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Reasonable Or Unreasonable?

edited January 2010 in Not Sports Related
http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kentonline/news/2010/january/11/drivers_told_to_pay.aspx

Comments

  • Difficult one this, the company are not a charity, but equally the drivers were not just dumoping their cars for no reason. Given that the extra vloume would increase business for the company they should reduce the rates they are charging as a goodwill gesture and waive the storage charge for a set period of days.

    The alternative is that as the Police engaged them, maybe they should pay - which ultimately comes from us, so not in favour of that.
  • Tough one, i'd say reasonable just about.....but it is questionable. eg. was there nowhere safer to abandon the vehicles? i abandoned mine but made sure was in a parking bay

    Not really the Police fault they had to remove it but then again, as a gesture of goodwill u'd think as they removed them they should pay for them

    although if the police did have to pay then will only go towards us taxpayers, tough one as i said but reasonable i say
  • [cite]Posted By: johnnybev1987[/cite]Tough one, i'd say reasonable just about.....but it is questionable. eg. was there nowhere safer to abandon the vehicles? i abandoned mine but made sure was in a parking bay

    Was the handbrake on??? ;-)
  • [cite]Posted By: eaststandmike[/cite]
    [cite]Posted By: johnnybev1987[/cite]Tough one, i'd say reasonable just about.....but it is questionable. eg. was there nowhere safer to abandon the vehicles?i abandoned mine but made sure was in a parking bay

    Was the handbrake on??? ;-)

    lol it was this time thanks, no problems since and even been driving in the icy conditions a bit aswell....check me out :-)
  • [cite]Posted By: Kap10[/cite]Difficult one this, the company are not a charity, but equally the drivers were not just dumoping their cars for no reason. Given that the extra vloume would increase business for the company they should reduce the rates they are charging as a goodwill gesture and waive the storage charge for a set period of days.
    This sounds a very fair solution. Or at least if the company capped the storage charge at 2 days.
  • In principle this is reasonable the roads cannot be left littered with abandoned cars - plus "the storage fees for those days when vehicles were held without the Registered Keepers’ knowledge will be waived" which is good.

    It certainly would be a good gesture for the company to reduce charges a bit if they don't end up out of pocket of course - if their storage compounds have extra capacity then they could perhaps waive all £20/day fees for up to a week.

    As for the drivers, it is a bit tough and they might be able to claim on insurance but this is better than having had a crash.
  • I thought it was reasonable to do this until I saw that people were having to cross to Sheppey to get their cars , very scary
  • Whooooooah unreasonable, the bloody councils should pay for it, and explain to the council tax payers why they have had to waste such an amount of money.

    If you had seen how the roads were affected round here all of you would have done the same. And trust me you would be kicking right off now if you had done the sensible thing and left your car on that road (a massive f*ck off hill).

    If Maidstone and Malling/Medway/Kent County Council had put a decent amount of gritt on that road and took a plough up and down it then the vehicles would of had a fighting chance of getting along it and not littering the road.

    That car was recovered from Bluebell Hill and taken to f*cking Queenborough on the isle of Sheppey!!!!

    Now if any of you have ever been stop & checked by the police or had a vehicle stolen you will know they can get a lot of details including your contact details from a number plate. I would have thought it would be easier to (via CCTV possibly to save a cozzer from getting cold feet) contact or at least attempt to contact the owners of the vehicles to get them shifted.

    Outrageous liberty this was. They don't get a load of recovery vehicles to move the wreck at the top of that road on the roundabout, they just put a sign on it. The road wasn't properly safe anyway the day after.
  • Some of the comments I have read on their website are hilarious. 'Plan ahead, call the police to tow you off the road' haaaa haa get real!!!

    One of my mates who lives by me, again, not far from where the cars were left showed me the photo's of the state that road was in and there was no way a stationary vehicle would of budged unaided from where it slid to (it slid to the side of the road, so it's lucky he was near the slip road) they had been queueing on that road for ages and hadn't made a snap decision to leave their motors there. That place is a black spot for mobile phone coverage (right underneath a mast so your phone will always cut out/not work on that hill) so it's not like anyone could get hold of a pissing towtruck anyway, or even call someone to help them out, tell them they're intentions etc.

    1) Fair one the company who shifted these cars are not a charity, but they took the work on and took them all the way back to Queenborough instead of umpteen compounds more local to the area

    2) It was the next day the motors were towed away, so why have the ones on the main road by me not been towed after almost a week, just been left to be vandalised and be in the way

    3) If the poxy gritting vehicles were out before the heavy forecast snow then maybe the road would of been a bit more passable.
  • I think if I'd had my car towed away because it was obstructing the highway and causing trouble to other motorists/making it dangerous I wouldn't mind that much. But to then get charged for what is a good piece of responsible driving is taking the biscuit.

    If I had to pay this fee next time I'd be inclined to keep driving instead and that might have had far worst consequences.

    I hope that the Kent OB re-imburse those people who have to pay to get their cars back, after all it's not as though they chose to park illegally.
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  • If it had happened to me I would contact the AA or RAC legal people for some guidance on this, the RAC especially have been very helpful in the past and saved me a few bob.
  • Absolute pisstake this!!! The more i think about it, the more it takes the utter piss!! Honestly how some people can defend this i just don't know!! What are people supposed to do!!??

    ffs this country, is a pissing joke.
  • For some reason the police, encouraged by the current Government, seem to think that cars and their drivers are the cash cows of the nation. Just another way to fleece money out of the road users if you ask me.
  • edited January 2010
    Bluebell Hill is an infamous problem area and hence I would have expected it to receive priority treatment. Given that the road was, yet again, dangerous,I think it's pretty rough to be fined such large sums of money for trying to behave sensibly. Contrasts oddly with Wales in that you can ignore all safety advice, go walking, poorly prepared, on Snowdonia, get yourself trapped and require RAF helicopters to rescue you. That costs you nothing and the taxpayer pays. A bit of consistency would be helpful.
  • edited January 2010
    no doubt it was receiving priority treatment and a handful of the abandoned cars presumably had to be removed so the snow plough and gritter could get through? I think the complaining would be louder if nothing was done. Most of the abandoned cars were not moved, I guess because they had not been left blocking the road.
  • To me this is simple. Police call the tow cars to move the cars. Well just move them all to the side of the road so they're not causing an obstruction and then leave them there until the owners can come back and pick them up. No charges for motorists and no obstructions for anyone. Simple.
    How the hell are people supposed to be able to find that sort of money?
  • I presume the drivers would've left the cars out of the way at the side of the roads if it was possible, so the police probably needed specialist equipment to move the cars in those conditions
  • Totally unreasonably, Bluebell Hill was a nightmare, my boss walked home from Walderslade village down the hill said cars were everywhere. People had no choice where they left the car, it was impossible to move. Despite the fact it was forecast for snow that afternoon or early evening it remained ungritted, they council were at fault for this not the drivers.
  • As you said, heavy snow was forecast so anyone driving knows they are taking risks.
    I don't know if the road was gritted or not, but I do know that grit cannot magic away a quick heavy snowfall and a snow plough is no use until it is snowing.
  • I think the Police may have had the right idea in moving the vehicles but they should have informed the drivers and given them a chance to move the car themselves first. But I suppose they don't consider doing that when there's a chance to get some more money off people.
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  • edited January 2010
    If people could move the cars themselves why would they have abandoned them?!
    And anyway think of the moans when the snow ploughs were delayed 4 hours waiting for Mr Smith to move his Volvo.
  • Dude, no way could you have allowed for that amount of snow, on that road so quickly.

    If w/slades boss walked home from the village he could of done with snow boots and a couple of poles
  • Whoa - wait - the company towed the cars to Sheppey? F***ing hellfire - the owners should be pleased to get their motors back in one piece, if at all, from that shithole!
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