05 March 2006
WHEELCLAMPERS could come unstuck after they continued to patrol a private car park two years after their contract expired.
Serval
Security has been investigated by Bedfordshire Police following a complaint made by a motorist who was charged £250 to retrieve his car after it was towed from Priory Terrace, in Bromham Road, Bedford.At the end of October last year, Gerry Page, 55, of Melloway Road, Rushden, parked his S-type Jaguar in the private car park of Capio Healthcare to deliver supplies. When he returned to his car half an hour later it had been removed. As he left to contact the police, he was approached by a Serval Security employee who told him that they had his car.
He refused to pay the £350 that was demanded but later forked out £250 to retrieve his vehicle. Mr Page then began to investigate why his car was towed away. He contacted each of the businesses in Priory Terrace and discovered that none had a contract with Serval. He later discovered that a firm called Bedford Executive Centre, did have a contract with the clampers, but they had left the Priory terrace premises in November 2003 and cancelled the agreement in August of that year.
Mr Page collected evidence from all the firms and presented it to the police who began an investigation. But by the middle of January officers informed Mr Page that they were dropping the case having seen a contract from Serval to patrol the car park.
Mr Page said: "I can’t believe it. I have collected all this information showing that Serval have been towing cars without authorisation for two years but the police say they have seen a contract okaying it. I imagine this means that they can continue to take cars forever more. "If someone was walking down the street and got mugged of £250 the police would be involved trying to get the money back."
A Serval Security spokesman said: "We were contracted by a company to patrol their car park.
"When this company moved we were not informed and continued with our work as we had a signed agreement.
"This man was towed because he was parked illegally and 've explained the situation to him. We have sent a copy of the contract to the police and they have said we have done nothing wrong. "The landowner has now sent us 28-days notice to stop patrolling the car park."
A Bedfordshire police spokesman said: "Having reviewed the case it would appear that both parties have correspondence relating to a contractual agreement.
"Both sides have been advised that they should contact their solicitors as this is now regarded as a civil matter."
4 comments:
It would seem to me to be crystal clear that any contract to monitor a car park automatically expires when the owners of the car park leave and cease to own or control it.
While it may well be that the clampers did not knowingly behave wrongly, as they did not know that those who gave them the contract had left, that does not mean that they can keep the money that they obtained when they had no legal right to do so.
They are wrong to claim that the driver broke the law in parking as he did - it was private ground and therefore a civil matter
Idris
as written law states to terminate any contract between two partys,one must provide a written termination that will come into effect 28 days after notification is recieved, so i see the clampers acted in their best intrests
Clampers acting in their best interests? Never.....
I've had dealings with Serval in Bedford. They clamped me even though I had a valid parking permit and they've done it to others in the same parking spaces all with valid permits.
They are scum.
They seem to still be up to there old tricks, my son got clamped this morning, while he was collecting his parking permit. These guys are real cowboys
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