Helpful FACTS about the law

[AJI]

Just wondering if its worth having a thread with useful FACTS (or as best you know of) about the laws here in the UK where many people find themselves on the wrong side of some rule here or there.

 

 

UK laws are not usually taught in all schools and mostly people find out about some rule when they happen to be on the wrong side of it.

(A fair system? - maybe, maybe not)

 

 

So I'll start off with what I have been able to find out on a few items:

 

(1) Supermarket parking tickets. Demands for fines for overstaying quoted time limits.

-------> These are nothing more than an un-enforcable invoices. They are not an authority issued demand for payment. So it is different to a council or police or traffic warden issued ticket.

 

Basically the supermarket hired car park company can issue you a 'parking ticket' but they have no legal authority to make you pay......assuming you do not implicate yourself by responding to their threatening looking letters.

 

 

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(2) Legal or not to remove wheel clamp? Can easily happen....hard to read notices in non-council parking areas (or private land) which you may or may not be aware of. You park up thinking everything is ok, but when you return you find someone has prevented you from using your car. This in itself can be a dangerous infringement of your rights....what if you have medical appointments, or have to be somewhere to pick up a child etc.

(Clamping illegal in Scotland but still allowed in England)

 

--------> Yes you can remove clamp and be in your way, assuming you cause no damage to it. And you return clamp to the clamping company. (Assuming not clamped by police)

ie. if you cause damage, the clamping company will threaten criminal damage....and if you cut it off and take it with you, the clamping company will claim criminal theft.

 

Successfully done, it can be a much cheaper thing to do than having to pay £100+ to have clamp removed by the company.

 

So you have to remove it by not cutting through the chains or any other part. (Or if you do you will have to replace damaged item for new).

This vid shows one method : http://redirectingat.com/?id=1044X509854&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DGHwKLhIpa94

Even infront of the clampers who are trying to intimidate them...nicely done!

 

 

 

Saying this however the clamping company will probably try to pursue you with a 'release fee', which brings us back to the first case. The clamping company is not an authority body and can not enforce a payment if you do not implicate yourself.

ie. as long as they do not have video footage of you driving off (or other similar indesputable evidence) in your car, you are not obliged to inform them of who was driving at the time of the 'offence'.

But also saying this they do have the option to try and take you through civil small claims court, in which if you were to go along the lines of "my car must have been cloned M'lourd, I was not at that claimed location and time"...the clamping company will have a hard time proving it was your car.

 

 

 

(3) Incorrect details on a Fixed Penalty Ticket - Does this mean I can get off with it?

 

-----> No, not really.

If a copper stops you for a vehicle defect/Mobile phone/speeding etc. and decides you need to give the government some money and have some prize points on your license, then he/she will note down information about you and your vehicle on a Fixed penalty ticket.

This FPT form does not have to have everything correct on it as it is not the only evidence the police will use if you contested it and took it to court. (The FPT is more of a quick road side acceptance that you will pay for your wrongdoings and accept the offence, its not suppose to act as a court order).

When it goes to court the police write up a full statement and will probably attend in person to give evidence.

This in itself will be proof enough for the court to convict you even if the FTP information was not written correctly at the time you were stopped.

 

 

Source : http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=10&t=809830&mid=60290&nmt=Arghhhhh!%20%20Defective%20fixed%20penalty%20notice%20-%20can%20i%20get%20off!!

 

 

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Please feel free to add more...