Marston clamping

[whufc]

Hi, Wondering if anybody could help with a problem i've had this morning regarding Marston and their wheel clamping! Leaving the house at 8am this morning my fianceé found a notice on the windscreen of our car from Marston. I am not able to upload a picture but it is red and white and says "WARNING - DO NOT ATTEMPT TO MOVE THIS VEHICLE - IT HAS BEEN SEIZED AND IMPOUNDED IN EXECUTION OF A WARRANT/ORDER". At the bottom of this notice it says that the full amount needs to be paid by 11am today otherwise the vehicle will be removed. It also has a few boxes for the enforcement agent to fill in the date/time/name and contact number. However, he has only filled in the date and contact number (therefore we do not know his name).My fianceé rung the number on the notice as we needed to leave ASAP as she is pregnant and not well at the moment so i needed to take her to the doctors. Marston will not speak to me as the car is in her name and not mine. When someone answered the phone at the other end my fianceé explained that she had no idea why this notice was put on the windscreen and the response she got was "well I think you do". After convincing the bloke at the end of the phone that she knew nothing about it he advised that we need to pay £600+, when asked what this money was for he said that we would have been notified (giving us no more information). When my fianceé advised she will pay it because we really need the car he took the details over the phone (debit card). My fianceé then asked if she was now allowed to move the car and it was only then that we were made aware that a clamp had been put on the front passenger wheel. (as this side of the car is away from our front door we had not seen the clamp). It was only when my fianceé, once AGAIN, reminded him that she was pregnant and unwell that he agreed to come round and take off the clamp so that i could take her to the doctors. He was at our house within ten minutes, only to tell us that the card had not gone through and therefore the payment had not gone through. We know that there is enough money in the account and explained it was possible that the bank had stopped the payment as it was such a large amount. I said that I would call the bank to let them know but I needed to take my fianceé to the doctors straight away... luckily he agreed that we could take the car and i could call him once the bank had sorted the problem out. I asked him if he could give me an explanation as to why this money is outstanding and, once again, i was told that an email was sent to us back in May - "something to do with the tax". The only thing I can think of that this might relate to is something which happened at the end of last year when we received a letter from the DVLA telling us that there had been an error with our tax disc (an error made by the Post Office) and that they would be sending us a new tax disc in the post. In addition to this, they gave us two extra months on the tax disc at no charge. I can only think that, between that letter and receiving the new tax disc, a camera somewhere may have picked up our "incorrect" tax disc and flagged this up.We received an email in May from Marston explaining that we had to pay X amount for the above reasons (no tax) and we replied to that email to advise of the above issue and that the DVLA had been in contact to resolve it. According to the enforcement agent this morning, another email was sent in reply to ours but we genuinely have never received this. He says that the company can provide proof of their email to us but he has not done this.The payment of £600 has now been made, which we had to take out of our wedding fund as we cannot afford to lose the car. They have told us that an authorisation code will be sent to us by text and they will post a receipt. This whole situation has left my pregant fianceé very shaken and we are both confused and, quite frankly, angry. Can anybody advise on a few things for me? Can Marstons clamp our car on our own driveway (we rent the property from a private landlord) - we received no notice and they did not have our permission to come onto our property. Can Marstons really be unaware of the reasons that this money is apparently outstanding? Are they seriously allowed to threaten to take aware our car without giving the reasons?As mentioned above, the payment has now been made. In the situation i was put in i felt that i had no choice as my fianceé has a kidney infection and needed to be seen by a doctor. Therefore, i thought a better course of action would be to pay the money and then deal with it afterwards. Does anybody have any advice on what action I am able to take next as I feel that this has been extremely unfair?Thanks in advance for any help you may be able to offer. As a side note, i have taken photos of the notice given on the windscreen, the wheel clamp that was fitted on our own driveway and I have also taken a photo of our tax disc which proves we have paid our tax until September 2012.

[whufc]

Re: Marston clamping

in addition to the above, am I able to request a breakdown of the price that i've paid? £600 is a lot of money and they havent even told me what its for yet, let alone how it comes to that much money

[Hurricane Puffrose]

Re: Marston clamping

BUMPED:

[bluebottle]

Re: Marston clamping

I would certainly ask for a breakdown of fees, copies of the emails Marstons claim they received, but you did not, and to inspect the warrant. They cannot charge you for either the breakdown of fees or copies of the emails or to inspect the warrant. Make it clear it is not a Subject Access Request under the Data Protection Act 1998 and, therefore, there is no charge. If Marstons become awkward and/or unco-operative, come back onto this thread. My suspicion is that DVLA may well have made a monumental blunder. If this does prove to be the case, I would claim the £600 back from them and point out the risk to your fiancee's health. Both Marstons and DVLA could be liable under Health and Safety legislation. If you need help putting a letter together, please come back onto this thread.

[whufc]

Re: Marston clamping

Thanks bluebottle, i will definitely try that. We have a copy of the email that we sent back to Marston group in May. Unfortunately, we do not have a copy of the letter which the DVLA sent us regarding the tax disc... it seems to have been misplaced, probably when we moved house at the beginning of this year. Could this be a potential problem in claiming the money back from them, or are they likely to have it all on record? I will definitely point out the risk to my fianceé as the whole situation meant that we missed her appointment time and she had to wait another three hours for an available slot.

[bluebottle]

Re: Marston clamping

Thanks bluebottle, i will definitely try that. We have a copy of the email that we sent back to Marston group in May. Unfortunately, we do not have a copy of the letter which the DVLA sent us regarding the tax disc... it seems to have been misplaced, probably when we moved house at the beginning of this year. Could this be a potential problem in claiming the money back from them, or are they likely to have it all on record? I will definitely point out the risk to my fianceé as the whole situation meant that we missed her appointment time and she had to wait another three hours for an available slot.

Contact the DVLA today, explain the situation to them and that you require a copy of the letter they sent you as well as any correspondence they sent to you. They need to explain how they obtained a distress warrant and on what legal grounds. DVLA are liable for Marstons' actions so they will be the ones repaying the £600.

I would definitely mention the risk to your fiancee's health to DVLA and it would not do any harm to have a chat with a Health and Safety Inspector at your local authority's Environmental Health Department, in the first instance. If they cannot deal with it, they should be able to point you in the direction of the correct HSE Inspectorate.

[whufc]

Re: Marston clamping

Upon reading this notice further it says that the warrant is "in accordance with the authority provided by rule 54 of the magistrates courts rules". Does this mean that this has gone through the magistrates court? How can this happen without my fianceé or myself being aware? Something doesnt sit right with me here...

[bluebottle]

Re: Marston clamping

I've just read Rule 54 of the Magistrates Courts Rules 1981 and all it speaks about is Warrants of Distress. It does not confer any power or right of forced entry. If it were to do that, it would be stated in the legislation. Ask to physically see the warrant. I would advise you to take a photo of it with your phonecam and post on this thread so that it can be scrutinised. If Marstons kick-off, make it quite clear you are going to have the warrant scrutinised for authenticity. If Marstons start making making threats, ask you to delete the photo or tell you you can't take a photo of the warrant, I would become suspicious as to the authenticity of the warrant.

Like I have said in an earlier post, it sounds very much to me that DVLA have cocked-up big-time and you do need to sort things out with them before you have a go at Marstons.

[whufc]

Re: Marston clamping

Update on the above... We phoned the DVLA yesterday who reluctantly agreed to send us all copies of "everything they have" regarding this.We then called Marston Group and asked them for a breakdown of charges, a copy of the warrant that we can inspect and also copies of all correspondence they claim to have sent to us. We were told that the relevant paperwork was not available at this time and someone would call us back.Upon the advice of a friend, I have also made the police aware of this issue. They have said that, to them, this looks "suspicious" and will investigate. The officer I spoke to took the vehicle details and informed me that according to their system there are no notes at all on this car. (im assuming this means that they would be able to see if the court had issued a warrant?)Anyway, Marston never called back and so my fianceé rang them this morning. At first they refused to send us any paperwork but then another guy called us back ten minutes later and they have agreed to send us the paperwork, and i quote, "IF they have it" and only if we request this in writing. Therefore, could anyone advise on what things I need to include in this letter? I cant believe they said they would only send it to us IF they have it... surely they have to have it to be able to clamp the vehicle?Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks

[bluebottle]

Re: Marston clamping

It appears to me that DVLA know themselves they've cocked-up, this being evidenced by their reluctance to provide you with copies of correspondence. However, they are now providing you with the necessary correspondence which should show where they cocked-up.

As for Marstons, I suspect they know, themselves, they've been caught and now they're desperately trying to dig themselves out of an almighty hole. Don't, whatever you, tell them to stop digging. Let them bury themselves. Your friend was right to tell you to involve the police. I'm a retired policeman and am going on gut-instinct and experience in your case. The police have access to DVLA, MID and PNC databases and can tell you whether your vehicle is currently, taxed, MOT'd and insured or not. They would also know if your vehicle was "flagged" (Suspect Vehicle), but would not divulge if it was.

Before writing any letters to Marstons, I would strongly advise you to go back to the police and report Marstons' continuing intransigence and let them advise you accordingly. The reason I say this is the police may have already commenced an investigation.

In respect of the clamping of your vehicle, Marstons would have to have a valid Distress Warrant/Clamping Order in order to do so, otherwise their actions would be ultra vires (outside the law). Be prepared to make statements to the police, if necessary. Once you have the correspondence from DVLA, come back onto this thread and if it needs to be brought to the attention of the police, then I can advise accordingly.

[whufc]

Re: Marston clamping

Ok, really appreciate the advice. I will let you know any more updates when I have them. Thanks very much

[bluebottle]

Re: Marston clamping

You're welcome.

[bluebottle]

Re: Marston clamping

I'm posting some more information as you will need to pursue complaints against DVLA and Marstons at a later date.

You will need to report Marstons' conduct to the OFT Credit Fitness Team at enquiries@oft.gsi.gov.uk. This is because they hold an OFT Debt Collection Licence. You need to put the words CREDIT FITNESS in the subject box of your email and give a clear and concise resume of your complaint. You will also need to quote the following information in your complaint -

Company Name: Marston Group Ltd
Credit Licence No.: 333059

The others I am going to recommend you write to is -

Simon Tse (pronounced "Chair")
Chief Executive Officer
Driving & Vehicle Licensing Agency
Longview Road
Swansea
SA6 7JL

You will also need to write to Simon Tse's boss and put them in the picture as to what has happened. As you will appreciate, what has happened is serious.

The contact details for Simon Tse's boss are -

Rt Hon Justine Greening MP
Secretary of State for Transport
Great Minster House
33 Horseferry Road
London
SW1P 4DR

Make sure you copy the letter to Simon Tse to Justine Greening and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport Mike Penning MP (Roads Minister). Copy your letter to Justine Greening to Mike Penning as well.

Finally, make sure your local MP knows about this incident and get them onboard. Tell them who you have been advised to write to and that the police are looking into the matter.

[whufc]

Re: Marston clamping

Just had a call from Marston Group. One of the higher ups. Apologised profusely and has arranged a cheque to be sent back to us for the full amount. DVLA have also apologised profusely and admitted the mistake. I think i will still be making a complaint, more directly about the enforcement agent who applied the clamp as he was extremely rude and obviously stopped us from being able to take my fianceé to her doctors appointment.Thank you for all of the advice you've given, I dont think this would have been sorted as soon as it has been if it wasnt for the information you've been able to supply me with.

[Hurricane Puffrose]

Re: Marston clamping

EXCELLENT result.. i will occasionally, with your permission bump this thread for new members who have issues with these muppets.

I think it will show what you can acheive if you keep at it CONGRATULATIONS!