Legal advice needed on a car whilst in impound

About a month ago my car was impounded.  Basically it was due to a mix up with insurance renewal etc, so got the car back no problem and actually glad to have discovered I wasn't insured so it could be sorted.

Anyway, went to get her and she wouldn't start (if you've seen my recent thread this sounds a familiar occurrence I know).  The only help they offered was to push me off the impound.  Thankfully I had AA cover so called them out.  He diagnosed the problem as fuel pump…gave it a tap and it worked…and then on startup fuel comes gushing out of that area.  Just a jubilee clip not tight enough.

Get going again.  Car dies again.  Whack fuel pump…works again.  Long story short, break down again, AA man out again…wires on fuel pump not properly connected either.

Now… obviously this jubilee clip was tight enough before impound or fuel would have been gushing out when I was pulled over.  Getting towed would not in any way be able to loosen the screw on a jubilee clip.  So at the very least they have had the jubilee clip off to steal some fuel.  The AA man said he would vouch for me on this one…and it was his accusation not mine.  I also mentioned that someone who worked there had a caddy, and so he thinks they may have been getting parts ready to get off quickly before it was scrapped (handbrake cable has gone funny too).  I don't want to make this accusation against them, particularly as I recognise the cabby from this forum, I have an owners club sticker n tax disc holder and would hate to think anyone on here would do that.

So…at the very least my car has been tampered with whilst at the impound.  The question is who owns the vehicle whilst it is at the impound.  I found a site that said 'Your car may be damaged while at the impound lot–and if so, most impound lots do not pay for damages. You will be responsible for damages once you bail out your vehicle.'

Surely you are still the legal owner of the vehicle whilst it is there.  I made a point of asking the police will they take care of her (feed her, water her…that kind of thing) and they said yes.

Anyone had anything similar?

Anyway, I will still write and complain but just wondered where I stood legally?  If they do nothing then I will complain to the police instead.  More so this doesn't happen to others than anything!

1. They have a "duty of care" of looking after the car whilst its impounded

2. Proving they've tampered with it, is nigh on impossible. Maybe they have CCTV but it would need the police to be convinced that the car's been tampered with to request the tapes, I don't think you could get a look at it. Even then, does it show your car on it? etc

Unfortunately, its one of them things - the best advice being, keep your nose clean and make sure your car never gets impounded, you're only onto a loser if/when it is!!!

Thanks Paul, that's what I thought.  N yeah, I'd never intentionally be without insurance, too many muppets on the road.  Well the 'evidence' I can think of is that the police saw the vehicle not leaking fuel.  The AA man saw the car leaking fuel and requiring the jubilee tightening.  I their get out could be saying I loosened the jubilee clip outside the premises or something along those lines.  Well it will be interesting what they say.

If anything, it's at the very least a sign of how much petrol is worth these days!!!

First question how long was it in the pound for !

The police notice states you have 14 days to collect the vehicle after that the vehicles gets valued if its under £1000 it go's to the crusher over £1000 it go's to auction as a non runnner and you don't see a penny as it cost £430.00 in storage fee's the break down is £150 for the recovery and £20 a day storage 14 days £280.

No one at the pound or police can remove anything form the vehicle during the 14days as your the owner.

If the vehicle go's to the crusher or Auction any personal items are remover i.e anything with your name and address. All rubbish jacks( trolly jacks) wheel braces, Radio sound boxes are left in the vehicle.  if you work at the pound as well as the police you can't take anything for yourself and you can't buy the car your not even allowed to know which auction it has gone to.

The autions are held all over the country so pound or police don't know which one to attend.

It was in for 3 days!!

Their reply…

"We have received your complaint and will investigate the matter further. If you have witness statements from the AA patrol men we would appreciate if you could forward them to us to help with our investigation. We will be in touch with you next week when we have interviewed members of staff responsible for the care of vehicles stored in our compound.

I would appreciate your patience as due to the seriousness of your allegation we will carry out a thorough investigation. If you have any further information or queries in the meantine please do not hesitate to contact us."

oh well at least they bare talking to you which is a positive note im sure they will investigate but to what depth is debatable

They'll ask staff…did you do it?  N staff will say…it wasn't me boss!lol

may be the pump was swaped as you needed to bang it to get it working ? dodgie buggers

foxy

The pump itself seems fine…just the connectors were loose…but now you say it I am going to check it's the same one as it was a nice Bosch lil' number.

You can ask quite legaly for the tapes.

Under the DPA. You may have to pay the subject acsess request form costs of £10.00.

I would write a Formal letter  addressed to their Data Protection Controller regarding the request for the tape.

If they are found to be at fault as part of your litigation you would be entitled to those costs back.

Thanks chortle I'll see what their reply is and go from there.  They're not getting the AA reports though as I don't believe they need them for their enquiry at all.  I gave them all the information they require!!

Yep,
Write a formal letter to their data controller. Enclose a cheque or PO for a tenner (check what fees)
You will need to dates from impound to release.
They cannot refuse under the DPA either section 35 states that the information becomes removed from protection for the purposes of detecting, preventing or defence of a crime.
If your car has been tampered with that is criminal damage, endangering life etc.
Next step if they refuse which they can you tell them that you will apply to the court for an order and you will make them responsible for all costs in the cause.

Love you chortle!!haha  Cheers bud

You may find it hard to get a statement from the AA as they are not allowed to portion blame they are there to fix your car. I work in an airport carpark and a Recovery driver said we had cross jumped his car his boss was not happy when our company took him to court.

It's about eveidence really, what can be proven, what can be suggested.

This could of eneded badly and if the Company is serious in it's suggestion they will get to the bottom of matters, if there are any, then they will release a copy of the Recordings, that relate to his vehicle

If the tape shows that his car was tampered with then bingo evidence is shown. What the quality of the tape would be, who knows if it would even identify any one person.

It's very tricky though as it depends on the length of time the company keeps the tapes, beforw wiping them.
So They may not even have the tapes anymore.

I have seen cases before when some Doormen assaulted a drinker and he was hospitalised, the security camera will have picked up the attack, but the disk was lost, so no eveidence from that source.

Calico Not sure why your Boss would want to take the bloke to court? It would be on the other bloke to give evidence  to a court that satisfies his claim.????????

Yeah the AA won't give statements even though the patrolman said he would.  But they can provide detailed reports which will say the work he carried out…ie had to tighten the jubilee to the fuel line, and the second patrolman having to sort the connections to the fuel pump

Most places keep tapes/disc's for 28 days before copying over them. the good news for you is the pound is run for the police so it come under police regs all tapes/disc's must be kept for 7 years for evidence.

Yey!!  Cheers for that info Jacob!

police impounds are complete shiteholes! i unfortunately had to go to one, cause the police decided to tow it away from my mechanic who was on a test,

went there 1 day after, they open at 1030, and after 11 there charges go up,

i had 3/4 tank of fuel, when i got it out the red light was on, so some tosser syphoned the fuel out and the mechanic even said there was 3/4 tank, however we had no proof of this,

so they didnt proceed the investigation any further and the letter was rather blunt and rude as well, this is the one in north london, perivale!