By Ian Duncan

Last updated at 11:45, Thursday, 07 March 2013

A motorist has been paid £200 compensation after council officials threatened to remove his car and scrap it.

Gareth Ellis

The driver was given seven days to remove the car himself, but felt that he had no choice but to scrap it when faced with crippling fees if it was removed by Carlisle City Council.

Several members of the public had complained about the car, which was on Warwick Road, because it appeared to have been abandoned – despite being taxed, insured, with an up to date MOT and displaying a residents’ parking permit.

And when council investigators realised that a window had been tampered with, they decided to try and remove it on two separate occasions before the seven-day period was up.

The decision to compensate the owner – who was not named during the proceedings – was taken by Carlisle City Council’s Appeals Panel which ruled that the authority had acted with ‘maladministration’ over the loss of the vehicle.

The panel found that not enough attempts had been made to contact the registered keeper of the vehicle – and has ordered that procedures for removing abandoned vehicles should be reviewed and updated.

Members of the full council heard of the decision on Tuesday.

The debate was due to be heard behind closed doors but it was decided that it should be heard in public.

Councillor Gareth Ellis said he was taken aback when he read the report and added: “When you read through the report it makes for grim reading for this authority.”

He said: “For some reason this authority wasn’t able to talk to the owner – the owner and the registered keeper are the same person.

“A notice was put on this car saying if it wasn’t moved it’d be towed. Twice before that seven-day period attempts were made to tow this vehicle.

“Does the council feel that £200 was sufficient to compensate him for having to go through the process and for us to make sure that we don’t go through something similar in the future?”

He suggested a figure of £400 was a more suitable level of compensation.

According to the panel’s report, 466 abandoned vehicles have been reported to the council over the past three years – with 36 towed away and 31 subsequently destroyed.

Abdul Harid, the panel chairman, said that members had decided that the compensation amount was sufficient because the owner had already received £100 for the vehicle.

He added: “The advice was that in that condition it was worth £300 altogether. He accepted £200 and he was satisfied.”

Mr Ellis withdrew his suggestion for increased compensation and councillors accepted the report.

First published at 11:40, Thursday, 07 March 2013
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk