I was contacted yesterday afternoon by a gentleman who had his car towed away by Kent Police after he was forced to abandon it in Blue Bell Hill in Wednesday night’s snow storm. The car has been impounded in Queenborough on the Isle of Sheppey and it will cost £150 to release it plus a further £20 extra for each day it is held. His story is similar to others including a lady from Ditton who has been talking about her experience on local radio and television.
There are a number of questions that need to be answered here:
1) Cars that are abandoned don’t tend to be blocking roads etc – most get pushed into the sidings as much as possible – so if they weren’t in a dangerous place why were they towed;
2) If they were going to be towed why weren’t the owners notified – with the overwhelming amount of information about each and everyone of us on State-controlled databases, I find it almost impossible to believe that the police couldn’t match a registration number with a telephone number; and
3) Why Queenborough?! It’s 20 miles away for starters and this morning BBC Radio Kent is reporting that the Sheppey Bridge is closed due to the bad weather so even if owners wanted to go pick them up they can’t! It is totally impractical especially since the owners now don’t have a car and it is almost impossible to get there by public transport.
I have contacted Kent Police and asked for an explanation.
4 comments:
This is pretty typical of what we have come to expect of the Police who no longer see themselves as public servants. No wonder complaints about them are up 300% in recent years. They now see their role as one of control and revenue generation as demonstrated in your story. What do the Conservatives intend to do about this?
Here's a film which illustrates how things have changed in recent years.
http://www.veoh.com/browse/videos/category/activism_non_profit/watch/v18868219G2XpZeTF
Tracey,
It is important that these people are reimbursed for their travel costs and fees incurred. Also, why not contact BBC Kent and ask people who wish to to contact you so you have an idea of the numbers involved and each individual story. The Police could certainly provide you with the figures.
Regards,
SGT
total rubbish hundred of people went up the hill and did not dump there car so what do it say about those how dumped there car, the police job is to ensure pubilc safty first and formost a car cover in snow would not be seen till it to late as for parked at the side of the road how would they no where it is in the snow, i m please kent police moved them if some one slide in to or crash in to and was injured there would be moan s why did they not do it, if you cant drive in bad weather stay at home your !!!!!as for the lady from ditton who is in the media bussiness dumped here car some one came pick her up most been a polar bear with a seat on good job kent police looking after the majority not the minority. ps if it that bad the recovery firm truck would not of got there to get them.
John Bull,…
I was the the person involved in taking the lady who works for the local news and media business the night we had the bad weather on Blue Bell Hill,..and I can assure you I'm not a polar bear.
Just to put the record sraight not all vehicles can cope in such icy conditions,for example rear wheeled drive cars are less likely to cope in such conditions rather than front wheeled drive cars,..even cars with low tyre tread will have severe difficulty in pusueing such task during that night, not every person is comfortable in driving in such severe conditions, but we still have to attend work to pay the bills.
The bottom line is the Police didn't have the capacity to make sure the roads were fully prepared in advance for the rush hour traffic to comfortably flow that evening, when plenty of notice was given from the Met office regarding this weather warning,..I witnessed very little gritting that night, and lack of preparation before – If other countries can cope, then I think this is a lesson our Police should learn from.
Your comments are totally wrong.Dan
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