require payment by simply sending you an
invoice and if that's all that's happened, I would ignore it.
After all, if you don't pay what are they going to do about it?
#Post#: 22957--------------------------------------------------
Re: Police have had my car towed away without my consent. Do I
have to pay for this?
DIR By: KGR54
Date: May 18, 2024, 4:47 am
---------------------------------------------------------
I very much appreciate the advice from everyone. I'm certainly
not a follower of FoTL.
My situation is unlikely to be unique but what it comes down to
is that one minute my car was fully legal and the next it was in
breach of the regulations (I assume construction and use). At
that point, did I commit an offence under which the police
exercised their right to remove the vehicle?
If I have committed an offence why haven't the police advised me
of this, as noted by cp8759?
At present, the attending police officer is refusing to provide
me with the licence number of the vehicle that hit mine, citing
the GDPR. The vehicle that hit mine was left abandoned and he is
waiting to hear from the registered keeper if the vehicle was
stolen, TWOC or otherwise. This puts me in limbo as I can't
contact the other vehicle's insurer. In addition, the towing
company refuse to provide me with their own photographs, also
citing the GDPR, so I have no records to present to the other
party's insurers when I find out who they are.
In practical terms, the towing company won't let me recover my
personal effects unless I attend in person with the log book but
the log book is in the car, which they won't open because they
don't have the door key. I want the log book so that I can SORN
the vehicle or have it removed by a breaker. The towing company
have said that they won't release the vehicle unless their
charges are paid and the will want a further £75 plus VAT for
using their forklift to load the car onto any removal vehicle.
#Post#: 22965--------------------------------------------------
Re: Police have had my car towed away without my consent. Do I
have to pay for this?
DIR By: ivanleo
Date: May 18, 2024, 6:27 am
---------------------------------------------------------
--- Quote from: KGR54 link ---
>
> At present, the attending police officer is refusing to
provide me with the licence number of the vehicle that hit mine,
citing the GDPR.
>
--- End Quote ---
That's utter nonsense, your rights to claim against the third
party's insurer trump the data subject's personal data rights. I
suggest you go onto your police force's website and report it as
a hit and run, you're the victim of that and I can't see any
reason not to report it as such. Once you're in the system as a
victim I suspect the details will be passed to you with no fuss.
You don't need the V5C to declare the vehicle SORN, you can use
form V890
HTML https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5faeabec8fa8f55de359f6d4/V890-make-a-statutory-off-road-notification.pdf.
If there are any other personal effects you want, why don't you
just arrange to attend with the key and photo ID and then they
can get the log book and confirm it's really you and you can
remove any other personal effects?
As for recovering the car, if the car is now worthless I don't
understand why you care?
I would SORN the car & also send a letter to DVLA explaining
that you're not longer keeping the car, which is now kept by the
towing company at their address so please could you be removed
from the DVLA records as the registered keeper.
At that point the car is no longer your problem or your
responsibility and the towing company can do whatever they like
with it. If they then send you any more demands for money, tell
them to take a hike.
#Post#: 23000--------------------------------------------------
Re: Police have had my car towed away without my consent. Do I
have to pay for this?
DIR By: KGR54
Date: May 18, 2024, 1:03 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
cp8759 Many thanks.
I shall follow your suggestion. I needed an objective opinion
and yours follows my thinking. I will also put a warning shot
across the bow of the towing company that there has been no
police suggestion of any offence and that what they do with the
car will be at their risk; not that I want the thing again!
I'll update this thread when there is anything interesting to
those in a similar dilema and thank you all.
#Post#: 23018--------------------------------------------------
Re: Police have had my car towed away without my consent. Do I
have to pay for this?
DIR By: sparx
Date: May 18, 2024, 5:03 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
I was going to respond saying that you should get in touch with
your insurers, with the crime ref, and let them deal with the
police if they won't tell you the reg, but I think you're on TPO
insurance?
--- Quote from: cp8759 link ---
>
> If there are any other personal effects you want, why don't
you just arrange to attend with the key and photo ID and then
they can get the log book and confirm it's really you and you
can remove any other personal effects?
>
> As for recovering the car, if the car is now worthless I don't
understand why you care?
>
> I would SORN the car & also send a letter to DVLA explaining
that you're not longer keeping the car, which is now kept by the
towing company at their address so please could you be removed
from the DVLA records as the registered keeper.
>
> At that point the car is no longer your problem or your
responsibility and the towing company can do whatever they like
with it. If they then send you any more demands for money, tell
them to take a hike.
>
--- End Quote ---
Would it be prudent for OP to get some photos of the condition
of the car now, pending getting the other vehicles reg and
claiming through their insurer?
Otherwise, OP will have no vehicle for the third party insurer
to inspect, and I am betting they'll then go "well, we'll give
you a fiver".
#Post#: 23046--------------------------------------------------
Re: Police have had my car towed away without my consent. Do I
have to pay for this?
DIR By: ivanleo
Date: May 19, 2024, 6:48 am
---------------------------------------------------------
--- Quote from: sparxy link ---
>
> Would it be prudent for OP to get some photos of the condition
of the car now, pending getting the other vehicles reg and
claiming through their insurer?
>
--- End Quote ---
Surely the relevant question is the condition of the car before
the accident, rather than after? If the car is now worthless
then the current condition hardly matters.
#Post#: 23102--------------------------------------------------
Re: Police have had my car towed away without my consent. Do I
have to pay for this?
DIR By: andy_foster
Date: May 19, 2024, 4:02 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Unless the collision was such that the entirety of the exterior
of the vehicle was damaged, the undamaged parts would tend to
indicate the overall condition of the vehicle prior to the
collision.
That said, unless the OP is looking to claim that his car was in
exceptional condition for its age, it is not immediately obvious
that it would fall to the OP to prove the condition of his
vehicle prior to the collision, rather than to the other party's
insurer to prove that the value was less than would be expected
for that vehicle.
#Post#: 23125--------------------------------------------------
Re: Police have had my car towed away without my consent. Do I
have to pay for this?
DIR By: Korting
Date: May 19, 2024, 6:24 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
As the O/P cannot recover his personal effects unless he pays
the charges, wouldn't he be able to site 'payment made under
duress'? if he paid to get his belongings, could he then sue
the recovery company on the basis that he had no contract with
them and that they were in effect demanding money with menaces?
As far as the Police are concerned, if the damage was such that
it cause a further accident or be the cause of injury then I can
understand why it had to be removed.
Is the O/P a member of the AA/RAC or other company, which may be
able to provide legal assistant. Even though his insurance is
TPFT, he may still be able to speak to their legal team.
Best of luck with this.
#Post#: 23132--------------------------------------------------
Re: Police have had my car towed away without my consent. Do I
have to pay for this?
DIR By: ivanleo
Date: May 20, 2024, 2:49 am
---------------------------------------------------------
--- Quote from: Korting link ---
>
> As the O/P cannot recover his personal effects unless he pays
the charges
>
--- End Quote ---
We don't know that though, we've been told he can recover his
personal effects if he attends with the V5C, and the V5C is in
the car. It might be that he can get his personal effect if he
turns up with the key and the towing company get the V5C that
way. It might also be that there's nothing of value in the car.
#Post#: 23265--------------------------------------------------
Re: Police have had my car towed away without my consent. Do I
have to pay for this?
DIR By: roythebus
Date: May 20, 2024, 4:10 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
I was about to suggest simply reporting the matter to your
insurance company and let them deal with it 100%. It's what you
pay insurance for. They will find out through the MIB who
insures the other car that hit yours. Let them do the legwork.
Stop worrying about it. They will need to know about it, I don't
recall seeing any mention of your insurance above, even if you
are third party only your car has been damaged whilst parked and
presumably unattended so you can't be at fault. The police will
have to release details of the other vehicle to the insurers.
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