Hi All
I am new to Parking ticket and therefore not sure about way to fight about. Any help appreciated.
I have moved to new street in Newham and parked with street permit in a 30min parking no return in 1 hour. As my assumption was all street have same parking permit. Next day when came back from office couldn't find my car so first thought it should be council who took the car. Then check on trace.london no result found. Call them and they said no car found then contacted the police so they check on thier end while I was on phone and mentioned we couldn't find any record so your car is stolen. Then I contact my insurance company they follow thier procedure. Next day again I check several time on trace website but no result.
After 3 days I got a crime reference and after 7 days recieve letter that case is closed as car not found so I contact insurance company and they lodge the claim. I again call trace and while on phone lady confirm if we don't have record so mean no council have car you should contact police as stolen. Approximately about 20 days from car was towed my claim company gave me money and I started looking for new car and purchase car and my insurance company increase my premium. My wife is pragnent and I have spend money on cabs for her as well I have spent approx. £500 on travelling and purchase new car seat for my daughter as well as I been informed and was sure car is stolen. Also gone through mental stress because new place and it happen within 7 days. Overall I took day off went to Manchester to buy new car. And now after 40 days I recieve a letter today from council that Newham pond have car and there is a fine of approx. 1500 I need to pay else they will sale car etc.
I am really stressed now as it's entirely not my fault till today trace.london shows no record and now I don't know what to do as call insurance company to update and get the keys they ask me to transfer the compensation money.

Dates with Explaination

Date moved 9th June
Date informed DVLA 9th June
Park Car 13th June 23:50
Car towed by council 12:00AM 14th June
Contact Trace 14th June 19:30
Contact Police 20:00 14th June
Contact insurance company 20:00 14th June
Contact Trace Again 20th June
Letter recieve from police 19th June
Got settlement money from insurance 1st July
Bought new CAR 3rd July
Letter recieve from Newham Pound 22nd July 12:30
Contact trace again 22nd July 13:00 but still they have no record
Contact insurance to get keys back 15:00 22nd July
Contravention Parked for longer than permitted


Will post letter shortly

Please help

From what you say I do not think they could enforce the storage fees
From London council code of practice

71) The removal of the vehicle is a serious enough penalty and inconvenience in itself, and so, to minimise any additional aggravation to the driver, it is essential that the authority has a good despatch and control system in place so that it knows at all times the location of any removed vehicle. It is equally important that TRACE is informed without delay (i) when a vehicle is lifted, (ii) when it arrives at a pound and (iii) when it is released

Everyone here will have great sympathy with your predicament, especially as you appear to have followed procedures.
However, in this process deadlines are crucial, so
For best advice here please be prepared to answer questions put here promptly and
create a time-line with dates of each event for your narrative in post #1
Date moved? Did you update your V5 with DVLA?
Date parked... location?
Date ...
Date.... (and so on to date letter received from Newham)
then
please post up here letter from Newham(both sides)

Do not attach docs/photos, but use this method:
Photo or scan. see http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=36858&st=0
for how to do it. I use Tinypic for stage 2 with no problems.
STAGE 1 takes care of resizing. If you use Tinypic for Stage 2, on the left each image in Tinypic is a list of links. Highlight and copy the entire link 'for forums' from the list for each image, and paste each link into your post. Each copied and pasted link will embed a thumbnail link in your post.

Using the attachment method is not advised as it means quickly running out of attachment space.
Redact/obscure personal details, PCN no. Reg No.

Also post up a GSV (Google Street View) link to the location.
LEAVE IN all dates/times; precise location, Contravention code and description.

Very interesting.

You have several problems as far as I can see and primarily they all flow through the owner of the vehicle whch of course is now the insurance company. You'd better notify them quickly that their property is safe and where it is. I suppose that your insurance has also lapsed on that vehicle and currently you don't have the owner's permission to drive it anyway, so you cannot collect it. Notify your insurance company NOW. Not after you've thought about it or after you've posted photos and docs, but NOW.

If they recover and pay the charges then they might seek to recover these from you.

What worries me from hca's post is that the OP can be faced with a huge bill from the insurance company now that the car has been found and is recoverable.

The OP cannot just leave the insurance company to clear up the mess if there could be a potential demand for such actions.

Of course the OP should inform the insurance company asap and seek its advice but should also take action to protect himself from future demands.

If he has a copy of phone records detailing the TRACE debacle and the phone calls to the Police then he has acceptable proof that he was not responsible for incurring the majority of the pound charges. Someone at the pound/Council has made an error by forgetting to register the vehicle with TRACE ergo they must be held responsible.

The OP needs to send a letter to the Council detailing the circumstances he has already described with as much evidence as possible. He must detail the actions of the insurance company and indicate that they are involved, possibly as the "owners" of the vehicle.

He must ask the Council for a full explanation and ask for a new breakdown of charges given their error. I would expect this to be the PCN + tow fees only. He must indicate that the TRACE error is maladministration and that he would seek to refer the case to the Local Authority Ombudsman if the Council fail to respond appropriately.

He must inform the insurance company of such actions to prevent them paying in full and then seeking to recover the costs from him.

If the insurance company seek to recover other charges associated with his claim then I would suggest they seek repayment from the Council who appear totally responsible for this c*ck up not the OP.

Mick

IMO, the OP shouldn't worry if they've acted in good faith. The insurance company and the police would have carried out their checks on the validity of the OP's claim, including (given the circumstances) that the vehicle was removed lawfully. They also drew a blank when they checked.

Alternatively, the OP's account is not accurate.

In any event, they are obligated to notify the insurance company (and the police for that matter) that they've been told that the vehicle is safe and well and in the velvet-gloved hands of the council.