Hi,

Could anyone tell me whether or not I'm legally responsible for someone else moving my motorcycle outside of a parking bay?

Details follow if you're interested...

I've recently had my bike impounded twice by the city of london council in 4 days, costing a total of £520 to recover it twice, and both times I have not left the bike parked in the place it ended up.

I appealed against the first on the grounds that I did not park my bike there and it must have been moved by someone else.
It was rejected and photos show it parked slap bang in the middle the pavement! Not my usual parkling style I'm the fist to park in bay at 06:20 most mornings with no reason to park elsewhere.
At the end of the rejection it states that :-
"It is the driver's responsibility to ensure that their vehicle is secured in such a manner that it cannot be easily moved. Therefore, liability remains with the driver if their vehicle is situated outside of the solo motor cycle bay for whatever reason."

Before I received the rejection letter my bike was impounded again when left in the same bay.

So I went looking around for CCTV footage that might show what happened and got talking to the foreman of the building site opposite.
He told me that they had moved my bike the first time because the bay was suspended and they had to get a crane in. He apologised for not putting it back in the bay. Fair enough, even if the suspension notice sign was smaller that an illiegal number plate.
Apparently they hadn't moved it the second time and the bay was defintely not suspended.
He added that he had seen another biker move other cycles quite significantly on occasion to get his in.

I'm now left wondering whether I have any grounds for appeal on the second PCN given the reason given for the first rejection.
The building opposite do have CCTV of the bay but I've not been successful in getting to see it yet.

Any advice on how to proceed would be very welcome.

Thank you

Appeal on the ground of TWOC.

Agreed.

Can we also see all of the documents you received on both occasions please. Can be significant.

-

That does not prove you parked it there nor does it disprove that someone else parked it there.

That is crazy. How are you supposed to prevent someone from moving a motorcycle? Are they expecting you to carry around huge weights that you can secure the bike to? Their reason for rejection is rubbish.

Appeal to PATAS on the grounds of TWOC and scan the paperwork to see if it is defective.

Data protection act gives you a legal right to view any cctv taken of you as far as I'm aware so you can demand to see the CCTV of you parking, although it wont show the bike later being moved.

the onus is on you to prove on the baance of probabiliteis that it was moved by someone
else without your permission

note that it is doubtfuol that moving a vehicle 10ft is TWOC under the theft actbut this does not affect
yr claim here

that said the peperworlk for remval is often defective - post it all (and that means every scrap
front and back) for comment - remove persoanl detaisl

Indeed - not TWOC as it was not taken for use as a conveyance but it was in the control of another without your consent, which is a valid ground of appeal.