Okay I’m wondering if I can get some help from this forum.
My friend - who is Lithuanian and speaks little English - sought my help to aid him in a ongoing dispute with the police.
He had his car insured via Lithuanian insurance which, as I believe, is still okay to drive in the UK(?) However, he got pulled over and told that the police couldn’t check weather he did or not and asked him to produce documents at his local plod station. Now I’m not sure weather he did/didn’t produce his insurance within the allotted time - I’m trying to figure this out (via the crossing of a language barrier) - but according to him they had crushed his car already by the time he did.
I think what may have happened is that he didn’t go in in the allotted time, they crushed his car, summonsed him up for Driving without Insurance (he mentioned he produced his docs. in Wimbledon Court), he produced his docs, yet his cars already crushed. According to him, the judge said he may be able to prosecute or get compensation.
So, guys, does anyone think he has a leg to stand on (unlike me!!!) to get his/a smiliar car/money back due to the police crushing his old one? I have no clue.
If he didn’t do it within 14 days (might even be 7 days), then he’s not got a leg to stand on (this is the MET, but I know TVP are the same and so are most of them)
On the seizure notice it would state that he would need to produce the relevant docs within 14 days or the car would be disposed of…
Get him, someone who can speak Lithuanian and English and all the paperwork that he has, down to the Citizen Advice.
No one on here will be able to help no matter how much they think they can unless they are qualified in the law (and more than just your typical student lawyer who thinks they know it all when they don’t!!).
People will be helpful on here but with stuff like this you need proper qualified legal advice.
One of our partners specialises in claims against the Police and we have another partner who specialises in litigation.
If you are happy to PM me with a phone number of email, I will be happy to get some more information and send it up the road for consideration.
It does seem that they may have crushed the car early (bearing in mind that until convicted it is a case of innocent until proven guilty) and therefore the Police cannot presume guilt and act as judge and jury.
Although I work in law, (and I a retired traffic cop) I won’t profess to have specialist knowledge regarding this matter, but I knolw the people who do.
No obligation and no promises, but I am certainly happy to enquire.
See unlike coppers, Law students are not spoon fed the tiny bit of law they require to get by, we are taught how to find the law and then how to interpret it.
Your friends problem is this:
" *The authorised person may not dispose of the vehicle under this regulation—
(a)during the period of 14 days starting with the date on which the vehicle was seized;
The Road Traffic Act 1988 (Retention and Disposal of Seized Motor Vehicles) Regulations 2005 (as amended)
So I am not really sure how he can claim compensation. Other then arguing some sort of indirect effect from EU law about the free movement of people, goods and services, a huge argument that I am pretty sure he would not get close to winning.
He should have provided the documents in 14 days is all you can say really.
For the record, Magistrates know nothing of the law, absolutely nothing, they are entirely unreliable as a source of the law.
e2a - As amended before anyone got confused that the police only got this power in 2008 yet the regulations are 2005!!! omgWTF!!
I’ll say it again. See someone who is qualified, not someone who thinks they are.
Make sure you have all the facts with you, only then will someone be able to give you an answer. It can’t be given yet - no matter what the student thinks.
The European Union. Freedom of Movement specifically.
You have the right to travel anywhere within the European Union without having to register your car with that countries DVLA equivalent, to reinsure your car in each country, without having to pass an MOT in each country, without having to pass a driving test in each country.
Would you want to do all of that every time you went on a day trip to France?
Of course not. If you don’t want to do that in their country, you can’t expect them to do it in your country.
It is quite reasonable when you think about it, though I agree that those who abuse the system should be punished.
The answer has been stated. He won’t get anything.
(although further and exact details are required before anyone can confirm that).
Of course, as per the previous comments, what does a copper know about law and police are bad, and Europeans will end the British way of life… bla bla bla.
Seriously though, if anyone has any questions and wants an actual response without the name calling, just private message me. Happy to help and believe it or not, a cop can actually refer to law and interpret it, and quote it and everything!
Actually with it being a “foreign” car, register, etc he will probably have two legs to stand on and a fat wallet at the end of the tunnel but it will be a LONNNNNNNNNNNNG TUNNEL to travel to get that fat wallet.
Additionally if they stopped him and they had any inkling that he did not understand them at ANY time, they will be hard pressed to prove that they were in the right. They SHOULD Have either had an interpretor brought to the stop or “escorted” him to the local station for a interpretor to be summoned and insured that he understood all of his “problems”.
Defo get proper legal advice, but don’t hold your breath!
After my scooter was stolen in 2002, it was recovered over 5 years later after being involved in a minor accident and the guy involved, legged it.
First I knew of it, was when the police tracked me down and informed me that they had recovered my abandoned bike and I had to pay them over £200 release fee plus £12 per day storage, or they would crush it. I managed to get them to hold off on the crushing for a week when I told them that I was the legal owner, but that the bike had been stolen some 6 years earlier (I even managed to get a crime number)
Thing is - it made sfa difference to them. I was still liable for the recovery and storage fees - or they were going to crush it…plus the £12 a day was going up and up.
I spoke to a Lawyer who looked into it - and basically I was fcked. Never been a fan of the old bill, but that took the biscuit. All they could say was, was that I could claim off my insurance. Except I had no insurance as the scooter was Sorned when it was stolen from a locked garage. (I was working overseas)
So I had to pay the police over £300 to get my own stolen and damaged scooter out of their pound, after someone had spent 6 years riding it (on the same plates) around Wiltshire, even when they recovered it they didn’t work out it was stolen until I told them.
Getting robbed of your bike is one thing, getting robbed by the police is another! Not that I am still pissed off or anything:angry:
I don’t think he COULD have fully understood the 14 day notice, otherwise he would have done it.
Smiled, I agree with you, he had only been living here a couple of months though. On the same leaf - if you could insure your vehicle at a third of the price and avoid tickets - wouldn’t you? I’m just trying to help out my friend here…
Oh don’t take that too seriously, that is just me and Busa having some banter. I knew a copper on a website once, I never known anyone who knew the criminal law better.
I thought about that, Art 6, but honestly, he had 14 days to find out what was going on and if he didn’t, then I don’t see how we can expect the police to expend the time and money getting interpretors for people on the side of the road over minor driving offences. The police gave him 2 weeks to find someone who spoke English to explain the situation to him and get to a police station.
Art 6 is a qualified right, it is not an absolute right, and if the actions are proportionate to the aims, which I think they are in this case, and the breach is reasonable, then even IF you could show a breach of Art 6, I believe the case would still fail.
There may be other remedies available and seeking qualified specialist legal advice is always the best policy.
I’m just trying to help out my friend here…