Free Traffic Legal Advice

Good morning all!

I have been advised to post here from a redit post that I made.

I'm hoping for people's advice and guidance in a matter which is slowly escalating between myself and a private parking compay. The matter has now escaled to small claims court and any guidance anbody knowledgedable can give would be much appreciated.

To give a bit of backstory, I agreed to buy a vehicle off a friend to assist them with selling the car on thier behalf. I have not kept two cars before and left the vehicle on my private driveway.  (I've quickly come to realise that unless you need to keep two cars it's not worth the hassle!)

I hadn't used the car once, and in order to keep the car ticking over whilst preapring it to sell, I decided it would be a good idea to take the car out on a regular outing that I do in my usual vehicle. The car was insured and taxed. Stupidly, and completely unbeknown to me, the MOT had lapsed in the interim. I undertook a short drive to a private car park where I usually park. I hold my hands up here that the car should have had an MOT and this an error on my behalf. A strong lesson learnt for the future to set up auto reminder whenever you first take a car on.

On taking the car our I parked it in a private car park (where I am usually able to park) for the period of circa one week. On returning to collect the car it had completely vanished. My first thought was that the car had been stolen. After much ringing around to check CCTV camers etc. it eventually transpired that my car had been towed a few days earlier. I established that it had been towed off private land by a private towing firm. At no point was any signage affixed to the vehicle, nor any attempt to contact me made. The company has still not written to me to confirm that they are holding my car. The company did not make any enquiries with the DVLA, nor the police and simply removed the car on the spot.

On visitng the company I was presented with a hefty and unreassnable bill by an absolute bully of a receptionist for towing and storage and denied access to the vehicle having made a round trip to collect it as I didn't have a copy V5c (despite having the keys and ID). In truth at this point, despite the demanour of the individual I was dealing with, I probably would have paid the charges. The setup of the firm is such that they are only open from 10-3pm during weekdays. This makes it incredibly difficult to collect your car around normal working hours. I confirmed that I had a photo of the V5c, which they would not accept. I confirmed that I was due to go away for two weeks the next day and that I considered it unreasonabe but despite my best efforts they would not let me collect my vehicle (which was there illegally!!!).

Knowing that towing of vehicles off private land is illegal it was at this point that I vowed to take further action.

My understanding is that under the protection of Freedom Act that towing off private land has been illegal since 2012. I wrote to the company with a letter before action setting out that I considered thier actions unlawful and demanded the imedaite return of the vehicle, giving a reasonable time limit for response.

The firm did not respond to me and as a result I then filed a small claims court, requesting either the return of the vehicle, or the montaey value of the vehicle which I, in effect, consider to have been stolen.

On introducing the act, the first sentence of the Government's press release reads;  'It will be an offence to clamp, tow, block-in or immobilise a vehicle without lawful authority on private land under the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012.' I do not consider that a private towing company constitues a 'lawful authority'.

The company has since submitted a defence stating that there is signage in the car park requiring the car to have an MOT. I would note that this isn't visible on the route into the car park.

My belief here is that the act specifically deals with the matter of signage, as set out wihtin it's explanatory notes, as follows;

Section 212 of the explanatory note provides clarity on subsection 212 as follows; A driver of a vehicle, by parking in a commercially run car park, may have impliedly accepted the landowner’s offer to park (or that of the parking company acting as the landowner’s agent). He or she may also, depending on what is advertised at the car park, have impliedly agreed to comply with the terms and conditions advertised, including the parking charges and the associated enforcement mechanism for those charges. However, by virtue of this subsection, the operation of the law of contract as it applies to commercially run private car parks does not confer lawful authority on the landowner or operator of a car park to clamp or tow away a vehicle parked there.

As well as not having access to my vehicle which has been unlawfully removed, I have now incurred further costs and court fees in being forced to undertake proceedings. The storage bill form the private company is now no doubt in the 1000s.

Whilst I have now submitted my county court claim, can anybody on the forum help by giving me some pointers here. Am I guaranteed sucess as the company has acted unlawfully? This is a matter of principle and I am willing to take this to the very end.

Apologies for the long thread and my sincere apprecaition for your responses in advance.

Once this has concluded in court perhaps it'll be a case for others to refer to in the future?

Also need to know the name of the unregulated private parking company (PPC) that is authorised to manage the car park. In other words, what is the name of the entity on the contractual signage in the car park.

Also, is the towing company who is holding your car the same company or is it a separate entity that was contracted by the PPC to do so?


• Section 54 of PoFA (Chapter 2) explicitly prohibits clamping, towing, or immobilising vehicles parked on private land without lawful authority.

• "Lawful authority" is clearly defined under PoFA (Section 54), typically applying only to the police, local authorities, statutory bodies, or specific legal situations authorised by statute.

• A private parking company or towing company operating purely under a civil contract does not have lawful authority under PoFA to clamp or tow vehicles.

• Civil contracts or signage terms cannot override statute law. Signage may only establish contractual liability for a charge (PCN) but not authorise towing or clamping.

Without knowing the answers to my questions above, the parking company's primary defence (assuming they are the same intitiy that towed and has your vehicle) appears to rely on contractual signage stating that a valid MOT is required to park:


In addition to the illegal removal, there are several procedural errors strengthening your case:


Your claim correctly seeks either the return of the vehicle or its monetary value, which is the correct legal remedy but what about the storage costs?:


You will need:


You should seek confirmation from DVLA that no enquiry has been made by the towing company to ascertain your details. This evidence would strongly support your claim of procedural failure.

Claim additional costs clearly, including:


You have a compelling claim based firmly in statute (PoFA) and supported by clear, relevant case law regarding conversion of goods. While nothing in court is ever guaranteed, the law strongly favours you in this scenario.

Yes, technically the Keeper (as driver) would have committed a separate criminal offence by driving a vehicle without a valid MOT, and reporting this matter to the police could theoretically expose them to prosecution or a fine, irrespective of the towing company's illegal actions.

However, there are some practical considerations:

Separate Offences:

The legality of towing/clamping on private land (covered by PoFA) and the requirement to have a valid MOT (covered by Road Traffic Act 1988) are two entirely separate legal matters. One party acting unlawfully doesn't negate the other party's separate offence.

Police Priorities:

Generally, police do not proactively investigate isolated reports of driving without an MOT unless the vehicle is actively stopped by police officers, involved in an accident, or if there's clear evidence that it was knowingly driven in a dangerously defective condition. A retrospective report about a parked vehicle being removed would typically be viewed as a low-priority matter and unlikely to be pursued—though this cannot be guaranteed.

Potential Risk:

If the PPC/towing company seeks to retaliate by explicitly reporting you to the police (which is possible, though unusual), there's a theoretical risk of being issued a Fixed Penalty Notice (£100 fine) or being prosecuted, with a maximum fine of up to £1,000 for driving without an MOT.

Realistic Scenario:

Practically speaking, unless there's clear evidence provided to the police—such as CCTV showing the vehicle actually being driven by you without an MOT—the police are unlikely to act on a retrospective report. However, you should remain aware that the risk exists, no matter how small.