Bailiffs have clamped your car
You may be a victim of an ANPR drive-by clamping event.
If your vehicle is on hire-purchase, or leased Get an injunction.
Your options are:
- The debt is someone else's, make an Third party claim
- If the vehicle is on finance, HP or leased, apply for an emergency injunction
- If you didn't know about the traffic penalty, appeal the penalty which suspends the enforcement
- If you moved recently, and the address on the warrant is wrong, apply for a detailed assessment hearing and suspend the enforcement
- If money has already been taken, do a fee recovery and a claim for damages
- If the vehicle is clamped on private land that is not where you live or trade, apply for an emergency injunction.
- Cutting off the wheel-clamp
- Deploy Pay & Reclaim
- See if the debt, or the enforcement is unlawful
- See whether you have grounds to stop the action
- Let the bailiff take the vehicle, then deploy pay & reclaim at the compound and claim damages
- Let the bailiff take the vehicle and send the V5 to DVLA the vehicle has been scrapped
Ensure to inspect carefully whether the clamp is genuinely fastened to the wheel. Certain clamps can be detached by unwinding the chain from the wheel without causing any damage, or by picking the lock.
If the clamp is not properly secured, the vehicle remains mobile. According to the law, bailiffs are explicitly required to "secure the goods" in order to take control of them, as stated in Paragraph 13(1)(a) and (b) of Schedule 12 of the Tribunals Courts and Enforcement Act 2007. Simply resting a piece of metal against the wheel does not constitute securing the goods.If the vehicle is parked on a public road, the bailiff will summon a truck and tow it away after a period of two hours.
If you're uncertain whether your vehicle is parked on a public road, refer to the definition of a highway for clarification.
It's advisable to create a comprehensive video and take photographs to document the condition of the vehicle. This is crucial because if the vehicle sustains damage after being removed to a pound for which the bailiff is responsible, you'll need to demonstrate that the damage occurred subsequent to the bailiff taking control of it. Bailiffs commonly attempt to evade liability for such claims.
Bailiffs are equipped with body-worn cameras, so their recorded evidence must align with yours when establishing the timing of the damage. Any discrepancies could undermine the bailiff's defence.
You might find yourself a victim of an automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) drive-by clamping incident.
Please resist the temptation to inject super-glue into the wheel-clamp lock
Despite the allure of becoming instant YouTube sensations, you must refrain from such antics. These individuals, masquerading as professional YouTubers, thrive on coaxing automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) vans into a drive-by clamping frenzy. Their crafty scheme is to create prank videos showcasing bailiffs futilely attempting to remove their own wheel clamps. While it may seem like a lucrative venture, let's leave the wheel-clamp hijinks to the experts in comedy and focus on more constructive forms of entertainment.