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I wonder if anyone here can offer me some advice please
On the 05/12/2017 my car which was parked off road and had a SORN statement declared disappeared from outside my home. I was amazed that anyone had been able to take the car away in broad daylight, since it was locked, the tyres were pretty flat and the battery was entirely flat ,as the car has not been driven for overa year.
I rang the local policeand reported the car stolen and was given a crime number and told that they would check their local ANPR camera’s to try and locate it on the roads. I have heard nothing from the police about the matter since then.
My wife who is disabled and virtually housebound was left quite shocked by the event, as she was home alone at the time and is home alone most days, She felt quite vulnerable and threatened by what had happened and feared that the family home might also become a target.
Imagine how shocked I was arriving home from work tonight (15/12/2017) to discover mail with a DVLA letterhead but apparently from the local council vehicle pound, informing me that my car had not been stolen but had actually been impounded by them and will be disposed of on Monday 18th December, unless I pay a charge and storage fee’s to get the vehicle back.
When I rang up and asked why my car had been taken without my consent and on what authority, I was told it was because the car did not have a valid SORN statement, I informed them that it had and that I could provide a valid SORN number to prove this. He stated that while the car was not actually on the road, it was parked on an off road (concrete and then grassed ) area adjacent to the road, which the council and his company consider to be part of the highway!
Essentially I was told he wasn’t going to even bother arguing or discussing the matter with me, stating “either pay up or you are not getting your car back mate”’
I have always been a law abiding person and I must admit to feeling both very angry and confused by recent events. I always understood that a SORN statement meant that your car could not be parked or driven on a public road? my car was neither on the road or has it ever been driven on a road for over a year now!
How can the local council simply take my vehicle away without my knowledge or consent from outside my home and without informing me or the police at all for10 days?
If they can do this , on what legal basis or authority can they do it? I ask this because I always believed that even Bailiffs required some form of legal authority before taking away anyone’s personal property and usually even then only after some form of court judgement, action, or warning?
What precisely constitutes a road or public highway these day’s since I am now left without my car, looking to be further out of pocket and still very confused,particularly when I was genuinely was trying to abide by both the law and the spirit of the law in declaring my car to be off road.
Any advice at all on the matter would be very welcome indeed
On the 05/12/2017 my car which was parked off road and had a SORN statement declared disappeared from outside my home. I was amazed that anyone had been able to take the car away in broad daylight, since it was locked, the tyres were pretty flat and the battery was entirely flat ,as the car has not been driven for overa year.
I rang the local policeand reported the car stolen and was given a crime number and told that they would check their local ANPR camera’s to try and locate it on the roads. I have heard nothing from the police about the matter since then.
My wife who is disabled and virtually housebound was left quite shocked by the event, as she was home alone at the time and is home alone most days, She felt quite vulnerable and threatened by what had happened and feared that the family home might also become a target.
Imagine how shocked I was arriving home from work tonight (15/12/2017) to discover mail with a DVLA letterhead but apparently from the local council vehicle pound, informing me that my car had not been stolen but had actually been impounded by them and will be disposed of on Monday 18th December, unless I pay a charge and storage fee’s to get the vehicle back.
When I rang up and asked why my car had been taken without my consent and on what authority, I was told it was because the car did not have a valid SORN statement, I informed them that it had and that I could provide a valid SORN number to prove this. He stated that while the car was not actually on the road, it was parked on an off road (concrete and then grassed ) area adjacent to the road, which the council and his company consider to be part of the highway!
Essentially I was told he wasn’t going to even bother arguing or discussing the matter with me, stating “either pay up or you are not getting your car back mate”’
I have always been a law abiding person and I must admit to feeling both very angry and confused by recent events. I always understood that a SORN statement meant that your car could not be parked or driven on a public road? my car was neither on the road or has it ever been driven on a road for over a year now!
How can the local council simply take my vehicle away without my knowledge or consent from outside my home and without informing me or the police at all for10 days?
If they can do this , on what legal basis or authority can they do it? I ask this because I always believed that even Bailiffs required some form of legal authority before taking away anyone’s personal property and usually even then only after some form of court judgement, action, or warning?
What precisely constitutes a road or public highway these day’s since I am now left without my car, looking to be further out of pocket and still very confused,particularly when I was genuinely was trying to abide by both the law and the spirit of the law in declaring my car to be off road.
Any advice at all on the matter would be very welcome indeed
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